Chulucanas Peru

So we left last night around 730 and arrived in Piura this morning at 11. From there we made our way into Chulucanas, a remote town in northern Peru. After a good lunch and some time to rest we went to the alberque "home of refuge" for the very first time. It was shocking to see the great need that this home is in for such basic things. Let me give you an idea.  The home is for children whose parents don't want them, are unable to take care of them, abuse or neglect them.
Right now in the home there are 20 children between the ages of 1 and 16. The building that they use is old and dirty, it would be considered an abandoned warehouse if it were in the US. There are 20 children but only 12 beds. There are 20 children and 3 desks pushed together for a dining room table. The beds are falling apart and dangerous because of that. The walls are dirty, white and the paint is chipping. The kitchen is tiny with a four burner stove, it needs to be better, but so does the food situation. They eat when there is food. Sister Maria Luisa who is one of the main ladies in charge told us that some days the children have to go out and beg for food.
They depend solely on donations, but they are few and far between. There is a classroom, with one desk and no books or shelves, where some of the children are tutored. The childrens' clothes are stacked on the floor in either of the three rooms with bunk beds. They don't have much clothing and not all of it is the right size. There are quite a few kids under 3, and they don't have any cribs. The bathrooms are unimaginable for an American. In addition to all of this, because of their family situations the children are very distrustful and clearly have emotional and psychological disorders.

It is our goal while we are here to make this into an appropiate living space. The immediate needs would be to get members of the Chulucanas community to support this project with donations of particularly food, and clothing as well. But there are many other things that need to be done that are going to cost more than we can afford. Tomorrow we hope to repair beds that they currently have, by putting in new screws and such. But there are still 12 beds and 20 kids. With financial support we'll be able to supply them with at least 4 more bunk beds and maybe even a few cribs.
We would also love to buy 2 simple dining room tables, if we were able to do this than the desks that are used to eat on, could be moved into the classroom and used as desks! Tomorrow also we will be going through the clothes on the floor and attempting to organize them as best we can. But cabinets would be amazing...again they cost money.
As soon as we're finished with the clothes, we will start cleaning the walls of the dust, dirt and spider webs. But even with that cleaned, it is still an ugly old warehouse. We would really love to be able to paint at least the common areas in some bright colors to make this home a little more fitting for a handful of children.
Please if you can give anything to help us help these kids please let us know. We haven't figured out how to get the funds, but we are working on that now. Thank you so much for reading this. Check out the pictures and please keep us in your prayers!