My volunteering in Peru has been quite an experience. Every morning I wake up around seven, grab a piece of bread, and in a taxi I go to catch the Oropesa bus. The bus ride to Oropesa is about an hour, and once the group arrives it is about a fifteen minute walk to the volunteer site, Azul Wasi. Azul Wasi is an orphanage that houses twelve kids on a small farm. The group’s main job for the past two weeks has been to construct a second story on one of the houses. So the first day we moved dirt to make some stairs leading up to the second story. For the next few days came the lugging of cinderblocks, concrete powder, and gravel stuffed inside potato bags across the orphanage and up the stairs. Once that task was completed we mixed concrete and proceeded to lay the cinderblocks for a wall. Not all of the group could be on the roof though, so while some lay bricks others moved more dirt. The dirt was moved from piles on the soccer field onto muddy patches around the orphanage. My favorite part though was that occasionally, after the work for the day was done we got to play a few soccer games against the orphans (they always won). The work at Azul Wasi was hard and sometimes not too enjoyable – but all together it was rewarding and an experience to be had!
Kristen Barbour
Cusco GLobal Impact, 2011
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL
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