Peru Orphanage Update - Smarter Every Day 163

Hey it's me, Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. Every December, here at Smarter Every Day, we help an orphanage in Peru, and a million people are new to Smarter Every Day this year, so you might not know about this. So if you want to learn how we got to this point, click on any of these videos.

However, because I didn't get to go this year, I've got the guy in charge of the orphanage here. His name is Tyler. He's going to update us, you ready? Claps

Tyler: Sup. Laughter

Tyler is wearing the mask. What are you going to tell us about today?

Tyler: Just want to get you updated on what's been going on over the past year. The ultimate goal of this video is to convince people to support on Patreon, right? Please. Supporting on Patreon is going to get us more towards the operation of the orphanage. Hopefully, at the end of the video, if you're convinced that we're doing a good thing, maybe you can support on Patreon.

Tyler: The coolest thing about this year was just walking out, up to the property for the first time and meeting just eight new kids, who now are off the streets who are in a safe and loving home.

Destin: We had 14 kids last year, and these are eight new kids.

Tyler: Right.

Destin: What's the deal with the playground equipment?

Tyler: So, super cool, one of the local churches that helps support our home, donated all of the playground equipment for us.

Destin: Really? That's a really legit playground, man.

Tyler: Yeah, it's for real. The kids are loving it. We've had this wall that goes to the front of our property and the front gate for a long time and it's just been bare, looks like concrete, and was starting to get mold all over it. So we wanted to make it look nice because the first thing these kids are going to see when they come to this home is this gate and this wall. We want them to see that the home that they're coming to is a place that is well cared for because that also tells them that they are going to be well cared for.

So we have a lot of things growing in the garden: We've got Cocona. You see that fruit they're picking, that's called Cocona. We've got Pineapples, Bananas, Mangos, Papayas, tons of stuff that they're eating every day.

Destin: OK, there's the kids all--That was my favorite part: sitting down with them. Oh, a new house!

Tyler: Yeah, so, coolest thing: opened up our third home this year, so we finished construction in June, and by August, we were pretty much full of kids. I'm getting toured around this house by these kids, and all of the sudden, Edmund opens up the freezer, and I look in, and looking at what's in there, is this alligator tail.

Destin: Like in the freezer?

Tyler: In the freezer! Just a whole alligator tail. Like scales and everything. Just like complete alligator tail and I'm like: "What in the heck is this?!"

Destin: You're just like: no big deal?

Tyler: No big deal, they're like: "Yeah, don't you have one in your freezer?" laugh

Destin: This is the third house, and so you have a total of eight kids in each house?

Tyler: Yeah, so actually we have a total of 23 kids now total, so we have eight kids in two houses, and then seven kids in one of the other houses.

Destin: So one of the main things I like about Not Forgotten is that it's not like you have a big orphanage house, and the kids just have a bunk bed kind of thing: They really feel like it's their house. Stability in a completely different way in the orphanage model.

So, what's going on here with these guys?

Tyler: So here, they're showing us, you know, your room, you know, they'll say: "This is my place, this is my stuff." and that's just really cool to see these kids who haven't had anything before--

Destin: --I like the swagger of the little guy. Like he's walking you around in his house--

Tyler: --Nehemías is a stud laughter

Tyler: I mean, he will tell you what's up.

Destin: And the toilets look good, good stuff.

Tyler: Yeah, it's important for these kids to learn to take care of the things they have, and all the kids know what they're supposed to do, it's on a rotating basis, and they are learning what it's like to take care of your stuff.

Destin: Oh look, is this la playa? They're on the beach?

Tyler: Yeah, there's a big lake there, so they're on the beach, swimming.

Destin: OK, so these are all the kids right now?

Tyler: Yeah.

Destin: So there are three families right now in charge of these children.

Tyler: Yeah, they live with a Peruvian mother and father who loves and takes care of them as if they were their own.

Destin: That's pretty awesome. OK, that's it. That is the update from the Not Forgotten Orphanage in Equitos, Peru. This is a really big deal. I want to high-five you. I remember talking about this in a Chilies, was it?

Tyler: Yeah, we talked, and at Johnny's BBQ I think.

Destin: Yeah, this is a really big deal. It went from, like, a crazy conversation to actually happening, and I am really excited about that. So if you want to support Not Forgotten, please consider going to Patreon.com/NotForgotten.

Then are we going to do the patches thing?

Tyler: Yeah, we're doing patches.

Destin: OK, so if you go to that website, if you support at a certain level per month, then we're going to send you a Not Forgotten patch for this year. Which is a really cool thing--I think it's a cool idea.

Tyler: Yeah.

Tyler: Also, if you want to vote for this video on the Project for Awesome, we would really appreciate that.

Destin: Project for Awesome has been really big as well.

Tyler: Huge. We've gotten so much support through Project for Awesome, as well as so much awareness.

So there you go, go to the links in the video description, we've got two of them: number 1, go vote for this video on the Project for Awesome and number two, go to Patreon.com/NotForgotten.

That's it, I'm Destin, getting Smarter Every Day.

Tyler: Tyler, see ya later! Have a good one, bye!

Destin: Do you want to explain what that means?

Tyler: Yeah, sure, so the outer circle with the arrow depicts a cycle, and what we're doing at Not Forgotten is we are breaking that cycle, and the colors depict the Peru flag: red and white.

Destin: Nice! Very cool.