And the painting continues!

Wednesday 15th Sept

Today I arrive to CDLN right on time. Myriam starts our daily meeting. Our painting windows project continues in Sonrisa fransciscana pavilion. Today I continue painting the 5th window. Jose is bringing us the ladder. It really helps to reach and paint the hightest part of the windows.

It is 1:30 p.m. and we start our lunch with prayer. We have fun with kids at my table. We enjoy each others company, a counting game in English begins. After lunch I go to help kids to dry off the dishes and we have fun. Myriam takes a photo of us standing by the sink.

After lunch I go to the pavilion to finish the painting. I use Jose´s ladder a lot. There's another 4 windows... the paint is making me a bit dizzy and it has a strong smell! It has been a long day and it is getting pretty hot today :)

At 5 p.m. my taxi punctually arrives and I go home. The taxi driver takes a different route, with less trafic. He drops me off at Larcomar. I walk home by foot enjoying the beautiful scenery.

I am then at the hotel and I am ready to eat my dinner at our restaurant. It is small but very cozy, and they make great steak skewers. I am tired and go to bed early today!

Written by Volunteer Karina

Adding a Little Sunshine to their Lives...

Friday 10th September

Today is my last day at CDLN even though Karina will be staying on until next week. It`s gone extremely fast, and I find myself feeling like I need a bit more time. Nevertheless, the day starts with a frantic search for cookies for the party later in the day.

Once we arrive, Hermano Pedro started to help Karina and me with the painting supplies, but got sidetracked telling us about Arequipa (where he is from) and invited us to his pavilion to watch a DVD he`d recently bought on the area. He was so generous to offer us crackers and to tell us about the condors, bullfighting and his hometown. He seemed very proud of where he was from. We did eventually get around to painting (another ordeal moving benches outside, trying to find supplies...) and soon thereafter, it was then time for lunch.

The kids had pasta today instead of rice, and it was funny to watch them trying to negotiate away the mushrooms in the pasta and then to twirl the noodles around and throw them at each other. Even though that wouldn`t go over well in most kitchens, it makes me glad to know that they can still be silly and playful at CDLN. They also got oranges today and were trading and stealing each other`s oranges. The fruit was definitely a treat for them. Everyday, there has been one little boy, Elias, who doesn`t eat his food and, since the kids are required to eat everything that they are given, he gets in big trouble with Hermana Juanita when he doesn`t finish. Today as we were cleaning up, he was trying to hide it under the table and wanted me to help him. They`re all just so funny in how they manage their lives here. In many ways, it`s not much different than if they were at home.

Since it was Friday, the kids were able to watch a movie after lunch. They were all glued to Avatar (which I haven`t even seen yet) and were excited for Karina, Myrian and I to sit with them and watch. Later in the afternoon, we served them the cookies and handed out balloons, both which seemed to be a big hit. I tried to show them the trick of rubbing the balloon against your hair to make it stick to the wall, but it wasn`t working so well. Maybe there`s not enough static electricity in Lima:)

At the end of the party, they presented me with a thank you card that they had made. It was very sweet and the boys were all very gracious in making a line to thank me for various things during the week. I really was moved not just on Friday, but throughout the week, by how sweet and affectionate they were.

In a perfect world, they would have people there everyday just to play and give them attention. I hope that the short time I was here has added a least a little sunshine to their lives. I know that it has mine.

Written by Volunteer Jill

Day Two in Lima!

Tuesday 7th September

Today is Tuesday, our 2nd in Peru. We have our hearty breakfast at our hotel and get ready to go to CDNL. Our taxi is very punctual, although the streets are filled with trafic, we arrive to CDNL on time at 9 a.m.

Upon our arrival Myriam comes to greet us with her warm and welcoming smile. We start our day with a Spanish lesson. It is really fun, we are learning slowly but surely. Then Jill and I have big project, painting the windows in St.Fransicana pavilion. Freddy is giving us a helping hand... he teaches us how to scrub rust from the windows. Then we clean them with the brush and paint them.

And now it is lunch time at 1:30 p.m. We are going to the cafeteria to set up the tables for the children. Once we put the dishes on the table we help to serve the food. Suddenly we realize that all children gathered around in the cafeteria at individual seat. Then ready for the prayer. We pray with gratitude.

Suddenly I notice that children are coming towards me saying “hello hermana Karina" and kissing me on the cheek... what a delightful moment for me... I am being accepted as their team member!

After we eat we help them to clean up the tables - they are so efficient in doing the chores, I am very impressed. Then we go to our pavilions. My children from St. Antonio pavilion go to play football, they reall love it. I hang around with them, saying "go go go" and I wish I could play footbal!

Then it is time to do the homework - the fun part. I say "who needs help with math?" and we start doing the homework. I am impressed with them. They are really very good at math, complex divisions and subtractions, although they need little it is nice to just be there and cuddle with them while they do their homework and they are really appreciative when they do it well.

It is 5 p.m. and our day almost comes to the end, we are so glad just to be there for them. Our taxi is waiting for us and we go back to our cozy Hotel Torreblanca.

Written by Volunteer Karina

A Summer of Service in Lima ~ Get Inspired!

Please enjoy some candid photos of our volunteers on summer service programs in Lima, Peru!

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Realise that my time with this Peru program is about to come to an end, just when I am able to distinguish most of the boys by their personality (though still lousy at remembering names) and also beginning to get comfortable with a familiar routine at CDLN - work around the dormitory in the morning, set table for lunch with the boys and help with clean-up afterwards, then sort of goof around with the kids until being transferred back to hotel by 5pm. I feel like I still have so much to do with the kids, and so much work unfinished around the dormitory, 2-week does not seem like an ideal time frame for volunteering work...

Myrian suggested that I think about how my experience so far has been different from my initial expectation, but quite frankly I did not really have any expectation to speak of - being able to spend time with a local community is an opportunity, not a task, I see possibilities and potentials, not objectives or goals. Now I understand why I have been feeling a bit confounded from the beginning with all that talk about goals and strategies, I guess my outlook on life is more organic and my approach less organised than that...

We are here to give afterall, although we would inadvertently end up receiving so much more instead :-) Yes, the kids are so nice and warm and patient they would melt the heart of however cynical and jaded a city bum like me could be, and the whole family of the tutors at San Martin has made me feel so at home, this is real treasure I am receiving from them, when they open their doors to their home to me - for a wary traveler, an invitation to a home-made dinner is more valuable than the dinner itself. I feel grateful, from the bottom of my heart.

Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Another day of painting, this time the shower room walls. José and Guillermina wanted to have the decoration done tomorrow, the designer in me silently screamed no way - whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well (Lord Chesterfield), you just don't get a set of graphics done in a couple hours and expect it to be great. Again, I had to resort to examine the meaning of being of service - does it mean totally submiting to the wills of others, suspending one's own judgement, discarding one's own standard, in order to fulfil the needs of others? I feel conflicted. The same way I feel conflicted about the religious element in the daily life at CDLN (no one has forced me to follow their ritual, I just feel uncomfortable not blending in, yet hypocritical if I even try), and how I should handle questions I find too personal from casual aquaintances - there is obviously a different concept of personal space in South America. Not that I have come to any enlightening answer yet, but questioning oneself of the status quo lays the foundation for change and, hopefully, growth, I'll just take it one day at a time.

Monday, 17 May 2010

First day of the program. A bit nervous knowing that my Spanish is insufficient for effective communication with the local people, wondering if I would be more of a hinderance than help to them. But when on entering the precinct of Chorrillos I saw two huge statues of couple in love and was reminded of the common aspiration of people no matter the language we speak, the age, the color, and all the superficial differences - a life with some love and dignity, I felt more at ease knowing that those are things I could hope to give.

After touring the complex of CDLN - which is huge and very well maintained - I was assigned to the house of San Martin, under the care of Hermano José and Hermana Guillermina, a very down-to-earth and pleasant couple, a comforting beginning indeed.

There didn't seem much I could do for them in the morning (when the boys were at school) except for helping with their chores. Just when I felt a bit listless cleaning the windows, I remembered my own reasoning when my little angels asked me why I thought it so important and spent so much time trying to maintain a clean home for them: because I love them and want to give them the pleasantest I could possibly give... An act of love need not be anything lofty and flamboyant, it's the intention that counts.

Meeting the kids was a bit overwhelming at first, mainly because I couldn't understand 95% of what they said :( But their enthusiasm, curiosity, warmth and generosity soon put me in greater ease. It's a pleasant change to hang around with kids who are without a hint of cynicism - surprising given that many of them are supposed to have come from some difficult background. I have developed a genuine affection for these kids, and I look forward to create with them some loving memeories for each other.