Thought of the day: "Being adventurous with food can be fun and surprising but having Edith there to explain how to eat it can be a life saver! "– Allison T.
Sara is not feeling well and Lee is taking care of her, so I will help to write the journal. There is not June 12th without June 11th, right?
Today it is one of the most important days of this adventure in service because today we are going to visit one of the kids’ homes. We are going to Carapongo – Huachipa. We started getting ready (not drinking a lot of water and going to the bathroom). Before leaving I introduced Elizabeth and Maria Alejandra whose houses we will visit. Elizabeth has a big smile ad she is very excited to go to her house because it is one year that she hasn’t seen her mother and going home and Maria Alejandra who likes to sings and practices her English “what’s your name”, will see her grandmother who used to go to pick her up but she hasn’t gone for a long time because the social worker knows that she could be sick.
Little by little we saw how the view changes from tall building to unfinished houses, from new cars and big buses to “mototaxis”, from cute clean dogs to wild “guardian” dogs…this is part of our culture, lifestyle and everyday view and how most Peruvians live… it is real and close.
First we looked for Elizabeth’s home. We found a wooden house but nobody was there, so we started looking for a neighbor or someone who may know Elizabeth’s mother. When we thought that we could make a mistake in the address we asked a man who didn’t remember very well so he called her wife and she knew her. This woman told us that Elizabeth’s mother was not living there anymore and she had another baby. This was a surprise for us and especially for the social worker who realized that was the reason why she hasn’t gone to visit her other kids for a long time. The neighbor helped us to find Elizabeth’s mother who was living in the 2nd floor of a house renting one bedroom. She was sharing that room with her sister who has kids plus her 2 kids and baby. Volunteers, Maria Alejandra and I waited in the bus. At the end, Elizabeth decided to stay with her mother… after all kids do not care about where to sleep or what to eat they just want to be with their mom. There is nothing that can replace family and for these kids at PPA their families it is what make them feel special it is what belongs to them and they are proud about.
Second home: Maria’s home! She guided the van’s driver and we arrived just in few minutes. At the door there was a woman (Maria’s aunt) who was surprised to see Maria and she offered us to come in but there was an old woman, Maria’s great-grandmother, who was doing laundry but she also invited us to come in. It was time to breath deeply and face “real life”. It was first time that Maria saw her grandmother in bed with her arm and leg injured. She had an accident: a mototaxi hit her. She was in bed and Maria Alejandra just realized why she couldn’t go to PPA to pick her up. It was hard…
Then we visited a soup kitchen and a kindergarten where we met hardworking mothers and a sweet kindergarten teacher who had about 10 kids under control working in a card for father’s day. After saying goodbye to Maria’s grandmother, it was time go back to PPA and continue with our afternoon projects.
Visiting PPA kids’ homes is hard for me because I would like to show volunteers only all good things about my country and people but this visit is necessary to understand these kids better, why Global Volunteers helps PPA and why volunteers’ presence is so important… I’m proud of hardworking people that we meet in these visits… people who do not lose hope… people who do not give up…
Edith Rodriguez
Today it is one of the most important days of this adventure in service because today we are going to visit one of the kids’ homes. We are going to Carapongo – Huachipa. We started getting ready (not drinking a lot of water and going to the bathroom). Before leaving I introduced Elizabeth and Maria Alejandra whose houses we will visit. Elizabeth has a big smile ad she is very excited to go to her house because it is one year that she hasn’t seen her mother and going home and Maria Alejandra who likes to sings and practices her English “what’s your name”, will see her grandmother who used to go to pick her up but she hasn’t gone for a long time because the social worker knows that she could be sick.
Little by little we saw how the view changes from tall building to unfinished houses, from new cars and big buses to “mototaxis”, from cute clean dogs to wild “guardian” dogs…this is part of our culture, lifestyle and everyday view and how most Peruvians live… it is real and close.
First we looked for Elizabeth’s home. We found a wooden house but nobody was there, so we started looking for a neighbor or someone who may know Elizabeth’s mother. When we thought that we could make a mistake in the address we asked a man who didn’t remember very well so he called her wife and she knew her. This woman told us that Elizabeth’s mother was not living there anymore and she had another baby. This was a surprise for us and especially for the social worker who realized that was the reason why she hasn’t gone to visit her other kids for a long time. The neighbor helped us to find Elizabeth’s mother who was living in the 2nd floor of a house renting one bedroom. She was sharing that room with her sister who has kids plus her 2 kids and baby. Volunteers, Maria Alejandra and I waited in the bus. At the end, Elizabeth decided to stay with her mother… after all kids do not care about where to sleep or what to eat they just want to be with their mom. There is nothing that can replace family and for these kids at PPA their families it is what make them feel special it is what belongs to them and they are proud about.
Second home: Maria’s home! She guided the van’s driver and we arrived just in few minutes. At the door there was a woman (Maria’s aunt) who was surprised to see Maria and she offered us to come in but there was an old woman, Maria’s great-grandmother, who was doing laundry but she also invited us to come in. It was time to breath deeply and face “real life”. It was first time that Maria saw her grandmother in bed with her arm and leg injured. She had an accident: a mototaxi hit her. She was in bed and Maria Alejandra just realized why she couldn’t go to PPA to pick her up. It was hard…
Then we visited a soup kitchen and a kindergarten where we met hardworking mothers and a sweet kindergarten teacher who had about 10 kids under control working in a card for father’s day. After saying goodbye to Maria’s grandmother, it was time go back to PPA and continue with our afternoon projects.
Visiting PPA kids’ homes is hard for me because I would like to show volunteers only all good things about my country and people but this visit is necessary to understand these kids better, why Global Volunteers helps PPA and why volunteers’ presence is so important… I’m proud of hardworking people that we meet in these visits… people who do not lose hope… people who do not give up…
Edith Rodriguez
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