The Cool Kids (Colleen)

February 28

The older boys are back! Adriel, Carlos, Hilario, and Wilfredo are well in their teens, attend high school, and just returned from summer internships and soccer camp. It’s great seeing them again, but I just can’t believe how TALL they’re getting! A few might be taller than me in a couple more years. They just tower over the other children.

They may be tall, but they are still children. That much is clear. They totally crack me up. “Let’s go Tia!” they called to me today. “Come with us to the stadium! Pleeeease!” “Why?” I asked. “I can’t play soccer. You know this.” “You can watch and take photos!” They insisted.

I went.

They LOVED the camera. I think this is their real reason for inviting me in the first place. They spent a good half hour posing for me and shouting at me when I snapped photos of them laughing or getting ready. They want to look “cool,” not like they actually have fun. Kids!

Hilario was especially entertaining. He told me all about his soccer camp . They woke up early in the mornings and ran every day. They ran and ran and ran. They ran from Plaza de Armas in Cusco to Sacsaywaman and back. He got tired. It was crazy running. Still, one day, he ran hard and beat the other 60 kids. “All sixty?” I asked in amazement. “Of course,” he said nonchalantly.

Then he posed for picture after picture after picture. “But Hilario,” I complained. “I have about eighty pictures of you already!” “I know. Just one more Tia. Please!” Good grief! He wanted to get his kick just right in a photo, get a photo of him kicking in a different style, and of course there were lots of photos of Hilario just sitting or standing and looking “cool.” I got one shot of him laughing. “I wasn’t ready!” he complained. How funny!



Finally, the game began. The boys played against some friends in town. It was nice to see the boys play with other kids in town. They played hard, but were losing when I finally got cold and left. It was raining at that point, but the boys smiled. “Bye Tia!” It’s good to have them back.

flashback friday! (natalie)

here's some more photos from the June 2006 expedition. Cute Yudi is doing her chores - mopping the kitchen. This is the expedition that painted the sunflowers on the kitchen wall. You can see the wall behind her is still bare.

The brick brigade. We had to move a huge stack of adobe bricks from one end to the other to start building the bathrooms. You can see the area between the boys dorm (on the left) and the girls dorm (on the right). The area between them is where the bathrooms are now.

Arnold Jensen (of our concrete crew) with Sonia, Ninoska and Nancy.

Wilfredo (Natalie)

I’ll admit it, I’m partial to Wilfredo. I love all the Sunflower kids, but Wilfredo melts my heart.

Wilfredo, like all the kids, has had a tough life. Most of the kids will come up to you and give you a hug. Some will take your hand. A few will climb on your lap. Wilfredo is shy, very shy and would never take the first step to give me a hug - until our visit last month. (The picture above is my first visit to the Sunflower in June 2006 - Wilfredo is wearing the red shirt on the very right).

On the first day of our arrival at the Sunflower last month, the kids came running to greet us. I started getting emotional as soon as I heard little voices yelling “Natalie”. But I couldn’t hold back the tears when I saw Wilfredo quietly walk towards me, heard him softly say “Hola Natalie” and hold out his arms to give me a hug.

When children come to the Sunflower, Laura always asks them what their dreams are….what they want to be when they grow up. Wilfredo always replied, “a policeman.” Since I’m Wilfredo’s sponsor, I told Laura that I wanted to help Wilfredo get an education after high school and help him towards his career of choice – especially since I was comfortable with the amount of training/schooling it would cost for him to become a policeman.

Then a couple of years ago, Laura and I were on an expedition – I think it was December 2006. Laura was working on a project and cut her finger and it was bad enough that she needed stitches. Luckily we had a doctor in the group. Wilfredo was in the clinic watching while Laura’s cut was cleaned and stitched up by the doctor. He must have been fascinated with the procedure because after they finished, Wilfredo looked at Laura and said, “that’s what I want to do.” Laura just smiled as she told me to start saving up for medical school.

I was surprised how much Wilfredo had grown since I had seen him just last July. He told me he had grown out of his shoes so Tony and I took him to town with us one day and bought him a new pair of shoes. One-on-one time with the kids is a rare treat. I loved taking Wilfredo into Urabamba, seeing Tony looking at shoes with Wilfredo and telling him to pick out whatever shoes he wanted, and afterwards, enjoying an ice cream cone in the plaza.

Did I mention what a great kid he is?