Holiday Mission To Peru:
Marengo Resident, Aurora University Junior To Aid Orphans In Cusco

AURORA, Ill.-- A former college soccer player, Eric Hunt doesn’t look like Santa Claus.

But the 20-year-old Marengo resident, a junior history and religion major at Aurora University, will play Santa’s helper at an orphanage in Cusco, Peru, South America Dec. 26-Jan. 10.

Hunt, a 2004 Woodstock High School graduate, will join 14 area college students on a 3,400-mile holiday mission trip.

Students will spend their academic break working at Senor de Huanca, a Cusco orphanage housing 120 youth and adolescents. The facility is about 150 miles east of Lima, the country’s capital.

At the orphanage, collegiate volunteers in two-person teams will teach English classes, lead sports games, and pitch in where needed, Hunt said.

He is looking for donated items to transport on the trip south or ship back on his return. “The most needed items are clothes, games, toys, shoes, books and computers,” he said.

“The children are between the ages of 5 and14.  The girls want American Ken dolls to accompany their Barbies, and games should be more about shapes and figures rather than board games. 

“The children speak Spanish, and some speak Mayan, so any kind of English flash cards and children’s books would be much appreciated,” Hunt said.

Experienced in intercultural activities, Hunt tutors Africa immigrants weekly in a World Relief program hosted by St. David’s Episcopal Church in Aurora. He also is an intern with the Niagara Foundation, a Chicago-based Turkish cultural organization. He plans to apply to the Peace Corps after graduation.

Hunt said donations may be left at AU’s Wackerlin Center for Faith and Action in Eckhart Hall at 347 S. Gladstone Ave. in Aurora.

Hunt can be reached at (815) 861-5085 for more information.

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