As you may already know, my own story as an adoptee has led me to pursuing my dream of helping other adoptees or foster children. Recently, I have felt a calling in my heart to go back to my native country, Peru, and to offer my support to the children and teenagers at an orphanage in Cusco. And even though my rational mind was telling me that it made no sense to go there now that I had just started a position as a Counselor at a College in Burnaby, BC, 6 months ago, I couldn’t ignore the loud whispers of my heart. Working with children and teens has been and will always be my number one passion. So, I gave notice to my job and will be flying to Cusco on October 4, 2022.
What I will do
I decided to go to Cusco for 6 months and offer my counselling and therapy services to the children and teens at the Amantaní orphanage. I had volunteered there before in 2017. My experience was life-changing and made me realize that working with traumatized children was my calling. Now this time, with 5 years more experience and knowledge in trauma and attachment, I feel more prepared than ever to help go make a change for these children. Over the last five years, I have witnessed so many times in sessions with traumatized children how play and art is a natural language for children that allows them to express themselves, much more than words ever would. I have often been in awe at how children intuitively know what kind of activities and stories to create (whether in the sandtray, with puppets, with role plays, through drawings etc.) in order to process the traumatic experiences they have gone through. It has been an honour to be there with them, to accompany them, to witness them, to be involved in the play with them and to help them work through their feelings so that they eventually can find a sense of safety, mastery, empowerment, and resolution.
My Bigger Dream
I have a dream that one day all children who suffered from traumatic life experiences receive the emotional support they need with trauma-informed and attachment-informed therapy services.
I envision a clinic or a center in Cusco with various local Peruvian counsellors offering long-term therapy services to children and teenagers having experienced early life trauma. So that they can heal and stop trauma from being passed down to the next generation. So that no further children need to experience the pains of abuse, neglect or violence at home. A world where children no longer need to be separated from their parents. A world where families can live in harmony, love and peace.
This dream is very close to my heart and I cherish it deeply. I am not sure yet HOW I will make this happen, but I am confident that I will eventually find a way to create a foundation or not-for-profit organization for the children of Cusco, Peru.
My immigration to Canada has allowed me to witness how much support exists in the form of non-profit organizations and foundations that support the mental health of various populations, including traumatized children and adolescents. Of course, we can all agree that much more needs to be done, especially for children and teens in the foster system in Canada. However, I am inspired by what I have witnessed and the places I have had the pleasure of working at, and would love to create something similar in Peru, my birth country.
Finding A Team
I am aware that my endeavour to fulfill this dream is enormous, and can be quite overwhelming to me at times. I am standing at the bottom of a huge mountain and am not sure how I will be able to climb it. What I know for now is that I will need help. I will need to find other people with a similar vision and mission to help me put this together. I will need a team. And I hope to inspire people and find people who believe in my vision in order to support my project.
For now, I am taking my first step up the mountain, namely by packing my belongings and going to Cusco, Peru, from October 2022 until April 2023 to volunteer my counselling services with these children.
Invest in My Vision
If you would like to help support the children of Amantaní, you will find more information here on how you can do that: https://www.gofundme.com/f/children-at-orphanage-in-peru
Thank you for your interest 🙂
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