Today I had a conversation with Guillaume, a former volunteer with Students Without Borders (SWB) who was one of the two of the first volunteers with CEDRO. We spoke about the organization, his tasks as a volunteer and life in Lima in general.
After the conversation, I freaked out a little bit and had a bit of an anxiety attack. But, all is calm and well now. Hearing what he had to say, I now realize the weight of this particular volunteer position compared to some of the other ones that SWB offers; such as teaching English in Chiclayo (a touristy city), or being a nursing assistant at one of the local hospitals.
I will be working in the district of La Victoria. Obviously, with the nature of the organization being what it is, it is not exactly the safest of the districts in Lima. But, after an initial shock of fear, I accept this and realize that it would not be any other way. Outside of the westernized world, major cities are rife with crime and it is an unfortunate side effect of extreme poverty and an unjust system in the social fabric.
Hearing Guillaume talk about his experiences with working with the organization and the children; I must now mentally prepare myself for the challenges that are to come. In all of my past work and volunteer experiences, I have mostly worked with children who come from a very privileged background. I cannot say this is completely accurate, because in the end I never knew each individual child I ever worked with on such a level that I knew their personal history, and I am not sure if I would want to anyway. In this instance, the refuge home I will be working in; all of the children will be 'street kids', and this is a population that I have never really had the opportunity to work with.
Needless to say, I am scared senseless for not only the move and the city itself; but also the challenges that await me with my volunteer position. I want to come out of this experience being a better, stronger and more compassionate person and I hope that I will learn quickly. I realize that it's natural to be scared and nervous, even moving to Waterloo was scary for me; though I am sure that moving to Lima will be 10x more intense.
I only hope that I can take this experience and make it into what I want it to be.
Anyway dear readers, I have a group meeting on campus in an hour and I would like to work on my lab at bit before then!
Hasta luego! See you around the block...Mrs. Robinson.
Signing off,
Renee aka Wing Lei
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