Monday! Second week...

Start of a new week without Veronica and Betty out sick. Juanita started the morning reading to Ricardo and Franklin, Green Eggs and Ham three times. Also drew pictures of Hostal Torreblanca from a postcard that Juanita brought. Morning was capped off with a reward of a Dona Pepe candy bar.

I started the day working with Alfonso, the gardener. Through sign language and some rudimentary understanding of Spanish I determined I was responsible to move a pile of rocks and debris. It was back-breaking work. I was given a shovel that broke in half. At lunch I asked Edith if she could one day take me to the Mercado so I could buy Alfonso a new shovel. As always, Edith said no problem.

In the afternoon, Juanita and I taught the third grade girls. We were ready to teach the girls English but they all brought their homework. We let them do their homework which was simple addition and subtraction. We observed that all of the students were not able to do simple addition and subtraction in their heads. They had to use their fingers. We decided the next class we would do flash cards to help the girls do addition and subtraction without using their fingers.

Phil (Felipe) Okuma

The end of first week...

My last day of journaling. Veronica’s last day with us at PPA. I shall miss her sensitive exuberance. Now it’s just the reserved Arizonans remaining for next week. Betty is back with us and we were able to take our group photos wearing our Global Volunteer tee shirts in front of Hostal Torreblanca.

It’s a beautiful day ending a magnificient week at PPA. We attended to our morning assignments. Veronica and I were with Franklin and Ricardo. Their patience span is very limited and we have become realistic in our expectations. I have learned that the children respond to incentives or rewards for motivation to work. The beanie babies have worked in that behalf. I saw Felipe helping Edith place the 80+ chairs getting ready for this afternoon’s movie and popcorn fiesta.

Well… movie time, drinks, and popcorn was great for the 3, 4, and 5 year olds for the first 15 minutes. Then concentration began to break down. I think the kids loved the whole idea of the event. The photo op was great but as sister Anna Marie appeared, all cameras vanished, only to be clicking away again as soon as she left the building. I came to PPA to photograph the children and photograph I did.

As I close my part of the journal writing and end my first week, I’d like to reflect upon some thoughts: Many years ago I planned that Global Volunteers was going to be one of my choices for a new beginnings when my husband died. Eight months ago my husband passed away and shortly thereafter I contacted Global Volunteers. I was prepared to accept the unwelcome circumstance in my life. Therefore, my thought for the day is: “Be prepared to explore and implement new choices for new beginnings in your life.”

Thank you to Edith, Veronica, Betty, and Phil for sharing so much of your hearts with me and becoming my forever friends.

Quote for the day: The Art of the Possible by Alexander Stoddard

“Think about a river,
See how it flows and runs its course
Water must have freedom to flow
When it does not, it overflows and erodes the land
We need some freedom to flow, to let go and move on, to refresh ourselves, flow
with the ever-changing advent of life.
We will be carried through a wonderful adventure where unmanageable
occurrences become known to us, and we experience a part of ourselves
never before imagined.”

Juanita

Another day and all new expectations...

Another day and all new anticipations as to our expectations of how the children will be on this holiday. Highly spirited as we soon found out with classes out and children playing all around the grounds. Betty went off to her beloved toddlers and Felipe remained back at the hostal due to stomach problems. And he finally agreed to taking a cipro. Veronica and I found our three boys Ricardo, Franklin, and Elias not in the study mode. It was challenging to ground them into a learning mode, so we didn’t. It was play, play, play. Our time with them was a little shorter, I think mainly because we were tired. We used the remaining time to visit and play with those adorable, loving, and fun kinder girls. What a treat for me! Veronica had already fallen in love with all of them during her last visit.

We then went off to the market to purchase goodies for tomorrow afternoon’s popcorn and movie activity.

Returning from lunch, we were greeted by Felipe who was eagerly awaiting our afternoon activities with the second grade boys. I so enjoy the pleasure I feel giving small gifts to the children. Today we allowed the boys to choose their own preference of beanie babies. We took photos with the boys throwing their beanie babies up in the air or carrying them on their heads. It was fun and tiring. Another day completed, each being very different from the one before.

Betty did not join us for the dinner due to a sore throat. We did, however, manage to have a divine dinner at Vivaldi… excellent ambiance, delicious food, attentive service, and live music. I know that we came here for the children, yet I’m having an absolute ball eating my way from restaurant to restaurant.

The remainder of the evening was spent at El Circuito Magico del Aqua… a water show more spectacular than at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Another extraordinary day comes to a weary end.

Quote for the day:
“Greater Good is not just a mantra.” It is also the name of a new publication: The Science of a Meaningful Life Greater Good published by UC Berkeley in California. Let’s all continue to be mindful of greater good.

Johanna "Juanita" Burton

“You may be one person in this world, but to one person you may be the world.”

As the pen moves from Veronica to me for these journal writings, I wish to initially express the unexpected joy and enthusiasm Veronica has brought to our team. She is the only one among us who had been here before. As I listened to how these children affected her life, I wondered if I could have the same passionate feelings. And the answer is yes… Yes Yes Yes!!!

Our Wednesday started with a trip to the district of San Juan de Lurigancho in the neighborhood of Motupe on the hill of Asentamiento Humano “Nueva Jerusalen” with two of PPA’s students, Rachel and Yesenia. The reason for the trip was that the social worker had to do home assessments of these two girls and they were needed to show the way. Fortunately Edith said it was important for the teams to experience where these children came from and to better understand the opportunities these children had at PPA.

I personally was grateful so many of us, except Veronica (who had previously done a home experience) was with us, as I needed extra help climbing the mountain. But, I did it!! It is easy to understand the dignity and appreciation of these families. It is easy to understand how grateful they are to have the services of PPA. It is easy to experience the joy in their hearts that their children are having a better life with more advantages than they would be able to offer themselves. For me, the visit to families gave a deeper understanding of the needs of the Peruvian ‘disadvantaged.’

Back at PPA that afternoon, we returned to our assignments, Betty to the hospital, Veronica with the young ones climbing all over her as she wiped their noses here and there, and Felipe and I wondering what we were going to face in the girls English class. I thank Edith for her calm resolve in arranging the chairs to better induce focus and concentration. Just by her mere presence the girls (ten of them) were better behaved and more patient with their pseudo English teachers, Felipe and Juanita. We did the repetition exercises with date (and this time we got it right!!), day, salutation, numbers, colors, and select words using flash cards and sentences. It was a long hour and the only way we were able to keep their interest was with a promise of a gift at the end of class. The girls seemed to enjoy their bracelets which were made by one of the girl’s Mom purchased earlier in the day back at the village.

How does one put into words the feelings experienced when a child runs up to you open heartedly saying Juanita, Juanita and throwing her arms around you, your shoulders, or anywhere they can reach. I’m hooked; how many can I sneak home.

We ended a marvelous day at the Inca Market followed by a fabulous dinner at Kuo-Wha. The buffet was delicious and Edith knew exactly what time to get us in and what time to exit. Otherwise, we would have waited for food in a long, long, long, long line.

“You may be one person in this world, but to one person you may be the world.”

Johanna "Juanita" Burton

Long special day...

Quote for the day: from Johanna’s book

“Travel as far as you can just so long as you can go, and as often as you can go. Time is getting short. There’s a lot of the world to see and you have to go as often as you can make it.”

Our second day at PPA is our first full day. After breakfast and our morning meeting we loaded the now working Global bus with our donations and excitedly headed off to our first morning sessions. Johanna was a little nervous and almost switched jobs before starting our ‘special kids’ project to toddlers but we explained that since she was the only one in our twosome… ‘being she and I’ that spoke Spanish that we needed her in this spot. She was tremendously surprised and so was I with how well Franklin and Ricardo worked with us. They tried very hard and were very well behaved and loving and I was very thankful to have Johanna and her Spanish with me. Our morning was a success. Betty had her first morning in toddlers and except for a few bites I think she enjoyed it, though she made an early escape and we brought her back for more toddler time (just kidding). Phil was happy at work gardening and I believe they were very happy to have his help.

After another great lunch, I spent some time with the ten 3 year olds I was with yesterday who all seem to love to say the name ‘Veronica.’ It must be different to them. When they went for their snack, I used the opportunity to visit the kinder girls I know from January who had moved up in March. After another hair dressing, puzzle making, lego building, and hugging session I was exhausted. Phil looked pretty exhausted from teaching twenty-one boys with Johanna to speak English all afternoon with some assistance from a helper but they both agree it was a huge success. We stayed late today to observe an awards ceremony for the boys. It was beautiful. The awards were given to the best behaved boys from each area… seeing the pride and excitement in the kids faces made me realize again what a great job the brothers and sisters do here at PPA with the kids. Then we went to ‘sweet dreams’ to tuck in six 3 year olds and read bed time stories. It was a very long special day for us all.

Veronica Montemarano

Quote for the day: Aesop -“No act of kindness no matter how small is wasted

We started our day with the morning meeting and then Mili arrived! It was so great to see her again. The Global bus was out of commission this morning so we took a taxi to PPA. For me it was a great feeling to be coming back. I haven’t stopped thinking about all the beautiful children at PPA since I was here in January and for Phil, Betty, and Johanna I’m sure it was exciting and a little scary too. After our introductions to the staff, we took a tour of the campus. I was more than overjoyed to see Rosa Christine, Guadalupe, and Fabian first thing in the morning. In three months they each seem so much stronger and more alert and I’m so happy to say I think they recognize me. I truly love each of them and wish I could bring them home with me.

After lunch we started our afternoon work sessions. Phil and Johanna taught English to five girls. I’m sure it was challenging and Betty went to the hospitalito where I believe she had ten patients. I was blessed with the 3 year olds who I am in love with and got to play all afternoon. My heart aches with different emotions, so much thankfulness that I can be here and that these kids can be in such a wonderful safe environment and yet aches that these kids don’t know a parents’ warm bed to crawl into in the middle of the night or have a proud grandparent in the audience at a school play and so many things we all take for granted when we have a loving home. We were all pretty tired by the end of the day but had a great dinner at Mangos which was a nice walk from Torreblanca.

Veronica Montemarano

Fist Day at PPA...

Today is officially our first day. It’s gorgeous and sunny. It was great to see Edith and the staff at Torreblanca again. I feel so at home here in Miraflores.

We met after breakfast for our orientation. Our group has four members… Betty, Phil, Johanna and myself. Betty, Phil, and Johanna are from Arizona and I am from New York.

We chose our jobs for the week after Edith went over Global’s goals and told us about PPA. This is my second time here in the past three months and I am so excited to be back and to see all the children again. I hope that Phil, Betty, and Johanna find their experience as fulfilling as I have.

Quote for the day: Forest Witcraft
“A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of home I lived in, or the kind of car I drove, but the world will be different because I was important in the life of a child.”

Veronica Montemarano