Lucho: A ball of fun

January 31, Julia

This week was my first week at the Aldea and loved meeting all the new kids that will be a part of my life for the next 3 months. They are all so loving and want to play with us all the time. One Little boy that I had a lot of fun playing with last week was Lucho, a smily, chubby, 3 year-old. He is at the age that I love the most because everything amuses him and we can do the same thing over and over again without losing any entertainment. One day Lucho gave me a little wooden disk with yellow on one side that he wanted me to put on the bush, where it would fall to the ground immediately and laughed every time. We went through the same routine (adding in letting it fall from our heads) for 45 minutes straight. The funny part about it was that I didn't feel like it was getting old either and I could've gone longer but we had to go eat lunch. I love these kids and they make me feel so happy each day!

If you would like to learn more about sponsoring a child like Lucho, click here.

Flor: Tiny girl, huge personality

January 31, Kathyrn

Flor is a little three year old girl who lives at the Aldea in Santa Rosa, Peru. She is about the size of a healthy one year old child, with the bold personality of a five year old. When I first met her she warmed up to me instantly, just as she had done with all the other interns. I was shocked to realize how old she was, considering her size. After only a few days at the Aldea she recognizes me as someone to trust and love, as she now runs into my arms whenever she sees me. The other kids tell me of how bright she is, always does what she is told and she knows what to do when asked.
On Friday we had a fiesta for all the kids who had birthdays in January. Flor came early with the interns to help decorate. She laughed as we blew up balloons and let them fly around the room and she always had another one in her hand for us to blow up when we were finished with one. I was happy to spend those few hours with just Flor and not have my attention split between a dozen kids. She has a fiery personality and the cutest smile to match it. I look forward to spending more one on one time with Flor and the other children as they learn and grow.

If you would like to know more about sponsoring a child like Flor, please click here.

Friends and crushes at the Aldea

January 30, Carrie:

For the past two weeks I’ve noticed how the children at the Aldea are good about playing with different groups of friends. The kids still have people they are more likely to play with, but in general, they are good at including each other and varying who they play with. When we play sports it’s especially fun to watch how all the kids, of all ages, can play together and still have fun! This past week I was told that Alfredo, one of the boys in house 2, has a little crush on one of the little girls in house 1 named Antonina. On Friday, the Aldea had a birthday party for the children who had birthdays in January which was really fun. At this birthday party there was dancing, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone because Peruvians love to dance! During the dancing part of the fiesta, Alfredo asked Antonina to dance and they danced holding hands, with Antonina giggling the whole time and Alfredo standing there being a perfect gentleman.

This week we played in the pools that were donated to the Aldea with the kids on Tuesday and Thursday morning. I also had the opportunity to help teach an English class with Caesar who works for the Aldea and Julia one of the new interns for southern cross. Other than that we played soccer at least once a day, played a game called Kiwi and went to a fiesta for the kids with birthdays in January that was held on Friday.

Child Highlights:

1. Victor David in house 2 and I played monopoly two seperate times after dinner. I was eating at their house this week.

2. We watched Lucho and Renzo in our house for 2 hours on thursday while their Tia was gone. We played ball and tried to get Renzo to walk.

3. I talked with Victor David about what he likes to do, he's a really smart kid who loves reading and learning new things. He helped me with some Spanish and I taught him some things in English like "my name is...," "goodbye," "good morning," "thank you," and "how are you."

FIESTA!!

From Natalie on January 3:

FIESTA!!

This Friday we had a party for all of the kids with January birthdays. It was so much fun! The kids got all dressed up for it and looked so nice. We had a big lunch outside with everyone...There are now only 3 sheep wandering around the Aldea instead of 4. They had presents for the birthday kids and a piñata for the rest of them. There was lots of yummy things like cake and popcorn and other desserts (I don't know what they were) for us to enjoy. We had a big dance party where the kids showed off their great skills. Some of them have some pretty good moves they whipped out. Everyone had a great time! I love it here!

Natalie: Week one!

We spent this weekend in Trujillo with our host family who are amazing! We went to Huanchaco on Saturday. It was so much fun!! If you take six white girls to the beach you will get stared at though, I learned that. We ate at a restaurant with great food and got hair wraps, which look sweet! What we didn't get however, is tan...hopefully we will soon though. The weather is amazing and so are the people! Peru is definitely a great place to be to have a good time!


Thanks to our great contacts in Peru, our interns are getting to experience the culture and family life in Peru! Our host families are so generous and charitable to our organization!

New Faces at the Aldea!

January 23 update from our interns Carrie:

There are 5 new children at the Aldea, all siblings and Me (Carrie) a new volunteer!

There is a new boy at the Aldea named Victor who is 11 years old. The first day that I was at the Aldea, I was there by myself, without the volunteers from project trust. No one at the Aldea spoke English and my Spanish wasn’t very good but Victor spent the whole day trying to help me understand what he was saying and what the other kids were telling/asking me. He still continues to ask the other volunteers and I how to say things in English so he can say things to us that we understand. He’s a really good kid and is always trying to help us or get us to play sports. Also, he is a very quick learner. When we taught some of the kids the alphabet in English, he was able to pronounce the letters correctly and correctly identify them when we asked him in English to find a certain letter. It was also Luchos birthday on Friday, he doesn’t quite understand yet that he’s another year older. When we asked him how old he was he kept telling us he was 2 but he’s 3 now.

We are so excited that our interns are already creating relationships with the kids! That's the first step to making a difference! Check back soon for more updates on the children and interns!

4 more days (Dan)

¡Hola!

¿Como estan ustedes?  Tengo solamente 4 dias mas en Banos del Inca!

It´s really crazy how fast time flies... It feels like I just got here to Cajamarca and the kids in Puylucana.  Tomorrow is my last day at El Bichito, and I´m getting a little party set up.  Basically I´m going to have some bingo so they can work on vocabulary and some balloons and a few goodies.  It´ll be typically chaotic with 40+ kids as per the usual, but lots of fun.  It´s been lots of fun lately there as I
have gotten more comfortable with the kids and they with me.  It really does take some time, but I´ll be sad to miss them.  Also, I´ve occasionally brought out the frisbee I brought and the kids are having
a blast.  Wiliam is particularly good, and others like kevin and Manuel are decent too.  The older boys still won´t stick around much, but a couple have.

Allie and Izzy, the two girls from Project Trust who I was with in the Aldea in Trujillo, came up to
visit and see Cajamarca with a few other girls from other sites in Peru.  I showed them around banos and the hot springs, and finally got the chance to see Granje Porcon, a beautiful valley about 30 minutes away I had not yet seen.  It is a small valley that has a trout farm and also a cool zoo.  I got a chance to see a spectackled bear!  Yeah, the only bear in South America.

Anyway, my time here in Peru is rapidly coming to a close and a list of the things quickly that I know I´ll miss...

Getting crammed into combis
The amazing Cajamarca cheese and ¨pan de agua¨
Toilets without seats
cheap public transportation
trying to get these kids to bring and finish their homework without cheating
Random rain starting out of nowhere (oh wait, I live in Seattle, nothing really weird there)
All of the amazing friendships I´ve made, more than I can list here...
really, it´s amazing how many amazing people I´ve met
Included are the kids at both the Aldea and El bichito... I´ve never
wanted to smile and go crazy so much in my life

Entonces, I´ll be leaving my Peruvian home soon, and I´m already feeling homesick...

Cajamarca (Dan)

So, the real reason why I´m here in Cajamarca!  So everyday during the week, I take a short combi (mini bus) ride up to the small town of Puylucana which is 5 minutes away.  When I arrive, I usually meet with Feliciana and/or Melchora her sister.  They run the comedor called ¨El Bichito¨ which literally translated means little bug.  It is basically a lunch cafeteria for kids in the area to have a free meal when they finish school.  In order to receive food, they must go to school, so it is not a complete giveaway.  My job is to help as much as possible.  This usually entails sorting through the rice and beans in the morning.  We dump a big pile on the counter and then sort through the little pieces that aren´t quite edible.  It´s a great time to talk to Melchora and Feliciana or just meditate to myself.  I´m still pretty slow at sorting (faster than when I started) but Melchora especially is miles ahead of me.  She says I just need to practice... :)

I then try to get ready for the kids coming, taking down benches, basic clean up, and trying to figure out how I´ll engage the kids that day.  I usually eat before the kids arrive at around 1 pm, so I can talk and have fun with the kids while they eat, and try to get the faster kids to start doing homework.  Not all the kids stick around to do homework, and it´s tough to try and motivate them.  One technique I´ve been using lately, is blocking the doorway, and requiring the kids to answer a mental math problem for me before they can go in and eat.  That way they´ve got to earn it, and I get them all thinking.

After eating, I average about 10 kids staying to complete their homework with me.  Since there are about 45 kids that come to eat, it´s not great, but it´s hard to get the older ones especially to stay.  (If you have any suggestions, let me know)  There is chart I made (copying the plan set up and introduced by Chris and Kimball here during the summer) that marks when they bring and complete their homework.  When they finish 5 homework assignments, and the 5 corresponding stars, they receive a small prize out of the prize box.  That´s why it´s hard to get the older kids to stay, because small prizes aren´t really to their liking.  Doing homework with the kids which I feel is very important, means that kids finish at different times and just bolt.  I can occasionally keep a few kids behind for reading (they loved the Amelia Bedelia book) and as I´m learning to juggle, some kids had fun throwing around the juggling scarves.  Before I leave I help clean up the place and make sure everything is ready to go for the next day.

I know that´s a longwinded explanation, but it really is an awesome experience.  I get to teach a few words in English, I also tease the kids too (somehow that´s never gotten old) and learn some Spanish myself.  It´s a great way to serve and these kids deserve it, even if sometimes they are ´traviesos´.

After Surgery (Michael)

Here are the after shots of Alida's eye. It looks a lot better than it did before the surgery!

Alida (Chris)

We had a great time with Cameron and the group. Unfortunately I have a bad internet signal right now but i wanted to send you the pictures of Álida. We made collages with the kids and we will have to send you a better email soon. Also, if you zoom in on Maria´s  right eye I think she has a cataract or a stye. She´s new and if there´s anyway we can get someone to look at it it would be great. Like I wrote before she is the oldest of 6 and she watches her siblings while her mom´s gone away for long periods of time.

 

Thanks so much

Alida (Nancy)

Here in Cajamarca, the city ranges from paved roads with open plazas, to cobblestone streets crowded by cement and brick houses. Oh, and people. Lots of people, weaving in and out of the buses, motor-taxis, and cars. Just outside the city, the roads turn to dirt and switchback up the mountain to the countryside. Cajamarca is nestled high in the Andes mountains. As you go further out of the city, the cramped bus ride out to the surrounding villages is like riding back in time to an Inca village.  

We travel every day to the area just outside of Cajamarca, "Los Banos". And we work in a drop-in center called "El Bichito," or little bug. For a few years now, poor kids from the country villages have raced there after school to pick up what is probably their only square meal of the day. Now, my husband Jared and I and another couple, the Jensens are working hard to keep the kids there longer, to tutor them with their homework and play games with them. The kids are amazing. Lots and lots of energy and so loving. 

Today we want to introduce you to Alida. She is fourteen and a little bashful at times, but does not back down to anyone. She's very happy, a little mischievous, and eager to learn. When we tried to get her picture today, she would not look at the camera. I think it is because she is embarrassed of the growth she has on her eye. She has had it since birth, but it is getting bigger, and our new goal is to raise the money that could fund her operation, literally saving her from blindness. When she thinks no one is looking though, she has the brightest smile. 

That's all for now. Thanks for everyone's help! 

Nancy

WE WON!!! (Madi)

WE WOOOONNNN!! What an adventure! The Aldea has won the womens Fulbito tournament. Not only did they win the FINAL, they have won all the games. So great we are proud of the Tias that played. We also had on of the other volenteers from the Aldea play her name is Alliei and she is here through Project trust. CONGRATS team!!

Daniela has just turned 18 an she is now getting ready to leave this month. she is getting ready to go out into the world. Hard, but we know that she will do very well.

6 month old baby Fabricio is doing a lot better. He goes to the Hospital Weekly to get exercises. Starting to slowly progress with his strength. When he first came he was not able to hold his head up. that was about 2 months ago, but he is starting to get there. 

We had some children that were baptised this last week, and also some children that had their conformation through the Catholic church. Allie, Izzy and I participated as godmothers in this event. It was very different but very very cool to see these kids take such a big step. It is so cool to see kids going for things that they want. The kids that did conformation were, Keny,Elvia, Evelin and Ana. 

congrats to all three kids !!

madi!

Update (Madi)

Getting back to Aldea life is great. Peru is beautiful but the people are even better! Starting a new rewards system so the kids in each house can earn a movie at the end of the week! They have put the poole out on the grass a and summer is starting to officially be here. There are only 52 Kids in the aldea now but they are all great! Missed Halloween with the kids but I know they had a party. Now they just want a lot of candy !!

madi

sorry having probs on this compy with the pics

El Bichito (Dan)

So everyday during the week, I take a short combi (mini bus) ride up to the small town of
Puylucana which is 5 minutes away.  When I arrive, I usually meet with
Feliciana and/or Melchora her sister.  They run the comedor called ¨El
Bichito¨ which literally translated means little bug.  It is basically
a lunch cafeteria for kids in the area to have a free meal when they
finish school.  In order to receive food, they must go to school, so
it is not a complete giveaway.  My job is to help as much as possible.
This usually entails sorting through the rice and beans in the
morning.  We dump a big pile on the counter and then sort through the
little pieces that aren´t quite edible.  It´s a great time to talk to
Melchora and Feliciana or just meditate to myself.  I´m still pretty
slow at sorting (faster than when I started) but Melchora especially
is miles ahead of me.  She says I just need to practice... :)

I then try to get ready for the kids coming, taking down benches,
basic clean up, and trying to figure out how I´ll engage the kids that
day.  I usually eat before the kids arrive at around 1 pm, so I can
talk and have fun with the kids while they eat, and try to get the
faster kids to start doing homework.  Not all the kids stick around to
do homework, and it´s tough to try and motivate them.  One technique
I´ve been using lately, is blocking the doorway, and requiring the
kids to answer a mental math problem for me before they can go in and
eat.  That way they´ve got to earn it, and I get them all thinking.
After eating, I average about 10 kids staying to complete their
homework with me.  Since there are about 45 kids that come to eat,
it´s not great, but it´s hard to get the older ones especially to
stay.  (If you have any suggestions, let me know)  There is chart I
made (copying the plan set up and introduced by Chris and Kimball here
during the summer) that marks when they bring and complete their
homework.  When they finish 5 homework assignments, and the 5
corresponding stars, they receive a small prize out of the prize box.
That´s why it´s hard to get the older kids to stay, because small
prizes aren´t really to their liking.  Doing homework with the kids
which I feel is very important, means that kids finish at different
times and just bolt.  I can occasionally keep a few kids behind for
reading (they loved the Amelia Bedelia book) and as I´m learning to
juggle, some kids had fun throwing around the juggling scarves.
Before I leave I help clean up the place and make sure everything is
ready to go for the next day.

I know that´s a longwinded explanation, but it really is an awesome
experience.  I get to teach a few words in English, I also tease the
kids too (somehow that´s never gotten old) and learn some spanish
myself.  It´s a great way to serve and these kids deserve it, even if
sometimes they are ´traviesos´.

Zoo in Porcon (Nancy)

Piggy Banks (Mike & Natalie)

Today we helped the kids make "piggy banks" out of water bottles. We were expecting like 5 or 6 kids to stay to make banks, but about 25 - 30 kids ended up staying. They had a great time, and they all committed to using their banks to save money for college someday.

Elizabeth at Aldea

Life at the Aldea keeps getting better. We got a new baby at the Aldea named Fabricio. The cutest thing ever, I just love him. I found out that he has Epilepsy and a few days later, that he's also blind. We went to the hospital for him to get an EEG to see if he's permanantly blind or if it can be fixed. However, the doctor never showed. So we left and are going to try again next week. We are still awaiting the arrivals of the new interns. We have their rooms prepared and ready for them. We are looking forward to their arrival. Our days are pretty exhausting, I've found myself the other day, realizing that its been a pattern, everyday a pattern of pretty much doing the same thing. Not that its a bad thing, especially when some days can be pretty "hard-core". 
 
The mornings, while Madi and Allie go to the almazen I go over and help with one of the babies/or two. Last week, we had 2 mornings where it was pretty much a baby sitting party in our house. Also the Aldea has adopted a stray dog. I found him a few weeks ago when I was walking back to the volunteer house for lunch, and asked if he was any ones. He's found his way back in, and now stays permanent in the Aldea, and doesn't leave. Everyone loves him, and the kids call him by the name I chose for him when I found him again in the Aldea. His name is Marco Polo, like the game, but since he's now a resident of the Aldea the kids and I just call him Marco. Its funny though, they always ask if he's my dog, but then I tell them he's my dog friend. Me amigo perro. A lively dog thats fun to play with and is good with the children, friendlier then the other dog.

Madi at Aldea

The kids are great at the Aldea, I love all of them so much!! They love to play, dance, sing and have fun! Along with being very loud and just going crazy sometimes but kids are kids!! Trujillo is so much fun and Peru as a whole is just a wonderful country !! I hope that anyone who can will come and help out at the Aldea!! The food is awesome thanks to the Tias. And everything is going great !!

Changes (Dan)

(continued from Dan's last post)

Now for the big news!    ...   ...  I´m heading to Cajamarca!  Yes,
that´s right, as of tomorrow night, Sunday, I am moving up to
Cajamarca, (about 7-8 hours north) to help the kids up there.  A
pretty big shock to be sure, but it´ll be a great opportunity and
challenge.  I will be working with the kids at El Bichito, which is a
food center run by a woman named  Feliciana.  In talking with Chris, a
great guy I met who worked there with his wife this passed summer,
I´ll be helping the kids with their homework, and also with learning
activities.  I know I´m going to miss the Aldea immensely, but I know
that I can do some good in Cajamarca.  I also hope that being the only
volunteer up there, I´ll be able to improve my Spanish even more
rapidly.  I´ll let you know more next week about the changes and
everything.  I´m excited to serve the good people in that pretty city.

This past week, as I´ve been preparing to leave, I´ve been doing some
last minute activities with the kids and tias in the Aldea.  I´ve been
trying to make pizza or bread with each and every house in the Aldea
before I leave.  I´ve been teaching the tias how to do it, and the
kids have been having fun mixing and kneading the dough, and of course
eating the final product.  It´s fun to share what I know (thanks to
Preston and Kelsey for teaching me the cooking skills) and have a
great time with the kids.  Guadalupe in casa 1, who loves to dance,
and great fun grating the cheese and punching the dough until it was
ready for pizza.  We´ve also been doing a lot of drawing and coloring
in casa 6 (the craft house) and it´s been fun to do paper airplanes as
well.  I love seeing some of the more rambunctious kids like Jonathan
or Pedro, get really serious as they prepare their airplanes for
flight.

I don´t look forward to saying the last goodbyes to the kids.  This
really does feel like home, and I will miss their smiling faces and
laughter.  I´ll also miss those at the direction like Eduardo (our
stake president), Cesar, Blanca and Estelle in the direction, and so
many others too.  I will miss the tias especially, as they are so kind
and helpful with us and cook for us the great Peruvian food all the
time.  We just had papa de juan gallina, which is potatoes with this
creamy sauce poured all over it.  Hmmmmm, so so tasty!

Entonces, I´m sorry about the long email... I just need to write more
often, and keep them at a better length.  I´ll try to do that better
in Cajamarca.

Update from Aldea (Dan)

I know it´s been a while since my last email, sorry about that, life´s
been particularly busy and crazy here in Peru.  So we had a power
outage for about two days a few weeks back that was actually a lot of
fun.  We had a few candles and flashlights that helped during the
night, but it was actually great to have the lights off in the Aldea
so you could appreciate the stars.  It was cool how bright the milky
way was, and how much you miss them when the lights are always on.

We´ve had a great time playing futbol lately, and I´m proud to say
that I´ve been getting better.  We had some penalty kicks the other
day and I scored on Cesar (probably the best kid here) and then I
saved his penalty kick.  Yeah, I was proud of himself.  It´s great
when the all the kids come together and play.  Before, it seemed that
Cesar and some of the older boys would only play if there weren´t
younger ones playing as well, and maybe it´s just the lack of other
boys to play with, but everyone has been coming together to play.
Just yesterday in fact, we played a marathon game where Cesar´s team
beat us 22 to 21.  It was in the smaller field/court, but it was still
tons of fun.  Since I can be a little competitive, it was fun to have
a such a crazy game.

We´ve also played lots of volibol lately.  The tias have been getting
into it.  Tia Rosa from casa 5 (with the older boys) got some of the
older ones to play with the girls, who are really good.  Tio Nelson,
the handyman of the Aldea also comes and plays sometimes.  For the
older girls as well, like Ingrid and Antonia, it´s great to have some
fun physical activities.

Also, I went on a side trip up to the Cordillera Blancas with Asha, as
it was her last week.  We went on a magnificent 4 day trek called
¨Santa Cruz¨ that was absolutely spectacular.  We climbed up to 4750
meters, which is about 15600 feet.  At times it was challenging, and
the altitude does make you slower, but it was totally worth it.  At
nights it was freezing, especially since the wind chill was so big,
but during the day you had to wary of sun burn.  An amazing trip, and
a good send off for Asha, who will be sorely missed here at the Aldea.