bye until monday

I ended up at San Antonio's today in the afternoon, just in time to tell my little babies good bye.  From what I understand, they moved three orphanages together about two years ago to renovate the old orphanages   Today is the big day.  They went back home.  As I write this, I can only imagine how confused they must be.  They have never been anywhere except their room, the lunch room, and the playground. Their poor little brains are probably working overtime right now as they lay in their cribs in their new room.

Their old home is huge.  The kids are in about 12 rooms, I have no idea what is going to become of all of this space.  Peruvians aren't the best with details.  Every time I ask what the moving situation is, all I get a few shady details that don't match up with what the person before me said.  But, they have moved.  We don't get to see them again until Monday.  Until then, I guess I'm going to have to keep myself occupied with the older children, or maybe go visit the little ones at Semillitas, the special needs orphanage   I would like to go there once or twice to see how much they have grown.  I've gotten great reports from all the other volunteers.  I guess it's meant to be.

We ended up at San Antonio's in the afternoon, because the whole volunteer group was asked to go to a government volunteer program.  Lidia said that she thought it was going to be in English for just a few hours.  But lets just say it ended up being a really long session of Spanish practice.  I did learn a few things.  There are about 15 government run orphanages in Lima with about 920 kids.  Each orphanage has, among other things, a nutritionist, a doctor, and a social worker.  These orphanages are all like the ones I work at, with groups of about 10-20 kids of all the same age with one or two moms at a time taking care of them.

They have recently started a program that is either more of a family style orphanage or a foster cars system.  Juan asked them to clarify the new program, and they didn't clarify anything.  But, either way, I think it is way better than what they have now.

Having seen how this style of orphanage works, having the kids grouped by ages, I would have to say that I am a huge supported of family style orphanages.  The main idea of a family style orphanage is that the kid are kept in a family unit.  They have a consistant caregiver, and with that comes consistency in everything else; discipline, routine, etc.  The kids may have only a mother, or a mother and father.  They may be grouped closer to the same age,  all with special needs, all girls or boys, or a mix of all of these.  But, they live in a house, and share in family life.  What in the end may be a bit more expensive, also take away many of the negatives.  The children are never told they are not wanted, loved, or special.  They are loved by their new parents and siblings just like normal kids.  They are a part of the community, and live a normal childhood.  Kuddos to Peru for realizing this and starting to change!

not babies anymore

Today was a great day.  I spent the morning at San Antonio's playing with my little baby boys.  I realized is that their not really babies anymore.  I wish I was allowed to take pictures so you could see how much they have grown.  But it's not just growing physically, they are growing up.

The last time I was in this room, no one could talk.  They hadn't learned to count, or point to parts on their body.  They couldn't play a real game like rolling a ball, and they most definitely couldn't listen.  Had you walked in their little room last summer, you would have found me with five babies sitting in my lap.  If you had walked in today, you would have found five children sitting in a circle on the floor rolling the ball around.

I was truly amazed today as I realized how much they have grown up.  My baby Joni had a conversation with me today.  We didn't talk about anything awesome, but we talked.  I see the growth in him the most.  Probably because I spent the most time with him last time.  He used to be shy, tentative, and clingy.  Today, he is outgoing, he laughs all the time, and he is so sweet.

He has blossomed over the last six months.  My one wish for him and all the others is that they stay as innocent and sweet as they are now.  I've worked in the room that they will go to next, those kids can be mean.  Not because they are mean kids, but because that is the room where they start to not get as much attention.  In the baby rooms, there are two sometime three moms.  In the older rooms there is only one mom.  She struggles to just get them up, fed, dressed, and ready for school.  There is no time for love in that room.

Even though these babies don't have anybody to guide them into childhood, they are learning.

I was reminded today that there is hope. I hope that they will learn to love even though there is no one showing them how to.  I hope that in time they will learn how special they are.  I hope they feel wanted.  I hope they will lean of God's great love for them even though there is no one to tell them.

joselyn

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for Joselyn.  Katie and I went to see her today at the home she is staying in, and she seems so be doing ok.  She is sad because she has no family.  I think she is also tired. She is studying to become a nurse and will be done in two years.  At sixteen, this is a lot to handle.  Put that on top of living with 11 other girls all the time, and the sadness of having no family to care for you, and I think I would be tired too.

Katie and I arrive at her house about 20 minutes earlier than we thought we would because we went there straight after mass and it ended a bit earlier than I thought it would. When we got there, we learned that Joselyn was out with a tutor studying for school.  We waited for about 30 minutes, and then the other girls invited us to eat lunch with them.  Lunch was an absolutely delicious meal of rice, black eyed peas, and what I thought was pulled pork in a sauce of some kind.  As I was on my last few bites, Katie leaned over and said that it was fish. I asked how she knew and she showed me the scales mixed in.  Being the good eater than I am, I finished the whole plate and even finished off Katie's drink that she wasn't going to drink.  Somehow, when I eat here, I become immune to the grossness of what I'm putting in my mouth.  I think it goes with the whole politeness/don't wast food thing.  If it's on your plate you eat it; enough said.  Although it as a delicious meals, it also can go down in the books as one of the most awkward meals in history.  Once everyone sat down and said prayers, all the girls and the mom started eating and no one said anything.  Not on word.  I got the feeling that this was because of us too, every time I looked up, I found one or two girls staring at us.  I ate fast.

After lunch we waited for Joselyn for about 20 more minutes.  When Joselyn finally came in the door, she saw me and ran over and gave me a huge hug.  We then proceded to have a lively hour long visit using my very rough spanish,  hand motions, google translate, my handy mini dictionary.  I think that Joselyn enjoyed the visit a lot.  As we were getting ready to leave, I told her we would come back to visit next weekend and she was so surprised.  She said that if we came back a second time, she would be able to leave with us!  When I told here that I would take her to skype with Jade, her biggest hero in the world, I swear she almost cried.

All in all, Joselyn is just about the sweetest girl in the world.

-Please continue to pray for Joselyn as she goes to school.  

-The babies at San Antonio's are going to be moving to their new orphanage this week, pray that it al goes smoothly and we will get to work with them at their new home.

hate is a strong word

I'm sure everyone has been told at least once that hate is a very strong word and to be careful how they use it.  Well today, I used it, and I meant it.  Saturdays are usually a day off for us, but today we got to go to Pachacutec with a woman from Lima who had gathered donations for the women of the Wawa Wasi Program.  The Wawa Wasi Program is a government supported child care system.  These are houses that single working mothers can drop their child at to be watched, and the mother only has to pay 2 soles a day, which is about 70 cents.  These children are fed three meals a day and nutritional supplements to make sure they are getting all the needed nutrients.  They are also tested to make sure they are  developmentally at the right place.  

The women who watch these children and their mothers have become a community.  Today, as we met the mothers and some of the women who watch the children, the love that these women have for each other became apparent.  The caregivers love each of the children they watch as their own.  The mothers, young and old, one child or seven, form a community.  As we waited for the donations to arrive, we all introduced ourselves and told some basic information.  As I watched these women interact, I saw the love they have for each other.  They understand the struggles each one of them goes through daily and they are there for each other.  These women are truly beautiful.

The young moms, just 18 or 19 years old, look young.  The ones who have a few more years under their belt, look many many years older.  I think that five years of raising children in Pachacutec must age you at least 20 years.  I was shocked at the ages of some of the women, thinking them older.  This just shows the trials they go through daily, and of the strength they truly have.

Riding home, the conversation came to what we think of Pachacutec.  I said I hate it.  This place, a place full of beautiful hardworking men and women, is a place of no opportunities.  As we were handing out the donations, it hit all of the volunteers at the same time.  We did not want to be doing this. It was horrible.  The women all needed, there was not enough for everyone to have one of everything.

The women and their children were all seated in a line, we were to go up and down handing out the items.  There were not enough blankets, what do you tell the woman with her hand out for a blanket?  How do you say sorry, you should have sat one seat to your left, then you would ahve gotten that last blanket. We only had a few winter jackets, how do you decide who gets one?  The ones asking loudly or the ones sitting back nicely like we asked?  Which one need it more, the one voicing their need, or the one too ashamed to ask, too polite to say what they really need.  It was not something I would do again.

This is what brought on my hate for Pachacutec.  I do not hate the people.  One of the ladies asked before the donations arrived, what we thought of Pachacutec.  I told her the truth.  It is full to the brim of hardworking, respectable, caring people.  It's the place I hate.  It makes these women do things they should never have to do.  No one should have to let go of their dignity and beg for a jacket.  These are the women who are well off, there are others who do not have that support system.  I can only imagine what others have had to do to support their families, of the dignity they have lost.

Driving through Pachacutec.

the hard things

I got to feed a seven day old today at San Antonio's.  As I was feeding her a bottle, with all the noise and chaos of at least 12 other babies under one year old crying and talking, she fell asleep. When the nurse told me to wake her up, make her finish her bottle, and put her back to bed, it hit me how different her childhood already is than a baby with parents.

Seven days old is not old.  If she were with her mom and dad, her life would not look like it does.  Instead of waking up to 12 other babies crying, she would wake up to a beautiful room prepared just for her.  At her first cry, her mom would come in a pick her up.  These babies are not allowed to be picked up unless they are being fed , changed, or bathed.  The theory is picking them up when they cry only makes them used to being held and will make them cry more.  They have to learn, even at the young age of seven days, to be strong.  After coming to pick her up because she is crying, her mom would change her diaper.  These babies get their diaper changed only a few times everyday, it dosen't really matter if they have a dirty diaper.  After getting a clean diaper the mother would feed her baby. She would rock her and feed her, singing songs only meant for her baby.  If she fell asleep, that would be ok; she's only seven days old.  Her mom would look at her, in awe of this tiny miracle.  My seven day old miracle has no one to sing to her, and no one to gaze at her and wonder at the miracle she is.

This seven day old is already learning hard life lessons that no one of any age should be made to learn.  She is learning that she is not special, she is not wanted, and she is not loved beyond all measure.  You may think that this is a little harsh to be saying, but it's not.  Think, where is it that we learn those messages?  Our dads are the ones who first tell us we are beautiful and that they will love us unconditionally.  They show us first so we can know the Lord's love for us later on, that He thinks we are beautiful no matter what we look like.  Our moms tell us we are wanted from day one.  They hold us day in and day out, never letting us our of their sight until they absolutely have to.

Why does this seven day old have to learn these hard things, why can she not be normal?  Why is it?

simplification...

We have moved from Elizabeth’s house to Lydia’s tonight.  I loved Elizabeth’s house for a few reasons.  Elizabeth and her husband have four children, a boy who is 19 and a girl who is 21.  Both are fluent in English.  Elizabeth and her husband both work during the day.  Elizabeth works at a hospital close to her home.  We think that she wakes up around 5:00 everyday, cooks our lunch, goes running, goes to buy fresh bread, and leaves for work around 7:00.  When she returns from work, she either sets out leftovers, or bread and another simple food, or cooks dinner for us.  She still manages to clean and make time to talk to us. 

I think what I have learned about living here for a few days is how simple a typical Peruvian’s way of life really is.  Lydia and her family do live differently than us, but with almost 15 volunteers in their house all the time, their way of living seems much more westernized. 

They live so much more simply than we do at home and are just as well off.  If you open Elizabeth’s kitchen, you will find some fresh vegetables, some butter, a bag of milk, eggs, a bottle of yogurt, and a few other basics.  They have no processed foods or snacks, no pantry full of foods that contain unknown numbers of chemicals.  They buy their bread every day from the bakery down the street, which has freshly baked it.  Another store just a few houses down, sells fruits and vegetables.  They always have a few bananas and oranges sitting out on their counter. 

The typical Peruvian eats a small breakfast (we eat bread and fruit at Elizabeth’s), a larger lunch (she cooked pasta yesterday with a white potato sauce, and then used the leftover noodles today and made a red pork sauce with sweet potatoes on the side), and then a small late dinner (past volunteers have had leftover potatoes, a roll and avocado, rice, etc.).  I didn’t get to experience this aspect of Peruvian life last time, since Lydia has Soledad, her cook, cook two large starch laden meals a day.  Like I said, she tries to make things at her house much more westernized. The trash can in the kitchen is tiny.  Literally, the size of  a tissue bow.  They do not produce any trash in this house.  Thinking about it though, most of our trash comes from processed snack wrappers, pre mad dinners, and bottled/canned drinks. They don’t have any of this here.  

Elizabeth’s family does not have a washer like Lydia does, so all laundry is done by hand.  Like Lydia’s we wash the clothes out to dry.  There is also one bathroom for the four of them and the volunteers they have staying with them.  They do have hot water, but you must turn it on at least ten minutes before you want to shower so it can heat up the water.  Like Lydia’s they do not have air conditioning or heating.  In the winter they just wear a jacket around the house. 

Their house is one floor, probably about the size of the upstairs of my house minus the dining room and sunroom.  But, it’s enough room, we are together, see each other instead of all being home but being in different rooms.  They also do not have a car, but walk or take the bus anywhere they needs to go. 

I really love the simplicity of this family.  They were so welcoming, stopping to talk to us when they are home.  Elizabeth even is going to take us to the YMCA, and wants to keeps in touch if we ever come back to Peru. 

Enough for now…tomorrow we are taking the kids from San Milletos, the orphanage for children with special needs, to a play of some sort.  I’m sure I’ll get some great pictures!

The mural some of the volunteers painted, I got to help finish it and see it sung up.

just a few thoughts...

Peru feels like I never left.  I love it just as much as the first time. I can still get everywhere and remember where everything is.  And, I sill get whistled at.  Anthough this time, I’ve learned how to whistle back.

I do keep forgetting that toilet paper dosen’t get put in the toilet here…why even call it toilet paper then?

My Spanish is much better, but it still needs a lot of work. I can understand Aboo (the grandmother)most of the time.  Last time I was here, I couldn’t understand one word she said.  Katie and decided to talk in Spanish as much as possible, even if we give all the Pperuvians on the bus a good laugh.  Oh and I can roll my “r”s now. 

I got to see Joni, the little boy I fell in love with last visit, he is as sweet as ever.

Katie and I are going to the YMCA on Monday with our house mom, Elizabeth.  We stayed in her house the first two nights because Lydia didn’t have room.  We move to Lydia’s tomorrow though.  Elizabeth is super sweet, hopefully we will get to see her more. Who knew there were Ys all over the world.

I’m meeting with Jocelyn, the one Jade is good friends with, on Sunday.  Please continue to pray for her!  We’re planning on going to lunch.  Pray for my Spanish too, it’s going to be rough conversation.

Sandboarding may be in the picture for this weekend…maybe.

Next week there is a for day national holiday Lydia keeps calling “Peru Party.”  I don’t know what that entails, but it sounds fun.

More to come later!

Hasta Luego,

Maemie (not Maybe, the name I am destined to be called by all in Peru)