Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage
Trujillo, Peru
September 23, 2010
31 August 2010Windsor Road Christian Church
Tim Brooks, board member of Corazon de Esperanza, and Pastor Brian Rummery led a trip from Windsor Road
September 23, 2010
30 June 2010Introducing Corazón de Esperanza
This past spring, a group of men and women in the U.S. who have a heart for Hogar
September 23, 2010
31 March 2010 Sofia finds her homeSofia spent many of her 8 years living on the streets of a small mountain town near
American Couple Decides on Int'l Adoption After Visit to Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
March 20, 2011
In July 2010 the other volunteers at Hogar de Esperanza and I had the pleasure of hosting a wonderful group of people who came to the orphanage all the way from Champaign, Illinois on a mission trip through Windsor Road Christian Church. One of the group members, Jolene Frields, is a dental hygienist who helped set up a dental clinic at the orphanage to clean and treat both the children and staff members. After seeing first hand the degree of poverty and starvation in Peru, Jolene felt so moved to anything she could to help the children that she met, that she and her husband Darren have since decided to try and adopt 2 older boys from the orphanage, who would otherwise likely end up "aging out" of the system...
Spanish Honor Society Holds Fundraiser for Orphans in Peru
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
March 20, 2011
I am excited to report that thanks to the efforts of West Lafayette High School Spanish teacher, Mrs. Jessica Espinoza, and students of the school's Spanish Honor Society club, $310 were raised for the children of Hogar de Esperanza Orpahanage in Trujillo, Peru last semester. The students raised this money by selling beaded jewelry hand-made by some of the children at the orphanage during a jewelry-making workshop that I helped run during my 6 months volunteering at Hogar de Esperanza.Students of the Spanish Honor Society are eager to continue to support Hogar de Esperanza this semester. They have already requested more jewelry to sell and also plan on coming up with other fundraising projects in hopes of raising enough money to buy the orphanage a new laptop for their library!...
August at Hogar de Esperanza
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
October 22, 2010
In August I got the pleasure of taking over the position of Volunteer Coordinator for my boss, Elizabeth, while she was on vacation at home in Texas. It was a great honor to be chosen for the position, but very stressful at the same time, as it meant I would have to work two full-time jobs at once during my last couple weeks at the orphanage, leaving me virtually zero free time to spend with the kids, pack my things, or communicate with people from home.Several great things happened for the orphanage during this month though. Cheryl and Bradley Reider from Pennsylvania came and spent 2 weeks working as short-term volunteers. Cheryl, a high school Spanish teacher, was an incredible help in Escuela Miller, where she worked one-on-one with Luis,...
July at Hogar de Esperanza
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
October 12, 2010
July was by far the busiest month I witnessed during my 6 months at Albergue Infantil Hogar de Esperanza. Among the volunteers, it became commonly known as "the month of birthdays" since it seemed as though half of the children (plus many staff members) had July birthdays, and we were struggling to keep track of and celebrate each of them. For each kid’s birthday, it’s tradition for 1-3 of the volunteers to offer to take the birthday kid out of the orphanage on an afternoon outing to celebrate with their sibling(s) and/or a friend of their choice. These outings generally consist of a meal, cake, or ice cream, and a visit to a park, pool, playground, movie theater, or shopping mall. Ironically, the kids’ favorite part of the outing...
Indiana high school students take action to benefit Hogar de Esperanza
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
October 05, 2010
Before leaving for Peru, I met with Mrs. Jessica Espinoza, a Spanish teacher at West Lafayette Jr./Sr. High School in West Lafayette, IN, and I spoke to three of her Spanish III classes about culture, history, geography, and social problems in Peru and other Latin American countries, and introduced them to the Omprakash In the Classroom program and my volunteer work with Hogar de Esperanza. The students followed my blog the whole time I was in Peru, and a couple of them even worked on creating bilingual coloring books to send to the preschool and elementary students at the orphanage.Now that I am back from Peru, I met with Jessica last week, and she invited me to a meeting of the school's Spanish Honor Society, which she sponsors, to speak...
Changes (6-21-10)
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
June 29, 2010
Changes... (jenenperu.blogspot.com)Coming home to the albergue after my trip through southern Peru and Bolivia was a bittersweet ordeal. I was sad that such a perfect vacation was coming to an end and that Steve was going to have to leave soon to go home to the States; but, at the same time, I was looking forward to getting back to work and seeing all the kids again, and was really excited for Steve to finally meet everyone at the albergue.Before his flight back, Steve spent three days hanging out with me in Trujillo and volunteering at the albergue, doing maintenance work in the mornings, then helping out with joyeria (jewelry-making) and in my tutoria (tutoring) group in the afternoons. Edwin, Abel, and Italo really seemed to enjoy having him...
"Seeds of Hope" Jewelry Project
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
June 29, 2010
Here at the Hogar de Esperanza orphanage, we have a program called "Seeds of Hope," where the kids make beaded jewelry using seeds and beads found locally in Peru. The bracelets, necklaces, and earings they make are later sold to groups of short-term volunteers or visitors to the orphanage in Trujillo, and also occasionally in the U.S., through American volunteers. The majority of the profits made from each item of jewelry sold directly benefits the child who made it. Most of the money gets put into a special savings account in the child's name, and he or she will receive the money in the account upon leaving the orphanage, or upon turning 18, whichever comes first. A small portion of the profit from each item sold is givin directly to the child who made it, in the...
Winter sets in...
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
June 05, 2010
May so far has been a bumpy ride. Obviously, the Mothers' Day holiday and the weeks leading up to it was a hard time for many of the kids at the albergue. I think it was a difficult time for the volunteers and staff members as well, especially because everyone at the albergue seems to be getting sick these days. The same illnesses keep getting passed around from person to person until they've made their way back to where they started from before anyone has enough time to fully recover. This has definitely been the case for us in Kinder.Maricielo came in to class with a runny nose and a cough three weeks ago, and despite the abundant hand washing and germ-x use at my insistance, after about 24 hours,...
It's the Hard-Knock Life...
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
May 12, 2010
Before graduating from Purdue last December I found myself being asked on a daily basis about my plans for the future. When I told people that my post-college plans did not include getting a job nor applying for graduate school, but that I was instead going to go live in an orphanage in Peru ("No, not Peru, Indiana, Peru the country, as in South America"), I got a lot of different responses. I remember a couple of friends cracking some innocent jokes about the grimness of orphanage life, as popularized by Oliver Twist ("Please, sir, can I have some more?") and the musical Annie, in which the orphan girls sing, "It's the hard-knock life for us, No one cares for you a smidge, When you're in an orphanage..."Jokes like those...
Adoption, Despedidas, and Easter eggs...(March & April at the Albergue)
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
May 03, 2010
(For the full version and photos, visit my blog at http://jenenperu.blogspot.com )lunes 3 de mayo de 2010Hogar de Esperanza...Home at Last!I know, I know, it's been a REALLY long time since I've posted anything new, over a month in fact, and I appologize for the delay. Simultaneous spare time and a decent internet connection come to me far less frequently here than I had hoped and planned for.Today marks the end of my 9th week living and volunteering at the Albergue Infantil Hogar de Esperanza in Trujillo, Peru! I'm amazed by how fast time seems to fly by here, and it already pains me to think about having to leave the albergue in only four short months... As I'm sure you can imagine, a lot has gone on here over...
First month at Hogar de Esperanza
Hogar de Esperanza Orphanage, by Jennifer Turner
March 31, 2010
My name is Jennifer Turner, and I am a recent college graduate of Purdue University. The Omprakash Foundation was generous enough to award me with a Volunteer Grant in December 2009 to spend six months volunteering at the Hogar de Esperanza orpahange in Trujillo, Peru.Before I left the States, I was able to raise several hundred dollars in donations for the children Hogar de Esperanza, in addition to several bags of school supplies and gently used clothing, thanks in great part to some generous friends and relatives.After spending two weeks traveling Ecuador, I have now been at Hogar de Esperanza for one month, and it's already hard to believe that I have to leave here in 5 short months!I am loving my job here as the Kinder class teacher, which...

