Thursday, April 16This day was such an eye opener and simultaneously unbelievably emotional. Earlier during the week we were notified that our Thursday would be spent visiting some parents and homes of children at PPA. I some how failed to realize the need to emotionally prepare for such an event. Although I´ve worked in shelters throughout NYC nothing had prepped me for what we experienced.
We all skipped our morning assignments to join Mili (our team leader), the social worker and an 8 year old little girl Noemi to the other side of Lima. The agenda was for us to get an inside view of where children of PPA come from and the true value the orphanage adds to them and their families. First, we stopped off at Noemi´s home. Her mother didn´t show up until about 20 minutes after our arrival since she had been picking up her twin grandchildren (unfortunately, there was no way of contacting and notifying her of our visit in advance). This limited the amount of time Noemi spent with her family since we were on a time constraint having to visit 2 other homes. Her mother was amazing at giving us a full access interview (video will be uploaded upon my return to the states) in hopes of helping spread the word regarding the various needs of individuals such as her family, PPA and GV.
Their home is a 2 room place that was very small with a distinct odor. There is no water, no electricity (for the exception of what some neighbors give her access to) and no bathroom. The mother works from 5am - 8pm and recently discovered she has HIV. Noemi´s condition at home was obviously unsafe especially with the fact that the majority of the neighbors are male since it´s a furniture building region. Her mother mentioned fearing for Noemi´s well being during her time at work. There were many days she would come home from work unable to find Noemi who would always end up at some little friends home. Her mother is truly grateful for PPA which helps keep Noemi off the streets, clean and safe. The family managed to spend a brief time together alone until it was time to head out. Since Noemi´s living conditions at home aren´t safe, she's only permitted to visit her mothers home under supervision. Her mother however, has full visitation rights at PPA. When we had to leave, Noemi began wailing. It was so heart wrenching. She was inconsolable. Mili was incredible at managing the situation by holding her and speaking to her softly reminding her of the mothers future visits as well as the many friends Noemi had waiting for her at PPA. Lisa ran into the back of the bus and began crying at the sounds of Noemi. We all felt so bad for her but realized PPA truly is the best thing for this child.
After visiting with Noemi´s family we preceded with the 2 other homes of parents that haven´t visited their children in months. Turns out that the mothers in both homes have relocated with zero notification to the government or PPA, one ventured out with a new boyfriend and the other no one has heard from. It takes a minimum of 2 years for the government to take full custody of a child therefore they cannot be put up for adoption until after.
Once Mili realized we were out of luck locating the missing mothers we ventured into another part of town in which we visited a soup kitchen. The place is run by 2 sisters who have the continuous assistance of 3 other dedicated volunteers. They make the daily lunches for about 80 people in town a day with limited assistance from the government. They charge about 2 soles (about $1.50) for the meal which goes to purchasing more food for the next day.
As one could imagine, we were all pretty quiet after the entire morning experience. Although our energy was low we had to find it in us to continue with teaching English to the High School girls in the evening. The good thing was we actually went in with a curriculum (following Lisa´s example) which consisted of teaching words in English through Charades. This worked marvelously!
We all skipped our morning assignments to join Mili (our team leader), the social worker and an 8 year old little girl Noemi to the other side of Lima. The agenda was for us to get an inside view of where children of PPA come from and the true value the orphanage adds to them and their families. First, we stopped off at Noemi´s home. Her mother didn´t show up until about 20 minutes after our arrival since she had been picking up her twin grandchildren (unfortunately, there was no way of contacting and notifying her of our visit in advance). This limited the amount of time Noemi spent with her family since we were on a time constraint having to visit 2 other homes. Her mother was amazing at giving us a full access interview (video will be uploaded upon my return to the states) in hopes of helping spread the word regarding the various needs of individuals such as her family, PPA and GV.
Their home is a 2 room place that was very small with a distinct odor. There is no water, no electricity (for the exception of what some neighbors give her access to) and no bathroom. The mother works from 5am - 8pm and recently discovered she has HIV. Noemi´s condition at home was obviously unsafe especially with the fact that the majority of the neighbors are male since it´s a furniture building region. Her mother mentioned fearing for Noemi´s well being during her time at work. There were many days she would come home from work unable to find Noemi who would always end up at some little friends home. Her mother is truly grateful for PPA which helps keep Noemi off the streets, clean and safe. The family managed to spend a brief time together alone until it was time to head out. Since Noemi´s living conditions at home aren´t safe, she's only permitted to visit her mothers home under supervision. Her mother however, has full visitation rights at PPA. When we had to leave, Noemi began wailing. It was so heart wrenching. She was inconsolable. Mili was incredible at managing the situation by holding her and speaking to her softly reminding her of the mothers future visits as well as the many friends Noemi had waiting for her at PPA. Lisa ran into the back of the bus and began crying at the sounds of Noemi. We all felt so bad for her but realized PPA truly is the best thing for this child.
After visiting with Noemi´s family we preceded with the 2 other homes of parents that haven´t visited their children in months. Turns out that the mothers in both homes have relocated with zero notification to the government or PPA, one ventured out with a new boyfriend and the other no one has heard from. It takes a minimum of 2 years for the government to take full custody of a child therefore they cannot be put up for adoption until after.
Once Mili realized we were out of luck locating the missing mothers we ventured into another part of town in which we visited a soup kitchen. The place is run by 2 sisters who have the continuous assistance of 3 other dedicated volunteers. They make the daily lunches for about 80 people in town a day with limited assistance from the government. They charge about 2 soles (about $1.50) for the meal which goes to purchasing more food for the next day.
As one could imagine, we were all pretty quiet after the entire morning experience. Although our energy was low we had to find it in us to continue with teaching English to the High School girls in the evening. The good thing was we actually went in with a curriculum (following Lisa´s example) which consisted of teaching words in English through Charades. This worked marvelously!
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