Our Finished Projects - Part 2

Another activity that several of our team shared with many of the girls one afternoon was a "Spa Day".  Several of the team had purchased different kinds of make up, nail polish, etc., and then just had fun pampering the girls by doing their nails, their hair, and watching them get excited to realize that they were free to also partake in trying different things out.  They loved it!!

You can imagine how we proud Canadians were thrilled to see this jersey!!    The Canadians  have made many trips to this orphanage, and have left a strong foot print there…….

For those who got to know Marion, in everything she does, she is "ALL IN"!!!  What a beautiful soul:)

Here's who Marion was pampering.  Muy bonita!!!! We came to learn that smiles broke all language barriers, and simply warmed your heart……..

Okay, here's where I needed to rely on the help of many of the men on our team…….  As I said previously, "tools" really are not my thing……..  Still don't quite get the excitement, but that's just me………. :)

Charlie, Chris and John very ably stepped up to help me explain a significant contribution we were able to make.  With over $15,000 that we raised through a year of fundraising, and support from so many of you, we purchased some pretty amazing tools.  Take a look…….

Top Row - L to R:  Bench grinder, metal cut-off saw, random orbital sander, heavy duty extension cord.

Middle Row - L to R:  Bench drill press, heavy-duty hammer drill, compound mitre saw.

Bottom Row - L to R:  Welder, welding mask, welding accessories.

The guys also told me this:

The Dewalt metal saw (chop saw) was used to cut the steel to make the gates in the picture below.  This just makes it so much better and more accurate to cut the steel, straight and on angles….. They used the welder to weld the steel pieces together for the gates.  The Dewalt mitre saw was used to cut the wood pieces to make the benches and shoe racks in the picture below.  The sander was used to smooth the wood pieces before putting them together, reducing the chance of slivers…… So much of work like this had always been done by hand, and took SO much longer…… The Makita hammer drill will be used to help mount the gates onto the concrete walls of the houses.  The drill press was used to drill holes in the metal pieces, where required, and again, allows for much greater accuracy when drilling into metal or wood.

The compound mitre saw makes it so much easier, quicker and more accurate to make straight and angle cuts for any project, such as the benches you will see shortly, with angled braces.

The orbital sander is great for finishing projects, again, compared to HAND sanding!!! ugh……..

The hammer drill is needed for drilling into concrete.  ALL the houses are made out of concrete….

On the children's houses, there were alcoves on the outside, with a ladder leading to the roof.  Well, kids will be kids, and the children were starting to climb these ladders creating considerable risk.  So, our "Steelworkers" union welded and built gates to go on each one of these houses.  There are 7 houses, soon to be 8……. I understand that "each" house was not always square, so they customized each one to fit.  Nice work, gentlemen!!!

Here's our "wood worker's" union sitting on one of their projects!!  The other "union" members said they actually sat down quite a bit!!!!  (just kidding:)  I think they were quite pleased with their work……. And they should be.  Here's some more of their accomplishments….. Fantastic effort!!!





Our dear friend, Kieran, had a dream to build a music program at the orphanage.  It's up and going, and these benches and shoe cupboards will be so helpful in this room.  We were so impressed with the Peruvian people.  Even in the smallest of spaces, they were SO neat and tidy!!


Charlie also shared the story of going to Sodimac (a Home Depot like store).  They took, David, the maintenance man, with them.  Charlie said he was like a "kid in a candy store" as they bought the tools for the orphanage.  He had a big smile on his face.  Charlie noted on the day we were packing up and leaving, David was already in the workshop with one of the older boys, using the tools to build a wooden box with wheels to protect new speakers which were also purchased for the music room.  Someone was also going to come and teach one of the older boys how to weld.  This is also part of the goals of the orphanage - to teach the children life skills…...

The bantering and "rivalries" among these two unions was so fun to listen to……..  They worked away and clearly loved what they were doing…… It was a regular occurrence that one of us would have to go over to their area, and say, "Guys, come for lunch…….."  Great work - ALL of you:)


I think it is fair to say that one of the projects that we are all so proud of is a beautiful mural sketched by our beautifully gifted artist, Susan.  Susan and her very talented assistant, Marg, worked away most of the week creating this beautiful mural in the baby "stimulation" room.  Some of the sad moments were in hearing the stories of some of the children's lives before they came to the orphanage.  Some of the babies had been left for long periods, and may not have even learned basic development steps, like crawling.  The "stimulation" room is a place to help them recapture these  important developmental milestones.

Day after day we watched this mural come to life, and we were thrilled when Susan and Margaret wanted each one of us to come in and paint a part of the mural.  Take a look at the area BEHIND Noah and his wife……. This writer added her 2 cents to this masterpiece there….

When we "unveiled" this to the children they could not have been more excited!!  They would try to reach and touch the animals, and we think they were trying to say the names.  What a beautiful legacy that we could leave for these dear little children.  Like the message of the story of Noah's Ark, may this be a message of hope for their futures……


Finally, with our funds, we were able to purchase 2 fans for each house (8 houses) to keep the environment comfortable.  We purchased 2 for the office, and the staff could not tell us enough what a difference that made for their comfort in working EVERY day….


We purchased some sports equipment for a games day we had for the children, but perhaps some of the most moving moments came when we learned we could pay for a young boy's dental expenses.  Just the week before, he had lost his 2 front teeth playing soccer.  However, there was no money in their budget to cover this for him.  It was a unanimous team decision to cover the $500 US it would cost to replace his front teeth.  Think about the positive impact that will have on his self image, his self esteem and his overall health in the future…..


After all of the above, we had $4,000 remaining, Jackie told us that, because of cuts to the budget here, the children  are only provided white bread.  As well, at times, they need to "water down" the milk for the babies to have enough to go around.  So, with these additional dollars, we have been able to top up their funds to provide whole wheat bread and "undiluted" milk for the babies, in Jackie's words "for the foreseeable future".

If people ask us, "Do you think you made a difference there, if the health and development of these dear children was impacted in a positive, I think we can say "Yes, we did!!"…….


Next post will be saying good bye to them………… stay tuned:)
Thanks so much for keeping with us!!