Former volunteer Grace shares her experience living in Cusco as a medical volunteer.
I have always considered myself lucky for the different places I have lived and the different people I have met along the way. I was born in the hustling bustling city of Seoul, South Korea, lived among the endless green pastures of Wisconsin for a year, lived in an apartment in Toronto, Canada for three years, and finally settled with the cows and trees in a small Connecticut town called Mansfield by the grand age of nine.
Unlike many of my classmates who often had two or three generations worth of deep roots planted into the our quiet town, I had seen the other side of the world and traveled its circumstance several times. I knew how to speak English and Korean fluently, and I knew how to immerse myself into both cultures pretty naturally. Basically,
I considered myself a very internationally competent and experienced nine-year-old. Thankfully, I had this tiny bubble burst many times as I grew up and learned more about the world in school, and especially in college as I met people from all around. However, my experience with Proyecto Peru during these past five weeks has truly put the nonexistent limits of the world into context in a very personal way.
When I landed in Cusco, I struggled doing basic things such us getting on a bus or simply going to buy basic necessities like water or oatmeal from the grocery store. The language barrier definitely didn’t help, and this being my first independent trip definitely didn’t help either. Thankfully, I was picked up from the airport as soon as my plane landed, brought to my shared apartment, and received a tour of the neighborhood by Edgar, an intern from Proyecto Peru. I took the first weekend to get acclimated, and Edgar was always willing to answer questions or offer help. He gave me just enough guidance to make me feel confident that I could do things on my own and just enough space so that I was forced to get out of my comfort zone.
My first Monday in Cusco, I was taken to my volunteer site, and I met Audrey and Juile who are nursing students from France. The three of us worked at this health clinic from eight in the morning to noon every Monday to Friday. For the first two weeks we worked at tópico where I learned how to take blood pressure, take out stitches, clean wounds, and give injections. Afterwards, we spent a couple days in other departments such as the laboratory, obstetrics, nutrition, and finally immunization. The last department was my favorite, because we were responsible for taking the weight, height, and head circumstance of babies from 3 days old to 3-years-old. It truly is impossible to have a bad day when you’re working with this demographic.
In addition to going to my volunteer site every day, I also had Spanish lessons at the Proyecto Peru office every day during the week from 2pm to 5pm. My professor, Lydha, was always patient and fun in addition to being a very talented teacher. My course began with the most basic Spanish but was tailored towards medical terms, and this really helped me to recognize phrases and communicate better at the clinic. I was always given a fifteen-minute break in the middle of the three hour lesson to get food or just relax.
On the weekends, I went on several tours booked through the Proyecto Peru office. Out of the five weekends I was in Peru, four of them were filled with trips to Sacred Valley, Lake Titicaca, Rainbow Mountain, and Machu Picchu. Before each trip, Linda, Proyecto Peru’s lovely secretary, always gave me a full description of the trip, what I needed to bring, and where I would be picked up. Visiting some of the most beautiful sights in the world gave me an opportunity to meet people from all corners of the world. I would get amazed on every single one of these trip during that moment when the entire group became silent and simply looked around, because even with a language barrier, it was so clear that everyone was thinking the exact same thing and filled with the exact same type of awe.
Now, at twenty-one years old, I have seen more of the world than my nine-year-old self could have ever imagined, but my confidence in my international competency and experience has been completely humbled. The world is such a big place with so many different places to see and so many different people to meet. The frustration I felt in Cusco from the lack of ability to communicate due to my limited Spanish skills has also immensely grown my appreciation for the doors that are opened when time and effort is spent to learn someone else’s language. I have loved recognizing and experiencing the cultural differences, but I have also loved recognizing and experiencing the similarities. Similarities came in the form of big gestures like a stranger going out completely of her way to show me kindness when I was lost to small everyday things that I enjoyed back at home like getting Sunday brunch or getting my nails done except this time with Greta from Germany or Naomi from Australia. Traveling is important at any age, but I think there is something so meaningful about the fact that I had this experience while I was in the midst of forming myself and figuring what I want and don’t want in life.
All in all, thank you Proyecto Peru for all the help and encouragement to find a home away from home in another country, on the other hemisphere.
If you would like to learn more about our projects, check our website!