During these last few days, our special envoys to the Atauchi Project in Peru have described – day by day – their unforgettable experiences and anecdotes with the children, associates, and religious personnel living in the Home of Hope in Arequipa.
If you have not read the daily journal of our reporters, Félix and Raquel, we invite you to know the Diary in Peru visiting our websites: www.elnaturalista.com and www.proyectoatauchi.com
We want to thank all of those who have worked with us. You have opened your hearts, and the door of your home. To Hellyen, Gisela, Carolina, Juanita, Pierina, Mercedes, Mª Eugenia…everyone…volunteers, contributors, all of you are what gives this place its special soul.
And of course, we want to thank the eight sisters who are responsible for the entire endeavor. Only looking at how the children look at you and love you, you have gained our admiration. We hope to return in a few years to find this dream completed, a dream that has become the dream of many.
We didn’t want to say goodbye to the little ones. It would have been too difficult and emotional. Instead, from a distance, we send them a big kiss.
When we arrived there were 34 children and adolescents at the Home, but while we were visiting more arrived. There are now 37, and the twins will arrive next week! The family is growing, as are their needs. Special thanks to all of you who make this extraordinary place possible.
And thank you to El Naturalista for giving us the opportunity to meet this great family and to see all that good that is being done.
See you soon!
Raquel and Felix
We will try to make a documentary video reflecting the importance of a corporate consciousness of global problems and the need for companies to act accordingly. To accomplish this, we will use the example of El Naturalista, a shoe company that since its inception has affirmed a corporate policy committed to helping the disadvantaged. This policy has been achieved through its Atauchi Project, the “heart of the company”, which in this particular instance has worked with the non-profit ProPeru to help create this Home for special needs children in Arequipa, Peru.
Social responsibility has been a core value of El Naturalista since its establishment. From the very beginning they have allocated part of the profits from a line of shoes inspired by Peru (Nasca line) to projects that care for and educate children in this country.
Today we are filming, and trying to be as inconspicuous as possible as Felix and I moved around the Home, searching out all of its corners. We have recorded everyday scenes with which we will later create our own story. Filming is complicated, but this shoot has been especially difficult. There are no actors or actresses, everything is improvised, and the scenes cannot be retaken. In addition, the children’s routine is part of their stability, and thus it was important that we interfere as little as possible. Even so, it has pleasure to work with them and be able to capture their naturalness. The children have given us moments of great tenderness.
Today, as part of the documentary, we filmed one of most enjoyable outdoor activities in the garden and farm.
Hortensia is a teacher of techniques adapted to people with disabilities. In the evening, she volunteers at the Home giving gardening and farming workshops to the 10 adolescents who live there. She tells us about the therapeutic importance of this activity. Planting and caring animals not only allows these children to learn a trade, it also helps them to assume small responsibilities that make them feel important, as well as provides them some recreation.
As each area of the Home has a patron saint, the garden also has its own, San Isidro the Farmer. How could it be otherwise? In the garden they plant different vegetables that will be used as part of their diet – onions, spinach, celery – and even alfalfa to feed the animals.
Hortensia tells the girls that today they are going to pick beets, or betarraga as it is called here. They are a good for cell regeneration, and basic to their diet. The girls form into groups, some uproot the beets, others remove the leaves leaving a little stem that, as Hortensia says, cooks very well. Virginia collects the beets and takes them to Juanita, the cook, who will use them for different dishes and salads during the coming week.
While Felix was recording, I went with Yovana to the farm. Today she is feeling a little better, her medication was reduced, and she is more talkative. She carefully collected all the leaves that had been left over from the beets, and she fed them to two alpacas that are resting in one of the cages. The alpaca is a domestic animal similar to the llama; both are characteristic of the Andes. The alpaca is greatly valued for its wool, which they use to make blankets and traditional indigenous ponchos. Here the alpacas live together with chickens, ducks, and rabbits. Today the chicks have had a little accident: they have jumped into the ducks’ lake. They needed to be removed immediately, and they were placed under a light bulb to dry.
It is getting dark, and we start to feel the cool autumn air. The class had ended, and we say good-bye to Hortensia and the girls as we continue filming them disappearing into the kitchen.
