Happenings at the hospital

Monday started with visiting the childrens hospital again. Today I played with 2-3 year old children. Puzzles, soap bubbles, balloons etc. It was on the sector of traumatology. There were children with broken arms, legs or suffering for some kind of trauma. The best part today was when a little boy called me Mama and Tía = aunt. When I went away he looked through the window and said Mama se fue = Mother left. When I see a child smile or laugh because I play with them I am proud of myself and that I don't feel often. Another voluntary girl told me that she had entertained a 14 year old boy, but the boy didn't know how to write or read. That concerns me because it's difficult to get a job or actually live life without the knowledge of reading.

There are many children at this hospital coming from the jungle or the Andes where there are no possibility to education due to poverty. Some of the children only speaks Quechua which is a language mainly spoken in the Andes. It was originally the language of Incas and nowadays about 8 million people still speak it. It is an official language in Peru but not many in the cities know how to speak it. There are many dialects and variations of this language, it depends on where the people come from. Quechua appears also atleast in Bolivia and Ecuador. It is difficult to teach or maintain the language because there are hardly any books, newspapers or television shows spoken in Quechua.

Blue color is the appearance of Quechua.

Hospital del Niño