Getting to Know the PPA Children

The morning alarm. Where am...oh, it is Peru and we are working today. It is time to reconnect with our children. This Monday we felt more acclimated to PPA and woke ready to re engage with the little people we have come to know. The spitfire, the bruiser, the dancer, the cuddler, the climber, et al.

We witness how resilient most of them are, how often they fall and get up, have toys snatched and find others, and generally show patience as they line up for snacks, had washing and black bib shirts. They glide easily from the communal toys to their semmingly identical back packs full of personal toys tht each owner can identify a mile away and claim it with precision.The children seem more comfortable with us too, especially when they cozy up stick like velcro, and explore our anatomy as well as our watches, earrings, lipsticks, etc. Each child seems well cared for with freshly washed and ironed clothes, sweet smelling hair and white teeth. They are intent on keeping their shoes on at all times (clearly according to the rules) and glide, jump, and run in their flip flops with grace most of the time.After our days work, several of our group went for massages from blind workers. What a good idea. Reviews were unanimous two thumbs up and 10 toes up. We all selpt well that night.

"Pretty much all the honest truth telling in the world is done by children." Oliver Wendell Holmes

Today was walking day. In the morning, Marie and Rose had their first opportunity to take a few of the little ones outside. Typically, Pat does this in the afternoon. Lunch was early for the children because it was family visitation day. Maryanne and Rose spent the afternoon with their families while Pat, Susan, Marie, and Mandy walked the children to and from the family meeting area. It was sad for children who expected parents that didn´t show and heart-wrenching to see those who cried when returned to their areas.

In the evening, we donned our fancy clothing and went to Junius for a buffet and a folklore show with terrific music and incredible dancing. The crowning hit of the evening was watching Mandy reluctantly take to the stage to become the bride of diablos. Her hesitant participation and wildly comical facial expressions sent five ladies into fits of laughter and was an absolutely hilarious ending to another day filled with both work and play. Thanks again to our wonderful leader, Edith.

"We can´t do great things in this life – we can only do small things with great love." Mother Theresa

It seems that we are all falling into our routines at PPA learning to pace ourselves, connecting names with faces and falling in love with the enthusiasm of these precious little ones. In the Nino Jesus, Marie and Rose had the experience of seeing a few children respond with E I E I O after singing the lines of Old MacDonald. Edith treated us to a delightful evening. We went to San Antonio and oohed and aahed over the pastries and sandwiches. We returned to our beds filled with quiches, spinach pies, sandwiches, chocolate brioches, and cakes, and ice cream. Gracias, Edith.

Those who say it can´t be done are interrupted by those doing it.

Ups and downs are shared as the interactions continue. We are getting to know faces, names and expectations. We realize too that our job isn´t to alter things but to facilitate procedures in place. None the less we fantasize about darkening the skin and eyes on the murals, dividing large numbers into groups and being able to communicate in Spanish a great deal more. After PPA today Edith took us to the Inca market. Edith showed the Indian portion of this immense place. Marie bought an alpaca sweater, Sue to a lovely carved bird, beautiful postcards and she and Pat got table runners – hand woven. Pat got her daughter some head bands and a hat for herself. There are lovely, lovely items.

Inch by inch it is a cinch – yard by yard it is hard

This was seriously our first full day of working in the various areas. Our group declined hospital and labor. We are assigned with children of various ages and sibling groups. We are all exhausted and excited. Our language skills are lacking unfortunately. Everyone´s efforts are great and no two groups or sessions are the same. Our routine is not established with a meeting at 8´o´clock, lunch about 1 and completion of our workday at 5. Our lesson this morning was about the local fruits and vegetables. We learned that asparagus is their number one export, that there are 2,000 types of potatoes and lucuma and chirimoya are local products.

There is no I in team

This morning the entire team seemed enthusiastic to begin our mission as members of Global Volunteers. During the morning we practiced some Spanish before meeting with the staff of PPA. I think they were impressed with our effort in speaking their language. We also toured the entire campus both outdoors and in. Around noon we went to a local restaurant for a very good lunch. After lunch we went into our afternoon assignments to work with the loving and very energetic children. We finished the evening with a lovely dinner at the mall where we also learned of the shops selling traditional Peruvian items. Some of us had our first Pisco sour -- but not our last.

Peru Team Jan 29- Feb 10

She didn´t know it couldn´t be done, so she went ahead and did it.

After just a few hours sleep we met with our very energetic and wonderful team leader over breakfast. The entire team met with Edith to set our goals and expectations. We took a tour of Limalearning of its history and points of interest. After a delicious and beautifully prepared dinner at the hotel we went to bed to rest up for what would be our first afternoon with the children.