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Published: October 25th 2005
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Concert
Traditional Peruvian dancing - not a great shot though! Monday 24
Hola amigos!!
Tuesday today. Almost here two and a half weeks. Can´t believe how quickly time is flying!!
After I updated the diary last night I was stuck in the house for an hour or so due to another thunderstorm. The second in two days!! On Sunday I had a call from my aunt and uncle in the USA. Was chatting to them on the phone whilst the storm was raging outside, and all of a sudden the lights all went out (fairly regular occurrence with storms in Ayacucho). Thankfully Nico (one of the Peruvian staff in the house) provided me with a candle!! There were no blackouts yesterday thankfully!!
Had a conversational Spanish lesson at 6pm. Was hilarious - he had us playing the equivalent of charades to learn the names of places and ocupations (soy contadora - this means I´m an accountant!), and making animal noises to learn the animals. A new method of learning for me I have to say!!
Went into town with Vicki last night for a wander to walk off dinner. We went to the gringo plaza to discover a (get this) free show on to raise funds for the special school that Vicki volunteers in. Appeared to be totally free (as per the sign advertising outside) and there was no obvious donation boxes. Haven´t quite figured out how they managed to raise funds!!
Anyway - the show was great. Full of traditional dancing which was really interesting to watch. Have attached a photo, although it´s not one of my best shots I have to say!! After the show we enjoyed a leisurely pisco sour and then wandered home to fall into bed!
Tuesday 25 October
Another hot shower today - yes!!! That must be at least three or four in a row. I sense a cold one coming up soon!!
Wawa Wasi was good. No sign of the new baby (William) or little Rufina. We had Andrea (Julia´s daughter), Karina, Elias and Giovani, and Ernesto and Maria.
I had drawn a huge tree, the sun and some flowers on a massive piece of card. Had them rolling up tissue paper into tiny litte balls (in all the primary colours) and sticking them on to the freeze (believe it or not you can purchase Uhu sticks in Ayacucho!). They loved it and sat for 25 mins working on it. Not bad going for 6 kids where the eldest is 4 years old!! Didn´t finish it off - will do some more on it tomorrow. Even the two terrors (Elias and Giovani) behaved during that time and seemed to really enjoy it. I ended up with bright red hands (mano rojo) from rolling red crepe paper into tiny balls! Think I need the equivalent of a brillo pad to remove it!!
I´m struggling with Karina though. She is so shy and withdrawn. She´s 2 years old (probably the average age of the Wawa kids there). She always takes a back seat, and won´t engage in group activities. She tends to hide in the corner. Have tried doing things on a one to one with her but that´s difficult when there are only two adults for the whole group - the rest of the kids immediately realise she´s getting individual attention and clamour in. All suggestions most welcome. It´s my ambition to bring her out of her shell before I leave there.
Wish I could let you here them say my name. I´m now no longer ´gringo´, but ´Lesley´, said with a broad Scottish accent!!
Have this week and another 3 at WW before I move on to the girl´s orphanage. The orphanage is well resourced (nappies for all the children and lots of toys). The main difference is that their mama´s don´t come to pick the kids up at the end of the day. I heard from one of the girls volunteering there that babies are regularly left on the doorstep occasionally with a note of their name and date of birth. The youngest child there is 10 days old. Some are more fortunate, and have parents who come to visit, although they cannot afford to keep the kids at home. Anyway - I´ll move to the orphanage after 6 weeks at Wawa Wasi and will work there for three weeks before I head off travelling. I think I´ll find the orphanage more difficult, but I fully believe in tackling difficult things head on - you can´t just pretend that places like that don´t exist!! I intend to do longer shifts there.
It´s a huge contrast - the Wawa kids come from families who live in poverty. They don´t have much, but have parents who love them. The kids in the orphanages have all their needs met, but only the workers there to care for them.
Heading into town for some more Wawa Wasi resources this afternoon. Need more crepe paper and thinking about some paints to do hand and feet paint prints on a freeze (their mamas will love me!!).
Have another Spanish lesson at 6pm (wonder what we´ll be doing tonight?!) and then planning an early night with a good book. Will also need to remember to take my washing down from the roof incase it rains again!!
Thanks for all your comments, feedback and news - it helps keep me sane (I can just hear the audit team saying that I was never sane in the first place!!).
Ciao amigos
Lesley x
PS - specific caveat that I will not permit any of the content of the blog to be quoted in ´Oddity´ or any other National Australia Group internal spoof communications. Messrs Steele, MacDougall and Lang please take note!!
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Michelle
non-member comment
Looks like you are having a hell lot of fun there
Hello Lesley, I have been enjoying reading your blogs even though so far I only had the chance reading a couple of them. They were hilarious and kept me entertained. It looks like that you are enjoying yourself very much there and having a once-in-a- life-time experience!! I'll read more once I have some time. Michelle