30 - Aldea Yanapay

I spent the last five and a half weeks volunteering in one of the most loving places I have ever been. Aldea Yanapay is an afterschool program for the children of Cusco (ages 5 to 13). The kids come to the school after their regular schools. Every day they enter the school and are welcomed by the volunteers with a kiss on the cheek and a big hug. In the first part of the day at Yanapay we (the volunteers) help the kids with homework, and we have art, games, and tutoring classes. Then we all come together in a big circle of expression in which Yuri, the director of the program, talks about a topic of the day and all the kids are free to express their thoughts with no need to feel that they will be criticized for the things they say.

Yuri, the director and founder of Yanapay, with some of the Yanapitos

After circle time we split up into our ¨families¨ which are divided by age. The families are tigres (tigers), cielo (sky), uvas (grapes), corazon (heart), sol (sun), and dinosaurios (dinosaurs). Every family has about 10 kids and three volunteers including one volunteer who is the head teacher and is chosen based on experience and Spanish-speaking ability. I spent almost my entire time at Yanapay as the head teacher of the youngest and cutest kids, Los Tigres.

Me and some of the Tigres

Each week families have a different theme to work on and at the end of the week every family presents what they learned in a show. The show can be a skit or a song or dance or whatever. The themes for my family were:
Tolerance
Colors in English
The environment - more specifically water
Personal hygiene
Costa Rica

Some of the Tigres dressed up and ready for our Friday show.

Every week I made up a song (and sometimes a dance) relating to the theme and we all sang and danced together in our show. At the end of the day the kids are given a big glass of nutritious milk and a huge hug as they leave to go back to their homes.

Friday show

There are lots of reasons why Yanapay was so special to me, but the main reason was love. Everybody at Yanapay is there because they want to be. Because they know that it´s the example of how life should be. Outside the walls of Yanapay, in the streets of Cusco, drunk men are passed out on the sidewalk at 2 in the afternoon. Children are out begging for money at 2 in the morning. Cars speed and honk to get pedestrians out of their way. There´s corruption and violence and injustice. But once you enter Yanapay´s doors you enter a tranquil hiatus. A world of love and peace where everyone is equal. A new way of life. Children are taught that just because they live below the poverty line doesn´t mean they have to live in poverty. Just because life isn´t always fair doesn´t mean that they can´t rise above the injustice. They are taught that the bad things in their lives don´t have to exist, and that they can make a difference.
As Yuri always says the word Yanapay is Quechua (the indigenous language) for ¨help¨. That doesn´t just mean that the volunteers are helping the kids. The kids are helping the volunteers just as much. We may be teaching them that 2 x 3 = 6, but they´re teaching us much more valuable lessons. The kids at Yanapay taught me that it is our disposition rather than circumstance that determines our happiness (Martha Washington said something along those lines). Many of the kids at Yanapay live really hard lives. But everyday they arrive at the school with huge smiles, eager to learn, live and most importantly love.
Thank you to all the kids at Yanapay (especially Los Tigres), to Yuri, and to all the volunteers for giving me such an invaluable experience and showing me ¨una otra forma de vivir¨.

For more information about Aldea Yanapay visit the website at aldeayanapay.org

Here I am with Miguel Eduardo



Eduardo and Mauro, my favorite brothers.



Volunteer Naomi and little Tigre, Diana.

This is a phot from our Friday show about personal hygiene. I wrote a song about personal hygiene to the tune of Farmer in the Dell:
Cepillo mis dientes (I brush my teeth)
Cepillo mis dientes (I brush my teeth)
Así es como tengo buena hygiene (that´s how I have good hygiene)
Lavo mis manos (I wash my hands)
Lavo mis manos (I wash my hands)
Así es como tengo buena hygiene (that´s how I have good hygiene)
Limpio mi ropa (I wash my clothes)
Limpio mi ropa (I wash my clothes)
Así es como tengo buena hygiene (that´s how I have good hygiene)
Lavo mi cara (I wash my face)
Lavo mi cara (I wash my face)
Así es como tengo buena hygiene (that´s how I have good hygiene)

When I get home remind me to show you some videos of the Tigres on our Friday shows. They´re really cute.