Lara and I picked up my dad from the airport yesterday, then the three of us met all the other LLI volunteers at a French restaurant in Lima run by nuns. I had probably the best green beans I’ve ever eaten, and Papa and I split an amazing dessert of fresh strawberries and cream. The highlight, though, was when the nuns serenaded us with “Ave Maria,” which they sang in French. It was beautiful.

Yesterday I visited Zone Z for the first time, which is where I am teaching an English class every Tuesday and Thursday. It is the most remote …Read More

This morning I went on a walking tour of the neighborhood in Zona D with Lara, Kristin, and Yrma, Luz’s mom. Yrma led us to a nearby “foothill” (it looked more like a mountain to this Midwest girl) that had been divided into different plots of land for people to garden. Since the plots are on the side of the foothill, an extremely steep stone staircase was the only way to access the plots, which were also created with walls of stone. Each flat level was about five feet deep, so the whole side of the foothill looked like a …Read More

I made it to Huaycan in one piece. After a 2 hour flight to Newark, an hour layover, and a 7 1/2 hour flight to Lima, I nervously exited the baggage claim doors and found myself surrounded by hundreds of people, many waving signs in Spanish. Slightly overwhelmed, I scanned the crowd for Lara. In a sea of short, dark-haired people, I figured it’d be easy to spot Lara, who’s about six feet tall with blond hair. No such luck; I couldn’t find her anywhere. As I awkwardly lugged my bags around the terminal, I became increasingly aware of how …Read More

The community garden will be my biggest project while in Peru, but it won’t be the only thing I’ll be doing. Here’s a list of responsibilities that Lara “assigned” to me:

• Teach two English classes per week
• Help organize Community Leadership Projects
• Assist with physical education classes (yikes!)
• Tutor once or twice per week
• Write content for the newsletter

I’m actually pretty excited about all of these. I have zero experience with teaching English–or teaching anything, really–but I think it could be a lot of fun. I have no idea what to expect, but I’m guessing I’ll learn just as much from the students as they …Read More

“I’m not going to lie, it’s going to be a challenge. But it’ll be really good.”

Lara’s summary of the next several months of my life reflected my own expectations. Exactly three weeks from today, I’ll begin a four-month stint volunteering for the Light and Leadership Initiative, a non-profit that Lara established in Huaycan, Peru. LLI’s mission is to improve the quality and accessibility of education for women and children in Huaycan who live in extreme poverty.

My stay will include a variety of projects, the biggest being to start a community garden with those who …Read More