Monday Morning Feeling!!

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Hello everyone,

After a really nice, relaxing weekend it was back to work at the orphanage. Seems strange that I don´t get the Monday morning blues here to the same extent that I do at home - in fact, except for that "oh no it´s time to get out of bed" feeling I don´t get them at all!!

It was a great start to the day. Everyone was up on time and ready for the transport to our workplaces. No one was late and we weren´t held up at all!!

We arrived at the orphanage probably the earliest we have been there in the last two weeks!! Most of the kids were still in bed asleep!! The laides there had made a start on washing and changing the kids who were slowly beginning to surface!!

We started off the morning by nappy folding, and then breakfast. It was boiled eggs again, and I omitted to add any salt to the dishes I was preparing for the kids - slipped my mind somehow!!

After breakfast I played with Jorge and Anita Karina for a while. The kids were pretty tired, so Vicki and I spent some time trying to get them off to sleep!! There was also a massive pile of clothes to be folded, so we did some of that too.

Senora Vicki was there today and the other lady - not really sure of her name. The other lady was pretty rough with the kids - to the extent that I was biting my tongue!! I appreciate it can´t all be love and cuddles when they have a job to do, but it should at least be done with some compassion and tenderness!! Jorge was sitting on the mattress beside me - I was playing a silly game with a stuffed dog with him. All of a sudden this woman grabbed him by the ankles, whipped him round and stuck her hand down his nappy to see if it needed changed. Jorge burst into tears and I was about ready to burst her!!

Anyway - only have the rest of this wek there. Need to make sure I don´t upset them before I leave!!

We had some visitors at the orphanage - a well dressed young couple with a little boy and an older lady who my have been a mother/mother in law. They were brought in by one of the sisters and it appeared that they were having a look around - possibly with a view to adopting. There are 10 orphanages in Peru, and you cannot select which orphanage the child will come from. You may suggest a preferred sex and age, but that is all. The authorities then try to match individual children to potential parents based on the information they receive. This applies to Peruvians in the adoption process and also to those who live abroad who would like to adopt a Peruvian child. I have read a fair bit of literature on the adoption process provided by Marisol in CCS. Asked Marisol about the visit by the couple and she said that potential parents often like to visit the orphanages to see how the children have been cared for and what they are used to. Bet they were wondering why there were 2 gringoes there playing with the kids!!

Lunch was the usual soup stuff - sorry I can´t be more poetic in terms of description!! It really looks pretty disgusting!! Jorge wouldn´t have any of it at all, but absolutely scoffed his dessert - typical boy!!

After that it was back to base for our lunch. We got back to discover that the staff had decorated the CCS house for Christmas!! We have a tree in the lounge; lights along the lounge window; tinsel wound around the bannisters on the stairs, and decorations above all the bedroom doors. Was planning to take some photos after lunch for my blog to let you all see, but those plans rapidly went to pot - read on and you´ll see why.............!! Seeing the decorations really made me wish that I was staying on longer - at least over Christmas. Just don´t feel ready to leave yet and have only 4 more full days here as I write!!

Pancho arrived after lunch to finalise the details of the trip Vicki and I are going on with him. One of the volunteers who has now left e-mailed me yesterday to tell me about watching the sun come up over Machu Picchu. We plan to be there for sunrise too, and Eileen´s e-mail left me feeling very excited about it all!! Vicki and I fly out on Saturday morning on the first flight from Ayacucho to Lima. Will be very sad to leave, but now starting to get a bit excited about the trip.

After lunch I went for a wander into town with Wendy, and then Wendy, Vicki and I headed to the Shining Path Memorial museum, which was open today. The attached photo is the plaques on the wall of the courtyard of the museum which lists all the names of those who are still missing. There were lots of names on each individual plaque.

Wasn´t allowed to take photos inside the museum, but will describe what it was like. There were various articles describing the violence in Ayachucho and the surrounding Andean Highlands from 1980 to 2000. It was pretty horrific, whether attributable to Shining Path or the military. There were also lots of models depicting the scale of the violence and the nature of the deaths. In the last few years (late 90´s) there has been a lot of excavation in the countryside which has uncovered mass graves of those killed.

The most moving parts for me were the personal items of the missing contributed by their families. There were the mantras and jumpers of campesinos and the white coat worn by a medical student. There were also photos on the wall of mothers who had lots husbands and children, and many other people who have been directly affected by loss.

There was also a massive timeline on the wall which depicted what had happened in the region during the 20 year period when Shining Path were active. It was a pretty horrific experience from which the area is still trying to recover. I have met a number of people here who have all been affected in one way or another.

The museum is mainly funded by donations which are used to meet the running costs and (I think) perform further research on those still listed as missing.

The street where the CCS house is located (Avenue 26 de Enero - Avenue 26 January) is named after a famous Shining Path incident where a group of young journalists were massacred in the Highlands on that date, whilst trying to research and report on the troubles in the area.

My knowledge about Shining Path is still very limited as most of the information here is in Spanish. I fully intend to do some more research on it when I get back home. I do know that a lot of people have suffered significant loss as a result, and that the numbers of orphans in the area increased significantly!!

Had a warmish shower just before dinner. At 8pm there was a call at the door of the house for me - it was Micael from the Church in Ayacucho!! Not allowed to bring visitors into the house, so I grabbed my jacket, told Vicki where I was headed and wandered down to the nearest cafe with him. Vicki said she would give me half an hour and then wander down and join us. The group in the house now is great - we all really look after each other!!

Micael had brought his video camera and a tape. He wanted to show me a video of some of the things the Church in Ayacucho do. He played the video back on his camera in the cafe - it was made in December 2004.

Basically a group from the Church went out to all the small villages within a 1 mile radius of Ayacucho to visit the people (most of whom live in poverty) there. Their purpose was to reiterate and re-emphasise the story of Christmas. The whole village would gather as a community and sing, play games, read the Bible etc. The Church group were equipped with small, non commercial but practical gifts for the children in the community. In the video I saw, there was a total of 60 kids!! The Church are going out this Saturday to do something similar and Micael invited me to join them. Unfortunately I will be en route to Cusco heading to Mach Picchu, so won´t be able to go!! Would have been nice though!!

Vicki then arrived with Alicia, who was an absolute Godsend as she is fluent in Spanish. She basically acted as interpreter for us which was nice. I was then able to tell Micael about our praise band and the worship group in New Govan, and I learned a bit more about the Presbyterian Church of Ayacucho.

Also established that Micael is 25 years old (take note Elizabeth Anne - will put a photo on the blog later this week!!), in his last year at University (as I thought) and then planning to travel. The girls and I were heading to Gringo Plaza for a pisco sour, and we invited Micael to join us. He did, and we sat there and chatted for a bit longer. Micael had a pisco sour, and told us that this was his first as he doesn´t drink alcohol!! I was sitting there with my chocolate caliente con Baileys hoping that we weren´t leading him astray!!

Have arranged to see him again on Thursday afternoon, and will get permission to have him in the house so that we can use the TV set there to watch the videos of the Church work.

When we finished our drink, Micael escorted us back to base which was very nice of him - a real gentleman (again - please take note Elizabeth Anne - he´s lovely!!)

Anyway - it was a really good day and a pleasant evening. That´s pretty much it for today.

Take care all!!

Lesley x

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Photos

Jorge and Anita Karina
These are definitely my two favoutrites!!

Senora Vicki
Senora Vicki works at the orhpanage. She is a year older than me.

Rosario
Isn´t she gorgeous in this pretty blue dress??

Plaques on the wall
These are the plaques on the wall at the Shining Pathe Memorial museum. There are a number of names of the missing on each individual plaque.

Comments

[Esther]

my heart is with the kids in the orphanage
my heart is bleeding, when i read how the babies are treated - every minute of warmness and love will be worthful for them!!! tnanks lesley for thise minutes!!! esther