It’s been a gorgeous summer here in
NZ. Wonderful summery days have stretched out the holiday feeling right into March
– Personally, I hope it lasts until Easter!
The summer holiday break is usually
the time I use to get through a great pile of Young Adult books I've had on my
to-read list. This year, however, I took my holiday in South America, joining a
group of volunteers heading to a home for orphaned girls in Bolivia. I loaded my pack with books – very heavy, but
not for me to read – these were popular YA titles in Spanish that I took for
the girls in the orphanage to enjoy. I had been told that the girls loved to
read, but only had a very small library that was read over and over.
So…there are 2 things in this world
that I know well:
1. Young
adult/ children’s books
2. How
to order books online (in any language!)
The day after we presented the
books we joined the girls and the orphanage staff on a bus trip high up into
the mountains, to Lake Tunari at the foot of the Andes.
The
majestic scenery was breathtaking, the lake was glassy smooth, looking up to
snow covered mountains. We saw wild horses and even Alpacas and discovered
shepherd huts as we walked the trails. Even we from Middle Earth found it very
‘Lord of the Rings’ – stunning and impacting. But there was another image that
stayed in my mind from that day. On the cliff- hanging bus ride up the
mountain, two girls in the seat opposite were heads down, totally engrossed
reading their new books. Not wanting to wait in line, they had grabbed the
books and risked high altitude bus sickness (not pleasant) to get in first.
Ah job satisfaction…even in deepest Bolivia
