Last Day

Journal-Judy Jonas
Going to P.P.A. for the last time
Lots of mixed emotions-glad to be going home, sad to be leaving the children
Onward we went and joined the children for an outdoor special anniversary mass
Brothers, Sisters, staff, children sang and blessed G-d for taking care of us all
All of us watched Cledaman, the Peruvian version of Superman, and had
Lots of fun watching…
Visions of old Peru with niños on a bicycle - covered wagon pulled by a caballo
on roller skates
Other children, dressed in colorful costumes performed folk dances representing
indigenous Quechuan areas
Later we saw the kids carrying their chairs, back to their areas, while others ate
their picnic lunches of pollo sandwiches
Until it was time to go to the huge field for the games
Needless to say, we went too; some watched but others (Jason and I) joined in the
older girls' volleyball game with an invisible, but definite net.
Together we saw one of the Hermanas play as well as the girls
Each of us said our goodbyes, some with tears, other with sweets and some with
both
Earlier doubts and fears set aside
Ready to face our realities at home
Sure that we have been changed and with the hope that the small link we have
formed, in the Global Volunteer chain at the P.P.A., will not be broken

Thought of the Day-Jason Parnes
"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and help them become what they are capable of being."