ATTENTION INTERESTED VOLUNTEERS!!
PLEASE KNOW THAT I AM INCREDIBLY THANKFUL FOR YOUR EMAILS, CALLS, AND INTEREST EXPRESSED IN WORKING WITH MY PROJECT! PLEASE NOTE, HOWEVER, THAT MY PROJECT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING VOLUNTEERS UNTIL MAY 2009, AND I WILL NOT BE GETTING BACK TO YOU ABOUT VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES UNTIL APRIL 2009. THANK YOU KINDLY FOR UNDERSTANDING THAT LA CASA DE MAYTEN IS A MODEST, ONE-PERSON PROJECT.
RUNNING AN INDEPENDENT PROJECT IS A STRUGGLE THAT I AM HAPPY TO OVERCOME TIME AFTER TIME, BUT I MUST GO OUT THERE NOW TO COLLECT THE HUMAN, MATERIAL AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES I NEED TO CONTINUE. PLEASE CONNECT WITH ME IN APRIL...AND LOOK OUT FOR ME IN 2009....LA CASA DE MAYTEN WILL COME BACK READY TO ACHIEVE GREATER THINGS THIS 2009! GRACIAS !!
Mayten Sanchez Ruiz, Director, La Casa De Mayten Project, Chincha Alta - Peru
Before leaving Chincha we have been spending some time working and having fun with the kids.
Kids in today's workshops...mis ninos en talleres hoy
Kids making bracelets for Cusco friends
Taller de artesania..haciendo pulseritas para amigos en Cusco
Kids helping me make the New Year doll...a Peruvian tradition to do away with bad vibes
ninos ayudandome a hacer el muneco de anho nuevo
Kids helping us make a fence
Ninos ayudandonos a hacer un cerco para mi casa
Junior y Yerson haciendo una zanja
Junior & Yerson helping make a
Paloma y Andy trabajando juntos
Andy and Paloma working together!
Andy and I making the fence
haciendo el cerco
Joel, Frank y Erickson haciendo el cerco
Helping the girls
ayudando a las chiquillas
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Amigos Mios despues de arduo trabajo, por fin el 24 de diciembre del 2008, terminamos la casita de Manuel y Rosaura. Ambos quedaron muy felices con la casa, y Rosaura no nos dio tiempo de nada, aun no habiamos terminado, y ella ya estaba adentro, completamente instalada, y planeando donde comerian, y pensando en cortinas, cordeles y demas.....fue MUY especial ver a Rosaura tan entusiasmada despues de tanta paciencia, episodios extraplanetarios de celos ceniles, y sobre todo, paciencia conmigo y el dilatado proceso de construccion.........realmente esto de construir es cosa seria, y creo que el cansancio que aun siento, sentimos los que hemos trabajado en esta casa, solo se compara al gran amor, orgullo y compromiso con los cuales construimos casa trozo, cada adobe, cada pedazillo esta lleno de la energia de muchos seres maravillosos que dieron sus mejores partes a este proyecto. GRACIAS A TODOS Y TODAS!.....los quiero a todos!
Y bueno, despues de 17 meses de estar aqui en Chincha trabajando sin parar, y de haber logrado muchas metas importantes para mi proyecto y para estas comunidades, he decidido que es hora de un pequeno descanso....mas alla de vacaciones, esta pausa sera mi oportunidad de recargar baterias, colectar recursos humanos, materiales y monetarios, para poder regresar a Chincha en unos meses con un SUPER grupo de voluntarios, y lo necesario para lograr las metas que tengo trazadas para el 2009. Estas incluyen: una campana educativa anti-violencia, dos programas de intercambio educativo/cultural fuera de Chincha, mi centro comunitario educativo/cultural, etc. Siempre les mantendre informados sobre nuestras actividades, metas, logros, necesidades atraves de este bog....asi que no dejen de visitarnos......hasta la proxima vez...abrazos a todos!!!
ok, so getting back to important updates...I need to share that after exactly a year and five months of dedicated hard intense non-stop work, La Casa De Mayten Project, and Mayten (moi) will take a bit of a break from work in Chincha. I am still in Chincha now fixing my multipurpose house (volunteer hub, my Chincha base, school, clinic, etc) but I do plan on leaving in 10 days at the latest, and plan to return to Chincha in three months, hopefully with a ton of money, and an interesting mix of volunteers (psychologists, artists of all sorts, teachers, doctors, dentists, social workers, etc).
No, this is not a vacation. I am only traveling a bit to gather enough oxygen and energy, so I can anchor somewhere soon, and can work to pay off the debts I've accumulated these past months to construct the M & R house, and be able to return to Chincha to work my butt off again on an anti-violence educational campaign, a couple of cultural/educational exchange programs, and the Mayten Cultural/Educational Community Center Project among other things. The truth is friends that I am very tired, I feel every part of me wanting to do more, everything, but at the same time, every part of me says to my core that I am exhausted and need to rest a bit, gather strength, restore my overall health, my sense of balance, fill up with energy, and return charged up, more creative than ever, and fueled enough to continue making impossible projects POSSIBLE.
FRIENDS....here's a quick summary of what's happened in the last weeks... after tons of work, we finally finished the Rosaura & Manuel house and a massive clean up operation on December 24th, 2008. On our last day, Andy, Jesus (a nice volunteer friend from Chincha), and I, shovelled two trucks worth of dirt and rubble, and ended up, ..well, I have no words to describe how we ended up...the tiredness, dirtiness, pride....Thank you to each person who worked in this project, supported this effort in anyway, and believed in this house, which I proudly say, became a home the second Rosaura and Manuel entered it (a couple of hours before we actually finished but what the heck...it's their home).....building is serious stuff!!! The exhaustion I feel now can only compare to the love, pride and commitment all of us built into this house....Gracias everyone for helping me make the Manuel and Rosaura Home Reconstruction project, a possible reality.....Andy and I have since been fixing things around my house to leave it as ready as possible for the work that is to come this year...the kids and I have had sleep overs, home improvement sessions, workshops when possible, spontaneous carnaval celebrations, and using anything as an excuse to enjoy each other........my kids are growing really fast and these days, I am trying to squeeze them as much as I can before I go off for a few months....................
In other words, interesting, fun, creative, and loving things continue to happen here in my house...and I continue to feel great about the work being done here...and the extraordinary relationship my kids and I have and continue to develop.......stay tuned!!!
