Peru, here I come

Using two weeks of my hard-earned annual holiday I am heading off to Peru for a very special reason…I am heading to an orphanage and safe-house in the city of Cusco in south-eastern Peru – 3,500m above sea-level in the Andes mountain range – to look after the day-to-day needs of babies, children and young girls aged 12 and upwards.The city of Cusco has a population of almost 400,000, and despite being a tourist destination, poverty is rife and the basic infrastructure of social services is very much that of a developing country.The “Casa Hogar La Esperanza” (“house of hope”) looks after young girls left to fend for themselves; some of whom have had children of their own at a very young age due to the abuse they have suffered.

The “Casa de Estrella” (“house of the stars”) is an orphanage for children - some with special needs - that have either been abandoned, or are from tough backgrounds. They have been through an awful lot – often simply to survive.
I have never been to Peru and going all on my own, so why am going? To track down Paddington Bear and also because when I ran the Paris Marathon earlier this year raising funds for the NSPCC I received so much support and help from friends, family, colleagues and even people I didn’t know on the run, it made me really think about the positive impact a stranger’s action can have on someone.

I want to help ‘hands on’ and be on the front line whether that involves cleaning, cooking and the day to day chores involved in the running of a safe house and orphanage. If I can help somebody smile or forget about the trials and tribulations of their daily life – even for a moment – then it will be more than worth it!