Mothers

A week ago Saturday, Carter and I did not stay for long out at the Hogar because Carter was invited to one of his classmate's birthday. This party had the ubiquitous inflatable (bouncy house) and a pool. As with many of the events centered around Carter's American school, there were plenty of people with some English ability. The birthday boy's grandfather was American and a former Peace Corps volunteer (India in the 1960s), but after that stint he never returned to live in the US. His daughters all have dual Peruvian/US citizenship and went to college in the states. Peace Corps has 250+ volunteers in the Peru, but the organization is not widely known. We often have to explain to people what it is, that it is not a religious charity, etc.

Jefferson borrowing Carter's helmet.

Then last Saturday we returned to the Hogar, Carter bringing his bike to take to the park with the kids. Jen got Mother's Day chocolates and pie for all the ladies who work there. This was the first visit where I began to see the bigger picture. Up to then it was impossible to see the way things change, to see the Hogar's effect on the kids. But this time, for example, Victor with the clubfeet was out of his casts and even riding around on Carter's bike. We met a university student who had lived at the Hogar in her youth, this time bringing some friends to play games with the kids. Speaking about the effect the Hogar has on kids she said, "You learn that you can be happy." Speaking of being happy, Jefferson was engaged and happy this time. He is the 8yr old boy I was paired with way back in December at the embassy Christmas party for special needs...he was shy back then and every other time since. Of course, his is a rough story: a house fire that was so bad that his parents just assumed baby Jefferson dead and left (forever). A neighbor went in and found the badly burned infant and he's lived at the Hogar ever since. But this Saturday, he rode a bike and talked and sat on my lap. On a side note, I continue to be amazed at how matter-of-factly these kids treat each other's disabilities. The blind kid kept wrestling around with Jefferson, tweaking the large, scarred protuberance on Jefferson's patchy head and Jefferson kept triggering the blind boy's talking watch. Carter and I took Jen to a nice Mother's Day dinner that night, Carter falling asleep in the comfy booth and giving Jen and I time for some unhurried grownup conversation about the kids at the Hogar and life in general.

Jenny

Ana, playing with ribbons

Jen loves Percy.

On Monday, I took Julito and Carter to a birthday party at KFC. Carter's Spanish has crept up on him, almost as if he is unaware of it. He and Julito yammer away and at the party's "mad science" show, Carter did not hesitate to yell out along with the other kids his own suggestion of something in outer space, "Hueco negro!" (black hole). I think the benchmark for language success should be whenever you feel comfortable doing audience participation.

Finally, today, Friday, Carter did not have school because it was a day for student-led conferences. Carter showed us all his work and was very professional about it all. Now we head into a big weekend: tomorrow is the annual fair at Carter's school in which he will be doing a tae-kwan-do demonstration with his dojo, then 25 Peace Corps people are coming over for a big pasta dinner prior to Sunday's Lima marathon in which many of them (and Jennifer!) are participating.

Breakfast (and new board game) for Mother's Day.