Cusco Children's Report

The farmers have just cultivated their crops, such as corns and potatoes. They hope for a good harvest so that they will be able to share it with one another. Right now we are moving into the dry season. This means that it rains less and has become chillier at night.

Meanwhile, Cusco Children’s project continues to contribute to a better life for the children around Yanaoca.

Thanks to generous benefactors, our parish project, “Cusco Children” continues to make a major difference in the lives of many children under the guidance of a few leaders and several volunteers. Until the end of last year, we had used the parish hall, but since the start of 2016, we have a new meeting place for the children.

In order to have a better organized and more suitable educational environment for the children, we moved to a used dormitory for high school girls whose families had lived a long distance from Yanaoca town.

The dormitory had been abandoned these past five years. However, in December 2015, three leaders of our children’s project began to repair and clean the place for the children. Thanks to generous donations, the dormitory has now been remodeled in a manner that is suitable for the needs of the children. In January 2016, the children´s house was opened officially with forty children and their parents present.

The Children´s House is not only a place to play with toys but also is a learning space where they can attain valuable skills for their futures. For that reason, we opened a “summer school” during January and February (the summer months in Peru). Four regular leaders and two volunteers coordinated the program. On weekdays we held various classes for the children to learn handicrafts, develop communication skills and improve their dance repertoires.

For more organized learning, the leaders divided the children into three groups depending on their age: the AMOR(love) group for five to six year olds, RESPONSABILIDAD (responsibility) group for seven to nine year olds, and SOLIDARIDAD (solidarity) group for ten and eleven year olds. The children´s program based on the system of ages and classes continues after their vacation. In addition, two programs were added: Preparation for First Communion and Family Farming. Hopefully, this latter program can provide the children with valuable practical education that is not made available to them in the state school system.

Since the children returned to school, the children´s house is open on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings, as well as on Sundays. We continue to use donations to buy materials for handicraft and other classes. The donations also enabled us to remodel and repair the used dormitory so that it would be a suitable learning center for children. Again I would like to express my sincere gratitude for your generous support of this project for children who had been deprived because of poverty and isolation of the basic opportunities to play, interact and learn.

In the season of Easter, I wish all donors the grace and peace of the risen Christ.

With good wishes and un gran abrazo,

Fr. YoungIn Kim,

April 2016