Puerto Maldonado and Wawawasi

Disculpame.  It’s beena long time since I last wrote.  I took a little trip to the jungle (Puerto Maldonado) with my buddy Ruben and came back with a fever.  I've been taking multivitamins that the pharmacist told me would make me feel maravillosa, and I actually am feeling much better.  Here are a few pictures of that amazingly beautiful place.

So originally I didn’t want to volunteer with FairPlaybecause I’m taking my Spanish lessons there, and home staying through them, andgoing to cooking classes through them… I wanted to branch out a little.  However, after applying to one place, playingwith kids but not really doing much at another, and seeing/hearing of countlessothers that I’m not quite sure of… I’m going to start volunteering with FairPlay.  I know the people that are running thisprogram have a heart for these people are doing this for all of the rightreasons.  They are trustworthy and theyhave an excellent program planned.
If you didn’t know, FairPlay is owned by John from Belgiumand his Peruvian wife Fanny.  You canread more of the history of FairPlay in better detail on their website.  It’s a really cool organization.  But as for the volunteering, this is acompletely separate venture they are starting in March.  Basically for 6 years John has wanted tostart a program for the children of mothers living in extreme poverty.  The idea is to start an afterschool programto teach subjects – like information about countries around the world – thatare not taught in the schools.  Thisgives the kids a place to be that’s not on the street when they are not inschool and a chance to learn new things they would otherwise not be exposedto.  The problem is that these kids aremalnourished, which means theirs brains will not develop normally, makinglearning harder for them.  So as part ofthis program we will be cooking healthy meals for them, packed with nutrientsthey need to grow and learn.  The programis completely free to the mothers, but they are required to take classes onnutrition and hygiene and other things on how to care for their children.  So the kids will learn about different thingsat 4 different stations, eat some food, play some games in the garden with thevolunteer staff, and get to play with the puppet theater.
The program is supposed to start in March, when the kids goback to school from summer (heh, it’s freezing here) break.  So we have been working this week on buyingsupplies and painting the room, buying supplies to make cushions for sittingon, and organizing what else needs to be done. Next week we will complete our painting, buy the supplies and set up thekitchen, and get the materials ready for the start of the program.  The name of this program is Wawawasi, whichin Quechua (the main language of the Andes) mean house of babies.
We’re pretty excited to get started!  Wish us luck!

Here is a picture of the room after we painted the base coats and before the designs are going on (maybe tomorrow).