San Nicolas' new challenge

As mentionned by Susann in the previous post, San Nicolas is facing a new unexpected challenge as part of the local has unfortunately collapsed due to near-by construction... As a result, Luisa and the kids are left without a the storage room and the bathrooms that had been constructed thanks to a fundraising organized by volunteers back home. The back, the only place where kids could play outside, with games bought by past volunteers have also been partly destroyed and are unaccessible since it is too dangerous.

Even in such a hard time, San Nicolas doesn't give up and is ready to overcome this new challenge. Luisa, Ana and the mothers of the kids have thus decided to start a new project in order to find funds for reconstruction! Since August, they are knitting scarves that they are selling in order to collect some money for future works.

Here are some pictures of the situation, and if you want to help out, read the article "Participate in San Nicolas Urraca new projet from home!".

Times changed

I came back from Cusco the last weeks ago and I had a really great experience at San Nicolas Urraca. But I'm really sad to tell, that something terrible had happen. The new bathrooms that you can see working on the other volunteers chrashed down. There was a building site behind the project and one night the ground slided down including the bathrooms, the half of the teaching room and 3 other houses from the neibourhood. The building company left, left the chaos and the costs for the other people.




Luisa and the other women feel really sorry and miserable about the situation and it's hard because they can't show her sadness to the children. They are really strong and the project has to go on. So we need help, because they don't have the money to rebuild everything.




The women are weaving a special kind of scarfs and when I saw it I had an idea and I helped them to find a person with a shop who can pay the wool, buy the scarfs and sell it in there own shop. I hope this business is running soon and they have a little but stabil source of income soon.

The children are still as adorable and awesome as they are descriped in the other posts, but they still need help and at the moment there are not a lot of volunteers. I'm looking forward to come back one day. - Susann from Germany

A life changing experience

I have just come back from Volunteering at San Nicolas during September 2008 and can definitely say that it has been a life changing experience.

Since it was the first time I had ever volunteered I didn't know what to expect and wondered if the children would be a little hesitant at first with new volunteers. How wrong I was....and what a wonderful experience my first day was (and ever subsequent day!) Every single child came up to hug, kiss and greet us when we arrived and every single child did the same when we left. Then some of them simply took me by the hand and led me to choose a puzzle with them... and from then on it was like being one of the family.

With every new activity that was planned they were enthusiastic and grateful -we made masks, finger puppets and also tried our hand at cooking. My lifelong memories will be of how loving and patient the children are towards each other and to the volunteers. I will also always remember also how they painstakingly pack away every puzzle or game that they use and take it back to it's correct place in the cupboard.

How lucky I have been to spend time with them, Luisa and all the volunteers!

When I left they told me I would always be in their hearts -they will all definitely always be in mine!

See-Saw - Suba-Baja

Finally I can now post the pictures I took of the new see-saw that Manon, Avalon and I gave to the children. Unfortunately, Manon and Avalon didn't get to see the finished product so hopefully they will be pleased. I'm now back in Scotland and I'm missing the kids so much!

¡Por fin, puedo cargar las fotos que saqué de la nuevo suba-baja que Manon, Avalon y yo compramos para los niños!. Desfortunatamente, Manon y Avalon se fueron antes de ver la suba-baja completa entonces con suerte la se gustarán. ¡Ya he vuelto a Escocia y echo de menos los niños muchisimo!

Our time at San Nicolas by Avalon & Manon

We’ve been on San Nicolas Urraca for 4 weeks and it was a great experience!

We started at the 21th of July and our final day will be tomorrow.
The last few weeks were great. Everyday when we came in, the kids gave us a kiss and a big hug, so cute! Luisa is great as well. She is always very friendly to her volunteers.
We played a lot with the kids and helped them with their homework.
We’ve collected some money in Holland and we spend it on the project. We bought a washing machine, a copy machine and together with Kathy we bought a see-saw. We hope that they will have a lot of profit of it.
As Kathy already told, we have done a lot of activities with the children, during their holiday. It is so nice to see how happy the children are with something that is actually quite normal for us.
This week we had a normal day at Monday. We just played and helped the kids with their homework. On Tuesday we went to the park, we wanted to go last week.
It was really fun! The kids enjoyed it very much and so did we!
Again there died a woman in the community, so it wasn’t possible to get in the hall today. So we went to another small park. We played football. We, against the boys and we did quite well actually! We played with a Frisbee as well. It was a really cool day again.
So tomorrow will be our last day and we are going to miss this project so much! All the lovely kids and off course Luisa.

New volunteers: good luck, but you will definitely enjoy your time at San Nicolas Urraca!!

Avalon Veldstra and Manon de Koning

Vacaciones!

The kids this past week have been on their holidays, so we, the volunteers, decided to arrange an array of activities for them to enjoy and also to cheer them up after Gaëlle, Olivier, and Elodie's departure (who, by the way, have done an AMAZING job on this website and deserve a huge San Nicolas style "GRACIAAAAAAS'').

En la semana que pasada los chicos habían estado de vacaciones entonces nosotros, los voluntarios, decidieron a arreglar una selección de actividades para divitirse y también animarse los niños despues de la departura de Gaëlle, Olivier y Elodie ("gracias" a ellos tenemos este sitio de web maravilloso).

Monday
On Monday, sadly, a lady in the community had died and the hall was being used as a wake, so we had to change our plan to make masks as we just didn't have the space or resources. So we decided to change to Friday's activity: the park. The kids were thrilled so we set off only to discover that the park was closed on a Monday. So we headed to another park which we though might be open but unfortunately that too was closed. However, the kids took it on the chin and our quick-thinking Dutch volunteers, Manon and Evolon, bought the kids icecreams which was a nice treat to end the day.

Tuesday
On Tuesday we had a but more luck and went to the zoo which, thankfully, was open. The kids ran all over the place, screaming with excitement. We witnessed all sorts; a puma fight, some slightly over-affectionate bears and a box full of turtles! By the end of the visit the children were thoughroughly worn out and we got the bus back to San Nicolas.

Wednesday
Wednesday we had a sligthly more relaxing visit to a cinema, owned by a very nice Danish lady who kindly oblidged to have 20 children into her filmhouse. We walked along Avenida de Sol until we got to Plaza de Armas and all the kids behaved impeccably on the walk. We arrived and gave the kids 5 options of films to which the reply was "KUNG FU PANDA!", which was, although I hate to admit it, a very funny film. We bought the kids cola and popcorn just to add to the authentic cinema experience. Afterwards it was pouring with rain so we decided to abort our plan to walk home and catch some taxis. When we arrived back the kids were practising their kung-fu moves, which was adorable!

Thursday
Unfortunately, because I got a bit soaked trying to hail a taxi on Wednesday, I was ill on Thursday. However, the school was very lucky to have Stéphane, a French history teacher, as a volunteer who gave a talk on French and Dutch culture and history, which I hear the children absolutely loved (or maybe they just love Stéphane!).

Friday
Today we had rearranged our mask making which really surpassed all my expectations. The kids are so inventive and artistic and they really thought outside the box when it came to mask making. Naturally all the masks were beautiful and I was so proud of the kids! Then we had a goodbye ceremony for Stefan which was really nice. The kids had put together dances, songs and skits which I think Stefan really enjoyed - he even joined in at one point! Then we all had some Inka Kola and biscuits, and then gave a sad goodbye.

Well done kids! Goodbye Stéphane!!

Lots of Love,
Katy xx

The creation of a facebook group

It is with great pleasure that we announce you that a facebook group has been created : San Nicolas Urraca.

You will find a short summary of the association, its activities, as well as pictures taken by previous volunteers.
You will also be able to invite all your friends or contacts to join this group. We hope that this new communication support will be of great help for the project, especially in recruiting new volunteers or visitors. If you help us with a little "word of mouth", the association will probably benefit from a larger support, even worldwide !!!

Concerning the previous volunteers, feel free to upload photos, post a comment or your past experience !
Do not forget that you can have your 15 minutes of fame : send us a picture and a small paragraph about your experience in Peru and in the association San Nicolas Urraca and we will post it for you on the blog !

We are counting on you !