Nuestro Niños

We have some of the most awesome and hilarious kids here at El Bichito and we wanted to tell you a little more about some of them! We love these kids so much and hope you can see why.  

This is Junior. I wish I could explain Junior and how hilarious he is but there are really no words to do him justice. He is 7 years old, smiles big and likes to be in charge. He loves to be the center of attention and as soon as a camera is pulled out, he is front and center. He is a math flashcard wiz and can be pretty competitive. Junior makes me laugh every day and how can you not smile when you see how excited he is about life?

These happy kids are all siblings; Aurora, Gwilso and Hector. They are all a little small for their age but they hold their own here at El Bichito. Gwilso is the youngest and doesn't talk much, but loves to be tickled (hence the smile in this photo). Aurora likes to play games with the interns and Hector likes to sneak under the table and surprise you. Because their father and older siblings work all day, Aurora and Hector are left at home a lot, sometimes in charge of Gwilso. Despite a tough life, these kids are eager to have fun. 

 This is Aurora again (on the left) with some of her friends, Flor Margarita and Flor's younger sister Estela. Flor is a little introverted at first but when I asked if she wanted to learn some English, she smiled very big and nodded. She is very motivated to learn and picks up on things quickly.

Milagros means "miracle" and this is my Milagros We have had the unique opportunity to visit Milagros and her family in their home. She has so little but she is still so happy all the time and generous with what she has. This girl has the sweetest smile and the most hilarious laugh. She loves to give hugs and kisses and she brightens my day when she walks in the room. 

One of the things I love about El Bichito is all the families that come, brothers and sisters who watch out for each other. This is Lazaro and he is the man! He comes with his 2 older sisters, older brother and 2 younger sisters. This family is one of those that really needs the help offered here at El Bichito. Lazaro has a bright smile and loves to do things with his brother Israel. 

And these are his two adorable little sisters; Magali and Madai. They can be pretty shy but if you engage them in an activity they are happy to play. We had a field day this past week and played a hopping tag game. One of my new favorite memories is seeing Madai, wearing all pink, trying so hard to hop up and down. She is now "my little pink jumping bean". 

And here we have Rodrigo. Sometimes a trouble maker, but always a happy kid. He enjoys math flashcards (probably because he always wins) and likes to tease us interns.  

And this is the new love of my life, Alesandro. As you can see in one of the pictures, this kid is crazy. He has seemingly endless supplies of energy and is a total goofball some days. He likes to act like a monkey and jump from table to table or swing on your legs. He makes up his own language (as if Spanish wasn't hard enough) and makes silly faces all day. Alesandro also has a very gentle and sweet side. Some days all he wants to do is curl up in your lap and read a book, and how can you say no to a face like that?                                                              

These children have become so important to both of us. They teach us so much about friendship, family, sacrifice and love. All of the children here at El Bichito come here because their families struggle economically and this is a place for them to eat a good meal once a day. These kids benefit greatly from both the food and the opportunity to work one on one with interns who take an interest in their academic and emotional life.


We wanted to let you know of an opportunity that you could help some of our kids. We work for an organization called Southern Cross/ Eagle Condor and they set up the funds that keep this center running. These funds come from one time donations and child sponsorships. These donations can be made for a specific child or center and 100% of the money will go to supporting that child. These donations, no matter how small, are so important to the success of our center here and other locations in Peru and South America. If you would like more information about a one time donation or setting up a child sponsorship please click here, comment, or email us with your questions. Thank you so much for your support thus far and we are excited to keep sharing our adventures!

Un Dia in la Vida- Cynthia

Erin reading with Alesandro

For most of us the day starts around 5am, at least that is when the rooster who lives next door starts crowing. The dogs and buses join in about 30 minutes later and if we do manage to get back to sleep, I am awoken by tapping on our window which means it is 6am and that it is time to go running. Jake and I take the bus down the mountain to Banosdel Inca and we run on a trail from Banos to Cajamarca and back. The best part of the trip is that we end our run at a small Panederia or bakery in Banos and buy Pan de Agua. It is pretty much the most delicious crusty roll in the world and we have all been living off of it for the past 2 weeks. We get home and usually make enough noise that Erin and Liz wake up. We get ready for the day; eat breakfast, and such things. Oh and sometimes we do laundry. We hand wash and hang dry everything which is quite the adventure, and if we want warm water to wash in, we heat it on the stove. Yup, we are just that awesome.

Sorting Rice and Lentils

 

 Jake quizing Rodrigo and Fernando with flashcards

Around 10am Feliciana or Merchuda will arrive and we meet in the kitchen and sort rice. The rice here comes with little piedras or rocks still in it and so we sit at the table and sift through it. It is the perfect opportunity for Jake to attempt to teach us Spanish. After the rice is done and any other odd jobs from the kitchen are completed we plan out activities for the kids for that day. We pick books to read, and decide if we will have some sort of organized game. Last week we tried to play freeze tag outside, it was going pretty well until the interns got winded and we had to let the kids win. The kids here LOVE puzzles, they will do the same puzzle every day if we brought them out. And Memory, any cards that have some sort of double they will turn into a game of memory. But they play an interesting version where after every turn you mix up the cards again. So it’s more of a luck game than anything, but they like it. Connect 4 is also a favorite and we were surprised and how much they like to read. In addition to just games we slip in a few math flashcards and have days where we focus on a hygiene goal- like washing clothes regularly. It is fun planning out activities, but as any teacher will tell you, it’s hard to know how they will be received.

 Erin being tickled

The kids come and eat the food that Feliciana and Merchuda prepared and most of them stay for several hours afterwards and we get to spend time with them. They are an adorable and a hilarious bunch. We are still learning their names and they are learning ours. When they don’t remember our names they just call us “gringa”. Also, no one here seems to be able to pronounce “Erin”, though it’s funny to watch them try. So we have renamed her Melissa, which they can mostly say. Hector (age 6) has particularly taken a liking to “Melissa” and follows her around tugging at her shirt every 5 minutes.

As for me, I have been lucky enough to spend a lot of time with two sisters named Diana (age 11) and Milagros (age 4). Diana is very intelligent and is very interested in learning. She is patient when I speak to her in Spanish and we both can have a good laugh when I mess it up. Milagros might be the cutest thing I have ever seen and she enjoys chatting with me and giving me kisses on the cheek. I don’t think she realizes that I only catch about half of what she says, but I smile a lot and I guess that makes up for it. 

Me and Milagros

These kids also make me laugh all the time. Example:

I discovered that Milagros has one dreadlock in the back of her hair; this was the following conversation with her older sister-

Cynthia: Diana, what is this in Milagros’s hair?

Diana: A dreadlock

Jake: Why does Milagros have one dreadlock in her hair?

Diana: So she will be lucky when she grows up

Cynthia and Jake stare.

Jake: Seriously?

Diana: Yes…

That’s right, a lucky dreadlock. I decided I need one, so if anyone knows anything about making just one awesome dreadlock in my hair, please let me know. (I’m serious)

After the kids all leave we clean up and have the rest of the day to do whatever we want. We ride the micro down to Banos or Cajamarca and buy food, we read books, we watch movies on laptops, and I like to sit on the roof. So far we have also been to the hot springs, explored the city, hiked to the top of the mountain behind our house, and sat around and talked a lot.

Life is good, and hopefully in the next post Erin can tell you more about the fun activities we have done with the kids.

 Hike day, yes this is where we live- isn´t it beautiful?

Mira! Arroz, Arroz, Arroz- Erin

I wrote this on Thursday, but due to technical difficulties could not post until today, so it might be a little out of date, but here we are.

So the blog title means “Look! Rice, Rice, Rice” for those of you who don’t speak Spanish.  There are two reasons for the title.  1. Those are two words in Spanish that I actually know.  The kids we work with tell me “Mira!” every 30 seconds.  2. We moved 1000 pounds of rice the other day up a flight of stairs.  Literally.  As well as lots of beans and potatoes.  We moved the rice in bags of about 100 pounds, so of course we had two people struggling with each bag.  The two Peruvian women we work with were laughing and laughing at us.  Probably because they could carry them by themselves.  The women up here are SO tough.  They carry everything on their backs wrapped in these shawls- including their adorable babies!  Because we are sort of up in the mountains the people are a good mix of traditional and modern.  The adult women especially dress pretty traditionally in pleated skirts and colorful shawls—except that a lot of times they wear pants under their skirts. 

In other news, El Bichito (the center where we live and the kids come) is so great!  Our rooms are huge!  The beds are not the most comfortable things ever.  Jake, one of the other interns, lovingly refers to them as memory foam with Alzheimer’s because you leave a dent in them wherever you sit or lay and they take a couple of hours for the dents to come out if they do.  It’s mostly just hilarious at this point.  Our new favorite phrase is “esta bien.”  We use it when we have to take an ice cold shower, when we aren’t positive the food is good for us, when we don’t have windows yet, when the power goes out, and when we crowd on the little busses with the crazy drivers. There is only one little mirror in El Bichito and it is downstairs in the bathroom the kids use, so Cynthia and I have yet to look in a mirror other than the one we accidently saw ourselves in when we stepped into a jewelry shop to exchange money.  Yes, accidently.  Cold water leads to our showers being few and far between and make up for us is non-existent, so it is a real blessing there are no mirrors to look in.

When we first got here the widows weren’t in and there was only light in two rooms, but now we have lights, outlets, somewhat working plumbing, and glass in all but two windows!  We think it’s pretty classy and we really are so lucky to have everything we have.  I find it amazing.  Those of you who have ever had the privilege of sleeping in the same house as me know that I check the locks on every window and every door before I go to sleep or I can’t sleep.  It was pretty easy here the first night—there wasn’t even glass in half the windows and there’s just a staircase that leads up to our roof that is covered with a piece of tin.  I always wondered how missionaries adapted to living in more “interesting” conditions.  I guess I’ve learned the answer—you just do.  There’s no other choice and honestly it’s nicer than what a lot of the people around here have, so it just makes me incredibly grateful for what I have. 

Jake and Liz are the other two interns here with us.  They are both great!  Jake speaks fluent Spanish and we use him as our translator/body guard.  He’s hilarious and from California (not that those two are necessarily related, they’re just both true).  Liz is so fun.  She is from Salt Lake and is staying in Peru for six months doing different humanitarian projects.  The food is delicious!  We get fresh bread about every other day and have all sorts of good fruit and pastries.  So far we’ve had the delicious mango, pineapple, and a HUGE avocado. 

We are both working on our Spanish.  Cynthia’s is of course a lot better than mine, but we are both improving.  All of us interns read El Libro de Mormón out loud every night.  Even though I don’t know what I’m saying it at least helps with my accent and learning how to pronounce things.  The kids are so cute and speak to me in rapid Spanish.  I usually just stare or say “Si.”  When I play games with them they will try to cheat all slyly and I don’t speak enough Spanish to explain what they’re doing wrong, so I mostly just loose the games because I try to play by the rules and let them cheat.  My French is coming to me with perfect clarity every time I want to say something in Spanish.  Yesterday I got so frustrated with it I actually started speaking in French to one of the little girls—I think she just thought I was crazy.  But c’est la vie! (or some equivalent phrase in Spanish.  I have no idea.)

I realize that you still don’t really know what we do every day, but this has gotten way too long, so Cynthia will just have to tell you about that next time. Ciao!