Antonia's Dream (Mitch at the Aldea)

Another amazing week! Every day I feel like I am making more and more connections with the kids, especially the older ones this week. Their shells are a lot harder to crack than the little ones, but with all the time I am spending with them has sure helped. I taught the four older boys how to play uno and since I was eating at their house this week, we must have played it everyday at least 2 or three times. The weird thing is that they were the ones that kept asking me to play and didn't want to stop. I guess they are not so big and bad after all.

On friday the older kids, another volunteer and I did a caminata from the athletic stadium to Huaca del Sol (some ancient town that had been buried under earth). Besides the fact that it was scorching hot and we were walking for 3 hours and then on the way home we ran out of gas and had to wait another two and a half hours till we were on our way again, it was a productive day. I got to know a little better a girl named Antonia. She is 17 years-old and will be having to leave the Aldea soon. She has a little boy that is two years old and from what I understand it was not her choice to become pregnant and have a child. She is one of my favorites cause she is so responsible and mature compared to the other youth there. She doesn't have to be told everything in order for her to do it and she is really good at complying with what others ask her to do. She never fights with the other kids but is usually the peace maker of the bunch. She always participates in the activities that are planned for her. Her dream is to become an English professor, I say go for it. Whether she ends up teaching English or some other subject doesn't really matter to me, but i made her promise me that when she does leave the Aldea that she will do everything possible to make her dream become a reality.

dancing Carla (Brianna at the Aldea)

(note: this posting is from our intern Brianna at the Aldea)

This week was so great! Once the kids know your name they really love to talk to you more. They love when I bring the camera out, always asking for their photo to be taken. I have been taking a lot more photos lately and it gives me a chance to watch the kids so closely.

We have been doing a lot more sports this week and the one game all the kids loved to watch and play was volleyball. I was taking pictures of the game and I couldn’t take my eyes off Carla. Carla has a real talent for sports and dance. You notice her especially when she plays volleyball. She moves with such grace and hits the ball with such force. If she were in a public school in the states, she would kill any competition.

Carla also has a talent and a love for dance. She couldn’t stop dancing and wanted to learn more even after the class was over. I had taken the class an hour over but we were having too much fun to notice.

I can’t wait for next week. I have a lot of fun dances for the kids to learn and they are very excited too. Peru is amazing and these children are beautiful in every way. I am truly blessed to be with them.

a bag of chips by intern Cori at Aldea

This week has been so incredible- I feel like the kids are teaching me more then I could ever teach them. . . I feel so inspired each time that I am with these kids, there is so much each day that they teach me. It's hard to even know where to begin with it all, but I will do my best. I am still trying to get to know these kids on an individual, more personal level, and with the language barrier sometimes it makes it hard, but I have realized that actions speak so much more then words, so I decided to highlight a moment that I will never forget.

Some of the boys have made me feel so comfortable and so at home, feels like I have a bunch of younger brothers who have become more and more special to me each day. But it started out last week when I was sitting on the court at night after a run, and three boys came up and started to talk to me and Brianna. It was Juan Carlos, Juan Estevan, and Junior. They started talking to us and teaching us different words. They were so patient with us, and really tried to teach us which I thought was so sweet. The boys seem harder to "crack" a little harder to reach, especially at that age, however from the first time I talked I felt there is a way to help these boys feel important to feel special, but they have made me feel that way instead. I just can't get over their kindness.

But this past Monday we were in Truijillo waiting to go to swimming lessons there with the older kids. While we were waiting there, which lasted quite a while, these 3 boys Juan Carlos, Juan Estevan, and Kenny came back from buying some snacks and they handed me a bag of chips. They wouldn't let me turn them down and insisted that I take them. I was so inspired by their kindness. None of them would take credit for who actually bought it (partly because I think they were embarrassed), but I just couldn't believe how giving they were. To someone they didn't really know that well they were willing to give, when they don't really have a ton to give. I was so impressed by their unselfishness. They made not only feel welcome, but cared about.

That's what I wanted to highlight this week was the kindness and generosity of these teenage boys. They help take care of other people, other kids in the orphanage including the volunteers. As the week went on, they continued to talk with me, mostly joke with me cause I have quite a lack of words (poco espanol). It made my week, playing futbol with them was the highlight of a lot of the days this week. These 3 boys brought me joy each day that I was there. . . I am looking forward to getting to know them even more as time goes on.