Great Experience!

Volunteering with Abroader View was an amazing experience! I loved interacting with special needs kids in a different country. On a day to day basis, I would walk to my work site, transport kids from the clinic to the school, work on fine and gross motor skills (putting together puzzles, reading stories, playing with toys, listening to music), and complete the tasks requested of the teacher. I found that interacting with the students and helping them with their projects assigned by the teacher was by far the best part of my experience.
It was amazing being able to see progress in the few short weeks I was there. At the base level though, seeing how these students with life-altering disabilities were able to function and find joy and hope was life changing for me. It brought me hope seeing their hope. It brought me joy seeing their joy. There were also difficulties at times only because of the communication issue for me. I speak very limited Spanish. It was difficult to know how to help at times because I wasn't sure what the need was. Also, outside of the work site, the communication issue arose. On occasion, a taxi driver would take me to the wrong place because I had not given instruction in Spanish well enough. It always turned ok but was humorous often.
Other highlights of the trip were interacting with other volunteers and the ABV host family and staff. They were very pleasant to be around and also extremely helpful. I knew that if I needed anything, I could talk to the Cusco coordinator or the host family and they would do the best they could meet my needs.
It was an extremely positive experience, and I would do it again in a heart beat.