my peruvian paradise.

well, it's official.
i'm in heaven down here.
despite the smells and filth and ice cold showers, i've grown to love this place, and i've grown to love these people.
i've had a hard time writing about my experiences here over the last few weeks because i guess i'm a bit at a loss of words (for once) about all that i'm feeling and all that i'm doing and the immense culmination of changes that are occurring within me every single day.

these kids are changing me.
they are teaching me how to live more simply and to love more purely.
they're teaching me what it means to be happy.
i love their resilience, their smiles, and their enthusiasm--
the way they sing and dance and laugh,
their constant need for hugs (even our little tough guys love em),
and how excited they are to learn.

these past few weeks, we've been really getting to know the kids better.
though a lot of them fit in with the cultural norm of being very timid, we've finally broken down some walls and developed friendships with them.
though it's only been three-ish weeks, these kids have my heart.
i've found myself worrying about them all weekend, and i can't wait to get back to work with them tomorrow!
i feel like we're making progress with all of our educational work, too, which is so exciting. the past two weeks, we've focused on nutrition and dental hygiene, and we've had some great successes!

between the crossword puzzles and health classes and games and art activities, the kids are definitely beginning to grasp some of the most important concepts.
plus, it's mango season, so we've been buying them tons of fresh mangoes a few times a week as their postre (dessert), and they've been going nuts over them!
and we gave them their very own toothbrushes (with some old egg cartons jerryrigged into a stand), and really, they couldn't have been more thrilled. they all jump at the chance to brush their teeth after lunch, and some of them even beg to brush a second time!
none of these kids have toothbrushes at home, so their poor little mouths are not in the best shape. many complain of their teeth hurting, some of them have visible signs of decay, and a few of the littlest ones have holes in their teeth.
i've never seen such gratitude for something so small as a toothbrush before; it almost seems unreal.
but that's really what these kids are full of-- so much love and gratitude.

i am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity i have to work here. i am learning and growing every day... from these children, from my co-worker/roommate/amiga (she is really so very wonderful), from my host family, and from my surroundings.
i am continually humbled and amazed and awakened down here in south america.

in some ways, i feel like i've become the mother of forty-something peruvian babies. and i never want them to grow up or leave my sight.

¡CARNIVAL!

when we met our little students last week, the first thing they requested we play was "carnival! carnival!", and we had no idea what that meant.

this quickly changed, as we walked home from the bus with sandro, our host father, later that day, and two men in the back of a work truck drenched us with a massive bottle of water.

carnival is a huge cultural event, occurring all throughout south america the weeks leading up to lent.

and cajamarca just happens to be the capital of carnival in peru, go figure.

so we've already had a few too many run ins with all of this carnival business; although it's still only january, the madness has begun. 

children are running around the city with water guns (pistolas), water balloons (globos), and buckets of water, and there is talk of carnival everywhere.

naturally, being the only two white girls in the city, we are an easy target.

we've dodged buckets of water being dumped from balconies and rogue pistolas shooting at us as we pass; we even sprinted off a public bus (to the laughter of everyone on said bus) after spotting a mischievous-looking girl sitting at the front. and we looked back at the bus to see a very angry girl with her bucket full of water hanging outside her window.

today, we narrowly avoided two giant waterballoons launched off of a neighboring roof on the way to the market.

and the good news? it's only going to get worse from here!

anyway, we've been teaching hand washing at el bichito all week, so we decided to take avantage of all of this carnival craziness.

we posted that we were going to play games of carnival, to try and get more kids to attend the following day. and it worked!

we had about forty kids come for lunch, and then we taught a short lesson on the importance of handwashing. 

afterwards, we played a game involving two buckets full of water balloons-- "globos full of bacteria," and in order to get new balloons, the kids had to wash their hands. 

well, this concept worked for a solid 45 seconds. and after that, it was all out war. 

once it had escalated, anna and i ran out into the battle with a few kids' pistolas that we had previously confiscated, yelling, "INFLUENZA!! INFLUENZA!!" and drenching all the kids.

yeah, after that, we were done for. 

the kids launched a full-on attack, involving every bucket, plastic container, and pitcher of water they could find. 

before we knew it, they had stolen back their water guns and had opened the local tap to have endless access to water.

the men doing construction on the roof of el bichito even got involved and started dumping buckets down on everyone! i'm tellin ya, carnival is such a big deal here.

by the end of it all, we were drenched through and through. 

but do you know what's awesome?

every one of those kids washed their hands before lunch the next day (and many of them without us even asking... huge improvements here, people!)

also, it was really, really fun.

and we won a lot of cool points from our kiddos.

that being said, until ash wednesday...
pray for me. 

mountains beyond mountains.

well, i'm back in the big co.

and reallly, really happy about it.

but i am already planning my next adventure...

let me explain.

i am kind of interested in health.

extremely interested in health, in fact.

i know this might seem strange, given my past (seemingly never-ending) run-ins with personal health problems, but these problems actually have inspired me in a lot of ways. i want to work in medicine, in providing health care to the sick... to those who don't always get the proper education and care due to unfortunate living circumstances or social statuses. i know how disheartening it is to live with chronic illness; i only can't imagine what it would be like to live with chronic illness in a place where good health care wasn't available.

after reading this book, my desire to work in global health was only strengthened:

this is a biography of paul farmer, a public health worker, anthropologist, & physician.

he changed the world of public health globally, as well as the world of many sickly individuals around the world.

his story is truly captivating & motivating.

seriously, though.

want inspiration? read this book.

not just numbers.

december first always marks world AIDS day.

HIV & AIDS causes immeasurable problems both domestically and (especially) abroad.

did you know...?

about 33.4 million people are currently living with HIV

new HIV infections in '08 were 2.4 million,

while deaths in '08 due to AIDS were roughly 2 million.

there are over 7,400 new cases of HIV daily.

my heart goes out to those suffering from HIV.

to those struggling to afford or acquire anti-retro virals.

to those suffering from the stigmas associated with the virus.

there's a pretty cool campaign out there, the (RED) campaign, that is highly supportive of AIDS funding.

despite the numerous celebrities who support the campaign, it is really quite legit.

a half of a million babies were born with AIDS last year, and it's this group's goal to have zero babies born in 2015 with AIDS.

how is this possible?

well, i could ramble off a list of transmission-possibilties (thank-you, public health classes!), but i'll let you check it out here.

if you want to know more about AIDS itself, i highly recommend watching this.

it's a bit lengthy, but i promise, it'll be four hours put to good use.

and to add in some holiday cheer, as my friend tiny tim would say, "God bless us, every one."