Fight against hunger
Camillians have been in the country for many years since the AIDS pandemic began and were the first ones to develop supporting programs for HIV-positive mothers and their children.
PRO.SA Foundation supports nutritional and health programs developed in the Hogars that have been built in three different places: Lima, Arequipa and Huancayo.
Nutrition is fundamental in HIV+ people’s health. At Hogar San Camillo in Lima assistance programs are implemented according to the children’s age and their HIV+ mothers’ needs and it is possible to involve the nutrition project beneficiaries. Cooking workshops that teach food preparation and conservation techniques, med and health workshops as well as psychological and personal guidance counseling sessions are held on different week days. Nutrition insurance is guaranteed to children and mothers who attend the centre during these days. The Camilos Vida project is addressed to 42 children with their mothers, whereas the Vida Feliz program is addressed to 47 of them.
The 70 children up to 11 years of age which are the target group of Hogar de Niños in Arequipa, in the foothills of the Andes, are born to HIV+ parents and therefore belong to a level of poverty and social exclusion that people with AIDS suffer. In Arequipa many families do not have access to basic services. In most cases women find out they are HIV positive when they go to the hospital to give birth. They attend Hogar de Niños with their children to enjoy a playful and educational moment, as well as to receive an appropriate meal in terms of nutrition. The weekly educational Escuela de Deberes program children are leaded by a teacher and met periodically by a psychologist. Playing and psychomotor activities are held at the centre. On a monthly basis a nutritional expert checks the children’s weight and height in order to monitor malnutrition and health levels.
15 children are currently hosted at Hogar San Camillo in Huancayo. They are welcomed for a limited period of time but long enough to implement a psychophysical improvement process. Customised treatments and nutritional support plans are aimed at make children regain their strength as they are going through a critical stage of the disease, which requires careful and specific assistance and nutrition. The project beneficiary families are economically poor and most children are under the protection of their mothers only, who have been left by their partners because of their disease or have remained widowers. Sawing workshops are held in order to enable them to generate resources to invest in their children’s sustenance and to help themselves regain dignity at the same time.
