10-7-2012

Claudio playing around with his spoon.

Antoni who always kisses my lips!

My Lemar't just got off school.

Finally I'm here! Super excited that I could spend another year in NPH Perú! I was warmly welcomed by Monika, our volunteer coordinator from Poland, at the airport. We spent a day in Lima, with me getting a few more things and her getting ready to pick up a new volunteer from Argentina, Virginia. On Monday morning our national director Alfredo picked us up and took us to the new home in Cañete, starting our full year of commitment in the home. The moment that I arrived, there were Milagros and Leticia among others ran and gave me the biggest and warmest hugs. Of course I couldn't wait to go to see my little ones who were having lunch. When they saw me, a quiet room filled with hungry children suddenly became chaotically noisy! I was filled with joy to see them and their purest and most innocent acts. My arms can't even wrap around all of them! I lost count of the kisses, but a lot of them are actually from Lemar't. Upon my arrival we had already had a couple meetings in this week of orientation. There are certainly a lot of work to do in my part, and my responsibilities already gave me loads of pressure. But it's all worthwhile when I see them smiling and yelling my name from afar, just to say hello or good morning. I feel truly blessed to be here, even though our living condition is quite crazy at the moment. For instance, the water apparently is too hard to consume and could cause kidney damage among other things. As we are sorting this out, I just have to be careful with my health. Another aspect is nutrition. I have already stocked up a few things like herbs, Chinese teas to keep myself healthy and balanced, while having bought milk powder to share with the kids. I know that it's gonna be a great year!