November 22, Evening

Ivy Kaminsky

What a day it has been! Our team had the distinct pleasure of being honorary members of the PPAs 25th Anniversary celebration. There were fireworks (the burning of the castle) and lots of wonderful performances by the children.

My new friend, Tanya Perez, (a twelve year old girl), made this day and evening a very memorable one that I will never forget. Why this beautiful young girl chose me to befriend, I’ll never know, but I’ll always be thankful for. Even though we didn’t have a common language to speak, I think we understood each other. Over our last couple of days I came to understand that she would be doing a dance performance with her friends during the celebration. Around 5 when it was looking like that part of the festivities were over and we needed to get going to dinner, I wasn’t sure what to do. It didn’t look like she was dancing after all. She really wanted me to stay and see the end but others were saying it was all over until later. Most of the team headed back to the office to get ready to leave for dinner. I was also supposed to be going to the travel agent to finalize our Machu Piccu plans. Somehow none of that seemed as important as seeing Tanya’s performance. I could tell it was really important to her that I be there. I waited and finally after all of the little children were led out, there were a couple more performances. Tanya and her friends danced to a song from Belinda and another group of teenage girls sang and danced. Tanya was right in the front center of her group and I almost didn’t recognize her with a pink baseball cap on. I think I have an idea of what it must feel like to be a proud parent at a dance recital. They were extremely cute in their tentative teenage way. After her performance Mantas and I rushed to the travel agent, took care of business, and rushed back to meet our special dinner guests, some of the children of the PPA. It was a nice dinner and a bit of a wild ride back to the PPA with many pictures taken.

When we returned to the PPA for the final part of the celebration, Tanya sought me out again and we enjoyed the festivities together. She also gave Edith a note for me and Mantas that she wanted her to translate for us. It was so sweet and heartfelt. How did I get so blessed to have this beautiful young person in my life? And to have her make such an impact in such a short time?

I began this trip as a person who doesn’t really like children. I am an only child who hasn’t really been around children much and didn’t feel like I knew how to interact with them very well. While moving furniture around the newly renovated toddler area I got a crash course in interacting with the little ones as I would go by their cubes and try to make them smile. By the time we made it to Cusco and Machu Piccu I found myself making faces at any small child I encountered. All I can say about this whole experience is - what a difference a smile makes!!!