AuthorGlennys Sabuco Archives
August 2025
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A Wall That Welcomes1/29/2017  The PRITE (Programa de Intervencion Temprana) early intervention program in San Ramon, Peru is a welcoming place for babies and toddlers and their parents. It’s a place of smiles and laughter, of encouragement and support, as teachers provide therapy to their youngest students. These children have disabilities such as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, vision and hearing impairment, and generalized developmental delay. Prior to leaving on each trip, we talk with the directors of the programs about their priorities, their dreams. We listen and, to the extent that we’re able, we help with their wishes. When we spoke with Edith Gladys Calderon, director of PRITE San Ramon, she told us they needed a wall. The program, which just opened its doors in 2015, was growing and a second teacher had been hired. Two teachers were sharing a small classroom. With babies, toddlers, parents, teachers, and therapists all in one room, the children were easily distracted. Edith wanted to know if we could build a wall to divide the classroom, giving each teacher her own space. We hired a contractor when we were there in July and, after we left, the wall was built. Here are some pictures of the process and of the amazing ladies serving in this program. They have become our friends, some for several years now, and have welcomed us just as they welcome the children and parents. Thank you, our dear friends, muchas gracias, queridas amigas.
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Giving Tuesday11/29/2016  It’s Giving Tuesday! Please consider making a donation to help children with disabilities in Peru. Money donated today will go toward buying a specialized wheelchair for a little boy with severe cerebral palsy who lives high in the Andes mountains of Peru.
We work with four schools in Peru – two for students with disabilities from ages three to 20 and two early intervention programs for infants and toddlers. We’ve put in a playground, bought wheelchairs for children who can’t walk, provided augmentative communication for children who can’t talk. We currently pay for medication for two little girls with severe seizure disorders and are making plans to assist a young woman who will turn 20 this year and no longer qualify for educational services. We make donations to a local food pantry and recently built a wall which turned one larger classroom into two smaller classrooms to accommodate growth in the program. We’ve bought materials, including a microwave and blender, to enable one of the programs to provide daily snacks to their students. We’ve taken leg braces, donated by a local school for students with disabilities, for children with orthopedic problems, and then bought the children new shoes to fit over their braces. We’re a small 501(c)3 organization. We make annual trips to Peru and work closely with the directors of the programs to determine their priorities. We’re committed to using 100% of donations to help the children, their families, their teachers, and their communities and personally reimburse any fees deducted from contributions. Have a wonderful day. Muchas gracias, amigos!
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Amigos por Siempre - Friends Forever9/25/2016  This sign was on the wall at San Manuelito School in San Ramon, Peru when we arrived there in July. These people are truly our friends. It’s incredibly gratifying to get to know the wonderful, amazing teachers and staffs at these schools. We’re working at four schools now for children with disabilities, two for children ages three to twenty with severe disabilities and two early intervention programs for infants and toddlers up to age three. The teachers and staffs of these programs are hardworking, dedicated professionals who are changing the lives of their precious students. These pictures show the teams from each school, (1) PRITE (Programa de Intervencion Temprana – early intervention program) Huancayo and (2) Senor de los Milagros School in Huancayo, high in the Andes mountains; and (3) PRITE San Ramon and (4) San Manuelito School in San Ramon, in the beautiful central jungle. Amigos por siempre – friends forever. Muchas gracias, Amigos. You give us more than we could ever give to you.
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Teachers Day8/28/2016  Wednesday, July 6th, was Dia del Maestro, Day of the Teacher, and the schools were closed. Maria, the director of Senor de los Milagros, took us to lunch and we had an interesting conversation regarding services for adults with disabilities in Peru. For families without money, there are none. As I understand it, children with disabilities can receive services from public schools from birth to age 20, with a greater intensity of services in Lima and other large cities and much less in rural areas, but on their twentieth birthdays, the children’s care, for the rest of their lives, regardless of severity of disability, becomes totally the responsibility of their families, with no governmental support. Maria described how frustrating this is to her. She and her staff work tirelessly to provide the highest quality education they are able, with limited resources, to their students with severe disabilities. And then, suddenly, it’s over. The child is out of school, with nothing to replace it, no job coach, no DSPD, no Medicaid, nothing. We had a similar conversation two years ago with the president of the parent’s organization at our first school, San Manuelito, with a mother struggling to find help for her two young adult children with Down Syndrome. “No hay nada,” she told us, “There is nothing.” Maria asked if there is any way Amigos de San Manuelito might be able to help these families. Our first thought was, “No, we can’t. We’re too small. We don’t have enough money.” As the conversation continued, we realized that maybe, on a very small scale, there is something we can do. Maybe we can help one child, one young adult with disabilities, to have at least a slightly better quality of life. Maybe next year the young woman with severe autism who calmed when we gave her headphones, who will turn 20 next year, maybe there is something we can do, something, to help her family in some way with her care. And as we grow as an organization, maybe another young adult, maybe another, maybe another. It takes a village. The need is so great. 
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Highlights from Huancayo8/21/2016  Friday, July 8, 2016 Tuesday we had the wonderful experience of visiting the Señor de los Milagros school for children with severe disabilities in Huancayo, Peru. Everyone gathered in one room to celebrate Dia del Maestro, Day of the Teacher, a holiday honoring teachers. We were able to pass out gifts and interact with children and teachers. Several people made speeches honoring the teachers and thanking us. I felt humbled and grateful for all their kindness. I felt compelled to say something, in my limited Spanish, so I talked about how glad we were to be there, how much we admire their hard work and dedication, and that we are all working together for the benefit of the children. They gave certificates and cakes to the teachers, showed a slide show of the students, and had belly dancers accompanied by a young dancer with Down Syndrome, a student at the school. They served lunch of quinoa with a cheese sauce and rice and, much differently from schools in the U.S., served wine with the meal. The most rewarding experience for me occurred with a 19-year-old young woman who was screaming as she entered the room. The director, Maria Cecilia Ore Vidalon, had told us about her last year. She has severe autism and noise hurts her ears. We placed headphones on her head, which muffled the sound, and immediately she relaxed. She was quiet, calm, smiling occasionally, throughout the morning. We gave Maria a laptop computer, donated by Affordable Laptops in Riverton, Utah, and saw the beginnings of tears in her eyes. Although the government has given the school a computer, she has not had one of her own, one that she could take back and forth from school to home. She is a deeply committed educational professional. When we first met her last year, she said, “Es mi vocation; this is my vocation.” We also gave a wheelchair to a nine-year-old and set up a ball pit for the children. We gave the school a box full of school supplies and passed out toothbrushes and toothpaste to everyone. I did a little training in calming strategies for children with autism and sensory sensitivities, as well as in picture communication systems for children who cannot talk. The teachers were welcoming and friendly, eager to learn new strategies, full of compassion for their students. I wanted to stay longer.
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Our trip7/22/2016 Hola Amigos! We’re home from Peru. We had a wonderful, amazing trip, gracias a Dios, and are excited to tell you about it. We had hoped to send pictures throughout the trip but had very limited internet service. So here we are, tired, happy, grateful, experiencing just a little culture shock as we return to everyday life. We hope you enjoy our stories. Muchas gracias a todos. Wednesday, July 6, 2016 Hola Amigos. I’m writing from Huancayo, Peru, high in the Andes mountains. It’s July, summer at home, and I’m wearing four layers of clothing as I type. We sleep with hot water bottles, filled with boiling water; we awaken to cold air, cold showers, and hot cafe con leche. We’ve spent the past two days at schools for children with disabilities here, Monday at PRITE Huancayo, an early intervention program for infants and toddlers, and Tuesday at the Señor de los Milagros school for children with severe disabilities. We’ve felt joy, energy, excitement of learning, from both the children and teachers. This is the first time since we arrived that I’ve had a chance to write. It’s our eighth trip to Peru since 2010. We’ve ´´adopted´´ two schools for children with severe disabilities here, as well as two early intervention programs. We began with one school, San Manuelito, in la selva central, the central jungle, city of San Ramon, province of Chanchamayo. Two years ago, we added Señor de los Milagros, and last year we added two early intervention programs, one in Huancayo and the other in San Ramon. In 2014 we were approved as a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, Amigos de San Manuelito. We feel that this is our calling, at this point in our lives, that this is where God wants us to be. Our mission is to help increase the independence of children with disabilities in Peru, through their families, schools, and communities. We arrived in Lima late at night on Wednesday, June 29th, with our grandson, Dominick, who just graduated from high school, as well as with six suitcases filled with materials for the schools, three carry-on bags, and four computers. We spent the next two days shopping, our niece, Karina and nephew, Paul, driving through the maze of Lima traffic. We bought a wheelchair, baby strollers, sensory materials for children with autism, a boom box, and school supplies. Friday morning, Francisco’s cousin’s son, Martin, set up the computers in Spanish. Saturday Paul, drove us to Huancayo, normally an eight-hour trip, interrupted this time by two hours parked in a construction zone. We passed through Ticlio, the highest occupied village in the world, at 4818 meters (15,806 feet) and breathed the cold thin air of the high Andes mountains. Monday we visited the PRITE (programa de intervencion temporal – program of early intervention) facility. Located in the basement of a skating rink, it serves 56 children from birth to age three and their families. The children have disabilities such as Down Syndrome, autism, spina bifida, cerebral palsy, and developmental delay due to prematurity. We’ve worked with the director, Gloria Yda Ricse Chavaya, since 2010, when she was director of San Manuelito. She’s a wonderful teacher and friend. At the PRITE program, we spent time with children and parents, observed outstanding teaching, did a little teacher training, and talked with the staff. We felt the intensity of their dedication, their joy in teaching, the love they put into their work. They told us their dream of setting up a cocinera, a small kitchen area where they could provide the children with snacks. Then we observed as they gave the children a snack prepared earlier, a Peruvian potato dish. I know from my own experience teaching young children with disabilities that snack time is perfect for language stimulation, social interaction, development of self-help skills, making choices, and numerous incidental teaching opportunities. We saw these things happening and were eager to help. So we spent the rest of the day shopping with Gloria. We bought a microwave and blender, thermoses, plates, cups, bowls, plasticware, a dishpan, a drainer; everything on Gloria’s list of desired materials. We went from small shop to small shop searching for each item, and after several hours, found them all. We hope, next year, to buy a small refrigerator.
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All packed6/28/2016 We're leaving for Peru at midnight! Thank you, Dr. Brandon Robison, for toothbrushes, and thank you, Tavana, for more. Thank you, Nisay, for staying with Jeb. Thank you, Janet, for driving us. Thank you Kauri Sue Hamilton School for braces. Thank you, Affordable Laptops and Bad Apple. Thank you to everyone who donated, everyone who encourages us, everyone who prays for us. We're very grateful. I've made a bunch of communication boards for kids who can't talk, because everyone has something to say. We're packed and almost ready to go. Muchas gracias a todos!
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Gracias6/14/2016 Thank you, Kauri Sue Hamilton School, Riverton, Utah. Thank you, Affordable Laptops, Riverton, Utah. Thank you Bad Apple Computers, South Jordan, Utah. Thank you and muchas gracias. We’re going to Peru in two weeks. We’ll volunteer at two schools for children with severe disabilities and two infant-toddler early intervention programs. We don’t do this alone. Thanks to the children (with help from their parents) at Kauri Sue Hamilton School for children with disabilities in Jordan School District, we’re able to provide leg braces to children in Peru who can’t walk. These are braces the Kauri Sue students have outgrown. They’ve donated braces for several years now and are changing children’s lives in Peru. Thank you to Affordable Laptops in Riverton. They’ve given us two rebuilt computers (they offered us ten last year but we can only take one each) and we’re taking one to each school. They’ve also helped us for several years now. These make a major difference to the teachers there. And thank you to our newest community Amigo, Bad Apple in Riverton, for donating two ipads. We’re setting these up as augmentative communication devices for children who can’t talk. This is the first time we’ve been able to do this and we’re excited. Thank you, muchas gracias, Amigos.
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Getting ready6/5/2016 We’re leaving for Peru in just over three weeks! If any of our friends in the Salt Lake Valley would consider helping us collect school supplies for teachers of children with disabilities there, we would greatly appreciate it. We’re working with two schools now, one in the jungle and one in the Andes mountains, as well as early intervention programs for infants and toddlers in both locations. Each time we go, we prepare bags of supplies for all the teachers. Some things we could use include crayons, markers, paint sets, paintbrushes, glue, scotch tape, children’s scissors, adult scissors, small educational toys, and small stuffed animals. We can’t take paper because it’s too heavy. If you’d like to help, please contact me for more information. Muchas gracias, Amigos
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Prite5/22/2016 We all know the excitement of a child’s first steps. Or the joy in hearing the first exclamations of “Mama” or “Dada.” But what happens when the first steps don’t come, when the first words don’t appear, when a child does not walk, does not speak? This is a challenging time for parents, in many ways. Support can be critical. And early intervention can make a tremendous difference in the life of a child. The government of Peru is expanding services for infants and toddlers with disabilities. We’re excited to have “adopted” two programs. They’re called PRITE (Programa de Intervencion Temprana), which means “early intervention program.” One is located in the San Manuelito school in San Ramon, in the central jungle, and the other is in Huancayo, high in the Andes mountains. I received an email from our friend, Edith Cossio Calderon, director of the San Ramon program, with pictures of some of the children. This program just opened last year and serves about 30 children. The children have diagnoses such as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, seizure disorders, and developmental delay. Edith is hoping we can help build walls to divide a large room into smaller classrooms. With teachers, parents, therapists, babies, and toddlers all in one room, it’s difficult to provide the best services. She’s also hoping we can help with materials to enhance cognitive and sensorimotor development and language stimulation. She knows exactly what she needs, exactly what the children need. She just needs some help to provide it. Sometimes progress comes in baby steps. Edith and her colleagues, Alicia, Gloria, and Elvira, are giving these precious young children the opportunity to learn and grow, and even, perhaps, to walk and talk. |
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