La Aldea Infantil: A Positive Attitude is Contagious

Elliot, an intern at La Aldea Infantil, gives us some positive thoughts about his experiences from last week:

One thing that has stood out to me was how positive the kids are. Despite all of the trials and difficulties that they have they always seem to laugh and have a good time. One of those children who has an extreme ability to be positive is Gabriel (above). He is always laughing and most importantly he makes those kids around him feel better. Everyone loves to be around him and he has a large heart. One night while making pizza at his house, he told me that we should go and check on Fabricio (below) because he was probably lonely.

Fabricio is a baby that is 1 ½ years old and suffers from many illnesses. Some of the few illnesses that he has are epilepsy, blind, brain damage, and lame. Amongst all these issues Fabricio still manages to have a smile on his face. He is especially ticklish under his neck and around his waist. He is always laughing and having a good time. We take him to Trujillo for physical therapy twice a week for his legs and eyes. Although he is not very talkative his good heart makes him always someone you want to be around. It is a blessing to know that even amongst all the trials we have in life (and in the USA we have very few compared to 3^rd world countries) that these children can still find joy and happiness. Just another witness to me that happiness, joy, and fulfillment in life comes from within ourselves, it is something we decide.

How to help a child like Fabricio.

More info on La Aldea Infantil.

More posts on La Aldea Infantil.

La Aldea Infantil: Elliot's First Week

Elliot tells us about his first week at the Aldea:

What a wonderful week at the Aldea!!! So much has happened and the children have been great. One thing that I have noticed are the big hearts the kids have. They want to have fun and most of all to have new experiences. Each age group has those small things that they love to do. The older kids love to play soccer so we tend to play in the morning and then spend a little more time with the little kids in the afternoon. One of the greatest things that happened this week was that we were able to have the kids work together more. We started playing and jumping off the swing.

They were able to stand in a line for the first time since being at the Aldea although knowing kids they could not keep their hands off each other. We even created a little line made out of logs that we gathered. They sat on them and we loved just playing and working with each other.

The greatest was Miguel (5) who would make bird noises while swinging. Afterwards he told me that it was because he said if he did it enough he would start to fly. Now although he did not start to fly he did get pretty high in the swing. The kids are doing great and really making progress in their developmental process.