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.