Author: Lauren Haas

Hello, Global Family!

We hope you’re all safe and well. For the first time in years, we have nearly all the Niños together. The older youths — who usually enjoy semi-independent living in our Cusco apartment while they attend universities and institutes — are staying with their younger siblings in the Casa in Urubamba.

Before the Coronavirus locked Peru down, the kids had just returned from visiting their extended families on their Summer break. Traditionally, we welcome them back with a trip as a group, so they can return to school refreshed and feeling connected.

Feb 16: East Bay Gratitude Lunch for our friends/ supporters!

This is an open invitation from Avishai to all friends and supporters of Niños del Sol who live in the Bay Area.

We have two new college graduates this year!

This year, after hosting her yoga tour to the Sacred Valley, our dear friend Kristen Stuart returned to spend time with the Niños. She’s shared a wealth of photos so you can see how our Niños are growing into fine young people.

This year, we’re inviting you to send your holiday greetings to the kids (and/or staff) in Peru. We’ll share your messages directly with Viviana, Avishai, and the Niños to fill the casa with love and joy from our Global Family.

In addition, your Giving Tuesday donations will be matched up to $1,750, thanks to a pledge from two of our generous donors!

Your contribution is also part of a beautiful holiday of selfless giving, designed to balance the energy of Black Friday. Namasté.

Dear all,

All our children are thriving, growing, changing. The home in Urubamba with our teenagers is very peaceful and centered; I attribute this to the excellent work performed by Kellye, a young woman showing always love and respect to the children.

This is what mornings look like in our Casa in Urubamba.

We are about $3,000 short this month of being able to send enough money to Peru to cover all the bills (salaries, rents, tuition, etc).

When I was living in Peru 14 years ago, I got to visit my dear friend Mama Kia, and her home that she created for the 25+ street children she adopted.  I helped to work in the garden and received so much inspiration from witnessing her live in pure devotion, love and service. 

We frequently hear from potential donors that “Your cost per child is much higher than other children’s homes.”

Yes, we know.

Many of you who have visited us in Peru donated your energy to help our garden grow. I thought you might like to see the fruits of your labor!

We need just $2060 more each month to cover our expenses. Will you help?

We’ve been living & loving in our home in Urubamba for three years now, and it shows.

Recently I sent some photos that I took two years ago to Kiva, our volunteer, and she duplicated the shots as the house looks now. Take a look!

Recently Viviana sent a first-quarter update to our board members, and she gave me permission to share it with all of you as well. I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as we did!

Our girls face even more social obstacles than the boys when it comes to education, and moving to the big city to go to college can be quite daunting.

The Niños returned from their trip to Lima last night. They left at 1 in the morning, drove 16 hours over the mountains, and arrived home exhausted. But when we asked them if they would like to send thank-you notes to the donors who made their trip possible, they jumped at the chance.

Our organization is made up of two separate pieces: The Peruvian organization (headed by Viviana and Avishai) handles all aspects of programming, while the US organization (headed by our Board) handles fundraising and provides some financial oversight.

Our Cusco kids (aka “The College Kids”) have moved into a new apartment.

We celebrated Doris’s 18th birthday on February 6 with a surprise party in Avishai and Viviana’s home.

I love hearing from members of our Global Family who started with a small donation and are ready to increase it! Of course, I’m also here for  people who’ve had a change in their circumstances and need to suspend their monthly donations. Or maybe you just want your donation to be taken out on a different day of the month; I can help with that as well.

Continue reading “How can I change my monthly donation?”

Our kids love to cook. If you’ve watched our original video with Mama Kia, you might remember her saying that she never had to deal with a picky eater in this crowd — children who’ve known food scarcity in their youth know how to appreciate the joy of food abundance.

Now that our kids are teenagers, we’re often asked why they don’t get part-time jobs to help cover their expenses. For someone who lives in the United States or Europe, this seems like a really natural way for a teen to gain experience, learn responsibility, and help out a household that is struggling financially.

This update is from Avishai, our Associate Director. 

In our recent staff meeting, I found myself saying “In my view, this period of the last few months have been the most harmonious time we had at the Casa since Viviana and I started in 2013.”

Gratitude and Love to our Global Family for making possible that this garden of life blooms to the fullest! with your ongoing support, the children are able to continue nourishing their dreams and hopes for a good future, breaking the chain of abandonment, abuse, limitation, and poverty. Here’s what each of the kids is up to at the moment:

Continue reading “Checking in with the Niños: Update from Viviana”

Our Casa was recently graced with a very special presence. Rebecca Schisler, who is an artist, mindfulness educator, and youth mentor, brought a group of 30 energetic and talented teens from France into our space and they created magic.