Often my favorite part of the Aldea is helping with homework—sometimes I think I learn more than the kids do! We have to help kids of all different ages so I do everything from simple cursive (Spanish cursive weirds me out sometimes) to pre-calculus (hace tres anos!). I like learning the vocabulary from all different areas and levels of study, too. Miguel Angel is my favorite person to help for homework. Miguel has mild cerebral palsy and sometimes has a bit of a temper. Often tias and his brothers in the house have a hard time getting him to start his homework. They grab him, place him in the chair and, by then, he’s certainly in no mood to study. On days that I come by his house for homework, I like walking in, talking his hand, and asking if he wants to do his homework with me. We’ll make it fun and easy, I say. Then the mood completely changes and he’s always very excited to count out his apples or follow the lines to make a cursive F. I can’t say enough how much I like helping him. Miguel and another girl in the Aldea are the only special needs children in the region of Libertad that go to school.
It makes me feel so good knowing I’m part of something truly revolutionary in Libertad, Peru—even if it’s just taking a hand and asking, “Would you like to do your homework with me? We’ll make it fun.”
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