Sand Dunes and Scorpions
11 May 05
Woke completely refreshed and very happy to be here at the refuge. Rushed to clean up and make it to breakfast in time for the morning prayer...the children always seem to include me in their prayers...it grabs my heart each time! The kids are now doing a mad clean up session provoked by an hour long lecture about cleanliness from Lucy and Manuel and I hear it continue now into one and a half hours. Lucy and Manuel are strict but absolutely excellent house parents and threaten to overflow with love for these children. In their absence the older children Joaquin, 18 and Ruth, days away from turning 18, step in to reprimand where needed. And they never abuse this.
Today Lucy and I will go to purchase large quantities of materials for costumes for the children´s upcoming play and I will begin to help her (help or hinder her?) to sew them up. We also plan to get some additional medical tests run for little Kike.
Side track...nearly had a heart attack this morning as I have discovered that Peru is loaded with Scorpions....I witnessed the children crushing one in the yard this morning...found myself extremely relieved that I had no knowledge of their presence during my Inca Trail trekking!
Lucy motions for me now and says ´Vamos´!
At the market Lucy and I pick out massive amounts of fabric and detail accessories for the costumes, I also notice Lucy eyeing one particular fabric that she would like for herself...I make plans of buying that later as well...
I grab a huge bunch of flowers (for a mere 1 sol!) for Lucy as a belated Mother´s Day present for her, the house mother. Lucy´s heart is the size of Texas and she is absolutely sweet as pie!
We spend much of the afternoon sewing costumes together while singing songs...everyone is always so happy here, making the absolute most of every little thing.
In the evening we run through the play again and Kike falls asleep in the middle of it. I pick him up and bring him to his bed...the tiny little tough guy wraps his arms around my neck and nestles his face into my shoulder while I carry him to his bed.
I have learned more about why Kike has been so ill. He has a problem with his lungs - one is very small and unhealthy. Kike´s story isn´t known too well, like that of many of the other children. Apparently he was found searching for food at the assumed age of about four, his real birthday is unknown and he has been given a new one to celebrate, turns out he is almost nine years old and he is just extremely small for his age.
12 May 05
More costume making with Lucy and much research of native plants and materials native to Peru for the future design of the site. Having a bit of difficulty finding information as there isn´t much readily available. I have learned that if I decide to dig on site anywhere, I must be prepared to uncover loads of skeletons as all of Zapallel was at one point a cemetary.
A previous volunteer returned today for a couple of weeks. Alana is very sweet and the kids are absolutely besides themselves with excitement at her brief return.
Lucy, Alana, and I take the children to some makeshift sand dunes which look suspiciously like a dump site with many caution and danger signs surrounding it. We all race up and down the dunes, the kids love it and we are all absolutely filthy with sand in a very short time.
The children are warned to stay away from the Scorpion holes in the sand. Of course, the boys like to provoke them every chance that they get!
Clean up, dinner, then the Comidor is emptied so that we can crank Cuban and Peruvian music to dance to. The kids love it...me included! Once soaked in sweat from dancing...a quiet round of song swapping. The children constantly beg us to sing...I need to learn many more songs, especially since most of the ones that I know or have written are filled with angst and absolutely inappropriate for the children. In this instance I am thankful that they don´t understand much English!
Alana and I spend the remaining hours of the evening chatting with Manuel and Lucy about the corrupt politics that manage to interrupt the lovely flow of the refuge.
Lucy and Manuel, the heart of the refuge, are madly underpaid in the grander scheme of the things and are shown much disrespect in addition. There is talk of people not distributing supplies properly to the refuge and surrounding area and misuse of earned monies as intended...I have quickly discovered that in order to make the most of all donations, it is best to send them directly to Lucy and Manuel.
Woke completely refreshed and very happy to be here at the refuge. Rushed to clean up and make it to breakfast in time for the morning prayer...the children always seem to include me in their prayers...it grabs my heart each time! The kids are now doing a mad clean up session provoked by an hour long lecture about cleanliness from Lucy and Manuel and I hear it continue now into one and a half hours. Lucy and Manuel are strict but absolutely excellent house parents and threaten to overflow with love for these children. In their absence the older children Joaquin, 18 and Ruth, days away from turning 18, step in to reprimand where needed. And they never abuse this.
Today Lucy and I will go to purchase large quantities of materials for costumes for the children´s upcoming play and I will begin to help her (help or hinder her?) to sew them up. We also plan to get some additional medical tests run for little Kike.
Side track...nearly had a heart attack this morning as I have discovered that Peru is loaded with Scorpions....I witnessed the children crushing one in the yard this morning...found myself extremely relieved that I had no knowledge of their presence during my Inca Trail trekking!
Lucy motions for me now and says ´Vamos´!
At the market Lucy and I pick out massive amounts of fabric and detail accessories for the costumes, I also notice Lucy eyeing one particular fabric that she would like for herself...I make plans of buying that later as well...
I grab a huge bunch of flowers (for a mere 1 sol!) for Lucy as a belated Mother´s Day present for her, the house mother. Lucy´s heart is the size of Texas and she is absolutely sweet as pie!
We spend much of the afternoon sewing costumes together while singing songs...everyone is always so happy here, making the absolute most of every little thing.
In the evening we run through the play again and Kike falls asleep in the middle of it. I pick him up and bring him to his bed...the tiny little tough guy wraps his arms around my neck and nestles his face into my shoulder while I carry him to his bed.
I have learned more about why Kike has been so ill. He has a problem with his lungs - one is very small and unhealthy. Kike´s story isn´t known too well, like that of many of the other children. Apparently he was found searching for food at the assumed age of about four, his real birthday is unknown and he has been given a new one to celebrate, turns out he is almost nine years old and he is just extremely small for his age.
12 May 05
More costume making with Lucy and much research of native plants and materials native to Peru for the future design of the site. Having a bit of difficulty finding information as there isn´t much readily available. I have learned that if I decide to dig on site anywhere, I must be prepared to uncover loads of skeletons as all of Zapallel was at one point a cemetary.
A previous volunteer returned today for a couple of weeks. Alana is very sweet and the kids are absolutely besides themselves with excitement at her brief return.
Lucy, Alana, and I take the children to some makeshift sand dunes which look suspiciously like a dump site with many caution and danger signs surrounding it. We all race up and down the dunes, the kids love it and we are all absolutely filthy with sand in a very short time.
The children are warned to stay away from the Scorpion holes in the sand. Of course, the boys like to provoke them every chance that they get!
Clean up, dinner, then the Comidor is emptied so that we can crank Cuban and Peruvian music to dance to. The kids love it...me included! Once soaked in sweat from dancing...a quiet round of song swapping. The children constantly beg us to sing...I need to learn many more songs, especially since most of the ones that I know or have written are filled with angst and absolutely inappropriate for the children. In this instance I am thankful that they don´t understand much English!
Alana and I spend the remaining hours of the evening chatting with Manuel and Lucy about the corrupt politics that manage to interrupt the lovely flow of the refuge.
Lucy and Manuel, the heart of the refuge, are madly underpaid in the grander scheme of the things and are shown much disrespect in addition. There is talk of people not distributing supplies properly to the refuge and surrounding area and misuse of earned monies as intended...I have quickly discovered that in order to make the most of all donations, it is best to send them directly to Lucy and Manuel.
posted by Rebel at 10:19 AM
1 Comments:
burnt biscuits...they got to it before I did!
sebastian! welcome my sweet friend! I want to hear all about London and need a massive email from you when you get the time! I miss you too!
traffic cone...welcome back to Boston, I am glad that you made it safe and sound...I will try to email you more information asap!
Love to all of you! Special smootches to the kiddies Jen!
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