Fun with St. Scholastica

Happy Saturday, y'all! My apologies for the sizable length of time between posts. I've been wanting to share some things with you since Wednesday, but I've been coming home so exhausted that I feared for the quality of my grammar! :-)

I'm very much enjoying typing to all of you from my bed right now, where I've been happily able to sleep in after a busy and rather heart-wrenching week. In a bit, Laura and I are going to walk to our neighborhood market, where I'm contemplating buying a watermelon and definitely planning on buying some fresh flowers for our kitchen. I think it's going to be a beautiful day!

So let's rewind a bit to Wednesday so that I can give y'all an idea of what I've been up to with the students and professors of St. Scholastica. (Who, I might add, are all awesome.) I know I probably shouldn't pick a favorite group, so I will simply say that I find them to be fabulous to such a degree that I am trying to figure out how I might finagle a trip to Duluth, Minnesota to hang out with them. I can't say that there are many other enthralling factors drawing me to Duluth, so hopefully I've communicated my fondness for these lovely ladies (and of course Steven and John, the two males on the trip, one the spouse of a faculty member and one a professor).

So on Wednesday, the group of 14 plus Eliza and I boarded our van and headed first to a neighborhood in Cusco called San Luis, to a school called Manos Unidos. There. we were met by Claire, a lovely employee from New Zealand who serves as Volunteer Coordinator at the school. Celeste, the school's founder, was in the US (she's from the Seattle area), so Claire kindly gave us a tour. Manos Unidos was established about five years ago, and is a school for children with disabilities of various sorts. There are a number of autistic students, quite a few with cerebral palsy, some with Down's Syndrome, and others disabilities for which I don't know names. Presently in Peru, special education is not available as a curricular focus, and children with special needs are often ostracized from their families or described as "un poco mal" (which basically means "a little bad" or "a little unwell"). Manos Unidos is therefore a crucial and wonderful community force for increased awareness of special needs and how we can accommodate them.

The children in the school come from various degrees of socio-economic status, but the majority come from very poor households that cannot afford to send their children to special schools. Therefore, tuition for many students is covered by scholarships sponsored by donors in the US and elsewhere. There are morning classes until about 1 PM and afternoon programs, including individual physical therapy and stimulation sessions, from about 3 until 6. When we first walked through the school and visited the classrooms, things were bit chaotic. There were a lot of noises and people running around, and I think some of the St. Scholiastca students began to worry about whether or not they could be of help. Also definitely visible was the level of need of some students. For example, many of the children with cerebral palsy were sitting in donated wheelchairs that weren't customized to their size, which made it difficult to help them maintain a good posture or just be positioned comfortably. Furthermore, Cusco isn't very wheelchair-friendly outside of the city center, so many parents have to carry their children to and from Manos Unidos because the wheelchairs can't be brought back and forth between the home and the school. One class includes two brothers who both have cerebral palsy. They are the same size even though one brother is significantly older. This is due in large part to the older brother's malnutrition due to his inability to swallow most foods. These are just snapshots of the many needs that we saw in the school. Of course, amid all the need was also a great deal of joy--joy among the students, many of whom are finally able to feel loved and accepted at Manos Unidos, joy among the teachers, who have more patience and love for their students than you can imagine, and joy among those who visit the school, and who see that strides are being made to help children like this, even if the journey is long and arduous.

After our tour of Manos Unidos, we again piled into our van and drove a short distance to a second site, an orphanage of sorts called Santa Teresa de Calcutta. Six nuns--sisters of Mother Teresa--reside in the center, along with a large number of patients ranging from young children to the elderly. The center was surprisingly spacious, but the needs that we saw were gut-wrenching. We entered one room to find a woman lying on a couch, her face and body made unrecognizable due to burn marks. The sister who walked through the center with us informed us that the woman had been unwanted by her family, and that they had tried to burn her to death. In another room, the sister told us about a young boy whose family had treated him as one of their pigs throughout his early upbringing. As a result, when he came to the center, he refused to interact with other people or eat real food, wanting to return to his swine-ridden environment and eat scraps. It took three months for the sisters to make this boy comfortable among the other residents of the center. In yet another room, we came upon a group of volunteers, each sitting with a child and helping to feed him or her. The feeding process is apparently something of a process here, as many of the disabled residents are unable to feed themselves in an upright position.

When the time came to leave the Santa Teresa de Calcutta center for lunch, I felt that I had seen only a small slice of what was there, and yet almost more than I could bear. Both Manos Unidos and Santa Teresa de Calcutta reminded me of why I am here, and why I can never afford to make volunteerism anything less than a top priority in my life.

Lunch and dinners for the week are being prepared by two separate homestay families. I was surprised to hear that we would all be eating in these womens' homes, but they managed to fit us in comfortably and were very hospitable. The lunch cooks are definitely dependent on dairy products in their cooking, which means that I haven't been eating as much as I normally would in the way of almuerzo. Dinner, however, has been continuously delightful, and the chef, a lovely woman named Agripina, is just a gem. I've been enjoying the chance to get a taste of real Peruvian home cooking, and to just chat with Agripina.

After our emotionally exhausting morning, we decided to divide our group of 16 into two, half of whom would return to Manos Unidos and the other half to Santa Teresa. I was to accompany the Manos Unidos group, which consisted of a wonderful professor named Debbie, Debbie's husband Steven (our resident provider of comic relief!), Lindsay, Jenny, Emily, Keri, and Ashley. When we got back to the school, we divided into smaller groups. Emily, Lindsay, and Ashley went to a class of older students, including a few adults, who were focusing on skills such as handwriting and typing. Very appropriate for OT students. Keri and Jenny alternated between a classroom upstairs (where I remained to help with translation) and alongside Helmud, the afternoon physical therapist, who kindly agreed to allow the PT students to watch his sessions. (And who also happened to be quite guapo and potentially my future husband--I jest not). The afternoon was interesting. The girls in the older student/adult classroom did a wonderful job, patiently helping the students to write and later joining them in an impromptu "dance party." The physical therapy sessions with Helmud were great for Jenny and Keri, and Helmud was very open to allowing the girls both some hands-on time with the patients. The upstairs classroom where I sat was rather a madhouse, but all of us who spent any time up there quickly agreed that the teacher, Ruth, is a SAINT. She never loses her patience. She only has four students, but they are each uniquely challenging. Edher and Joaquin both have very little inclination to focus for any length of time, Matsue has quite a temper, and Nichole doesn't complete her work unless someone is beside her, singing to her. (On Wednesday, I sang pretty much the whole soundtrack to "The Sound of Music"!). Despite the difficulties within the classroom, it was interesting to see the great potential of each of the students as well. Most of them can speak if they choose to, and some have fine motor skills that are quite impressive. Debbie came in at one point and drew a road on the white board, which Edher and Joaquin happily "drove" with their toy cars, effectively following the curves that Debbie had incorporated. Watching Nichole work as we sang to her was eye-opening, and again reminded me of the healing power of music in our lives (Mozart makes you smarter--I really believe it!). The children are lovable and full of promise, and I hope that Manos Unidos can help to unlock some of their potential.

I had thought that these weeks with St. Scholastica would be less tiring than my week of manual labor with PITT, but I was very wrong. While this week's exhaustion has been of a different sort, it has been just as present. By the time we'd finished dinner at Agripina's on Wednesday night, we were all ready for a good night of sleep.

Said night of sleep was all the more crucial on Wednesday night because we had a long day ahead of us on Thursday. We left Cusco at 6 AM and drove about three hours to a region of Peru called Acopia. There, we again divided into two groups and visited two sites housing patients with special needs. One was a clinic for local community members in need of care, and the other was a health center run by a Catholic order and serving the very poorest members of the Acopia community and its outlying areas. After visiting both sites, we divided into our groups, and I accompanied John, Marie, Keri, Karen, Emily, Ashley, and Sarah to the Catholic health center. There we met a lovely doctor, who kindly introduced us to all of the patients one by one. I was particularly endeared to Roger, a 15-year old boy who had dislocated hips and an inability to walk. He spoke a little bit, but most of the time I saw him simply smiling with pure joy. What an experience to see someone in such dire straits who still possessed such "joie de vivre." It was incredible and humbling to behold. I also fell in love with a woman who had spent most of the past seven or so years lying on her stomach and unable to move independently. I'm not sure of what caused her ailments, but I know that she now spends most of each day in bed, knitting. What a beautiful spirit she had. She and I spoke a bit about her family and her hobbies, and as we spoke, I couldn't get over the sincerity of her smile and the optimism she possessed in spite of her circumstances. Lying in the next bed over was a very old woman who, when curled into the fetal position, looked no bigger than a child of maybe eight years of age. When she woke, I stopped by her bed to say hello, and realized, as she held my hands in hers and touched my cheeks and stroked my arm, that she was blind. She pulled me into an embrace and kissed my cheek again and again, simply seeking human touch. I was honored to be the human she happened to find in her embrace.

The doctors and nurses who provide care at the Catholic health center are all incredibly devoted and compassionate. It was clear, though, that there were skills that would be greatly helpful to them. And thus began a long day of great work. I was impressed by all of the St. Scholastica girls, who dove straight into their specialties, pairing up and working alongside nurses and doctors to try new rehabilitative exercises with the patients they thought would most benefit from them. Throughout the day, I was continually impressed as the students, with the help of John and his wife Marie, made awesome things happen. With the help of a foam wedge, Roger was able to reach out from a prone position, allowing him to be more independent with his upper body and experience a new position of comfort. Roy, an autistic teenager, showed such joy at simply having a playmate to throw a ball with him or laugh beside him. Clemente, the victim of an accident that left him immobile, was able to use his upper arm strength to transfer himself from his wheelchair to his bed with only minimal assistance. The St. Scholastica students didn't cease to impress me with their patience and sincere compassion for the well-being of everyone at the center. The doctor and the nurses were incredibly open to new ideas, and clearly had the best interests of their patients in mind. There was no pride and lots of collaboration, and by the day's end, we were exhausted but oh-so-satisfied. Alongside that satisfaction was, for many, a nagging feeling of frustration that we couldn't stay longer and do more, but I find that nagging feeling to be a necessity, and the force that brings us back to serving others again and again. I hope the feeling never leaves me. On the way back to Cusco, we stopped at a beautiful lake, where the view of mountains was truly incredible. When we arrived at the dinner location, one volunteer, Sarah, wasn't feeling well, so I took her back to the hostal while the others had dinner with Agripina. While I was sad to miss dinner, I was glad to reach my bed. Another long and wonderful day had left me quite pooped!

Finally, we arrive at Friday (yesterday), and another opportunity for my group of seven to visit Manos Unidos. In the morning, Jenny and Keri were given permission to work individually with some of the students with ceerbral palsy and other physical disabilities. Not only was it wonderful for the children to get some extra therapy time, but also for Jenny and Keri to be able to use their PT skills. Ashley and Lindsay and I again braved the upstairs classrooms, this time with students Alejandro and Franklin, both rather rambunctious boys who weren't particularly inclined to listen to teacher instructions. While they required great patience, they were both also quite lovable, and when we turned on some music and got them dancing, the happiness on their faces was undeniable. At around mid-morning, we joined two classes in a walk to the local park, which was quite an adventure. I first walked with a student named Sarina, who kept crying because she wanted to eat (which she apparently wants to do quite often), and then I walked with another little girl who kept trying to pick up trash from the ground and put it in her mouth. I became quite good at wresting plastic straws, twigs, and other paraphernalia from her grasp. Also at the park, we helped to feed the students a snack. While some of them could easily eat on their own, others needed individual assistance. It was interesting to watch Jenny work with one little girl, who hadn't learned to chew her food. We've been told that she spends most of each day on her back, and has had her food fed to her while inclined backward so she doesn't have to chew. While I knew on a surface level that such a problem isn't a good thing, it was very interesting to see the PT and OT students using their knowledge to facilitate self-feeding and easier chewing and swallowing. It's a reflex that most of us take for granted, and yet one that has caused some of these precious children to miss out on certain important nutrients that they need to grow healthy and strong.

After our morning at the park, it was time for our lunch break. I should mention that meal times have been quite entertaining throughout this week. The professors and their spouses have been pretty hysterically funny, and I've really enjoyed getting to know some of the students. They all think I'm relatively crazy because, as usual, I talk too much and have managed to make them aware of pretty much all of my strange quirks (i.e. excessive obsession with Anne of Green Gables and The Five Love Languages, my strangely proper manner of speaking which I tend to forget is anything but normal, my distaste for all things creamy except ice cream...the usual). Amid all of this self-exposure, I have come to bond quite a bit with several of these girls, and also with professor Debbie and her husband Steven. Debbie has a daughter, also named Sarah, who also loves Anne of Green Gables. Apparently, they are planning on making a return trip to Prince Edward Island next summer and renting a beach house for a few weeks, and I have been cordially invited. Obviously, if it is at all possible, I will be THERE.

After lunch, we returned to our respective sites, and had another exhausting but satisfying afternoon. Before we went to our classrooms, we had the opportunity to meet with Celeste, the co-founder of Manos Unidos, who had just returned from a trip to the US. Celeste shed a lot of light on how things run at the school, and the vision of her and Mercedes (her co-founder) is pretty remarkable. They started Manos Unidos out of Mercedes' living room, and now it's a pretty awesome place. If any of you are interested in seeing the website, here it is: http://www.manosunidasperu.net/. Regarding Helmud the physical therapist, I seriously am trying to figure out how to get him to propose to me. He is clearly quite a compassionate fellow, and very sweet to talk to. He speaks a small bit of English, which is so adorable, and he also has very nice muscles. He will be headed to Norway this October to obtain a higher degree, and is looking to improve his English before then. (Here I am Helmud, ready to teach you! Tada!). Steven, who has quite a bit of construction experience, was also extremely helpful in fixing various issues within the school, including wheelchair breaks, door hinges, and such. I think they are very glad to have him.

I've been typing for longer than I intended, and now I simply must get myself to the market! Thanks for following along, and thanks for caring about these kids and for caring about me as I do what little I can to help them.

Besos y abrazos!
Sarah