Day One of Our Journey

12.21.10 Journal Entry

Thought for the day: "To whom much is given, much is expected." - John F Kennedy

Day one of our journey began with a great sense of easy and comfort with our group of volunteers. We were eager to begin our work with the children. the trip to CDLN was an eye-opener for all of us as it was our first real look at the economic situation on the District where CDLN is located.

When we arrived on site, we received a tour of the campus and Brother Hugo distributed our assignments in each of the Pavilions. We then observed the Christmas celebration in the cafeteria and much to our surprise Barney was the center attraction for the children. The boys were so excited to see Barney that they pinned him to the wall while attempting to hug Barney in a way which resembled mauling him.

As we went to our individual assignments, we were all so excited to be of service to the children. At 5pm, feeling exhausted and in need of showers, we headed back to the hotel with a palpable sense of pride. Tomorrow several of us are likely to be very sore when we get out of bed.

Written by Melissa Walker

"Spring into Service" in Peru!!

“Spring into Service” with Global Volunteers to receive a special limited discount offer for our March and April teams!

Four or more volunteers who apply by January 31 for any of these 28 teams in 16 countries will receive a discount of $200 off our standard service program fee, per volunteer, for one-, two- or three-week international programs or $100 off our standard service program fee, per volunteer, for USA programs. No other discounts apply.

Please encourage others to volunteer in our five fundamental project areas: education (especially promotion of girls education), labor and community infrastructure, health care, child care, and food and nutrition.

Call us at 800-487-1074 for details and we'll assist you every step of the way. Our worldwide host communities can’t wait to welcome you!!

Check out this link for more details & service program dates: http://globalvolunteer.org/special/springspecial.asp

Peru Service Program Dates, March & April Teams:
12-Mar-11 to 26-Mar-11
26-Mar-11 to 9-Apr-11
23-Apr-11 to 7-May-11

Vote for Global Volunteers this Weekend!

From November 15 - November 21 the Star Tribune newspaper is holding a contest entitled 'Full Page Project' amongst MN non-profits and the winner will receive a free full page ad in the paper!

Please vote for us this week ~ you can vote once per hour!

Here is the link where you can register and then vote for Global Volunteers (please copy and paste the link): http://startribune.upickem.net/engine/Registration.aspx?contestid=22815

We would also encourage you to pass this link along to your family and friends, and post it on your personal Facebook page. Let us know if you have any questions, and remember voting goes until 5 p.m. Sunday!

Thank you for your support.

Team Journal - October 15th

Friday, October 15th

Thought for the day: "Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven." Henry Ward Beecher

Hooray! Just some clean-up and a little trim paint and our two-man team has repainted the study hall at Pavilion San Antonio. The second coat went on he baseboards after Jose helped with the paint formulation and technique.

In addition to getting brown paint on my green pants and pale skin, I worked with Flor again on her English lessons. We studied the time of day, locations and directions, distinguishing between 'at' and 'on'. One of the multiple choice answers was the location of the Mississippi River and Lake Superior. Being from Michigan, I could easily draw a map of Lake Superior, so I went ahead and filled in the continental U.S. with the Mississippi and the Rockies and the Appalachians. Then I sang out the rhyme that many of us learn in elementary school: M-I-S-S, I-S-S, I-P-P-I. Flor got the biggest kick out of that. And even after lunch she was still practicing it. Comparing our learning, we found that volunteers from Michigan, Maryland and even Idaho are taught the same way -- now we`re bringing it to Peru. Just wait until Flor hears the alphabet song!

Since I`m the first to leave Lima, and my flight is fairly early, I wouldn`t be able to have dinner with the group as usual for a Friday. So Myrian accommodated my schedule by having the 'farewell' dinner tonight. The Junius restaurant puts on a fabulous floor show of some traditional Peruvian dances and music. We had a front row table too. Truly and enjoyable evening, with or without pisco.

There were so many experiences, it`s hard to distill it down to one thing, one instance, or one feeling, but the closes I find is 'vibrant' -- whether it`s the colors of historical native dress, the facades of the homes, the lights and neon of the casinos and businesses, to the people selling even the smallest candies in the streets, and the energetic boys at CDLN, Lima is alive and vibrant.

Denise Hazelrigg

Team Journal - October 11th

Monday, 11 October

A fun Monday, we started the morning by finishing the painting on the doors in the kids building. Some we had worked on last week. Several pointed out to me that I had a sore head. What had happened was a lump of paint hit me there, and wiping just smudged it. Finishing the painting on the door, I became an English teacher with 2 of the ladies working there with the boys. I do not know their names, but I will be teaching them again on Tuesday. While I do, they each teach me new Spanish words too. I felt proud of myself at lunch, most of the guys wanted me to sit with them. After our lunch, they wanted me to take part in their dance class too, but I just watched. Some boys practiced their English with me, and I practiced my Spanish with them, we all learned new words.

I forgot to tell you that I taught the boys math too. It did take me a while until I saw what their math symbols meant, I`d never seen division signs that the boys used. All the way back in history to Greek development of geometry, and Issac Newton`s calculus. They`ll have to learn standard symbols used in physics and engineering... perhaps later.

Barry Serini

Team Journal - October 5th

Tuesday, 5th October

Thought for the day: “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” Maria Robinson

We knew ahead of time that today wouldn´t be normal, but who wants normal anyway? The boys wouldn´t be running around at CDLN until much later, so we had plenty of time to see the grounds, the pavilions, the animals, the fields of vegetables and to meet Brother Hugo and some of the tutors and other volunteers.

We snuck a taste of the panettone that the boys make in the bakery of CDLN and sell for special occasions. We had lunch early. We had a few tasks given to us by Jose and then Flor. With Jose, we helped feed the animals [now remember, I said that the boys were not yet on the grounds], I mean the guinea pigs and the chickens. We first went all the way around the vegetable fields to the back where they pack the produce, such as cabbage, broccoli and lettuce, then we loaded a wheelbarrow full of the discarded outer leaves of the cabbage and the woody stems of the broccoli and even grabbed some leaf lettuce. I swear these discards were better than some salad bars I´ve seen back home. Then Jose pushed the barrow back to San Martin [the pavilion, not the city] to the cages. Barry and I then spread out the leaves for the guinea pigs and then I chopped some lettuce for Barry to give to the chickens.

We followed that with getting some windows ready to paint at San Antonio for Ms. Flor. She wants the pavilion like new in time for the October 24 anniversary of CDLN, so she has a paint scheme implemented throughout, the windows and doors remain black, but the study area will be lighter with beige and brown and the inner columns richer with ochre, followed by the hallways painted ivory. Now we just have to find the time and the paint. We made it through sanding the inner and outer doors today, we´ll see what tomorrow will bring.

Back at the hotel, Barry and I decided to try out the suggestion made by Jeannette about Cafe San Antonio. Apparently, we need to try out the desserts (covered by Global) and the maricuya pisco sours (not covered by Global). It just goes to show that you can´t make everyone happy all of the time.

At dinner the only splurge was an ice cappucino for each of us. Cafe San Antonia ranks 4 stars for selection and inexpensive prices. The location, facade and uniformed waitstaff at first made us feel underdressed in our jeans and tshirts, but we quickly saw that it was populated by local friends, just like an ice cream parlor back home. In all, a pleasant experience.

Denise Hazelrigg

Team Journal - October 4th

Monday, October 4th

We each started our first full day in Lima, Peru, learning about what was expected of us. We had a nice cool day, many folks with jackets, but some of us were OK without. We had a meeting early, introducing ourselves, and reviewing our goals. Meals here were great, nice large servings that I would fix myself back in Annapolis, MD. Fortunetly for us, our tour bus was late, and we went throughout the city. Our host never stopped talking, repeating over and over in Espanol y Ingles tambien (my spell checker did not work on this Spanish)! I am in the process of reviewing my Spanish again, and await the kids tomorrow, Monday. We expect a variety of age groups of boys. I’m wondering how they`ll be. We shall find out.

BARRY SERINI