We woke up early this morning ready for our first day of volunteering with Cross-Cultural Solutions in Lima. There were only seven volunteers here in the house until we arrived, but a large group starts over the weekend. I am very grateful that we were able to begin our assignment early before the crowd arrives. We learned last week that we will be working at Los Martincitos, a daycare facility for the elderly located in Villa El Salvador.
Villa El Salvador is a planned community where some of Lima’s poorest residents live. Many of the elderly have come from the highlands and do not speak much Spanish and others are neglected by their families. Los Martincitos provides two meals and activities on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Sister Jackie makes home visits to check on people who are too ill to attend the program or those who have been missing for a few days.
Since today is Thursday, we spent our first day on the job with Sister Jackie and another volunteer making home visits. I now have an idea of what it must be like for a social worker. Villa El Salvador is a pretty dreary community. Although it is beachfront property, it is extremely dry and dusty, and this time of year there is a damp penetrating chill. Several of the homes we visited had no electricity because they had not paid their bills.
We visited about a dozen elderly residents between 8:30 and 1. It was clearly the highlight of their day to have guests. Houses ranged from spotless to dirt floors with no roof. There were dogs, cats, roosters and grandchildren. Today’s additional goal was to inform the abuelos (as they are called) of a new government subsidy program that needs forms filled out, even though Sister Jackie has little confidence that the program will actually be implemented.
Tomorrow is the last day for two of the volunteers, so we went out to dinner at a fancy restaurant by the ocean in the classy part of Lima. Quite a contrast from how we spent the morning.
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