SOLENS BØRN - A DANISH NGO

Inti Runakunaq Wasin / The House of the People of the Sun is a street kid project in Cusco , Peru

1 Geographical area

Cusco is the old capital of the incas situated in an altitude of 3.300 m in the Andes south in Peru . It is a city of 300.000-500.000 inhabitants. Every year one million tourists visit Cusco to become acquainted with the culture of the Incas on their way to Machu Picchu .

2. Objectives of the project

To help the children develop their abilities and possibilities, to give them self-confidence and self-worth with reference to a better future.

3. Description of the project

Inti Runakunaq Wasin is run by a staff of 11 Peruvians, who partially work as volunteers. More of them only come half of the day, because they are working elsewhere to get money.

About 40-70 children in the risk group come every day to Inti. Half of the children come in the morning, because they go to school in the afternoon and vice versa.

Every day come 5 mentally handicapped young people, too, who spend all day long at Inti.

Each day has its structured activities: Help for homework, creative workshops of leather, custom jewellery, drawing/painting, music, theatre, handicraft, cooking + sport. The children also get a nurturing meal.

At Inti the children are supported in attending their school.

Inti is a resort for the children. Here is reliable grown-up people, with whom they can talk about their sorrows and pleasures. The staff functions in this way as positive social role models.

The children’s background:e

The children are living in the slum. Often they are disregarded and not receiving care. Occasionally they are abused sexually. The parents come from the mountains to Cusco in hope of work and a better life. It is not possible, they get disappointed. Their customs and culture are dissolving with drinking, prostitution and criminality as a consequence. Principally the children go to school, when they are between 7 and 14 years, but often they are seen wandering the streets, begging a little money from the tourists and getting in contact with doubtful antisocial models.

Often it is the women, who alone have to get money for the maintenance of the children, because the husband don’t do anything for their family or has disappeared.

We want to establish workshops. There is a sewing workshop, where the big girls and young women can learn to cut and sew in order to get earnings.

There is also a big outside oven in Inti Runakunaq Wasin, that should be used and make a base for an education of bakery.

4. The first beginning of Inti Runakunaq Wasin

Inti Runakunaq Wasin was started up by a Danishman, Jens Laurits Sørensen.

He had travelled much in Southamerica and several times been In Cusco. The idea to the project was conceived in 1995 having seen how the children was sniffing glue and went about the streets at night to scratch a bare living. After a lot of bureaucracy and obtaining of a bank loan he succeeded at last in starting up the project in a small apartment in 1999. The first years Jens financed the project himself by travelling to Denmark to work and then back to Cusco , but this was not sustainable in the long term.

5. Description of Solens Børn, Danish supporting organization for Inti Runakunaq Wasin

In 2002 Jens started up the organization Solens Børn here in Denmark .

The organization has about 140 members and a board of 7 persons working together to realize the purpose of the organization.

6. If you want to support:

Please donate at our account in

Merkurbanken

SWIFT / BIC MEKUD21

IBAN nr. 6784010001038589

Reg nr 8401

Account nr 1038589