OUR FIRST OFFICIAL DAY AS VOLUNTEERS IN CUSCO

So today Matt and I started our first official volunteering day in Cusco.  Yesterday we met with the directors of the volunteer organization so we would have a better understanding of the programs that they offer.  The organization we are volunteering for here in Cusco, is called “Inti.”  This organization offers a safe place for children (mainly ages 9-15) to go to either before or after school.  In South America, school is offered in 2 sessions throughout the day.  The 1st session of school is from 9am-12noon, and the 2nd session of school is from 2pm-5pm.  There are different teachers at Inti that help with homework, and they also offer several different workshops led by volunteers in the arts, including painting and drawing, jewelry making, leather works and sewing.

We told the directors of the organization that we would love to help in any way we can while we are here.  They were so genuine in their appreciation and said that we would definitely be very useful to them in more ways than one (even though we don’t speak Spanish all that well–which was our fear).

This morning we arrived, and met many children who were very warm and welcomed us into their Inti home with open arms.  I helped one of the students, Juliana, with her English homework.  It was a bit of a challenge to try to explain English homework in Spanish!  Although, I really do wish my Spanish was a bit better, for the most part we understood each other quite well.

Matt worked on an art project with a few “special needs” boys, and it was wonderful to see how excited they got when  they were praised with “muy biens.”

We were then handed a bigger project to run together — the purpose of this project was to help make Inti’s home a bit more “green.”  We worked with the children to create colorful bins decorated with their own artwork for recycling.  One bin for plastics, and one bin for paper.  With many children coming in and out of Inti, it’s definitely a good way to help keep the place a bit more tidy and colorful!

We will be back to volunteer with the children again on Tuesday, as Monday is a holiday here–Dia De Los Muertos (The Day of the Dead).  This holiday is celebrated by visiting the cemeteries where their loved ones are buried.

So, the first day of volunteering went great.  I am looking forward to getting to know the children better over the next couple of weeks.  Stay tuned