Hogar de Gina !!!
 
   


The Benefactors

The Gina Foundation was founded by Arjan de Rijke and Marjon Reffeltrath. In January 2007, they visited Peru and discovered in a home a little girl, five years old: Gina. This girl, with her innocence and her habit of constantly asking them questions, stole their hearts. There they came to know the reality of institutionalized childhood in Peru as a consequence of being abandoned or at high moral or social risk. Unfortunately, on May 22, 2007, Gina died in an accident caused by the poor conditions of her home. Because of this, the Association of Hogar de GINA was created in memory of this particular girl, promising to dedicate a safer and friendlier place for abandoned and at-risk girls and teenagers like Gina. The Gina Foundation was founded in September of 2008 by notary deed. The Gina Foundation from Holland supports projects, both inside and outside of the country, with the goal of assisting with childhood development. It currently supports "Hogar de Gina" in Peru.
 
         
 

The Hogar de Gina

Hogar de Gina is a refuge in Peru with the capacity to house twenty girls between four and twenty-two years of age. The girls come for shelter for many different reasons. Many of the girls come from families who have long histories of poverty. In Peru, some parents do not have enough money to guarantee the minimal conditions of life for the girls. Illness and malnutrition are common problems for the girls. The girls do not attend school because their parents cannot permit them to. Many girls are victims of domestic or sexual violence. The fathers have propensities towards abusing alcohol or drugs and may abandon their children. Some of the girls have only been educated and been exposed to manners of this variety. The mothers need to work to provide the minimal resources for subsistence.
 
The result is that before and after school, the girls wander the streets of the neighborhoods without supervision. Hogar de Gina offers to these girls a place of refuge. Hogar de Gina is a philanthropic, humanitarian, and nonprofit home institution that provides a residence, assistance, and protection to girls and teenagers in states of abandonment, partial abandonment, or who are at moral or social risk. Hogar de Gina supports projects in the house that focus upon their development and reinsertion into family and society. A large team of experienced people, in coordination with professionals (Social Workers, Special Needs Teachers, Psychologists, Doctors, Educators, and Institutions), supervise the administration of this home and house as a family that is dedicated to the search of creating a solid, personal formation and the realization of technical and professional goals.
 
         
     
         
 


History

In January of 2007, the president and treasurer visited the Hogar de Gina by accident. The shelter was, at that moment, a charge of a large religious organization that carried out many different projects to give to the unfortunate people in Peru. The circumstances that the shelter found were miserable. They did not have enough food. The old school where the girls went showed serious deficiencies because of a lack of maintenance. The girls had many domestic chores and had little or no educational attention and assistance. This is the routine that the girls followed: "At six in the morning we wake up. We finish our breakfast and a half hour later we walk to go to school. At three we walk from school a half hour to the shelter. When we arrive we prepare our lunch and complete our daily chores. To continue, we did our homework. Sometimes, there is a little time to play. Above all, we like volleyball. After playing, around seven, we make dinner. At eight o´clock we have to be in our rooms and the lights turn off."
 
At the end of January of 2008, it was announced that the organization that managed the shelter was about to go bankrupt. The shelter closed and the girls were sent to other houses. These girls were more than once isolated from their family settings. The Cordillera Foundation of Canada decided to support the shelter. The following advances were financed through the support of Canada and the Netherlands: There is more and more variety of food. The girls can go to school by bus so that they have more time for themselves. The girls can go to the university after high school. It is possible to buy school supplies and school uniforms. Now they live together for many years and consider each other as family. If this family was dismantled, it would negatively affect many of the girls. A group of invaluable Peruvians is doing everything possible to avoid that, and they receive help from the Gina Foundation of the Netherlands. The shelter must continue forward!
 
         
   
     
 


Project Hogar de Gina
 

 
     
 


Phase 1

At the end of July 2008, the Association of Gina was founded. It was a Peruvian foundation with most of its volunteers from Peru. This foundation was trying to take over the home. The shelter, in collaboration with the Ministry for Women and the Tribunal of Minors, had responsibility for creating the girl´s home. At the end of 2008, this dream became reality. The shelter was then officially named Hogar de Gina. In 2007, the government elaborated new and stricter Peruvian laws with respect to the creation and functioning of orphanages. As a basis, the need to connect with a well-funded project, the accounts must be audited annually, they must have a doctor, a psychologist, and an education worker for every ten children in the offered services. The government recognized the shelter Hogar de Gina at the end of 2008, and it was converted into a reality, one of the first shelters complying with the new requirements! The Gina Foundation from Holand would later work with the Cordillera Foundation from Canada and the French Solenpe Foundation in Peru to assist the Association of Gina to interact in the organizational and financial levels.


 
     
 


Phase 2

The Hogar de Gina was located in a building that was not owned by the Gina Association. The girls could only remain in the current building until the end of 2009. In July of 2008, the volunteers of the Association of Gina, along with the secretary of the foundation in Holland, looked at possible solutions. To find an existing house that adequately served the girl´s needs seemed almost impossible. Because of this, they decided to construct a new home. This house was built near the city where the current shelter was located. During the search for good lots, they took into account the possibility that the shelter in the future could make its own food so that it could continue and grow with the ability to maintain itself. The construction was built by Peruvian professionals. Once again, this provided connections for the local population.


 
     
 


Phase 3

The previous shelter used to focus upon supervision and dedicated little attention to education. The shelter can now house twenty girls, all with different stories and histories. It is important to see what plan is best suited for each girl. For this, we bring in employees with experience with child education, psychology, and behavior to identify the needs at an early age and to supervise each case individually. In addition to the enhanced, educational attention in the shelter, it is recognized that each child should be able to return home. The objective of shelter is to care for only those girls who arrive at the reception installations and whose development is threatened at home. We also want to help the parents who wish to care for their children but cannot, for instance, because of debt. Because of unemployment due to poverty, young orphans walk through the streets because their parents work during the day. The solution is to have the children enter the shelter after school. There are children who receive lunch, dinner, and assistance with their homework. In the afternoons and weekends, these children are with their families. For this phase of implementation, there is not money to employ a social worker and an additional educational specialist. This experience would complete the development of these professionals.


 
     
   
     
                  Hogar de Gina !!!