SOS has two programmes in Ayacucho, one where they look after orphans, and one where they work with families in poor areas to try to keep the families together to prevent having more orphans.
Last Thursday, we visited some of the areas where SOS works with families, with a very nice coordinator called Rosa. Rosa works in very poor communities to identify families that need support, and then works with them and other charities to set up ´casas hogares´(sort of community centres) for the young children to stay during the day, so that the mothers can go out to work to earn enough money to be able to feed their children. Several of the women I met were single mothers, and without this support they would not be able to go out to work. The community centres usually have a nursery, a place for children to play, and a kitchen. SOS funds the food for lunch every day, and works with the parents to organise them to take turns to work in the kitchen and the nursery; also to build the centre in the first place. I could do with some SOS help at the school!!!
The centres are closing down for two weeks over Christmas so it´s not good timing for me to be able to help. But we´re also hoping to visit where the orphans live sometime soon, so maybe we´ll be able to help there. In the meantime, we´re helping in the office from time to time - last week we spent a few hours splitting up huge bags of sugar into kilo bags, and packing chocolate and milk into Christmas parcels to give to all the parents who´ve been working in the community centres.
For more details re SOS Children´s Villages and Aldeas Infantiles, Peru - see links in right-hand column.
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