HISTORY

History

In 1994 Wendy Brown from New Zeland
and Jens Lauris Sorensen from Denmark
met in Cusco where they both built
a strong friendship and shared a dream.
This dream was of helping the street children
of Cusco, as they were deeply touched by the impression of seeing that these kids were sleeping in the street. This is when Wendy and Jens started to work for a Creative House
for the children, where they can learnt
a lot of useful things for their future
and especially could feel that they were
beeing loved and respected by adults.

For 3 years they established contact with many people and institutions, looking for people who like to work for the kids without expecting nothing in return, and with them create an institution. This task was not easy due the economic situation of the country, because it wasn´t easy to find people with some experience that wanted to give part of their spare time to work for the children.
So in 1998 they both establish contact with Peru’s First Lady’s Office, and in INABIF (goverment entity in charge of the childhood and women welfare), where they were adviced to contact Mrs. Luz Marina Fugueroa Arias, a Sociologist with wide experience in this field, who could help them with the work they had in mind. Luz Marina with her institutional experience working as a general manager in an Abandoned Children House, also shared Wendy’s and Jens dream. She knew about the street children´s necesities and of having a place for them where they can go voluntarily.

That is how the three of them start designing the institutional structure to work with the street kids. In 1999 the first work group was formed, which was subsequently changed and re-adjusted until we got a team and profile more identified with childhood and with more professional experience.
In 1999 Inti Runakunaq Wasin started attending and working with the children in a provisional place. In March 2000, we rented our first premises, attending initially only on Saturdays with three volunteer teachers, afterwards they started attending three times a week, and today we attend daily. IRW was established formaly as a Non-Profit Civil Asociation in October 2000. Being its first President Mrs. Luz Marina Figueroa Arias, has a Directive Board highly identified with street children, their parents and their families work, because IRW is conscious that changes can´t be made if you don`t work with the kid’s envoironment.

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In 1999 Inti Runakunaq Wasin started attending the children in a provisional place. In March 2000, we rented our first premises, attending initially only on Saturdays with three volunteer teachers, afterwards attending three times a week, and today we attend daily. IRW was established formally as a Non-Profit Civil Asociation in October 2000. Being its first President, Mrs. Luz Marina Figueroa Arias has a Directive Board highly identified with street children, their parents and their families work, because IRW is conscious that change can´t be made if you don`t work with the kid’s envoironment.

To start attending the children in the first location, many friends that shared IRW’s goals and objectives, contributed to the institution expecting nothing in return. One of them is Mr. Jakob Ritzheimer (American citizen, originaly from Germany), whom is also the Treasurer of the institution and IRW’s legal representative in the USA. He has been in Peru twice, one time in December 2000, and then in May 2001.

IRW is an institution recognized by the Peruvian laws, it is registered in Public Registers of Cusco, in the Women Promotion and Human Developement Ministery of Peru (PROMUDEH), in SUNAT (Peruvian IRS).

Today IRW has a team of 12 persons in charge of the educative activities.

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