Family owned orphanage. Children are rescued from parents who can’t take care of them.

ORPHANAGE EL FARO our last stop before heading back to Los Angeles. There, fifty children are being sheltered. As we enter the shelter and start unloading the truck all of the children come to help us carry the belongings we have for them. We place all the clothes on a large table in a dark room where an old TV entertains twenty something children. Some watch the old monitor, some are eating the protein bars we gave them, some are excited to show us around, and some play with their new dolls. The center is separated in different quarters, for girls or boys, then children or teenagers. It is a family owned orphanage and children are rescued from parents who can’t take care of them. Some see their parents once a month, some once a year, some never. Drugs, prostitution or domestic violence are the common factors. There are twenty children per room and each has his or her own bed. We look at the scenery – outside lays trash, wires, tires, abandoned cars, roofless homes, construction waste, dogs wandering around. But in the midst of all of this, these children have a place they can call home.