On August 30, our church commissioned three Young Adult Volunteers for their year of service. They are each writing about their experiences on personal blogs. Shaina, who is beginning work in Lima, Peru writes
The town is surrounded my hills and generally speaking the further up on the hill you live, the poorer you are. Stairs are built into the sides of the hills to get to the houses and towards the top the stairs stop, which means people literally have to climb up the ledges to get to their homes. Many children do not attend school past elementary, and families are struggling to maintain basic needs. My job here is working with a before and after school program with extremely impoverished children in the area. I’m still not entirely sure what my exact role is going to be in this program, all I do know is that I will be exposed to the harsh reality that I am living comfortably among people who hardly have anything. Education is key for these children, not to mention the lunch they receive from the program is quite possibly the only meal they get each day. The program runs on very little staff and resources. So the reason I’m there is to act somewhat like a staff member and help these children earn an education and build their confidence to do great things in their lives. Hopefully along the way I will be able to use my social work skills to better improve the way these children live and think. Poco a poco-little by little we fight for equal lives of all God’s creations.
Read her entire post here. You can follow each of our Young Adult Volunteers at the following links: