Although Peru and Pleasanton are thousands of miles apart, the two were recently connected through the generous work of Ken and Carolyn Mano of Pleasanton and their daughter, Natalie, of Berkeley. Ken and Carolyn collected more than 400 pounds of clothes and assembled 88 school kits for children at an orphanage near Cusco, Peru. The couple was inspired to act after Natalie, 40, joined a humanitarian trip to the orphanage, which is run by the Southern Cross Humanitarian organization.
“Just the pictures of the kids,” Ken said is what caused him and his wife to organize these projects. “It’s incredible because all of these kids are deserted or their parents died.”
Over the course of two weeks, the Manos collected nearly 400 pounds of donated clothes. There is no way to know exactly how many people donated because many would leave their donations on the Manos’ porch, but Ken believes easily a couple dozen people made donations. Ken, who is treasurer of Amador Valley High School’s Boosters Club, was able to use that role and sent out announcements about the drive over the Boosters’ listserv.
“Our Boosters Club tries to do things to get our kids and families to do some service in addition to raising money for the teams,” Ken said.
Carolyn took the lead on the school kits by organizing the Relief Society, a ladies group with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which she is involved in. The women donated the kit supplies, which included pencils, colored pencils, rulers and scissors, and assembled 88 kits.
Due to concerns about package delivery in Peru, Natalie and the other volunteers on the trip, 30 in total, took the donations with them in their carry-on luggage when they traveled to the orphanage on June 14. Once in Peru, Natalie was able to help hand out the clothes and school kits, which the children at the orphanage greatly appreciated.
“One kid opened it (the school kit) up and looked at his ruler for a full minute, staring at it, turning it over,” Natalie said. “Another kid had a red pen, and was just thrilled by it. It was really cute. They were so humble about receiving pencils because a lot of these kids have nothing, so it really was their first possessions.”
The clothes were also appreciated, Natalie said.
“Many of the kids just have rags that are so dirty, so they were so appreciative of the new clothes,” she said. “The clothing was in such good shape, that it’s more than they’re use to.”
The group was in Peru for 11 days, and while there the volunteers did a variety of jobs, some helping with the actual building of structures at the orphanage and others working with the children and people in the town. Natalie worked with a group that met with new mothers to teach them mothering skills, such as changing diapers, bathing and other “basic stuff we take for granted.” Additionally, the group donated hygiene kits with baby shampoo, lotion, diapers, pins, and a set of baby clothes to each mother.
Although the trip was a great success, there is still much work to do on the orphanage, Natalie said. Southern Cross Humanitarian currently funds the orphanage, but the goal is to have it be self-sustaining. The organization hopes to do that by building a school at the orphanage that the orphans will be able to attend for free and that families living in the city will send their children to for a fee. This way, the orphanage will not constantly rely on donations, Natalie said. The orphanage is also without electricity, something they hope to get soon by saving enough to buy a $6,000 transformer. But for now, the orphanage is doing well, and the children are happy with what they have.
“They’re so love-starved and it’s so hard,” Natalie said. “Now, they have a bed to sleep in, food to eat, clothes to wear and are going to school. Everything else for them is a bonus. It was such a stark reality of how poor they are, how much they need, and how much we have. When I came home it was a shock. I realized I can open fridge, have anything I want to eat, and it seemed like so much excess.”
Natalie was so moved by her experience in Peru that she plans to go again, and this time the entire Mano family hopes to go, too. Southern Cross Humanitarian is hosting another trip in December, and Ken, Carolyn and Natalie, as well as Ken and Carolyn’s other children, Trent, a student at Brigham Young University, and Melissa, a high school math teacher in Hawaii, will also join them. While there, they will help build the school, Ken said.
