Kiya Survivors - Projects

The Rainbow House

The Rainbow House

For the past 3 years Kiya has been looking for a solution to the dilemmas of where to safely house children with special needs whom have been orphaned, abandoned or abused in the Urubamba district.
None of the Orphanages near to The Rainbow Centre would accept children with special needs or had adequate staff or facilities. Faced with a number of children living in desperate poverty and suffering abuse from their parents, Kiya decided to open The Rainbow House. However, as always, nothing is as simple as it looks and the legal complications of opening a second orphanage in Peru were a vast worry.
After much debate we decided to get some plans drawn up and start fund raising, once we had sufficient funds, we would be in a better position to decide where and how The Rainbow House would be set up.
With generous donations from one off supporters and volunteers followed by a hefty £10,000 donation from students and staff at Copenhagen International School, by the end of 2006 we had reached our target. With £18,000 securely in the bank and 6 kids still needing a home we were now desperate for a solution.
In early 2007 the mother of the family of six children at the forefront of our concerns died suddenly and unexpectedly in hospital, following a complicated physical and psychological illness that many doctors were unable to diagnosis. The children had been living in conditions of extreme poverty, abuse and neglect. After the death of their mother, their father agreed that he was unable to look after them, due to his problem with alcohol abuse and the high level of needs of his children; three of the six have some form of special need.
And the Rainbow House was born…Kiya currently rent a beautiful two storey house with garden just out of town, where the children are safe and have plenty of room to play. There are currently seven children living there, all of whom have had to leave their homes because of abandonment, abuse and neglect.

The Rainbow House

Kiya employs two substitute mothers to look after the children to make sure they are always well fed, cared for and safe. The improvement in the childrens development since they have been receiving three meals a day, have a warm bed to sleep in at night and don’t have to worry about violence or abuse is incredible. Their concentration is better, their social skills have improved and despite all they have been through at such young ages they are happy and well adjusted children.
Three of the children are Rainbow Centre students, and the other four attend local mainstream schools or nurseries. They all attend the Rainbow Centre every day for lunch and to take part in workshops, so we maintain close daily contact with all of the children.
We have recently begun sending our volunteers to do overnight stays at the house, and it has been an all round success. Volunteers relish the opportunity to spend time with the children in the more relaxed home environment and enjoy playing and having fun with the children. And the kids love having the volunteers there to play with and learn from…they have even been learning some English!
It’s a real honour to be part of this project and see the children growing into happy and healthy young people when we remember what life used to be like for them. The Rainbow House has changed their lives forever and thank you to all our sponsors and supporters for helping us make this project a reality!