Oh yeah why we came...to Volunteer!

First off, we want to apologize in advance for the many, many grammatical errors likely to plague this blog post. We are currently getting used to trying to translate everything we want to say into simple Spanish sentences, that when we translate back to English it sounds like we are in 1st grade. Hmm, that sentence may have just proved my point. Shoot.

Anyway, after spending our first full day in Huancayo getting acclimated (read: being lazy), Nate and Katy decided to tag along with a few of the medical students also working with Carisma Peru to start our volunteer work at the medical center. Medical centers throughout the city (and maybe throughout the country…there was a lot of incredibly fast Spanish happening) are currently running a campaign to get all children under the age of five vaccinated against polio, “sarampion” (similar to our MMR shot in the U.S), and some other diseases (sorry, more Spanish words that Katy did not understand). Nate and Katy were pretty excited to learn to give vaccinations, until they discovered that the children scream, cry and buck like tiny little broncos during their shots, then look at you like you murdered their puppy when it’s all over. So anyway, Katy and Nate spent their first two mornings walking from house to house practicing their Spanish (“¿Hay niños que tienen menos de cinco años aqui?”) and stabbing small children with needles. But, it was still semi-awesome to learn the right way to stab needles into children.

 

Meanwhile Jacqui went off to help at a Center for Worker kids. While not quite as exciting as stabbing children, she is pretty sure she messed up some basic math trying to teach it in spanish. Even teaching english, which you would think would be pretty easy, proved to be a challenge. The kids were adorable however and very friendly despite not understanding a word she was saying. She did find the peruvian child she plans to adopt. Despite being a tiny terrorist, Jacqui thinks he has some serious potential...