Bugs and Other Fun Things

I'm not really sure how to start this post, so much happened today and I am feeling so many different things and I feel like if I just started talking this wouldn't make any sense. So, I shall start from the beginning. Today Deborah and I decided we would clean the psychology office for Tia Sara. Armed with cleaning supplies and dressed in old jeans and a concert t-shirt we made our way to the Westfalia. Luckily for us, we had allies help us. Debbie's sister and Sammy, a young psychology student who works there, worked along side us. We split up the work and started. A few of the boys helped us remove pictures from the wall so we could clean.

 

 

 

Before:

 

 

 During:

 We found a few bugs. We started keeping track after we found two scorpions. They were alive and the very brave Deborah killed them for us! Except, she had me a little worried about the cricket... and I don't see how she is smiling. She is holding a cricket. Eww.

 

 

 

Sammy Cleaning.

Ariana tackled desk #2, I had tackled the first desk.

You see this wall. I scrubbed it. Scrubbed. I am sure the kids will
always remember the weird American girl who spent an hour scrubbing one wall.

Debbie Orgnizing the books, She found spider webs inside some of them.

Where Debbie found two scorpions.

Why do they have to be so dcreepy?

After we killed them (and by we I mean Deborah) I turned to her. "Wait a minute." I said, "We found one big one and one small one. Then where is the other large one?!"

And this one we found on the floor later.

Our Bug Tally:

Crickets: 1

Spiders: 10

Scorpions: 3

Unknown: 2  

After:

 

 

 

Lunch:

We ate lunch with Casa 4 again, and let me tell you, I have a new appreciation for Missionaries who have go to far off places and have to try a million things with a straight face even though they hate it.

 This is Quinua, and although it wasn't bad the thought of where it was prepared was enough to make my stomach churn. I had to focus on my breathing each bite telling myself that I would be okay.

And because it would be rude not to eat all the food they provided (since there are kids starving here) it took a lot of will power to eat it all. My main goal was to NOT get sick. After a while Deborah finally stopped me. I guess I looked like I was going to throw up, because she took my plate and told me not to worry about eating the rest. I was very very grateful at this point.

 

Other Happenings Today:

Two girls had to go to the hospital today, they were both sisters. One is schizophrenic and one is mentally ill. The mentally handicap girl fainted 4 times in 12 hours so they took her in, barely 10 minutes later, the other sister started to seizure. They sent her to the hospital.

 

The Kids Drawings:

I took them off the wall to clean, and felt they needed to be seen. We plan to put them in a book and have them make new drawings to put up in the phsycology office. And I will put them up here too.

 



    

     

Afterwards:

I came home and after sitting down for a while from mental exhaustion and watching my brother swim in the pool with his friends I decided what the hey, I have to shower anyway and jumped in fully clothed. And then I took a shower, hungrily ate a sandwich and wrote this post. I have since eaten dinner too and am still hungry. Hard work makes a person hungry. All in all I think it was a good day, despite the food- what do you think?

 

 



Fun Facts about Peru

Main Facts

• Peru is along the coast in South America. It shares borders with Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil, Bolivia, and Chile. 
• Peru is known for having Andes Mountains,the Amazon Jungle, and dessert lands. With this mix of geographical features Peru is the destination for many tourist.

• The capital and largest city in Peru is Lima. In 2009 it was estimated that over 8.7 million people lived in Lima. 
  
• The second largest city is Arequipa with an estimated population of 1 million people. When my family first moved to Peru in 2005 we lived in Arequipa.
• Arequipa is known as the white city because the buildings are made out of a white stone and the streets are filled with the white dust.

• Other well known Cities include Cusco, Puno and Iquitos
• Cusco is well known for Machu Pichu, and it's Incan background.
• Puno is located in the Andes region of Peru, and is another touristy city. They have some cool natural hot springs and is an ideal location to spot Condors.
• Iquitos is a small city in the Amazon. It is about the furthest you can get from civilization in Peru, and I have heard that the noises from bugs at night can be terrifying.

Agriculture

• Peru is well known for it's variety of Potatoes and Corn, including the blue corn that is used to make Chichi Morada, an Incan specialty.
• Other agriculture includes coffee, cotton, sugarcane, rice, wheat, plantains, coca; poultry, beef, dairy products, wool; fish

Religion

• 81% of the people are Roman Catholic.
• The other 19% are Evangelist, Christian, or unspecified.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Peru

• 527,759 Church Members
• 10 Missions
• 1 MTC (Mission Training Center)
• 788 Congregations
• 1 Temple in Lima and 2 under construction (in Trujillo and Arequipa)
• 113 Family History Centers

Links:

• http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-statistics/country/peru
• http://www.lds.org/prophets-and-apostles/unto-all-the-world/the-gospel-in-peru?cid=HPTH122613277&im=true&lang=eng
• http://www.lds.org/locations/missionary-training-centers/peru/about?lang=eng
• http://www.infoplease.com/country/peru.html

If you have any questions about Peru leave a comment. Also, if any of my facts are wrong or out of date please let me know! Thanks!

My Day and a Few Thoughts

Hello Everyone,

I went back to Westfalia Orphanage today, I will be going every Wednesday and Friday for a few hours a day. We arrived and spent a while playing with the kindergarten aged kids. My little friend Melissa found my hand Sanitizer and was very into it. She liked how it made her hands smell. Good thing I don't keep perfume in my bag! She brought out a few of her friends to show them and they all begged to try some. I kept saying "no mas, no mas!" and they would hold up their fingers and say "un poco por favor?" and who can resist saying no to sweet little kids, especially when they are excited over something so ordinary. Plus their just so darn cute!

Today we discussed the kids with Tia Sara, the psychologist. These kids have either been abandoned by their parents or neglected and abused and taken by the government. Because most of the parents still have parental rights over their kids or the situations are complicated, none of these kids can be adopted. They live at Westfalia until they are 18/19 and start college or working.

The place is okay, little orphan Annie had it easier than these kids; the place is a bit dirty. A lot dirty. What I don't understand is how the staff and volunteer can be there and not want to make the place better. This came up in a discussion with my dad and he explained that they were never taught, and they did not expect the level of cleanliness I do.  It makes me sad, and I have to keep reminding myself that it's a different world here. We have plans to clean up the place- starting on Wednesday with the psychology office. It also needs to be organized and I am practically a professional organizer so I will be happy to do so.  It just needs some TLC my friends and I are going to try are hardest to spruce up the place.

Right now we are working on putting together posters for each house with all the kids names, birthdates and pictures to hang in the psychology office. I spent a few hours today handwriting notes about the kids to type up since I can't bring their files home.

Other than Westfalia, I am still working with Express Connect. I am going to start training with Ale so I can start presenting more which will be really exciting.  Ale was also sweet enough to contact a school, the Sir Alexander Flemming school, we visited a few months ago (the one with the really sweet kindergarteners) to see if I could help out in any way, maybe buying art supplies or books or building a playground- something for the kids.  I am excited for that because I would like to do some little projects while here and help out a few different schools.

I think that's all, there is so much going on in my head right now. Ideas are just piling up!

Happy Friday!

Primer Día de Voluntario de Westfalia

For those of you who do not speak Spanish, or do not use Google Translate, This was my first day volunteering at Westfalia.  We arrived at 9:30 am to discover Tia Sara ("Aunt Sara") the psychologist was in Lima today with some children that had doctor/ dentist appointments. We agreed we would take the kids pictures and meet everyone. So we grabbed Victor, a ten year old who has been at the orphanage for five-six years to help us out. We went around the whole place finding all the kids we could and taking pictures.  We first came across some girls making bracelets. We introduced ourselves and then asked each girl their name and age. That's about all I can say in Spanish. "Me llamo Darcie, como te llamas? Y quantos anos tiene?"  Then we snapped their pictures. Some of the girls resisted because they didn't look nice for a picture.  We finally got a few of them to go with it though. Sonrises is the Spanish word for Smile. We also used "Cheese" a lot. I guess its more fun than saying "Queso."

The kids were so cute. Victor held my hand while showing us around and demanded to see the pictures I had taken. He dragged me all around with him. In the nursery, kids ran up to us. One tried to tickle me under the arm and I grabbed at him and he just started laughing. Others wanted piggy back rides or to be held. It was another moment when you realize how amazing life is.  How these kids live is something I don't think I could ever do. They are so sweet, and so warm. All they want is a little bit of love and lots of hugs.

This shy little girl wouldn't tell me her name.

 



 

On my left is Victor. He ended up stealing my camera for a while.

 

This sweetheart is Melisa.

 

This is Melisa's friend, she didn't tell me her name.

I took some pictures of the Orphanage. It was so cloudy out, they didn't have electricity since they use solar power.



 The outside.

 

 

I got some of the kids playing soccer.

 

 

Inside Casa 4

 

Their living room

 

 

Their dining room

 

Their table:

 

Laundry Area, the kids hand wash their own clothes.

 

The Kitchen.

 

It's pretty small.

 

They fed us lunch, which is their big meal in Peru.

We had Carapulca- potatoes with quinoa and nuts (at least that's what I think is in it) and white rice.

 

 

While I was eating, a young boy (I am guessing around the age of 6) stood next to me on the bench and played with my hair bun and ear, as I have two brothers who both pick on me it didn't really bother me that much. I guess I should thank Zachary and Marcus for that.

 

All in all, it was a pretty good day. I am going back on Friday, so I'll tell you more then!