Los Ninos Hotel - Cusco, Peru
Niños Projects
A family of 12 boys
Within a few weeks after arriving in Cusco, Jolanda van den Berg
took two boys in. A year later she had adopted twelve boys.
Since then the family has grown with the birth of her two daughters, Panay and Toulouse.
A family of 9 girls and 2 boys
Four years later Jolanda formed a second family. This time 9 girls
and 2 boys were adopted, each one a child who had lived in extremely poor circumstances for years. The second Niños family
lives in their own house. Julia and Vicente Ortiz are the Peruvian
adoptive parents.
A family of 11 girls
The third family is made up of eleven girls who have also all lived
in unacceptable and extremely poor circumstances. Angel and Angela are the adoptive parents here. All families are totally supported by Foundation Niños Unidos Peruanos, which receives
its income from the profits of the two Niños Hotels and from the contributions of the Niños-donors and sponsors.
Two Niños Children's restaurants, 500 children per day In 1999, the first Children's restaurant opened. Since then a second, third and fourth Niños Children's restaurant has opened.
In total, the four Niños Children's restaurants receive 500 children
six days per week, the whole year round. The children come from
extremely poor families and have often been underfed and neglected since they were babies. Every child gets a healthy hot meal every day, the opportunity for a shower, is seen at least twice a year by the doctor and goes to the dentist.
It is just as important to try to give the children a better self-image
and, step by step, to get them used to better social behaviour, as practical help is. This is achieved by offering the children their own safe, clean and private place where they are welcome six days per week; at the Niños Children's restaurants. There is a homework teacher who helps the children with their school work.
Once a month birthdays are celebrated, which is an unbelievably emotional event for a lot of the children. Besides this, the children have sports lessons in the Niños Sports Hall. Sport offers the children the opportunity to enjoy themselves but it also lends itself well to tying up with improving the behaviour, learning to work together, learning that you can win for a change, learning that rules are not there for nothing etc. Above all, the positive attention that the children get from the Niños staff is of great importance.
More than 60 Peruvians permanently employed.
The foundation does not work with volunteers in Peru. In total, Niños employs more than 60 members of staff in both the Niños Hotels as in the Niños Projects, all of them Peruvians and nearly all of them the breadwinner. This way nearly 60 family are supported.
Seven big building projects
Since 1996, Niños has realised seven big building projects. The Niños Hotels and the Niños Children's Restaurants were built including all the necessary facilities. These building projects have offered on average more than 70 builders work for around one and a half years. Nearly all materials were bought locally, meaning that these investments have been almost totally for the benefit of the local economy.
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