notice anything different? (natalie)

So, you might have noticed a few changes around our blog. Since we've added a few additional homes to the Southern Cross family, we changed the name of our blog. If you've bookmarked our blog address - please take a minute to change it.


Also, you might notice the Sunflower postings are missing. While Southern Cross still has interns down at the Sunflower who are taking care of the children, the child sponsorships are now going through another organization called Genhu. It seems there has been some confusion during this transition so Leo, the director of The Sunflower, asked us to remove the Sunflower postings.


I love the Sunflower and the children there. I know Leo, the staff and the interns are caring for the children. Hopefully there will be a new Sunflower blog soon, but for now, enjoy the stories from Aldea Infantil and The Little Bug.


My grandpa used to tell me that a child's cry is the same in any language. How true that is. We're just getting to know these children at Aldea and The Little Bug. How adorable they are, how resiliant they are and how deserving of help they are. Stay tuned as we share their stories...

The fun stuff on an Expedition (Laura)

This afternoon we played with the kids in the lawn area we "rented" next door. Two hours cost 10 soles (3 soles is about one US dollar).

After the games we got ice-cream for all the kids (so much for the dental hygiene lectures!) from a local guy we saw pedaling by yesterday with whom we made arrangements with for today. He was thrilled! Most of the kids have had very little ice-cream, so Felicianna, the home director, said this is what they'd enjoy most.

We played volleyball, a little soccer but the big hit was a tag game where we rotated partners. At first the children were hesitant to play, but after seeing Randy Jenson (one of the men in our group) run as fast as he could, roll and tumble after a near grab, they all warmed up quickly! We played that for over an hour until the adults got too tired to continue!

Man, it was great seeing the kids laugh, play and giggle!

Visit from the Humphries (Jason at Aldea Infantile)

I really enjoyed the visit this week from the Humphries family. They are humble and very caring people. They don't even speak Spanish and they donated their time, a couple of cows, their money (to come to Peru) and their family (a couple of their sons are serving here in Peru at different sites).



They didn't care so much to see the cows they donated as to see and spend time with the children and to take their pictures to cherish those memories for years. But, the most touching was when Mr. Humphries was asked to give some words at a meeting with the children and some of the tias that work their. He cried as he said that as he looked into the eyes of the children he could see the goodness and light in them.

I am sure that some of these children feel a loss, not having the traditional nuclear family, but they do still have that light in them. I hope that after this internship I will see them again, just as Mr. Humphries wished.

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.

National Initial Education Week (Carrie from Aldea Infantile)

The other volunteers and I joined the kindergardeners for marches through the Plaza de Armas of nearby cities for National Initial Education Week.

How super cute to see these 4 year olds carrying signs that say “I like waking up for jardin!” “To be a child is to be marvelous.” “Listen to me, I’m important.” “Small people of the future.” We had journalists and photographers come and take pictures of the march and even some important person speak (though I wasn’t paying much attention—I was chasing kids and making sure they didn’t hit each other with their picket signs). I love seeing everyone, right down to our little huddle of 4 year olds, take their education so seriously and love it.

WANTED: ENT for Little Delia (Little Bug)

(Note: This is from Laura while our expedition was at the Little Bug. If anyone knows an ENT who might be interested in going down to help Little Delia, please let us know!)

While doing the medical exams yesterday, Dr. Doug came across Delia who has a tumor in her ear. Delia was a very patient patient! First Dr. Doug put a wash in the ear to see if it could just be removed simply. In the end, however it seems she needs to be seen by a specialist to have it removed to make sure there is no long term negative effects on her hearing.

People on the expedition are going to work to raise the funds once they return to the states. It would be awesome if somehow an ENT decided to go on the August expedition... that would solve multiple problems!

My Trip to the Hospital (Carrie at Aldea Infantile)

My trip to the hospital was perhaps the most eventful of my Peru experience thus far. One morning I woke up with a terrible aching in my stomach but the other volunteers had just conquered their bout of stomach aches so I wanted to tough it out too. I took a Pepto thinking it would just blow over but the pain just kept increasing until I really blew over. By the time Marta, the nurse of the Aldea, had come to see what was going on, I was throwing up quite violently.

Marta said we needed to go to the hospital because I was losing my fluids too quickly. I couldn’t walk, couldn’t stand up, and couldn’t keep anything inside me for longer than 5 minutes—how was an hour journey to the hospital even going to be possible? We tried it anyway. Jason carried me and my dead-body self through the Aldea to the street. A lot of the children outside stopped playing and asked if I was going to be okay. I don’t remember much but I remember their concerned faces. It must have been scary for them because it was certainly scary for me.

After an IV, some antibiotics, and a night in the hospital, I was able to walk, eat, and come back home to the Aldea. (And yes, it’s home now.) Turns out it was an infection in my intestine—I blame the cheese. After we all got back, it was nice to hear we were missed even if we were gone just for a day. When one of the other volunteers went to lunch, she said that one of the little boys, Abran, asked “Is my sister Carrie dead?” Here’s me saying, nope, I’m not dead and hurray for that! There’s no worse time to miss your mother than when you’re sick and many miles from home, but it was very comforting to have so many tias, tios, hermanitos concerned for me.

As our directora told me, this experience was all part of the “experience” in Peru. Let’s just say I’m glad that “experience” is over. At least now I think when I tell the tias not to give me the cheese because it gives me a bad stomach, they’ll listen.