La Aldea Infantil: Parting thoughts from Lauren

Lauren describes her thoughts as she leaves the Aldea:

Wow, where have the past 4 months gone? I can't believe that tomorrow

morning I will be boarding a plane to take me back home to the States.

My time here as been beyond amazing, and I will never ever forget not

just the wonders of Peru, but each of the kids at the Aldea. Each one

is so sweet and special, I can't help but not love them with all of my

heart. Leaving them on Friday was probably the hardest thing that I

have ever had to do in my entire life. There were definitely many

tears shed.

Because of my experiences here in the Aldea, I have not only learned

about the culture and such, but I have also learned a lot about

myself. One in particular is that no matter a child's family

situation, they are still a child. They still want to have fun, go to

school, make friends, do sports, and so many other things. They don't

want you to feel bad for them, they just wanted you to love them for

who they are. Once you have learned that, there is no going back, you

are hooked. When they smile, you smile, when they laugh, you laugh,

when they cry, you cry, etc.

Thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to go to Peru and love

all of these children here. I am leaving a better person than when I

first came here. These experiences here will not only last my entire

life, but will also, hopefully, inspire others to embark on their own

journey's towards self-discovery. Thank you!

Thanks Lauren for your generous service! We are sad to see you go!

Learn more about becoming an intern here.

La Aldea Infantil: Meet Maribel

Lauren, an intern at La Aldea Infantil, gives a perfect example of the purpose of our interns and how they can make a difference: 

This week, I ended up working with a girl named Maribel. Maribel is a

17 year old girl who doesn't get the opportunity to go to school. She

is special and because of this, the schools here aren't equipped to

help her learn in a productive way. Because of this, I decided to have

her practice writing. I sat down and wrote down her name, the

alphabet, numbers, and some words. I wrote them in dashes then left

space for her to actually copy them down to practice. It took some

time to do this, but it was worth it. Maribel did so well; she really

hates to write and can’t read so I had to tell her what she was

writing. I know that Maribel doesn’t like to write because she knows

she can’t but I think that if I make her practice, she will improve

over time. After she finished, I told her what a good job she did and

that seemed to just make her day. I hope that by doing this, she will

now be more willing to work and practice her writing.

La Aldea Infantil: Meet Sarali

Lauren, an intern at La Aldea Infantil, introduces us to Sarali: 

This week was pretty low-key when compared to other weeks that I have

had. That doesn't mean that it wasn't fun though. When I look back on

this week, there someone who continually sticks out in my mind. Her

name is Sarali and she is very outgoing. She has a sister named Dina

who is also living at the Aldea, and is 11 years old. Whenever she

sees you, even if it's only been a short time since the last time, she

will come up and big you a great big hug. She is such a sweetheart and

knows exactly how to make you feel better. During the week we played

in the tree  that is located in the middle of the Aldea. Sarali was

there and let me just say that she is quite the climber. She could

climb up a straight pole and do it in half the time that it would take

me to even try. haha She wanted to show me what she could do and did

many different tricks in the tree like hanging upside. It was quite fun!! 

La Aldea Infantil: Balloon Stomp

Lauren, an intern at La Aldea Infantil, tells us about a fun game with the kids:

This week we decided to teach the kids a new game. The game we decided upon was the one where you tie balloons around each person’s leg, then they have to stomp on each other’s without getting theirs stomped on and the last person who has their balloon is the winner. I have no idea what it’s called but we called it Balloon Stomp. As soon as we walked outside with the balloons, the kids went completely nuts! You would think they had never seen a balloon before in life. We tried to calm them down and tell them how to play, but they didn’t wait for us to say go, as soon as the balloons were on their ankles, they took off. Some kids got theirs stomped on right off, so we gave them another one since we had some extras. 

One little girl in particular named Sofia was very smart, she climbed up the soccer goals onto the basket ball hoop and sat there with her balloon and waited till everyone was done. Haha kids here tend to climb like little monkeys. However, when the kids realized she was up there, they started to converge and climb up after her. The game didn’t end up lasting more than 15 minutes, but in the end, that didn’t really matter. All that matters is that they had fun and enjoyed themselves.

Learn more about becoming an intern.

Learn more about La Aldea Infantil here and here.

La Aldea Infantil: Meet Fatima

Lauren at La Aldea Infantil introduces us to little Fatima:

This week has been so much fun. Since the kids are back in school, we end up playing with the little kids and babies during the day. There is one little baby who I have taken quite a liking to. Her name is Fatima and she is not quite 1 year old. She is so sweet and cute and I love making her smile and laugh. I got the opportunity to play with her several times this week and each time, i fell that much more in love with her. I have found that she is quite active when laying down and really likes to sit up and roll over to be on her stomach. Also, I can make her laugh when I blow raspberries on her belly, and her laugh is such a cute sound. Also, she can be quite vocal when she is in a good mood (which tends to be quite often). I don't think I have seen such a happy baby or such a calm and quite baby before. I will definitely miss her when I leave and almost wish that I could just take her with me when I go home!!!

Learn more about La Aldea Infantil here and here. Learn more about becoming an intern and ways to help children like Fatima. 

La Aldea Infantil: Meet Nicolas

An update from Lauren at La Aldea Infantil:

This week has been pretty low-key because all of the kids headed back to school. Since all of the older kids are at school in the morning and doing homework in the afternoon, we usually get to play with the little kids. This week I got the opportunity to spend time with a little boy named Nicolas. Nicolas is 2 years old and has 3 other siblings here at the Aldea. He is still fairly new to the Aldea, but fits in like he's been here for ages. He is a quiet kid but his face is so cute, you can't help but love him despite his silence.

Well, one day this week he was feeling kind of sad so I went over and asked him if he wanted to just hang out with me. He nodded his head and took my hand and away we went. After we just spent some time walking around, I asked him if he wanted to color in one of the coloring books. He got really excited as soon as I mentioned that and his head started to bob up and down furiously. I giggled and then we headed back to my casa. After getting out the crayons and coloring book, we sat outside on the front porch and colored til his little heart was content. I don't know how long we actually sat there coloring, but it was so much fun.

At one point, one of the tias came over and gave us both a slice of watermelon. It was a nice treat and so we sat there and ate our watermelon which was so messy and got everywhere. So, after he had finished, I took him in and helped him wash his face. It may seem very boring and uninteresting, but sometimes these kids just need to know that someone is there to play with them and not to harass them with questions or small talk. As the saying says: "Silence is Golden."

Learn more about La Aldea Infantil here and here. Learn more about becoming an intern or ways you can help children like Nicolas.

La Aldea Infantil: Meet Camilo

Lauren, an intern at La Aldea Infantil, introduces us to Camilo:

This week has been full of fun. But, with fun comes hard work. When we had some time to ourselves one day, I went outside and tried to study some Spanish. Not long after I had sat down and started, one little boy named Camilo came over and asked what I was doing. I told him Spanish and he took it upon himself to be my helper and teach me some new words. He would point to something, and then tell me what it was called in spanish. Soon, he would tell me something, then ask what it was in Spanish. The problem was that he doesn't really know English so he would say something like "Manzana in Spanish is what?" and I would repeat "Manzana". He would get so excited because he thought I was getting better and that he was teaching me Spanish.

Camilo is the cutest little boy. He is 6 years old and has both an older brother and sister here at the Aldea. When I first found out that he is only 6, I couldn't believe it because he acts so much older . He is always willing to help and the first to volunteer for things, no matter if they are fun or not. He always has a smile on his face and just brightens up your day when you see him.

To learn more about La Aldea Infantil, view past posts or the Aldea page. 

Learn more about becoming an intern. 

Learn about helping children like Camilo.

La Aldea Infantil: Capture the Flag

Lauren, an intern at La Aldea Infantil, tells us about teaching the kids to play "Capture the Flag:"

The week has been full of outdoor games. We have tried to come up with fun games to teach the kids that are also good exercise. So, we ended up teaching them all how to play "Capture the Flag."  We taught them the rules and then split up into teams. It was kind of difficult to come up with somewhere to put the flag that wouldn't be to easy for the other team to get. So, one of the kids ended up climbing up one of the many trees here and sticking it there. How he was able to climb this tree, I do not know because there were not branches, so he ended up sort of shimmying his way up the trees. When the game started it was fun to watch the kids run around and argue about whether they were actually tagged by the other team or not. We interns did play, but we left the flag stealing part to the kids since they can climb the trees better than us.

The first day we taught them, we ended up playing two games because after the first one, they all but begged us to play again. This continued on for the next 4 days because every afternoon they would always want to play and we would usually end up playing two, maybe three games each day. On Friday however, the kids ended up setting it all up by themselves and playing without the help of us interns. It was fun to watch them get their teams together and run around without us having to help out. I think that this new game will be a favorite of their's in the future.

Learn more about La Aldea Infantil by viewing past posts or reading the La Aldea Infantil page. Learn more about becoming an intern on our website.

La Aldea Infantil: Our own Carnival

Update from Lauren, an intern at La Aldea Infantil:

This week involved a lot of water. On both Wednesday and Thursday, we decided to do our own Carnival here at the Aldea. Wednesday's water day spontaneous, which made us decide to actually plan on doing one the next day. So, us interns filled up close to 4 big buckets of water balloons up and took them outside for the kids. The way this fight actually started was one of the kids who had previously stolen a balloon threw it at another kid and this started what was the biggest water balloon/water fight I have ever had. Just imagine close to 30 kids all under the age of 14 either trying to nail you with a balloon or running around with a bucket full of water, trying to dump it on your head. It was so much fun!!!

The water balloons did go relatively fast, but that didn't seem to stop the kids. They soon found other ways to carry water, whether it be in the buckets that had previously been holding water balloons, or running to their casa to get bowls and glasses they could easily fill with water and throw at people. By the end of our water fight, I'm sure that we all looked like drowned rats and there was so much water in my clothes that I could actually wring out the water. Who knew that something as simple as having a massive water fight could put such a big smile on so many kid's faces?

Learn more about La Aldea Infantil by viewing past posts or reading the La Aldea Infantil page. Learn more about becoming an intern on our website.

La Aldea Infantil: Pool Field Trip

Lauren, an intern at La Aldea Infantil, tells us about their recent field trip:

This week, the kids ended up going on a field-trip to a pool. While there, the people who are in charge put together a bunch of games and relay races for the kids to participate in before lunch and swimming.

These games included volleyball, futball and tug-of-war (in which the girls totally dominated). The relay races here trying to get as much water from one end of the line to the other through sponges. It was so much fun to watch them run around and just have fun.

After lunch, it was time for the pool. It didn't seem to matter to them, like I've come to realize that it does in America, if they don't have swimsuits. They just jump right in and start playing away. They can be in leggings or jeans, in the long run it doesn't matter to them at all.

Learn more about helping these orphans take field trips. Read more about La Aldea Infantil by viewing past posts and viewing the Aldea Infantil page.

La Aldea Infantil: Update on Renzo

If you have been following this blog for awhile, you might remember a baby named Renzo who lives at La Aldea Infantil. He was slow to thrive as a baby and had a hard time walking. (See the first and second posts about him.) I was so happy to get this update on how he is doing from a current intern, Lauren: 

This week I got the opportunity to bond more with a little boy named Renzo. He is about 2 years old and very very shy. When I first met him, he would not have anything to do with me and whenever I tried to play with him or pick him up, he would start crying and run away. This made me sad and I kept coming up with ways in order to bond with him.

That moment finally came this week. Every day, our mornings consist of us watching the little babies while the tia’s try and get things done in the house. This week, I made it my mission to get Renzo to let me play with him and be happy. This finally happened! Another intern and I went and got some balls for the little kids to play with. When I brought out the soccer ball, Renzo ran right up to it and started to kick it. So, naturally, I went to get it and kicked it back to him. His face light up, it was so cute to see.

Ever since this experience with Renzo, he has warmed up to me much more. He is still very shy and sometimes still won’t have anything to do with me, but I feel that in the long run, I am making progress.

***

Thanks Lauren!

To learn more about La Aldea Infantil, you can view past blog posts or view the Aldea Infantil page. Learn more about becoming an intern or how to help a child like Renzo.

La Aldea Infantil: Swim Time!

An update from one of the Aldea Infantil interns, Lauren:

This week so much better than the last week, meaning that we were given a schedule for the kids. In the mornings we play with the smaller kids, then we play in the inflatable pools that the older kids play in, and in the afternoon we do art and exercise.

On Tuesday, I went with a group of kids to an actual swimming pool that is located close to the Aldea. The fact that none of the kids had swimming suits did not deter them, for they just jumped in anyway. Soon to find out, very few of the actually knew how to swim. So myself and another intern who is here through another group called Project Trust decided to try and teach some of them how to swim. Let me tell you, that teaching is much harder than doing. Many of the kids did end up picking up on some of the basic strokes, now they just need to continue to practice.

Also, we tried to teach some of the kids how to dive. This was actually quite comical because this resulted in many belly flops from the kids. We finally got them to understand that they need to do more than just jump in with their arms up…but it is definitely a work in progress.


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