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."

Birthday Wishes (Carrie at Aldea Infantil)

So my birthday was Monday but I didn’t get back to the Aldea until Tuesday night due to a hospital check up for my stomach (I'll spoil the ending and say that I'm all better now).

Cakes are different here so I wanted to learn how to make a traditional Peruvian cake, and what better opportunity than my own birthday cake? This week I’ve been eating in the adolescent boy casa and making a cake with 10 hovering, hungry vulchers (I mean, boys) was definitely difficult. We put the cake in the oven pretty late at night with most of the boys asleep and it was going to take 2 hours to bake so Luis, the oldest boy and my head chef, told me he’d take it out and I could come eat it in the morning. I showed up to the casa the next morning excited to have a breakfast of something other than bread and milk but ALL of the cake had been eaten except for 2 tiny pieces—one for me, the other for Rebecca, Clare, and Jason to share—and no one left in the house. Haha, I should have known better than to leave a perfectly good cake in a house full of teenage boys. At least later the boys said they enjoyed it and I enjoyed it too, the thievery and all.

I wasn’t the only one with a birthday this week though. Ana Quesada turned 15 on Thursday and we all had a huge fiesta for her quincenera. In Hispanic culture, turning 15 is a huge turning point in a girl’s life—it’s when she closes the door of adolescence and enters into womanhood. Quinceneras are full of cake (the boys waited patiently), speeches, and waltzes with the audience clapping off beat (ever tried clapping to a waltz?). The decorations were beautiful, Ana was dolled up by the tias, and everyone had a great time.

My favorite part of the night was 7 year old Jenifer leaning into me and asking, “Will I look just as pretty as Ana when I turn 15?”

Though I won't be here to see Jenifer or the other little girls turn 15, it was still adorable to see them watch Ana waltz with her older brother and dream of when they too can wear lipstick, pretty dresses, and dance a special dance on a day just for them. “Yes, you most definitely will,” I said.

Actually, I lied, that's a party I won't want to miss.

Photo Captions:

Ana is normally pretty shy but she really lit up when everyone sang her birthday song and then she got to cut that gorgeous, glorious cake.

It's tradition that the birthday girl dance with every man in the room. Yeah, it takes a long time and some "men" are still just awkward boys.

Our directora, Blanca, giving a wonderful speech about Ana to everyone.

Ana being escorted by her brother, Walter.