So Yeon "Selena” Kim, Volunteer in Peru

United Planet Orphan/Street Children Care Quest

So Yeon "Selena” Kim, 16 years old, Volunteer in 2011.

Describe your volunteer work experience.

I was working with children in a shelter for homeless children without parents. I helped them with their Spanish and mathematic homework and drew them a lot of pictures so that they can color. I also played music with my ipod or flute and we danced together. The children were very pure and cute, and I enjoyed spending my time with them very much! They were like children and adults at the very same time.

What was most challenging about your Quest experience?

The language barrier definitely was a struggle to me, although many people helped me, including the children, that I did improve a lot.

What did you enjoy most about your Quest experience?

Learning a new and different culture was much enjoyable. Food, life styles, and people's attitudes were very different from the way I thought of and that was fun to watch. It was a very good experience!

Please provide a testimonial of your experience with as much detail as possible.

It was one of the most awesome experiences! All the United Planet coordinators were very helpful with explaining the work sites and our quest. The host family was very nice, friendly, and open. They were interested in learning about other cultures with great amount of attention. They were just so nice and caring for me that I would never be able to forget them. The work itself was very much fun as well. The children were very cute and pure. They got interested in anything that I showed them. Although I spoiled them a little with new technology, I was very happy to observe such curiosity and innocence in them.

I would like to highly recommend this quest to others who are interested in helping the children around the globe. And if you are actually going to participate, I strongly recommend you to prepare a lot of activities. The children are very open and will be willing to do anything fun! If I can, I would want to go there once again, this time with more preparation.