'The signification of wealth. Achieving goals in life which makes you happy.'
In Peru I've met a lot of people, different people at different places. Peruvian people are warm and friendly people, they give you a feeling of being home. No matter if you are black or white, little or big..they greet you with a smile. A smile which made me feel comfortable and accepted. I'll never forget my first day at my volunteerplace. I arrived at the little yard in front of the school, a few seconds later the 'front' door swept open and a sturdy woman with a huge smile on her face appeared in the door frame. She started talking Spanish to me, I couldn't understand everything..but because of the sound of her voice and her non-verbally behaviour I could notice she was enthusiastic. My nerves disappeared right away...I was totally surprised. From that moment on I already knew I would never forget this woman, named Gladys.
During my first weeks at the volunteerplace my relationship with Gladys became strong; we talked about different things, like my life in the Netherlands, her way of living in Cusco and the children and their parents. We got to know eachother, more and more. It was interesting, and in the same time it felt good to see signs of a relief in her behaviour. Relief, partially, thanks to my presence.. I can't find words to describe how much this meant to me. After a while, I met the daughter of Gladys, named Maria. A twenty year old girl which impressed me because of her assertive appearance. During the cooperation with Gladys, our relationship got stronger and we went for dinner together. Maria was with us aswell and during the evening we ended in a significant conversation together. In my mind questions (which I had planned for the dialogue with a 'local') showed up and without even knowing we discussed most of it. That evening made me realize once more that 'if you have the courage to do something, it will succeed'. 
 

Like I've already told, her name is Maria and she is 20 years old. She studies 'technic and nursing'. She choosed for this study because she loves to help and assist other people, people who suffer. Besides she thinks, her personality has a positive influence in her role as nurse.

In her free time she loves to listen music (especially to Beyonce), to read, going out with her friends, to visit party's, to hike and to play volleyball. She feels happy when she can spend time with her family and friends. She describes herself as a fighter, because she fights to get what she wants. One of the most important things in life for her is to achieve her personal goals. Her dream is to discover the world by living and finding a job outside Peru and by having a own car. Working outside of  her own country helps her being competitive and objective in realising her dreams. Besides traveling'll bring you in connection with other ways of and thoughts about life 'la vida'. Maria's opinion is when she achieves her personal goals, she'll make her parents happy, which is really priceless to her. At the moment she works hard to finish her school to become a nurse. The way she talked about her wish to become a nurse and to care for other people, showed me she has self-confidence.
Her parents do give her the chance to finish this school, which gives her a lot of motivation. She wants to show them, she can do it! In her opinion God and the Virgin do help her to catch her goals. The toughts of God are priceless to her and belong to the standards in her life. Relating to these toughts, her values are love, empathy and charity towards eachother. The signification of love means a lot to Maria, because she thinks almost everything in life starts with love.

Besides the personal life of Maria, we've talked about Peru aswell. In their opinion Peru is a country with lots of different cultures and standards. The city Cusco, their livingplace, is an attractive city with huge events and different facilities. The inhabitants of this city belong to the medial and low economic living standard. The medial class are the people who study and have a job with fair salary. In her opinion there is no difference between the lifes of the people. This because everyone has his one dreams and chase these in their own way. There is a difference in classification, but not in existence. Maria loves Cusco in general. Her toughts about the tourism in Cusco are positive. She thinks the tourism will help the city to cooperate with new people, other cultures. These differency in cultures makes Cusco a mix of races and standards. Maria thinks the volunteerwork is really important because it stimulates the coorparation with people who have entrance to aspects in the realisation of the work. Besides, last but not least, it creates happines when different cultures can meet and help eachother in achieving goals of life.

On the picture you see from left to right: me (Ellen), Gladys (the mother of Maria) and a girl from Denmark (another volunteer) named Leia. Maria is the one who has made this picture, too bad she isn't on it. If you want to see a picture of Maria, first I've to ask her if she'll send me a picture. I don't want to put a picture of her in this forum without agreement. I hope you'll understand this.