A Personal Message From Mayten
Mayten Sanchez- Founder and Director of La Casa de Mayten
Dear Friends,
As a child, I grew up traveling through Peru and being exposed to many different realities, needs and virtues of my country and its people. I grew up in a family of sensitive and socially conscious circus artists who had the enormous task of entertaining people from the most neglected sectors of my country and temporarily taking them from their reality to a world of endless possibilities. I am the fifth of seven extraordinary children and daughter to an invincible mother and a funny father who still makes me laugh. In the late 80’s, after many years of traveling and entertaining and during the height of Peru’s terrorism era, my parents decided to close the circus and buy a home in Chincha, Peru where I lived until my early teen years.
At the age of thirteen, my family and I moved to the United States, where I lived, studied, and worked for 16 years. At the age of fifteen, I became a vegan, was convinced I was born with a big internal eye and an extra-intangible heart. There was a point in my life during which being human did not appeal to me, but I have and continue to learn many things as I live and listen carefully.
During my years in the States, I worked hard and took advantage of every opportunity I had to learn and grow, always knowing I would come back to Peru to try to do something to improve things and to bring about more opportunities for all to experience wholesome wellbeing. After careful thought and a trip to Peru in late 2006, I presented my letter of resignation as Director of Admission for a college in the States and returned to Peru certain that life wanted and needed me here. Little did I know that an 8.0 magnitude earthquake was what awaited me, and thank life for that enormous, extraordinary challenge and opportunity!
In August 2007, my childhood home became a multipurpose community/educational/cultural center overnight that has been generating alternatives and opportunities ever since.
Almost 10 years later, as I write this message, I have ever-growing gray hairs that I like, and I am absolutely proud of the work my volunteer family, and I have done in the past nine plus years with LCDM. I am proud of the ever-lasting friendship I have developed over the years with the people I work with, especially the kids (who are no longer little)—I am in love with their simplicity, their capacity to love unconditionally and to teach essential human lessons, and with their extraordinary potential. I find it impossible to stop looking for opportunities and alternatives that can enrich my kids’ lives and help them forge a healthier future, and can’t stand the thought of losing these extraordinary friends to mediocrity, conformism, violence, indifference, and poverty.
I have always hated to comb my hair, I have known since the age of five that working to make wholesome well-being a collective reality and breaking the axle that makes the world generate such injustice, lack of health, and indifference was what I needed to do, and that
marriage and children would likely not be in my future. I only fully realized I was a girl when I was 11 years old, I love coffee, traveling is in my genes, I can’t live without music, I believe in human substance and seek it regardless of what body it comes in. I am hyper sensitive, honest, hard-headed at times, passionate, relentless in my hope and sense of possibility, I am full of areas I need to improve, but also have virtues I love and nourish. I am engaged in a life-long conversation with all of my parts which encourages me to listen carefully to everything and everyone. I have a wonderful family, an out-of-this-world partner who walks and works side by side with me, and invaluable friends who are all part of my greatest fortune. I appreciate simple things, love beauty, and believe in constructive conversation, direct hard work, and actions as the only true indicators of commitment. Nature is my greatest source of strength, healing, learning and direction.
I invite you to get closer to La Casa De Maytén and be part of our fantastic international family of volunteers and supporters. And I particularly invite you to be forever enriched by our kids' awesomeness. To make a donation, please go to our donation page and know that we truly need and appreciate your help. To find information about our volunteer program, please go to our volunteer page. If you have any questions or comments and want to contact me, please email me at lacasademayten@gmail.com.
Thank you for visiting our blog and taking the time to read this not-so-short message. Please enjoy your day and consider sharing a bit of yourself with someone in your community who needs you, and whom you might need as well!
Sincerely,
Mayten Sánchez
Director/Founder
La Casa De Mayten
