Happy New Year! Really cannot believe that I have already been back to the home for six months already! It has been such a wonderful journey already, and I love every bit of it, even the horrible things that have happened to us. It is part of the memory, and it just shows that we can overcome every hardship in life with one thing: Love.
The Mayan calendar said that it was the end of the world in 21-12-2012. Well, according to Viki, her friend in Argentina said that it was actually an end of the negative world and we will have a better world from that day on. I like this interpretation! Well, it happened to have a staff lunch and secret Santa gift exchange that day. We the volunteers definitely didn´t look forward to that because of all the troubles we went through with some of the staff. I had no expectation whatsoever. First, it was just another business lunch, and I never have luck in lucky draws and things like that. It turned out to be a surprise! First, I won 100 soles from playing Bingo, and I was shocked to my very soul! Then, at the gift exchange, I got a gift from Alfredo, which is a tee shirt which I like a lot! The lunch was quite tasty, and it all added up to be a wonderful day!
With all the Christmas craze and celebrations, there are a few things that makes me happier than anything else in the world. After my break, I attended the anniversary ceremony where I saw Rafael. He looked at me as if a little child who didn´t see his parents for a long time, worried and asked me where I were while giving me a hand shake. I couldn´t believe that I only left for a few days and he was missing me. Another one was Franchesco, who invited me to sit with him at lunch time. I went over and there was some water on the bench, so I told him that I would sit on the other side. Without even thinking, he rubbed his bottom on the seat so that I could sit with him! I almost cried over there! If you tell me that´s not love, then I don´t know what it is! I love them so much! With all my heart.
While we were doing a session of therapy with Evaristo and two other kids, we were teaching them to remember their birthdays. He looked down and didn´t say a thing, because he never had a birthday, and no one knows when his birthday is. So I decided to tell him that from now on, we will celebrate his birthday on January 1 every year. He was so excited that he was asking us everyday when his birthday is! You would have thought that people would support this. Then some people went to tell him that it wasn´t his birthday and lied about that he has a confirmed date. But of course, no one really knows. We were outraged but we went ahead to have a birthday party for him. From being excited in the beginning to being confused, we had to talk to him and told him that until the date is confirmed, January 1st will always be his birthday. Fortunately, we saw his smile again on his face. We had a blast, and I hope that he feels belonged and wanted as birthdays marks an identity of a person. I just hope people understand this.
