Aldea Infantil: Brett's Final Post

By Brett Fotheringham

July 30
My final week at the Aldea was amazing, sad, but very happy as well. I had troubles finding a picture for this week so I finally just settled on this picture because I think it's hilariously adorable. On the left, with what looks to be a French Fry in his mouth is Renzo, and on the right is Matias. In the picture these two little guys are just hanging out outside of our house, along with half of the Aldea. Our last week we had a dramatic increase in activity participation and favor asking. It was a bit stressful but it was really neat to talk with all the kids, and see that they cared about us just as much as we cared about them. Two months is a comparatively short time in a persons life, but the experiences I have had at the Aldea have made the last two months feel like I have lived a whole new life. I know it may sound cliche, but I really feel these kids have taught me so much more than I could ever have hoped to teach them, about love, about service, and especially about myself. It's incredible how much the Aldea has changed my life, and how I view the world. As people in the U.S., we enjoy a lot of privileges and we are told this all the time so we think we are aware of how good we have it, but until you go out and see the need in the world, you don't quite understand how much there is to be done. Two months was far too short a time to do everything necessary, but I wouldn't trade my experience here for the world regardless. I hope one day I have the chance to come back to the Aldea and see what has become of all these amazing children, and hopefully see that I, and all the other volunteers past and present, have made a difference.

Aldea Infantil: Lessons in health

By Brett Fotheringham, an intern at La Aldea Infantil

July 20
This week was fun, crazy, and a bit sad all at the same time. The Aldea threw a going-away party in honor of the two Scottish Volunteers, Connie and Pascal, who have been here for the last eleven months. The kids were quite sad about them leaving understandably so. Seeing how much they loved those two makes it hard to think that next week is our last. It is crazy how fast the last two months have flown by and it makes me wish more and more that I could have had more time here like the other two volunteers because there is so much to be done here. I guess that is why you have to make the time you have count. The picture for this post is memorable for me because it is a rare occasion when I can get the kids to pose with me while finding another kid to take the picture. Although Viktor is watching the other kids playing soccer, Juan Carlos has his hat over his head, and Alex just barely stopped smiling right before the shot, I love this picture. Being around these kids is such a neat opportunity and they really have so much to teach me. This week for FAMA we talked about Drugs and Alcohol. We had the kids breath through straws to simulate how smoking affects your breathing, and after that we spun the kids around in circles for half a minute or so to simulate what inebriation felt like. They had fun and afterwards we had a more serious conversation about the health effects of drug abuse and alcohol. It just made me realize how difficult some of the lives of these children have been and how strong they are to have gone through all these things. I love it here and will be sad to leave. Until next week. Chao.

Aldea Infantil: Meet Maribel

By: Brett Fotheringham, an intern at La Aldea Infantil:

July 5
Meet Maribel, at age seventeen, she happens to be the young lady to the right of me in the photo. Maribel is an absolutely amazing, fun, caring young girl it would sufficeth to say, but that doesn't matter because I am going to say more. As you may or may not see depending on how the above picture gets cropped, today was "Feliz Dia Maestro" or Happy Teacher Day. I accompanied Maribel to her school to help out with, and join in the festivities. In words, it was a blast! We made refreshments with the kids (see picture two for reference), and of course enjoyed said refreshments later in the day. We were also danced for, danced ourselves, and were serenaded by various students, staff members and volunteers. Maribel was one of the first people up to dance and did so with heart and style. She is always smiling, amiable, and ready to have put her heart into an activity. Maribel has quickly become one of my favorite kids here at the Aldea. I use the term kid loosely as she is only one year younger than I, but whatever, she's one of my favorite friends here at the Aldea I should say. I am loving life here and am increasingly saddened by the shortness of my stay here and wish I could remain at the Aldea longer, but all I can do is make the time left count! Next week's activities consist of capture the flag, baseball, and dance lessons. Bring it on. Until next week. Chao. 

Aldea Infantil: Working with Fabricio

By Brett Fotheringham
June 30
This week I looking for what picture to post for the week and I came across this picture of Fabricio which had been taken by one of the boys with my camera. Fabricio is three-years-old and suffers from a variety of conditions. He is partially deaf, blind, and cannot sit up very well unless assisted. His muscles are very weak and as a result he is very difficult to care for here at the Aldea. Working with Fabricio however is the best thing in the world! Whenever possible, the other volunteers and I do exercises with him in order to strengthen his legs, back, abdomen, and neck. I know that if only he had more people working with him, more often, then he may be able to walk, but I fear as time goes on it will become more and more difficult for him to walk as his body grows in size while his muscles do not. At any rate, I figure every time we do exercises together, he gets closer to being able to sit up by himself, which is a gateway for crawling, which in turn, is a gateway for walking. Fabricio is the best little guy in the universe and I absolutely love him. Sadly this picture doesn´t capture one of his happier moments, which I shall be sure to try and capture this coming week, but despite all the adversity in his life, Fabricio is a happy child who is in dire need of simple physical therapy from doctors and volunteers alike. I look forward to working with him this week as always, and seeing the progress he can make. Until next week, Chao!

Note: Many of our interns have had concern for Fabricio and have helped in any way they could while at the Aldea. More posts about Fabricio are here. Take a moment to think about what you could do to help Fabricio. Visit our website to learn more.

Aldea Infantil: El Día de Padres

June 15
Another week has gone by at the Aldea, much faster than the previous week. I feel like I'm getting into the swing things although every day is still an absolute adventure. Speaking of adventures, this week we celebrated 'El Día de Padres' with the Aldea, in which quite of the few kids either sang, danced, or even recited poetry. Afterwards the entire populace of the Aldea began to dance. It was admittedly rather awkward for me at first but once I got over that it was an absolute blast to dance with everyone. While dancing, my camera quickly found itself being passed around the room and I ended up with a bunch of priceless photos like the two above. The boy with the closeup shot is Miguel. Miguel is a special needs child who absolutely love to play basketball, dance, and just talk. He's a very loving individual who really just needs someone to spend time with. The same could be said however of just about every kid here. The two boys in the other picture are Jean Pierre (in the purple) and Juan Carlos (in the red). Both of them are very helpful, intelligent, hardworking, caring individuals who are so much fun to talk or play any kind of game with. I know in North America these boys would be guaranteed to have a bright future but  I'm concerned that they may not have the resources to do the things they are capable of given their current situations. There's so many ways these kids could be helped, I just hope to do some good for these goods, and teach them they can do anything if they just work at it hard enough. Anyhow I'm loving it here and am looking forward to week 3 immensely! Chao
-Brett

Aldea Infantil: Brett's first post

June 9
Hey! My name's Brett and this is my first blog post. This little guy here is Jose Angel, he's 4 year's old and he is absolutely adorable. In this picture we are help helping him to do his do his homework which consists of exercises like coloring within the lines and tracing along various patterns of dotted lines. We ended up having to help quite a few of these little guys do their homework, which was no small task. Getting four-year-olds to sit down and focus for an hour or more has never been an easy task. The kids were great though and in the end everything worked out after much convincing and reinforcement. The first week at the Aldea has been a lot like this experience with these little guys, what at first seems impossible suddenly becomes that much more manageable when you put your shoulder to the wheel and start working. Nothing here is particularly easy, but the chance to maybe change the course of a life here makes it worth all the while.