Jen in Peru: Updates from the month of endless celebrations

Well I haven't posted since my trip to Huaraz almost a month ago, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to get some new pictures up and let you all know about some of the things going on here at Hogar de Esperanza since I got back. So, here it goes...

-Two of our kids, Enrique (10) and Maricielo (3), left the albergue to go home and live with their parents and their two sisters. After months of waiting, they were pretty excited to finally go home, and we were happy for them, but it sure was hard to tell them good-bye. For me, the change was pretty huge since Maricielo leaving meant me losing 1/3 of my kinder class and my brightest student. Maricielo is incredibly intelligent for her age and always seemed to learn almost more quickly than I could teach, so it's really sad to think that all that potential may go to waste, since she will no longer get to go to school. (Peru has such high rates of poverty and illiteracy that a decent education is quite expensive and hard to come by here, and unlike in the U.S., there doesn't seem to be any law that really forces parents to send their children to school.) I pray that both she and Enrique are happy, healthy, and adjusting well to their new life at home.

Maricielo and me on one of her last days in kinder. We read her
favorite book, Big Dog, Little Dog, about two best friends who
are opposites, and afterward I asked the kids if any of them had a best
friend here at the albergue. Maricielo shouted excitedly,"I do!" and
when I asked who, she said "Tia Jennifer." I almost cried. Now she may
or may not have fully understood the question, and she could have
just been sucking up to me, but I still found it adorable.

Maricielo and Jhon during the little going-away party we had for her on her last day

-We went very quickly from being a very small group of volunteers (3) to a very large group, at one point totaling 14 people and including two families, and now we're back down to 5.

The Kruse family, who came and volunteered for two weeks

-We got to celebrate the 4th of July with a full American cook out (thanks to Joel Bench, who was generous enough to buy us a barbeque grill) and fireworks (thanks to Doug Kruse), which we set off from our rooftop for all the kids to watch.

...And we got a little creative with sparklers

-We spiced up the monthly Concurso Biblico by letting some of the kids participate and put on a little production for the rest of the albergue. I was on the coordinating team for the month of June, along with staff members Reyna, Milagros, Araceli, and Manuel. The book of the month was the first half of Genesis, so we had all of the kids from the Luces and Tesoros houses dress up and do a Noah's Ark skit, which was really cute.

Waiting for the program to start

The star of the show: 12-year-old Abraham
with Milagros, his madre tutora (house mom)

-A few weekends ago Miss Ali, my supervisor and the head teacher of the Miller School, took me to Chimbote, one of Peru's major port cities, located a couple hours south of Trujillo. We saw the new port and a whole lot of boats, and then spent the afternoon at a really nice park. We had a little picnic there, saw some monkeys and penguins, and rowed, rowed, rowed a boat gently across the pond.

-The casitas (the four houses where the kids live) are being painted. Most of the work has been done by staff members Elias and Marcos and the families who visited, but a lot of the kids--even little Abel and Edwin--were very eager to help out, and several of them actually put in a lot of work.

The "before shot" of the Amigos and Luces

"Work in progress" shot of the Tesoros and Chispas

-I had my first Peruvian movie theater experience! Elizabeth, the Bench family, and I took Marita and Cristina to see Toy Story 3 for Marita's 9th birthday. The movie was pretty funny, even in Spanish, but I think my favorite part of the outing was answering all of Marita's questions during the film--like when she asked me to switch her seats. She was absolutely convinced that her chair was broken, simply because it moved when she sat in it. She'd apparently never sat in a reclining chair before and had a very hard time believing me that all of the seats were like that. It was both of the girls' first time ever going to a big mall and also their first time watching a movie on anything bigger than a 19" or 20" TV. Needless to say, they were amazed by just about everything they saw, especially the immensity of the screen, the automatic hand dryers in the women's restroom, and their favorite part of the whole trip: riding the escalator.

-A huge group of students from one of the universities in Trujillo came to the albergue to spend a Saturday afternoon playing with the kids. They brought tons of food, toys, games, hula hoops, and a gift for each child. They even brought along special guests Barney, Mickey Mouse, and a clown. The kids loved it!

Yamelit (15) and Jose Luis (2)

The kids with the PAU group

-July is a big month for birthdays at the albergue. Little Camila turned 7, and Whitney and I took her and her brother Eduardo (8) out to celebrate. We went to Real Plaza, where we ate cake in the food court and watched a little show put on by a Peruvian comedian, a clown, and some cheerleaders. Then we went to "Happyland" for some good old-fashioned arcade games and the kids' first bumper cars experience.

Eduardo and Camila

-We went to visit Kevin (a boy who used to live at Hogar de Esperanza) at his new orpahanage, and he was hillarious as usual. He made fun of Elizabeth for being forgetful and he told me I needed to look for a new brain for her...and take one from "whatever animal I could find." He also told me that he knew karate, and I told him I did too (which I don't), and we showed each other our moves. It was all fun and games until he (literally) tried to poke my eyes out Three Stooges style. Luckily, I managed to block him in time and escaped with only a bruised forehead instead.

Elizabeth and Kevin

Kevin attacking me while Hannah Bench watches and laughs

-The kids are getting ready for their winter vacation to start, and we are all preparing to celebrate the 28 de Julio (Peru's independence day), which is a way bigger deal than any other independence celebration I've experienced. The children, staff, and volunteers are all working to put together a special Fiestas Patrias program for next week, which will be complete with traditional food, costumes, and a whole lot of singing, acting, and dancing.

Well that's all the updates I have for now, but I'm sure there'll be a lot more pictures and news to share after next week's festivities.