Voluntariado - La mejor parte de cada semana

The most meaningful time I have spent in Peru has been volunteering in La Posadita and in the Hospital del Niño. I have been working through a program called Aprendo Contigo which has locations in 4 health care centers throughout Lima. The purpose of the organization is to provide education for the children even though they are ill and cannot attend a normal school.

Every Thursday I go to La Posadita del Buen Pastor, a home where child carriers of HIV live and go to school. Most of the children either have parents who have died of AIDs or who cannot support them anymore. I go in the afternoon and assist a professor in teaching two classes of children, the first with kids about 7 to 10 years old, and the second with kids from about 10 to 13 years old. It is so humbling to see the hope and spirit of the children. Every time I walk into the room they are full of energy and excited to learn and play games. One of the girls, Lucía, was really curious about learning English and wanted me to spend extra time with her helping with her English homework and teaching her new words. Despite the fact that they are carriers of a very serious virus and that they lack families, the kids appear to be living a normal and very happy life and don´t ever pity themselves. Instead, they are more interested in learning and having fun - what a lesson for all of us who are fortunate enough to have our health.

Las niñas en La Posadita después del show de teatro

I spend the majority of my volunteer time in el Hopital del Niño, which is a huge public hospital for about 700 children. There are children in the hospital from all over Peru, since most families come to Lima to receive better medical care. In the hospital, the program Aprendo Contigo can only support the education needs of 100 children. Even though we only teach 100 of the 700 children, it is a struggle every day to make time for everyone. The number of daily volunteers ranges from 2 to about 12, and even the ratio of 12 volunteers to 100 children makes it a stretch to cover everyone. The program teaches in Infectology, General Medicine D, Neumology, and Hematology. I generally find myself in the General Medicine area or lately Neumology. Our daily task is to deliver the homework to the kids and help them with it. We usually go through one reading and answer questions and then do a sheet of math homework, depending on the level and age of the patient. I am lucky to work on Fridays, because after homework we get to play some games with the kids like puzzles or bingo.

Sometime going through the homework with the kids is a struggle for me too, since there are always some words that I do not know in Spanish! One day I was working on a reading with a girl in neumology named Josselyn and after finishing the reading we both looked at each other and laughed after admitting that neither of us had understood what we just read! We started to read it again, making sure that she understood the content and that I understood the language. Sometimes the kids cannot physically write since their hands are attached to an IV or have wounds or are paralyzed, so in these cases I have to physically go through the questions with the kids and write their responses. One girl who I spent some time with in General Medicine is 16 years old and her name is Lady. She has a variety of illnesses, has lost mobility of most of her body, and has open wounds on her skull. Seeing her for the first time strikes a pain of pity, but after getting to know her and seeing her hope and happy attitude it´s easy to focus less on her illness and more on her wonderful personality.

As I have been getting more and more comfortable working in the hospital, I have been really getting used to working in the room for neumology. The room that I usually work in has children and babies with lung problems. Most of them have tumors in their lungs or some other type of problem that requires surgery. It is very sad to see the kids painfully going through physicial therapy, coughing up saliva in the middle of working on homework, and having to take in oxygen from a machine.

One girl in particular who I have gotten to know well in Neumology is Josselyn. She is fifteen and is in the hospital for a very serious episode of cancer in her lungs, and she has been there since I first started working in the hospital. I have now worked with her for about 5 different weeks, and each time she becomes more and more friendly with me. When I first met her she was a little hesitant towards me because I am quite clearly a foreigner and am far from perfect at Spanish, but each time she has warmed up to me and she now looks excited when she sees me enter the room each week. She makes earrings from her hospital bed so I bought a pair in exchange for bringing a new pair for her and I´ve gotten to know a little more about her life and her family each time I see her. Although it is extremelly painful to see someone I have grown close with so sick, it is also so nice to have met such an inspiration as Josselyn. She is always mature and always willing to talk and laugh, and when I leave the room and take a look back to see her waving goodbye each day it puts a smile on my face.

Con Josselyn en el Hospital del Niño

As of now, my experience working with the kids has been more than anything a learning experience for me, an introduction to some really great people, and an experience to open my eyes to how the many opportunities I have been blessed with - most importantly my health. I really think I have found my passion, the one thing that really sticks out above all the busyness of my daily life here and gives me a feeling of tranquility.

Cuídate,

Michelle