The Children at The Little Bug (Laura)

These are just a few of the 81 children who come to the El Bichito for daily meals. According to the principal at the local school, Carlos, these meals have made a huge difference in the academics this year. He stopped by just to say "thank you" when he saw us gringos working there.

The smiles on these children's faces weren't as evident when we came at the beginning of the week. They couldn't quite understand why we were there or what we were doing, but they soon realized we were there to help and warmed up quickly. The big break through came when Randy, one of the men on the trip, went all out playing tag in the grassy area we rented next door to the El Bichito. The kids got the giggles when they saw Randy run as fast as he could to catch them, reach out for the "tag", miss and fall to the ground rolling and spinning! No wonder they all started making sure Randy was "it".

Mother of 67 (Carrie at Aldea)

I’ve made lots of new friends while here on my internship—like Clare and Becca (the other interns from Great Britain), Leticia (my teenage Spanish maestra), and Luis (my teenage pastry chef)—but perhaps some of the best relationships I’ve built here are those with the tias.

First off, I’m convinced that the tias are angels. They work 5 days on (working, sleeping, eating, living in the Aldea) and then 2 days off so they literally spend more time with the Aldea children than with their own. What’s amazing is they don’t do it with resentment; instead they take these children in as if they were their own. How noble to be a mother to 67 children! Angels, exactly.

Mami Olga in casa 10 (girls ranging from 8-16) is one of those busy,angelic tias. The only time tias get to rest (even a little) is after dinner while children are cleaning up and getting ready for bed, but even then Mami Olga is spending time with the children, helping with homework, or teaching trades. This week while eating in her house I got to see her teach Peruvian traditional dances to the girls, one from the jungle and one from the plains, to perform at a birthday party. Even in her possible downtime she is working to help these children to grow to well-rounded adults.

I have learned a lot from my friendships here—British words, more Spanish words, and how to bake a Peruvian cake—but some of the greatest lessons haven’t been formally taught. Mami Olga teaches by example and I hope one day to be like her. A cook, a teacher, a seamstress, and a mother (maybe not to 67 but hopefully at least one). Until then I will be the pupil watching the angels at work.

Princess Antonina (Carrie at Aldea)

One of my projects here is to build a website for the Aldea so the world can see how wonderful our children are! It’s not finished yet so, for now, these lovely, little blog updates will have to do. I want to share with everyone one of my favorite little dolls here in the Aldea: Antonina. Antonina is 4 years old, has chipmunk cheeks, ponytails, and a permanent smile. She is nicknamed Princesa (Princess) because she really is one. When other kids throw temper tantrums, whine, or disagree with one another, Antonina doesn’t. She is so mild tempered that I’ve never heard her cry, yell, or whine—how unfortunate that I can’t say that for some of the other 4 year olds!

Antonina is also incredibly fortunate because she is sponsored by the vice president of the state of La Libertad. He brings her goodies, hugs, and new clothes whenever he can. She’s always very excited to see him. With him being such an important man, maybe this makes her even more of a princess.

Now here is my shameless plug for child sponsorships. Unfortunately, not all of the children are as lucky as Antonina. They do not have padrinos (godparents) to bring them sweets, little toys, or no clothes. They don’t have someone to visit them on their birthday or send them a card. You certainly don’t have to be an important person like vice president Napoleon to sponsor a child. Anyone can and the kids would be more than happy to have even just someone. As volunteers in the Aldea, we do our best to be their somebodies but sometimes it’s just not enough. If you read this and want to be somebody’s someone, then consider sponsoring a child like Antonina. Nothing would make me happier than to see the other little ones in the Aldea that I consider little royalty to have padrinos and madrinas so they, too, can feel like a prince or a princess.

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.