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Jirón Puno 1145
A breath of hope for the consequences of illegal mining in the Peruvian region of Madre de Dios.
Nico, 3 years old, rests in the courtyard of the Casa-Hogar Ana Almendro. This home was founded some 12 years ago by the Santa Marta Association to help children in Peru, with the purpose of taking in children who had been abandoned or who had suffered violence in their family environment. In 2014 Hogar Santa Marta changed its name in memory of volunteer Ana Almendro Rodríguez, who died in an accident in the countryside after spending the last days of her life dedicated to the children as a volunteer in her home. The home is located in Puerto Maldonado, which in addition to being the capital of the Department of Madre de Dios, is one of the main commercial centres of the Amazon.
The house has a capacity for 20 children of very different ages, from babies just a few months old to teenagers who, thanks to the training and education they have received, have managed to develop a profession and are leaving the house to live their own lives independently. The philosophy with which all the volunteers who collaborate in the project work is to try to relocate the family whenever possible. If not, we try to arrange an adoption process so that these children can start a new life with another family. During the time they live in the house, all the children are in school, have access to medical care and all their basic needs of food and hygiene are covered.
The housing project has always been financed by private donations. But since 2016, the Diputación de Huelva, through its International Cooperation Service, has been contributing through an agreement with the Santa Marta de Huelva Association.
Thanks to these collaboration agreements with the Diputación de Huelva and the Mancomunidad de Condado de Huelva, they have managed to open a second home called El Señor de los Milagros. It is managed by Teresa, one of the volunteers who arrived a few years ago and decided to stay. This new home has the same capacity as the previous one and takes in children in the same age range and with the same conditions as the other one.
A group of girls from the Casa-Hogar Ana Almendro at the entrance of the centre prepare to go to the Abba School, just a few metres away.
Katy and Jeremy, followed by other children from the home during one of their routine afternoon outings to play in the park. The older children always look after the younger ones and help the volunteers from different parts of the world who come to the home throughout the year.
Puerto Maldonado is located on the banks of the confluence of the Madre de Dios River and the Tambopata River and has a population of approximately 85,000.
From the 20th century onwards, there was a boom in informal mining and logging. This caused a large number of men from other parts of Peru to move to the Madre de Dios region in search of work.
As a direct consequence of illegal mining, major problems with prostitution and alcohol began to emerge, eventually leading to violence and abandonment of children due to unwanted pregnancies.
The lack of means and leisure means that many of these displaced workers end up spending their wages on prostitution and in bars, creating serious problems in the development of society.
Despite all the problems in this region of Peru, the children who live in these two houses are usually happy because they have a home where they are protected from everything that happens outside in the city and where their basic needs are covered.
Many of these children have terrible stories behind them, but thanks to access to a psychologist and the unconditional love they receive from volunteers, they manage to cope.