It has been a joyous December at Hogar de Esperanza. There has been a massive outpouring of gifts to children of the Orphanage. What has really been special is that the Peruvians have given a great deal of gifts and have spent time in visiting. The 24th of December we had a special dinner for the children with a presentation of gifts and a program. The staff and the children want to thank all the people that sent gifts this year.

Vickie and I would like to thank the students of Michelle Elias and Michelle herself for the tremendous passion in supporting Hogar de Esperanza. Michelle’s Christmas concert featured 35 of her students who sang for over two hours. A DVD was made of the concert with all the proceeds going towards the orphanage. Seeing as this has been such a success, Michelle is looking at putting on another series of concerts this summer to continue to raise funds for the children of the orphanage. Michelle Elias along with Paul Roy have called the project “Kids helping Kids”. A website is being developed called http://www.kidshelpingkidsfoundation.com to provide a way for Canadian kids to help the children of Peru and specifically the children at the Hogar de Esperanza!

Looking toward the new year we want to continue developing the educational system we have at the Ranch and Orphanage. The Ranch is especially challenging because the boys are 13-15 and come in having very little interest in educating themselves. We are working on programs where the boys take on responsibility like farming chores in the morning and in the afternoon and are giving individual studies including technical skills training. The program is bearing fruit with several of the older boys taking on a lot of responsibility. Also they are excelling in their studies and spiritual growth. At the orphanage, we are working on obtaining more library books and refining our basic curriculum.

Also, I would like to put out a call to everyone that we have 13 boys and girls that would love to have a father and mother. If you know of anyone that is thinking of adoption, please have them contact me. Thank you for all of your support and que Dios Les bendiga.

Chau,

Dave