vida from villa milagro.: The last few days with wonderful new friends.

Well the first team has come and gone and I am now working with the second and final team of the summer. But to begin this update I will detail the events that occurred last week, June 25-29^th.

Sadly, it was the final week here in Cajamarca for the team from Geyer Springs First Baptist Church, Arkansas. Monday and Tuesday were spent working in the morning at a special needs school and the afternoons were spent at the special needs orphanage. Prior to this I had no experience with special needs students. Therefore, going into the first day I was nervous and did not know what to expect or what my role would be. During the mornings part of our team visited multiple classrooms to do arts and crafts, put on puppet shows, and play with a parachute – I was a part of this portion. Each classroom was different. Some had students that were completely capable of participating and others had students that did not respond to anything. In the beginning this was all a challenge to me. How should I act, what should I do if the game or craft doesn’t work? I’ll just say day one was a learning experience. That afternoon was better for me. We arrived at the orphanage, which surprisingly had very nice facilities for what I had expected, and a lot of the kids were already outside on a slab. We played with the parachute, had another puppet show, and made some crafts. The kids were in a great mood and loved having us there to play and talk with them. The atmosphere was much more comfortable for me as well.

Playing at the special needs orphanage.

Some of the team worked with the women at the orphanage to learn about new therapy treatments for the children.

Day two was the same schedule. However, this time the emotions were switched for me. The morning events at the school were much more comfortable. The kids were more receptive to us and seemed to be in a better mood all around. In one classroom we had students dancing for us – it was so fun to interact with them. The afternoon at the orphanage just seemed…depressing, honestly. The kids were all outside on the slab again but their demeanor just seemed different. They were sleepy and many were easily irritated - lots of crying and screaming. We were still able to play games and make crafts with quite a few of the kids but it was just a hard afternoon on the emotions.

Coloring at the school.

Their "Thank You" dance for us.

Right before we left the school. Jamie (left) is from the Geyer Springs team and a wonderful new friend of mine.

On day three we spend the morning in Santa Barbara with about 30 local Peruvian women. We started the morning with manicures and painted the fingernails of those who wanted it and then we had a short devotional about the different names and roles of Christ. We ended the morning with a craft; we made big, colorful paper flowers and the women really seemed to enjoy it. After that we headed back to the farm for lunch and then went back to Santa Barbara to hold an afternoon of Vacation Bible School for the children. We made mariposas (butterflies), I led a few games of Simon Says (lots of touch your knees while dancing, or touch your feet and jump – so fun), we sang songs, and ended the day with snack time. On the way back to the farm we drove through some of downtown and saw lots of people with signs against the mines here. Many of the people of Cajamarca believe that the gold mines here are destroying their water supply and that the president of Peru isn’t doing anything about it. Now whether or not that is actually true is yet to be seen, I really have no opinion on the subject. Minus the fact that I wish there weren’t so many “huelgas/paros” (strikes/protests) because it makes it difficult to sight see or sometimes get to our clinic locations.

Being a manicurist.

Happy customers.

Devotional time.

Group picture with the finished products.

Helping with the butterflies.

Leading Simon Says

Preparing for snack time.

An example of the protests in town.

Day four was again, the same schedule. Women’s devotional in the morning – we made foam picture frames and gave each woman a copy of the group photo with their paper flowers to put in it, had another devotional, sang some songs, and finished with a snack. Held another VBS that afternoon; this time with a puppet show, made wind socks, had a paper snowball fight, sang more songs, and snack time. The kids are adorable and so ready to be involved with whatever we tried.

Crissy is the most animated puppeteer I believe I have ever seen. Love working with her.

Paper snowball fight = chaos.

Me, Crissy, Jamie, and Anna Grace - taking a break from the VBS chaos.

Day five was sad. The team from Geyer Springs left to go back home to Arkansas. Many of them had been here for two weeks and I really felt like I was a part of their team, it was weird to watch them leave and know that I was staying here. Made some wonderful friends though that I know I will stay in contact with!