Casa Hogar Los Gorriones

Children's Stories

Margary 10/01/94

Margary’s oldest sister, guardian of her 4 younger brothers and sisters, brought her sister to the house. Their parents were alcoholics and both died one quickly after the other. Margary’s brothers also live in orphanages. Before coming to the house, Margary had never left her parents’ house and she had never been to school. She never experienced her parents’ love and they didn’t bring her up. Margary is mentally handicapped and she has trouble speaking. At first, nobody could understand what she said and she was very frightened of men. She used to hide her toys because she didn’t know how to play with them. Now she goes to school with Sabina. Margary is always cheerful, she laughs a lot and likes playing with the younger children and the volunteers. She helps a lot in the cuarto de Lupes. Sometimes she doesn’t know when to stop teasing, because she doesn’t know the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour. She liked dancing, volleyball, and she is very energetic.

Noémi 14/12/04

Noémie (or Mimi) came to the house with chronic malnutrition. She was hardly able to walk properly. Her mother had lost her whole family during the period of terrorism in the region and had grown up with adoptive parents. Seriously traumatized, Mimi’s mother used to live on the streets more than at home. At 15 she became pregnant – Mimi’s older sister lives in another home. Now her mother has had a third child and Mimi lives in the house. Working with Mimi calls for a lot of patience, but she is delightful. You have to watch out because the other children reject her. Her smile is precious. She loves learning new things, and likes adult attention. She loves it when volunteers that she knows well help her get dressed. She also loves jigsaw puzzles; drawing ... she needs to be stimulated to work on her balance. More than most, Mimi is a cheerful child.

Sergio, Luis, Favio, Abel, and Brenda were brought to the house by the police one night in March 2004 because their mother had disappeared, leaving her children all alone. The mother is an alcoholic and is incapable of looking after her children. The children are from 3 different fathers. They are up for adoption.

Favio 17/12/96

(Brother of Sergio, Luis, Abel, and Brenda)

Just like his friend Emerson, he also enjoys playing football and riding his bike. Favio is a straightforward child, sometimes a bit shy with other people and likes adult contact.

Luis 14/04/98

(Brother of Sergio, Favio, Abel, and Brenda)

Like the other boys, he also loves playing football and riding his bike, and he does it well. Luis is a very active and alert boy. He wants to be good at everything, and if anyone says he’s done something badly he can really moan. He often fights with his brother Abel.

Abel 21/02/200

(Brother of Sergio, Luis, Favio, and Brenda)

Abel also likes playing football, but he also often plays with the younger children. He is best friends with Fermín and his little brother Sergio. He can be very nice and kind, but he can also sometimes be difficult. He used to often lie and steal books from the house ... to sell them at school. A smart child! Sometimes he teases the younger children, like Alonso, and makes them cry. When there is a meeting he always behaves like a very understanding boy, and apologizes for the upset he has caused himself and the other children, but the question is does his behaviour ever really change?

Brenda 17/07/2003

(Sister of Sergio, Abel, Favio and Luis)

She is the little princess of the house. She likes attention and loves to dance. Her best friend is Deyse, and the two girls are always together. Now they need to learn how to do things on their own. Brenda likes playing all sorts of games with the volunteers, she’s very pretty and cheerful child. She can also be very proud.

Sergio 18/06/04

(Brother of Favio, Luis, Abel, and Brenda)

Sergio is a very cheerful child, with a beautiful smile. At first, he likes to test new volunteers. He asks lots of questions and likes looking at photos of things people in the house have done. He loves sleeping and often cries when he has to get up. The best solution is to wake him up very gently and quietly. He likes playing with the volunteers. Sergio is the most dominant and receptive of the little boys.

Emerson 08/04/97

In 2002, he arrived at the house with his two older brothers. Their mother had died and two months later their father was arrested for possession of cocaine. He was accused of drug-trafficking and was sent to prison. The brothers came from the jungle where education is very poor. Most children stay at home to help their parents with work. The children regularly visited their father in prison. It was very important that they kept in touch with him. Now, Juan Carlos and Elmer live at URPI, the state-run orphanage for boys aged 6-18; Emerson chose to stay at the house. Now their father is free and lives in the jungle. The brothers will prorably go and live with him again. Emerson is one of the oldest boys in the house. He likes playing football, riding his bike, and playing in the garden. He is often the winner of games and competitions. He’s an easy and cheerful child.

Alberto 26/05/2001

Alberto was born in prison, where his parents are doing time for drug-trafficking. He lived there for 2 years until there was an accident and Alberto fell into a pot of boiling water. He was immediately taken to hospital, where he was treated for burns for a month. After that he was supposed to return to the prison, but he refused. Even today, Alberto sometimes still seems to be suffering from shock. His sister Ciliana came to the house 3 years after Alberto. He likes playing with his cars and toys, and he loves animals. He is also best friends with Fermín. Alberto is a kind boy, especially towards Gil and Chantal, but he can also be very difficult. Sometimes there are outbursts, he screams, cries, hits out ... Alberto needs lots of compliments and love.

Ciliana est la petite soeur d'Alberto.

She is a calm and responsible girl. She does all her homework without complaining. Sometimes she can be a bit difficult, if she feels badly treated. She likes playing with the volunteers and she is very creative.

Deysie 16/02/02

(She is Freddy’s sister.) Their mother died from an illness, because she didn’t have enough money for medicine, and their father couldn’t bring them up on his own and work at the same time. Their grandmother loves them very much and comes to visit them every week. Unfortunately she is also unable to look after them as she already has other small children of her own. Thier father visits them every fortnight and he hopes he’ll be able to take them home when they are older. Deysie is a responsible, nice and calm little girl. She looks after her brother Freddy well. She likes playing with her friend Brenda and with the volunteers. However, when she’s not happy about something, she makes it very clear!

Freddy and his sister (Deysie) arrived at the house in 2006 because their mother had died and their father couldn’t work and look after them at the same time. Their grandmother loves them very much and comes to visit them often but she can’t look after them either has she has her own young children. Their father comes twice a month and hopes that when they are older they’ll be able to go and live with him. Working with Freddy requires a lot of patience. He doesn’t like sharing his toys, and when another child is playing too, Freddy always wants the other’s toy. He often cries for nothing, and the best thing is to leave him to calm down on his own, or to make him laugh by doing something completely different, because if you’re too strict, that just makes him cry more. When he’s in a good mood, he plays nicely. He’s very empathic and always asks how you are. He loves cuddles.

Sabina 16/10/87

Sabina is 20, and she is the oldest girl in the house. She is hard of hearing and has a mild mental handicap. We don’t know much about her past. She was found on the streets of Lima when she was 10. Then she was employed as a cleaner in a house and was often very badly treated. 4 years later she was ended up at the family court because the woman Sabina worked for wanted to move house and couldn’t emply her anymore. She came to Ayacucho and to the house. In the mornings Sabina goes to a special school and in the afternoons she helps at the house. She has started to speak a little bit. Sabina is a responsible girl, calm, and very nice. She helps the lupes a lot and in the kitchen. She gets on very well with Francine and she helps her makes cakes. Sabina likes knitting. She’ll probably always stay at the house as this has now become her home.

Eberson 16/05/03

Eberson arrived at the house in August 2004. Unfortunately he has no family. His mother died when he was born and Eberson was taken in by another family with 6 children. His adoptive mother then died and then he was brought to the house. Eberson is blind and has a cerebral palsy. He goes for therapy 3 times a week. They help him to walk a bit, and are hoping that he’ll be able to do this on his own soon. He needs a lot of love and attention. He very affectionate and smiles a lot, but sometimes he can be very aggressive, and when he’s not happy, he bangs his head on the floor. He loves playing with a ball and can spend hours listening to music and loves being taken for walks by volunteers, in a manta on their backs. He is on the adoption list.

SONIA, FLORINDA, JOLVER et LUIS ALONSO

The 4 brothers and sisters came to the house, when their father asked for help after his wife died and he was left alone with 6 children. They’d been living in very poor conditions in the jungle and their father didn’t even have enough money to buy food for himself. The 4 youngest children live in the house, another boy lives in ‘La Casa de Willy’, and the oldest boy lives with his father in the jungle. When Luis Alonso came to the house he had several serious illnesses – anemia, malaria, hepatitis. He also suffered from serious malnutrition, and even now he still has phsychological problems. It was very difficult for the 2 brothers to accept their mother’s death and the separation from their other brothers. At the beginning, they refused to have any contact with their father. Now their father and older brothers come to visit when they can. The 4 children also spend holidays with their father, grandmother, and brothers in the jungle. They are not on the adoption list.

Sonia 28/11/93

After Sonia, she is the next oldest girl in the house. She is a responsible girl who helps her brothers and sister and the other children. She is calm and doesn’t ask much of the volunteers. You need to take time to get to know her better, to find that she is very lovely girl!

Florinda 18/02/93

She is younger than her sister. She can be in a very good mood one day, and then in a very bad mood the next. When she doesn’t want to do something, it’s very hard to motivate her. On the other hand, when she’s in a good mood, she laughs a lot, likes being with the volunteers and playing with the other children.

Jolver 18/09/98

Another boy who likes playing football and riding his bike. He also likes helping in the kitchen. He’s a very proud and strong-headed child, and he’s not good at apologising if he misbehaves. On the other hand, if you compliment him, he’s the happiest boy in the house! He can annoy his brother Alonso to the point of making him cry.

Luis Alonzo ou Luighi 27/07/01

Luis Alonso can be a very nice child, but at the same time, he can be the most difficult child in the house. He often cries and if you get angry with him, he can get really upset, crying, sreaming, hitting ... He often doesn’t listen to the volunteers or obey them. But sometimes he’ll take your hand and ask you to play with him. He likes playing with his car and in the garden.

Fermin arrived at the house in April 2007 when he was 8. He’s a very special child; even though he’s 8 years old, he has a mental age of 3. He is mentally handicapped, caused by violence, but his parents are also mentally handicapped. During the first 6 years of his life, Fermin lived with his mother. However, according to his aunt, his mother didn’t know what to do with him and locked him in a room for 6 years, depriving him of clothes and food. Fermin was found one cold and rainy day in a corner of a dark lane, he was very dirty, just wearing a jumper, bare feet, and seriously malnourished. He’d been so hungry that he’d even eaten his own excrement. Working with Fermin demands a lot of concentration and patience. Lots of things that Fermin does don’t seem to make any sense. When he arrived at the house, Fermin was hyperactive, used to bite and hit others sometimes ... He regularly ignored what people said to him. But as we didn’t know his level of mental handicap, it was difficult to know how much his behaviour was the result of his ‘illness’ or of the violence he suffered when he was little. Twice a week Fermin goes for therapy. In November 2007, two volunteers created a treatment plan for Fermin, with activities to stimulate him and to help control his aggressive attitude. The work they have done shows that Fermin is capable of understanding and doing things asked of him. It is important for his development that this work with him follows a strict routine, and he will get used to doing basic activities in normal daily life - washing his hands, brushing his teeth, getting dressed, etc. It’s also important to treat Fermin like a normal child, and for him to mix as much as possible with the other children. You have to be careful as others might hit him. Fermin loves kisses, looking people in the eye, little bits of paper, water and merry-go-rounds.

Cristofer is the youngest child in the house at the moment. He came in August 2007, transferred from another orphenage where they couldn’t cope with his psychomotor instability. His mother, who suffers from mental illness, gave birth on a dance floor at a discotheque. Cristofer came into the world smashing his right side straight onto the floor. Now he does daily exercises, physical therapy to stimulate his arms and legs, especially his right hand that he still never uses. Not long ago he said his first word: GRACIAS and has managed to walk 4 steps and is beginning to walk on his own. He’s an alert child, a happy baby, with a strong character. He will return to the other orphenage once he’s completed the therapy at the house.

He used to live in the mountains with his mother who went off to work everyday, and so he stayed in the house on his own. His father doesn’t have any money or a house. Early on in his life, Diego wasn’t stimulated by his surroundings. His mother comes to visit every 2 months, but it’s unlikely that Diego will return to live with her. He’s the gentlest child in the house. When he doesn’t like something, he makes it clear by making little noises. When he came to the house, he couldn’t open his eyes, now he can. He manages to make out shadows, but doesn’t speak. Diego needs a lot of stimulation as he has cerebral palsy.

Yacner was brought to the house by his father who was looking for help once his wife had left him. Father and son had been living in a house without electricity, water, or toilets. His father couldn’t go out to work because his son has cerebral palsy. Now he is a successful baker and comes to visit Yacner every Sunday. It is very obvious that he loves his son with all his heart. When Yacner came to the house he was suffering from malnutrition and stomach cramps. He can’t walk or speak but he has lots of facial expressions. He manages to make out shadows. The house has tried to help Yacner and his father for a while now and the work seems to be successful. The father now has a new family and would like to take Yacner home soon. We have never met the mother and she is now in prison for drug-trafficking. Yacner loves music and kisses.

Sheyla 08/04/2003

Sheyla has mild cerebral palsy, and she has problems speaking. Her dislocated hip makes it difficult to walk. She had an operation to try to solve the problem and she can walk on her own now but not without problems. What’s more, Sheyla is epileptic. Her mother is young and an alcoholic; she’s currently looking for work and needs to sort out her life style. She comes to see her daughter every Sunday and Sheyla sometimes goes to her house too. Sheyla will return to live with her mother one day. Sheyla lacks self-confidence and always needs lots of attention.

Nilda arrived in 2005 straight from the hospital where she was born, as she had a serious lung problem, which according to the doctors should have been fatal. She has cerebral palsy and a lung problem. Her father can’t read or write and is an alcoholic. She also has 8 brothers. Her mother works out in the countryside in order to be able to bring her family a bit of food. Since her birth, Nilda spent more time in hospital than with her family, but she wasn’t welcome at the hospital because the doctors thought she was a hopeless case. Their advice was to leave her to die. But thanks to her time in the house, she has pulled through. She manages to make out shadows. She often has a high temperature, weighs less than average for her age, and her lungs regularly fill up with water. We don’t know how long she will survive, but in the meantime she enchants every helper and volunteer with her magnificent smile. She’s a little one with lots of goodwill who’s fighting for her life.

Ruth Karina 05/03/99

Ruth Karina was one of the first 3 children to come to the house. She was found near the rubbish bins, dogs, pigs, and rats. She was taken to the hospital immediately; her malnutrition was very severe and the doctors thought Ruth Karina had cerebral palsy. She couldn’t move any part of her body, she couldn’t speak, had convulsions (the slightest noise triggered a convulsion), and her body was covered in burns and she was blind. We don’t know anything about Ruth Karina’s life before she was brought to the house and she’ll never be able to tell us. When she came to the house she seemed very sad ... she was in a terrible state for weeks. Gil and Chantal had never seen such an unhappy child, and then one day she smiled. According to the doctors, Ruth Karina’s state is irreversible. She can only eat food in liquid form, and feeding her requires a lot of patience.

On 31 December 2003, Ruth Karina was adopted by Gil and Chantal.