Rewarding and well-organised experience

I did service work with my 13-year-old daughter at Kyuki-Do Wasi (the house for teen mothers and their babies in Cusco), mainly assisting the babies but also helping the mothers in different ways. I got involved with these mothers and babies in a special way and it was sad to leave them after two weeks. The stories these teenage mothers have already lived, at a very early age, are breath-taking but they shared them with me in the most natural way, with no special bitterness but rather a calm resignation. Given this, I was especially touched by the joy in the house, the friendly atmosphere, most of the time, among mothers, their babies and other volunteers and their kindness. And the generosity and good-heartedness of caretakers and psychologist Maruja, for me the real 'soul' of the house. A lesson for us to learn in our daily routine and comfortable lives in the Western world.
The house was well organised and we received perfect support from Máximo Nivel. In particular, Tanja's involvement was a great help and made our work there much easier and nicer. I liked her discrete and 'elegant' attitude.
The general introductions given by the local organisation (Máximo Nivel) were informative and useful; however there was some degree of repetition in the information in the safety and programme introductions. Also I noticed the information (about Peruvian culture, the programme, etc.) is mainly given from a US perspective, not considering other possible origins among volunteers (European, non-English native, etc.).
At the house I found that the volunteer planning could have been better organised. Depending on the day and week, at times, there were too many volunteers (among those who lived at the house and others, like us, who came from another organisation), outnumbering the babies (7). In my opinion, a better planning and knowing in advance the characteristics of the volunteers at the house would result in a more efficient help for the mothers and babies.
I would definitely recommend the international and local organisations (IVHQ and Máximo Nivel) and this programme as a reliable and well-organised one and guaranteeing a special and rewarding personal experience.