I won't ever be able to leave Peru. Sometimes a volunteer
gets extremely close to a child, usually a host sibling, and it breaks their
heart when they have to leave, as the child has innocently fallen in love with
you and you with the child...without logic holding you back. Real love is the
best feeling in the world though so I will just have to face the pain when it
happens, aka I'm going to be BALLING on the plane back, ha!
Neizer, 11, has turned into more love than any other person
in my life. I didn't expect to find this other little being that I want to
protect fiercely and be there for all my life. He makes me feel more than many
people and I want to give him the world. I just want to hug and kiss him every
day! Maybe it's my Gia maternal instincts but this little boy makes me as happy
and comfortable as if when I'm at home a couple America's away.
I normally go to Lucy's house, Neizer's mother, for dinner
and for that "at home" feeling. Her family is wonderful and her sons,
Neizer and Stevie, call me "sister." It makes me want to give them so
much love for letting me into their world as a member of their family. I am
honored.
Tonight Neizer said, "Hermana mira a la luna!" I
walked outside and saw him intently looking at the universe and knew I had to
prolong this moment. We brought chairs out to his backyard and just watched the
stars.
He asked me so many questions. Is that a planet or a
constellation? How does a telescope work? Does the world rotate around the sun
EVERY day?! In California, do I see the same sky as he does? How is it possible
we see different stars?????? How do you become an astronaut?!
I showed him a circle with my hands and then told him to
imagine the universe around this circle. I put an imaginary line in between
this circle so he could understand the north and south hemispheres. The stars
in the north are different than in the south because they are in two different
places - the north and the south. Neizer was EATING this UP! To become an
astronaut takes a lot of work but I know he can do it, I tell him. Pay
attention in your math classes. I will be in California waiting for his visit
when he is older with pictures of him on the moon. He giggles.
I enjoy opening his eyes.
I wish I could quote all the things he says. He then started
telling me how much he loves his animals. He saved a pigeon that all the kids
caught and were picking on. They had taken her eyes out somehow so the pigeon
was pretty deformed. Neizer held her before dinner and when he put her to
sleep, he said, "No te preocupes chola. Tranquila. Duermete y manaña vengo
para darte aguaita. Mi mama tiene que hervirlo primero." Don't worry hun.
Relax. Go to sleep and tomorrow I will come to give you water. My mom has to
boil it first.
But it's the way he says things. This language can be very
gentle. For a boy his age, his gentleness with animals is precious to witness.
He acts older than his age.
He told me he feeds the strays. His "heart hurts"
when he sees a sick animal. He told me he would maybe be a vet or astronaut if
his mom "allowed it" because one day "he wants to live close to
her too." In this culture the children stay close to their family. It's
not like in the states where we just go wherever our heart pleases. Family is
everything in Peru.
He is such a dynamic little fella. I wish you could all meet
him. I am so lucky to be in Peru to have gotten to know Neizer. I hope he never
forgets me and I do get to see him when he is grown up. I love him with all my
heart. I really do.
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