Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Hello again folks! I hope I'm not boring you all to death with my stories ; ) I kind of figure that if I am, you'll just stop reading, lol... if you want to know about anything in particular, let me know! But I want to tell you about the volunteer house where we are staying right now with IdukayPeru. As I mentioned before, when Alex had this vision to start an NGO (ONG in Spanish), it involved opening up his home to whoever would want to come to help. After spending some time here and having many conversations with Alex and his family, I´´ve learned that when Alex and his brothers and sisters were young, they lived in a small house just like the ones the kids live in that the organization was built to help... with dirt floors, no electricity, etc. In a nutshell, his family collectively worked their way out of poverty and with the creation of the organization, were able to add more and more space to their home to offer housing for the volunteers who would come to help Idukay. Now, the house has 4 floors and can sleep about 25 people (which includes many rooms with bunkbeds for the volunteers, a computer lab and terrace, and an apartment on the 2nd floor for Alex's family including his sister, neice, nephew, brother, and mom, )! Paris and I share a room on the 1st floor with 1 set of bunkbeds. It's very cozy : ) The absolute best thing about being here in this house is that everyone shares everything, everyone helps one another with everything... it truly is meant for one big happy family! We all eat together, we all take turns cleaning (but there's no schedule...everyone just jumps in to help all the time), we hang out together, and we all travel together back and forth to the neighborhood together where the CASITA is for the kids, so we're always very safe. It's a very unique situation and is extremely inspiring. In fact, it makes me pretty embarrassed that I don't help my mom more at our house, but there is always time to change! Alex's mom and friend make lunch and dinner for everyone (and we all clean together), and all the volunteers are really treated as part of the family. A few days ago it was Alex's sister's birthday and all of the volunteers were treated just the same as all of the other guests who came. We all ate together, danced together, and had a GREAT time! Can you BELIEVE that Paris was too shy to dance at Iris's birthday party?? It was pretty funny because Paris was glued to her chair the whole time while I was dancing the night away with pretty much everyone there! :) Whenever his other brothers come to visit, we all sit on the terrace together talking and telling stories, dancing, listening to music, watching movies... it's a lot of fun. I feel very at home here, very comfortable and relaxed, just like part of the family. And on the weekends, everyone travels together to other areas of Peru. If you ever have time to go do some volunteering, I would HIGHLY recommend coming here! I guarantee you'll love it!