IdukayPeru is the name of the organization Paris and I basically moved in with on Sunday afternoon. They are a local NGO in a district of Lima called Callao, and the organization was built around the premise of helping the poorest kids here in some of the worst neighborhoods here. Basically a guy named Alex, who is now about 30 yrs. old, had this vision to create this type of NGO near where he lives and open up his entire house to volunteers who could come from all over the world to help. So about 6 years ago it started and little by little it grew and grew, and more and more help came, and his entire family supported his dreams to make it what it is today. I can give you a briefing of what it's like at the current time :)
They've built a small school in one of the poorest neighborhoods here, which is no more than a 10 minute bus ride from the home base house of the organization. The school now has 3 classrooms and a small cemented courtyard in the middle where the kids can all gather and play. There's a small garden that was created recently where they planted trees near the courtyard also, so it's very cute. There's one room which serves as a medical center and has basic medical supplies and health education material. There's another small room in the making that serves as the library with books of all different subjects. And the last room is a fairly large kitchen (about twice the size of a kitchen in a typical house in the U.S.).
They started out by offering a place for the kids to come after school for a few hours and give snacks and play and have those around who can just love on them and give them positive attention. And then they began offering homework help that morphed into different classes separated by ages to reinforce the different subjects they were learning in school (or not getting at all because they don't go to school). These are extremely 'at-risk' kids if you need a classification... at-risk for, well, everything! Some, well... A LOT, are extremely agressive and hyper with one another, they wander around the streets (even the 3 year olds) un-chaperoned, most of them aren't taken care of... they don't have baths, they aren't fed... but at the same time, they are all THERE and that's their life. However, they are adorable! They are extremely affectionate with anyone who will give them attention, they love hugs, when they see you, they come running screaming and jump on you with hugs and kisses. They just love to be loved, you know?
So after the organization started offering homework help and classes, they noticed that the kids couldn't concentrate because they said they were starving and hadn't eaten. So, a couple of the women in the neighborhood come every afternoon now around 12pm and make lunch for all the kids who come to the school who need food. And after the classes in the late afternoons which are 3:30 to 5:30pm, they give all the kids snacks again (bread and drinks).
Then another need was noticed which was that all of the kids kept scratching really badly in class from all the lice. So the organization started coming a few times a week around 10:30am before lunch and they set up a few stations were the volunteers wash the kids' hair and try to pick out as much lice as possible.
Yesterday, Monday, we visited for the first time but they had a big party with all the kids instead of classes because 2 of the volunteers from Spain were leaving. Even though there were no classes, it was a good chance for Paris and I to just meet the kids and visit the school. All the kids were going nuts!!! I had to remind myself not to be overwhelmed, just to take it all in and be there. The kids are so cute though!
Today we went in the morning to wash the kids' hair and the first girl whose hair I washed I just kind of looked at a little bit dumbfounded. I really didn't know what to do because her hair was completely matted together in a big ball. I put the water and shampoo in and tried to wash it, but all of her hair was so matted it looked like it was glued together. I washed it the best I could and then sat there with a pick comb for probably the next hour trying to get it brushed out and unmatted. And during this hour I had my first experience with LICE (well, second if you count the time I was in Mexico and HAD lice, but I never saw it because someone else washed my hair for me then and gave me lice treatments). I'd never actually seen lice before today. I thought what I was picking out were little maggots at first, but then when I glanced at the cup of vinegar we had on the table that we were dumping all the lice into, I realized that this is apparently what lice looks like (I think!). I was so proud of myself when I finished :) Her hair was straight and beautiful. Not perfect though because I realistically could've sat there for another 2 hours at least trying to get all the knots out, and I would've need conditioner and spray-in conditioner as well, but all we had was just shampoo. Then we'd put some vinegar on the top of their scalp too to kill the remaining lice because for the girls it was nearly impossible to get it all. Every child whose hair I washed this morning and saw being washed had lice, even the boys who had short spiked up hair who were trying to look all fashionable had lice too.
An interesting note though about this whole experience is that none of the kids complained about having to wash their hair. Even when I sat with little Sophia for almost an hour adamantly brushing through her hair, she didn't complain! She didn't cry! She just sat there! I've taken care of A LOT of kids in the U.S. and trying to comb through girls' long hair after baths, or even getting them to take a bath in the first place, is CHALLENGING! There's screaming, kicking, crying, complaining... but today, NONE of the kids complained! Maybe we should let our kids in the States go without baths for a month or get lice so that they will appreciate what it feels like to actually be clean. Maybe I should too.
Then later that afternoon we returned for classes and I had my first experience teaching ESL to kids. Whoa baby! I taught them... well TRIED MY BEST to teach them the hokey pokey and a couple body parts. They liked it and were having fun, but I'm gonna have to adapt my game plan for tomorrow definitely! Just some tweaking to do which I knew was inevitable since I really didn't know what it was going to be like. And, it was nuts! I think I've lost my voice ;) So I'll have to think of what to do tomorrow... if you have ideas, let me know! I'm in a class with 7-12 year olds who are bouncing off the walls! Luckily there's another volunteer in there with me. She does math practice first and I walk around and help (try doing that in Spanish with 15 kids screaming at the same time!! And I never even learned the word for 'times' or 'plus', like 5 x 5 or 6 plus 6, until today!), and then she does the same for me when I'm trying to teach English.
It was a crazy mess... but a great experience :) And the kids were happy, so that's all that matters!
I'll write more about the actual volunteer house next time! It's time for dinner!!!
