One of the newest residents of La Viña. All photos by Scott Gribble © CARE 2001.

Holding the newborn baby in my arms like the most precious thing I had ever touched, I could scarcely find a breath or feel my heart. I had never held a person like that, a sleeping baby of only ten days, so fragile and deep into his dreams that I could feel the shadow of the womb he had just left. Lying weightlessly in my arms, he seemed hardly real, and I was afraid that he wasn't. As I stared deep into his tiny face searching for something, for anything, his eyes slid open for a second and I saw his soul, and I dreamed that he saw mine.

Wills Glasspiegel and baby Will Thomas.

With his mother's help, I carefully placed him in the cloth sack attached to the scale at the CARE infant nutrition center in the small town of La Viņa. The scale lightly tipped away from zero as my heart floated up through the tears in the back of my eyes. Then, going to the notebook to mark down the weight of the baby and check his progress on the growth charts, Anna and Isley, acting as nurses, asked the mother to spell the newborn's name. We looked at the young mother's face, and as she mumbled something, we realized the baby had no name. She wanted us to help name her baby.

I could hardly stand up. And as for words and names, they were all far from my grasp. She wanted a name from our country, a name that might free her baby from the harsh reality of poverty and single motherhood. Someone suggested that she name her baby after "Doctor Will," the endearing title they had given me on my return to the CARE infant nutrition center, one year after I was there weighing babies last summer. And after a few more suggestions, it was decided -- in what seemed like the most immediate moment of my life -- that I would be the godfather to Will Tomas.

The Youth Corps gets a musical greeting.

As soon as we stepped off of the bus in La Viņa, the people gave us a warm welcome. We arrived to the wonderful music of the local high school marching band playing in our honor. The people of the town later introduced themselves to us through more dance and song. The children even got up to sing their favorite songs to us, their "queridos gringos ." The people of La Viņa opened up their small homes and big hearts to us, and it was obvious how grateful they were for the work that CARE had done in their town.

We learned right away that the hope that the CARE Youth Corps 2001 is able to bring to the small towns of Peru is immeasurable. The work that people do with CARE instills so much pride within the local communities, and that pride, that sense of importance, is even further validated by our presence. With our interest, our questions, and with our ability to share what we learn, the pride and hope of the campo can serve to help develop our world and theirs on a much broader plain.

The Youth Corps preparing to weigh infants at the CARE health center in La Viña.

In La Viņa, the first small town that the Youth Corps visited in which CARE has played an integral role in helping the community to help itself, it was obvious why CARE's assistance is able to work so well. The people here are so ready for development, so ready to put their incredible work ethic and sense of community to good use. On our first day outside the city, it was amazing to see how far a little help could go -- whether it was technical assistance in setting up a water filtration system or business classes for the local marmalade manufacturer -- within the magical communities of the campo.