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.

The Little Bug (Laura)

Note: Our June expedition is well underway! They are helping to start construction on the second story which will transform The Little Bug from a drop-in center to an orphanage. The following report comes from Laura on the expedition.

We got a lot of work done at The Little Bug yesterday. Besides our little group unloading over 5000 bricks for the start of our second story, we had a small team of doctors checking all the children to establish baseline medical records.

Backgrounds, height, weight, dental and blood pressure were a few of the stops each child made. At first the children were a little nervous, but as they went from station to station there was an increasing sense of "fun" about the whole experience. We've got seven 16/17 year old girls on this expedition who have all become best of friends. It is fun to watch them work together and even more amazing is how they team together to make sure the children feel loved.

Homework at Aldea (Carrie)

Often my favorite part of the Aldea is helping with homework—sometimes I think I learn more than the kids do! We have to help kids of all different ages so I do everything from simple cursive (Spanish cursive weirds me out sometimes) to pre-calculus (hace tres anos!). I like learning the vocabulary from all different areas and levels of study, too.

Miguel Angel is my favorite person to help for homework. Miguel has mild cerebral palsy and sometimes has a bit of a temper. Often tias and his brothers in the house have a hard time getting him to start his homework. They grab him, place him in the chair and, by then, he’s certainly in no mood to study. On days that I come by his house for homework, I like walking in, talking his hand, and asking if he wants to do his homework with me. We’ll make it fun and easy, I say. Then the mood completely changes and he’s always very excited to count out his apples or follow the lines to make a cursive F. I can’t say enough how much I like helping him. Miguel and another girl in the Aldea are the only special needs children in the region of Libertad that go to school.

It makes me feel so good knowing I’m part of something truly revolutionary in Libertad, Peru—even if it’s just taking a hand and asking, “Would you like to do your homework with me? We’ll make it fun.”

Alegria de VeVir (Laura)

One of the things we found most remarkable at the Alegria de Vivir, in Trubaco, Colombia, was the level of volunteerism and dedication to provide care for handicapped children in the community. Every women at the home was a single mother, or grandmother, of a handicapped child who could not pay for medical treatments or evaluations. The four young women running the home, all under 30, had seen the need in their own community so they decided to bring the physicians to these children. They went through the paperwork of registering the home, spend their free time contacting doctors who will donate their expertise and do local fundraisers to pay transportation costs for the doctors.

some photos of Aldea Infantile

note: for some reason I receive stories from the interns in Aldea Infantile that never have any attachments and then I receive some photos that never have any stories to explain the photos.

Since I haven't been to the Aldea Infantile (yet!), I don't have the names of the kids in these photos. They sure are cute and I'm hoping to get to Aldea sometime. Then I can tell you how wonderful and good all these children are!

For now, enjoy...