And Then There Were Two

August 31st 2010

Hola Chicos es Chicas! So here I am, I'm here in the orphanage, in my room, you hear that MY room!! Although it still doesn't feel like my room. I definatly need to give it that Simply Compas touch.

Im guessing you lot want to know how I got here right? Well after getting awoken at 3.30am we were literally rushed out of our hostel by the impatient bus driver. I even had to leave without putting my socks on, un-socked feet and air forces to not bode well together I can tell you that now! After a death wish of a drive we ended up at the airport around 4.15am where all the girls had to begin checking in etc. It was here that we had to wave off all our friends, which Is actually quite sad. I mean it's like these 12 other girls are the only other people that can truley understand how I am feeling right now. Yes I know you guys will try and sympathise with me and try to understand. But in all fairness you have NO idea what I am going through or what I will be going through. Leaving your family and home to go to university or to play football is completely different. You still have the peace of mind knowing that if you want to go home then by all means you can, whether it be by bus, train or a domestic flight. It is STILL possible for you to come home. Anyway I've seemed to go off my track of thought. So me and Rachel were about to check in only to find out that Rachel had lost her plane ticket. Commence some serious worrying! After checking through literally every bag we still couldn't find it. Just as we thought we had lost all hope, Saskia (Iquitos) said that they never even checked her plane ticket. So since I had my plane ticket we decided to risk it, the worst they could say was no right? And that's what we done. We went to the check in desk I handed my ticket and bundled rachel and I's passports together. Without a blink of an eye they put the tickets on our bags and we were ready to go. So much for airport security right? LOL! A lucky escape.


Me and rachel ended up where we first begun, in the same spot we slept in for around 6 hours last friday/saturday. This time however we only had around 2 hours to burn till we had to board our flight. At 8am we boarded the flight and within literally 5 minutes the plane was in the air, these peruvian flights did not wait around. I had just got to sleep after tossing and turning and had awoken ready to have a drink then drift back off, when we had actually arrived in Cuzco. The flight was just under an hour! So quick it's pretty unreal. So we got off the flight, got our bags and headed through to the arrivals area, which was just the pavement lol no special treatment. When we got there, there was a man flaying his arms about and looking in our direction. I nudged to Rachel I think this was our director, so we walked towards him and yes, it was. He greeted us both and offered to carry both our bags. We then went off to his little 4 by 4 and crammed our bags into the back. Yet again in the car there was no seatbelts, which seems to be some what of a regular occurance in Peru. The drive was actually okay up until we got to Oropesa *the town which Azul Wasi is situated* where the roads seemed like a major health hazard. But in general the town was really nice, lots of greenery, lots of colourful buildings and happy faces. As we drove through the plaza we had another 5 minute death ride to Azul Wasi *The Blue House*. Then before I knew it we had arrived!! The car journey in general was pleasent, the director was really chatty, even though it was all in spanish and he was very curious about our backgrounds, what we done at school etc. I realised that I can understand a lot more spanish then what I thought i could but I just can't answer much LOL due to my lack of conversational practice prior to coming to Peru so Rachel answered most of my questions.

Oh Yh when we arrived it was pissing down with rain! So much for sun? Apparently its normally meant to be searing hot, thank you global warming! LOL




Once we had arrived we were greeted by one of the workers who the kids call "prof" *teacher* and one of the boys Nefdali *I think thats how you spell it* who was 14 and doesn't go to school. Its sad, as in order to get into secondary school you have to pass and he didn't. He really wants to become a chef but in order to do the course they need to pay 90 soles a term which Azul Wasi just can't afford. Just to think 90 soles is equal to just over £20. Far less then I spend on one night out back at home. We were also greeted by Jasmin, another volunteer who's been here for two weeks so far and is leaving next week. She comes from Cornwall but is studying psychology in the university of Wales. It was great having another english speaker greet us and she could show us the ropes. It was also great being able to see how her spanish had progressed as she said that prior to coming here her spanish vocabulary didn't go much past "Hola, Como estas?".


Rachel and I were shown to our room which we share with Jasmin. Let me tell you this. You see those pictures of the orphanage that were on the Azul Wasi website. They are WAY outdated. The paint was chipped, the walls were cracked and through the floor boards you can see the rooster who lives underneath. A far cry from the newly painted, fresh rooms that were depicted in the pictures on the website ey!


My Bedroom & Bed
After unpacking our clothes onto some seriously dusty cabinet me and Rachel were ready. Jasmin then begun to show us around the orphanage and explain to us the various problems she has encountered during her stay here. One of the problems Jasmin found was that there was so much potential in Azul Wasi but nothing is ever implemented. As there are so many volunteers that come here that only stay for a short period of time, they come here and build things to make the orphanage more sustainable yet as they leave so quickly the things don't last. Another problem is that there are so many orphonages that donate to Azul Wasi yet they all seem to tread on eachothers toes as there is literally no communication between any of them. The director buys stuff that isn't exactley essential to the upkeep of the orphange, the orphange have around 3 computers, 3 dvd players and 2 dvds. Although some of these don't work it's not the point, these things aren't essential. Jasmin said that the orphange has become too reliant on these donations since they moved from their old site like 4 years ago. They havn't carried on any of the things they had in their previous location, such as a guniea pig farm where they bred guniea pigs which they sold at the local market, they also haven't kept up their organic farming. Without all this stuff how is the orphange going to be sustainable? Imagine one of the charities pulls out? How will the orphanage keep up with payments? The orphanage is apparently still in permenant debt for electricity. This means that me and Rachel have A LOT of work to do and I can't wait to get stuck in.


One thing I really can't wait to do is paint, sand and plaster our bloody bedroom walls. I need to make this more like home. What I do find quite annoying though is that I literally have NO pictures with me, NO letters and NOTHING from home. Seeing Rachel sitting across the room with her photo albums and letters from home and friends is quite depressing if I'm completely honest with you. I really want to make this a home from home but its incredibly hard when theres nothing here to remind me of home. Yes I have my laptop with me, but this is INCREDIBLY inpersonal. So yh I can look at my pictures saved on here but there's nothing physically here. I want to be able to show all the boys who my family and friends are but It's so hard to do when I have nothing. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSHHH i sound like such a moany mare at the moment LOL.


Back to the orphange. The boys are all at school till around 1pm and they all kept coming in, in dribbles and drabbles. The first boys we met were the two 7 year olds, the same age as my little cousin Ben but they are SOOO small in comparison. Within 4 minutes of meeting them they had already had a little scrap where one of the boys started crying I think because he was hit in the eye. Jasmin told me something that I didn't really expect. She said that normally these boys are so cuddly and stuff but when they are sad/crying they literally hide themselves away and don't want to be hugged. Just a mere rubbing of the back to let them know you're here is all they need. It makes you wonder how hard their life was on the streets. What I saw next was possibly one of the sweetest gestures EVER!! Danny was rummaging through his drawers and pulled out a roll of tissue paper, ripped some off and turned the other boy around *I really can't remember his name right now lol* he then begun wiping his tears and saying he was sorry and that he was his best friend. SOOO Cute and a really heart warming moment.


Lunch was then ready and we went to go and sit in the new hut which the scouts built the week or 2 before. They obviously didnt do a good job of the roof though as the rain had seeped through in areas and soaked the dinner table. Lunch here is the biggest meal of the day. We had a soup to begin with which was actually quite nice, it had potatoes and pasta in it along with vegetables. Then for the main we had rice which was different to say the least, and some fish which wasn't too bad and was definatly edible. It was at lunch me and Rachel met all the boys to which we were all greeted with "Hola amiga". They all seemed to find it quite funny I had short hair *which is now extremely curly and bouncy since i washed it and left my straightners at home LOL* and also at my spanish. They are all so lovely and welcoming, some of the boys are especially cheeky. After lunch me and Rachel made our way back to our room to sleep, it was here that I heard 7 year old danny sing from the top of his lungs "single ladies" by beyonce, although he didnt actualy say the words, just the beat and his own version of what he thought it sounded like. I found that soooo funny and I can tell he's a character. After a long 5 hour sleep we woke up and made our way down to the dining area again for some tea and bread for dinner. We watched a film with the boys and some Naruto with the boys which they are absolutley obsessed with!! You might be thinking "bread and tea for dinner" well yes, funds are very tight here and they tend to have bread and tea for both breakfast and dinner and then they only really eat at dinner. So I guess I will be losing weight after all looool, no more fatty fatty.


I asked the boys if they all liked football "te Gusto football" to which they all said yes and i brought out the football i brought from home. They all seemed very excited and tomorrow I'm going to the local football stadium to play with them. All the balls they have are incredibly flat and so its lucky I brought a football pump with me, I will definitly be using that to resurrect their flat ball collection.
Now Im back in my room writing my blog. Tired as usual as Im getting used to the altitude and just thinking of ways to fill my time. Tomorrow me rachel and Jasmin are walking up to town to buy some paint and plaster to get started on this bedroom. However this will be decided by the weather as today it was completley pissing it down, which Jasmin said was very rare as its usually boiling hot sun down here in the day time. Night however is FREEZING and regurley reaches the minuses. I am seriously kicking myself that I didnt bring a sleeping bag with me as its soooooo cold. So I'm going to Cusco on thursday to see if I can get myself one, if not then try and get some blankets at the very least. My pyjamas i brought with me are also a poor excuse for warmth and at the moment i am sleeping in my complete theremals, a t-shirt, my massive jumper, my hareem pants and tracksuit bottoms. And I am STILL cold. Bit of a joke right?


Anyways guys, i'm getting pretty tired now and so I'm going to hit the hay. I do have internet here but its not wireless and so I will rarely be on the internet. I'm planning on updating the blog once a week with all my entries of the week for you. It will be a lot to read but oh well LOL!

P.S I wrote this last night, here's the view this morning :)


The view


Hope you are all well and speak soon
Simply Signed, Simply Compas xxxx