Westfalia Orphanage 30 year anniversary!

On 23 November Westfalia Orphanage celebrated 30 years! Literally thousands of children from abandoned babies aged only a day or two, to toddlers and teens, have been provided housing, food, education, guidance and most importantly, love for 30 years. It’s such an amazing achievement. Most of the children don’t have any family at all and have moved on to apprenticeships, university, careers and families.

This photo from the 30th anniversary is of ex-Westfalia members! Most of them started as babies at the orphanage and left at 18 to study or work. Incredible!

Some of the children practiced for many weeks and dressed up and performed at the party. The theme was the various cultures throughout Peru and their unique dress and dance.

A huge thank you to all the children, past and present, and all the carers for their amazing love and help. And of course a big thanks to all of you who have helped with donations of food, clothes or funds, physically volunteering on our various projects and even just sharing our projects on your social media. I have been involved with the orphanage for 10 years now and many amazing people have helped with the various projects and needs of Westfalia. Here’s a few photos of some of the people who donated elbow grease!

Myself with Randy who was in charge of the Water Project installing water filters to bring fresh, clean water to the orphanage for the first time ever. In the background are some friends from Randy’s church in the US came to Peru to help.

One of the many work teams involved in the Water Project over the course of a few years! It was a huge job.

Peru, the US, England and Australia represented!

Nadine and family

 

More US and Colombian help for the Water Project

Australia, Germany, Denmark and Peru! Actually, David, on the right, first volunteered with me at a school in Cusco, Peru in 2007 when I first came to Peru! A great friend.

And of course the huge, huge, huge help with providing food and clothes. Even though I have lost 2 hard drives over the years (with no backups) I still have thousands of photos so I’ll just throw in some!

 

And a quick shout-out to my car! A 2007 Fiat Palio Adventure which has somehow made the trek up and down the mountains every week for 9 years with few complaints!! Trust me, I have talked to her many times begging her not to break down on the journeys! I used to spend 2 hours each way catching buses before my car so I’m thankful! 🙂

I’m in the middle of organizing my 1oth, yes 10th!, Christmas party for the kids at Westfalia so please watch out for that!

Much love to everyone! Thank you!