Visiting Orphanages and Jouleen Visits

March 19th thru 22nd, 2007 Lima, Peru

Visiting Orphanages

This week was a very exciting week because two friends from college visited me in Peru. Jouleen, a great friend for 4 years of college, and Julie, a good neighbor for 3 years, and work for an institution called Buckner which owns orphanages around the world. They plan trips for volunteers who want to work for a week in various homes and just love on these kids. So I journeyed down to Lima to join them.

The homes were pretty standard. About 20 boys might share a room with 10 bunk beds and a bathroom with 5 toilets and equal amount of showers. We visited all ages but most were about 8 to 11 years old. These kids just need love and attention. Some of the homes which hosted teenagers included workshops where the kids could learn technical skills to utilize in the job market.

The home that struck me most was the young mothers home. These are teenage mothers. Each had a baby or child or twins and was under the age of 16. One mother was only 12 years old and had a baby of 6 months.

At each home we passed out shoes that had been donated by individuals around the States. It’s a program called Shoes for Orphan Souls. Each kid gets a brand new pair of shoes. The joy on the faces of these kids is wonderful.

Jouleen Visits

It was really good to see a friend from college. Although I have been here for over 10 months now, it was like we had just seen each other a week ago. She brought lots of good stuff from the States, like Krunchers Jalapeño chips and home baked cookies from another good friend, Nathalie. It was great to see her and catch up but I was sad to see her go. She might get to come back in November with Buckner.

It was slightly overwhelming at first to be surrounded by 31 other Americans. A few who sat nearby me on the bus bombarded me with questions about Peru and my experience in general.

There were 4 groups and each group was supposed to have 2 translators but there were only 7 translators so I ended being the eighth. It was cool because then I didn´t feel guilty having my meals paid for. The other translators were mostly college students who had learned English here and there. They were pretty cool and the last night I went out with them for a drink.