El Salvador July 18

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What a long day!! But a great one. Did so much today and I am exhausted, it is after midnight and I want to go to sleep but need to blog!!!!

Since I did not leave myself enough time this morning, I had to rush through breakfast and packing lunch. And when we got to the work site, I did not know I was supposed to get on a different van to go to the church so I could be with the kids today. But no matter, I planned to deliver invitations to the kids at school for the Health Fair this afternoon, and we were leaving from the work site/clinic at 9am, I would just hang out for 20 minutes or so and wait. At 10:45, we gathered together to go over to the school. I always forget about Latin American time.... watches? Who needs em??

So from 8:45 until we left for the school, I mixed concrete and filled in the walls with the concrete, did a little bit of sanding too. That was actually kind of fun, a lot of work but cool too.

Short visit at the school to hand out some invitations, and then we broke into small groups to make some house visits. One of the major health issues here is Dengue Fever which is transmitted by mosquitoes. All of the families keep a water supply in what is called a "pilla," and if they are not careful and do not keep the water clean, larvae grow which turn into the mosquitoes carrying the disease. The group who is working at the clinic, an international non profit organization called FIMRC, gathered together small pouches called "abates." Each family is to received 5 of these pouches to place in their water storage unit to prevent the larvae from growing. So in small groups, we delivered these pouches and put them in the "pillas" to help the families. They are good for three months and then need to be replaced.

We only had time for a quick lunch because we had the health fair at 1. About 80 kids showed up at the clinic for the health fair, which was a great turnout. This was run by FIMRC but our group was helping out with the activities. I was in charge of the skit we had to put on, just explaining basic important health habits. So I gave a brief intro and then we demonstrated the right and wrong ways to be healthy, also adding a bit about how to play nice with others. The kids would give a thumbs up and cheer if we did something well, and thumbs down and boo if our actions were not good. They really liked that. Ana taught them a song about how to brush their teeth and the girls and the boys competed to see who could sing louder. Was so cute.

The activity stations were fun; I ran the soccer shootout with Cate and Mike. The winners got prizes, and then the kids rotated to a different station. Then they had a water balloon toss and everyone got soaked. This adorable two-year old asked me to take her to the bathroom, and would not leave my side until the end of the fair.

I was really surprised I stayed awake for the ride home, but once I got back I was blogging, of course, and then showered and had dinner. After dinner we watched a movie about Romero, a Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in El Salvador who was assasinated in 1980. Romero

The rest of the night, before computer time, was spent planning for Field Day tomorrow at the village, which I volunteered to be in charge of. Just a couple hours of fun and games where the kids can win prizes. And with all of the donations people brought we have so much to give them!! That is, if it stops raining. Been raining all night, which is great because it cooled things off a lot.

Ok, bedtime. More to come! (with pictures, soon!)

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Photos

Actually making concrete!
Quite the process here... hence the four people workig

Look at this shayna punim!!!
Estela Maria

Comments

[Janyce Katz]

hola
So proud of you for taking a week out of your busy life to do a great "mitzvah" for others. Enjoying your fantastic blog( as usual) and hoping that this adventure will be a wonderful fulfilling adventure for you!! Have a safe trip back home and call us when you arrive back in the USA. Love, Jan