Birthdays (Dan)

Hello all!

I'm here in Huanchaco, right outside Trujillo, trying to catch up on life.  It's been great here in the great country of Peru!  This past week was good, as I felt I connected with some kids really well.  Sometimes it's easy to just sort of be at the Aldea with everyone, but as I am here longer and my Spanish gets better, I feel I can have more substantial conversations.  One of the toughest things about this though is learning about their families.  You might be surprised to hear this, but most of the kids at the Aldea actually have parents and family that occasionally visit them here.  The reason why they don’t live at home is because the parents don’t have the means to take care of them.  It’s a sad reality, and sometimes I think it’s even harder than not having parents.  When the parents don’t show up as they had planned on Wednesday or Saturday, it’s even tougher because the kids get so excited, only to be disappointed.

On a lighter note, this week we spent a day and a half setting up the biblioteca “library” (it’s the biggest room to use for things) for a big birthday party.  Instead of celebrating every birthday, they instead have a birthday party each month for all the kids who had birthdays in that month.  We put up tons of streamers and ribbon and cut up tons of paper for names and designs on the wall.  I felt like I was doing arts and crafts big time.  The party was a big deal, and after they sang and gave presents to the 9 birthday kids, they then gave more presents to all of the kids of the Aldea.  It means that each month the kids get a few tiny presents that are just for them.  They’re all donated, and it’s way cool because the kids are really pumped about the parties.

Last Tuesday we visited the ruins of Chan Chan.  It was amazing.  It is a massive complex of walls and offices and old open wells that are intricately connected and have beautiful carvings.  Only a small portion of the massive 11 part complex is restored, but it is spectacular nonetheless.  We got some great pictures of the four of us volunteers there, I think some of my best yet.  You should look online for some pictures of the site to give you a sense of the landscape.