Day 4: Here Goes!

Jan 8 2013

Day 4 will always be remembered as the first day on our own. Yesterday, Martina showed us how to get to our volunteer sites, either by bus, taxi, or foot, and later gave us a map to further guide us. But today, we did not have Martina, nor did we have our usual big group of 12. Instead today we were on our own. In groups of three, we each ventured off to our volunteer sites. Six of us (Liz, Diana, Victor, Amber, Ju, and myself) used Servicio Rapido to get to our sites (the girls and boys orphanage homes). We seemed to be the only foreigners that used the bus. It was a bit crowded and we quickly had to learn the 'bus etiquette' of Cusco. We listened out for our stop, and said "Baja" when we were ready to get off. Simpler than I had originally thought it would be, we found the girls' home and went inside for our first day of volunteering.

Many of us are volunteering with children; one group- children with disabilities, another group- children from low income parents or orphans. The other group works with the elderly. Each placement requires high energy. For those of us volunteering with children we had to remind ourselves of activities that we enjoyed at a young age, such as arts and crafts, dancing, and games. Though there may be a language barrier, we wanted to make sure we went in with a plan, seeing that our placements were unstructured, meaning they had no set curriculum or daily schedule for volunteers.

However, no matter what the age group, our purpose was not to just go to these sites to fill time but instead be useful and caring. By helping to brighten their lives in any way possible. Liz said later in our reflection period. "Usefulness is not always teaching someone a skill it can sometimes be a hand to hold." Though some of our sites have year-round volunteers, there are days that go by where some of these children or senior citizens don't have someone to talk to and the sad reality is that groups of volunteers, like ourselves, sadly have an end date, the day we have to leave.

How can we turn these 14 days of bringing joy and brightness into these people's lives into everyday happiness and how can we make sure that the people of Cusco always have their needs met? What is the government doing for these children that do not have basic necessities, or the elders who are left alone without medical attention or their families to care for them. Most importantly how can we leave a lasting impact on these people's lives?

With questions still yet to be answered, we look forward to our next week of volunteering.

AWB 2013 Peru
Written By: Courtnay Oddman