Hundreds of people from all over America worked for a year to raise money, collect toys, medical supplies, and clothing. Boy-scouts and students from primary to high schools raised money, wrote Christmas cards to the orphans, collected and donated goods, and helped to pack them all up for shipping. More than one hundred large boxes were delivered to the orphans. This was remarkable, as clearing customs in Colombia can be unbelievably difficult. A Wounded Yet Caring Orphanage Sister Valeriana and staff at Hogares have cared for the orphans for fourteen years.
Many children are bed-ridden, blind, or deaf.
Others suffer with cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, crippling skin diseases, or severe burns. The orphanage is now quite crowded as there have been less than a dozen adoptions since the orphanage was founded. Not all of the children are actual orphans-some are there because their families are unable or unwilling to care for them. By any standard the orphanage is well run and clean. It was nothing like what is found in Russia, Romania, or Bosnia.