Juan Luis Rod

Nico, 3 years old, rests in the patio of the Casa-Hogar Ana Almendro. This house was founded about 12 years ago by the Santa Marta Association to help children in Peru, with the purpose of welcoming abandoned children or those who had suffered violence in their family environment. In 2014 the Hogar Santa Marta changed its name in memory of the volunteer Ana Almendro Rodríguez, who died in an accident in the field after spending the last days of her life dedicated to children as a volunteer at home. The house 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 centers of the Amazon.

The house has a capacity for 20 children of very different ages, from babies of just a few months to teenagers who, thanks to the training and education received, have managed to develop a profession and are leaving the house to live their own lives in a way Independent. 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 process 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 schooled, have access to health care and all their basic food and hygiene needs are covered.

The home project has always been financed with private donations. But since 2016, the Diputación de Huelva, through its International Cooperation Service, contributes 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 house called El Señor de los Milagros. Managed by Teresa, one of the volunteers who arrived a few years ago and decided to stay. This new house has the same capacity as the previous one and houses children in the same age range and with the same conditions as the other.

A group of girls from the Casa-Hogar Ana Almendro at the entrance of the center are ready to go to the Abba School, just a few meters away.

Katy and Jeremy, followed by other kids in the house during one of the routine outings they usually do in the afternoon to play at the park. The elderly always take care of the little ones and help the volunteers from different parts of the world who come to the house 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 an approximate population of about 85,000 inhabitants.

From the twentieth century there was a 'boom' around informal mining and logging. This caused a large number of the male population from other parts of Peru to move to the Madre de Dios region in search of work.

As a direct consequence of illegal mining, great problems began to arise with prostitution and alcohol that eventually led to violence and abandonment of children due to unwanted pregnancies.

The lack of means and of leisure causes that many of these workers displaced until the zone finish spending their salaries in the prostitution and in the bars, creating serious problems in the development of the society.

Despite all the problems that occur 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 they have their basic needs covered. .

Many of these children have terrible stories behind them, but thanks to the access to a psychologist and the unconditional love they receive from the volunteers, they manage to get ahead.