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Published: July 15th 2008
Me and Mauricio
This is how we spend ridiculous amounts of time most days. It´s beyond awesome!Things are going pretty well where I´m volunteering at the orphanage. We´ve been trying to find things to do to keep the kids entertained. Idle hands are the devil´s handiwork might have never been a more true statement than it is at the orphanage. Everything we try to do is complete chaos but mostly fun nonetheless.
The main task that I´ve been given to work on with the kids is homework. The main Tía, Lilia has requested that I continue in afternoons to be able to do it with them. I usually spend most of my time with a group of 5 boys who are in 2 levels of kindergarten and a first grade class. It´s quite perfect for me. I enjoy it a lot, and my time there flies by when I´m working with them. Some days they have almost nothing to do, and others it seems to go on forever. I even did the religious homework with Joseph. I´m dying to see how that came back since I didn´t know the answers and basically just made my best guess. After homework I entertain any of them in any way I can though I try to make that reading.
It seems to be working, the same couple of kids want to read for hours every day, and we´ve even sucked in a few that never seem to sit still to read for shorter periods of time.
The end of the first week I was there I tried to do an 'All About Me' project with the kids. I had a bunch of posters left over from my time in a bilingual classroom--so they´re in Spanish. The posters have space for the kids to tell all kinds of things about themselves. I thought it would be a good activity to do when they had finished their homework. We did it for one day. I had intended to do it with all the kids, but so far I´ve only managed to get it done with that group of boys. They all spent time coloring while I asked each one, in turn, about themselves and filled in the answers. Now I have to figure out how to print pictures of them so I can put them on. I don´t know if I will finish this project with the other kids since Lilia seems to have other plans for me, but I
might try.
Helena (a volunteer from Sweden) and I decided to we wanted to do a puppet show project with the kids. So, we met on Saturday and went to buy finger puppets. Peruvian finger puppets, as sold at tourist shops, are pretty awesome and only about 30 cents a piece. They are cute little animals and people and even some cartoon characters, like Sponge Bob. We thought that we should get 20--that would be enough for everyone to choose. We were like little children picking them out. They were soooo cute and we just couldn´t decide. We finally narrowed it down and went on our way. But then we saw a shop with different ones and so amid our fits of giggles and squealing we HAD to buy 10 more! Then we went to lunch and while we waited we spread them all out to look at them some more. It´s best part of shopping--admiring your loot!
Anyway, we showed up at the orphanage Monday with our puppets and two boxes to use to make stages. When we got there they had been sent home from school because it was the Day of the Teacher and the
José Doing Math
Using habas before they ate most of them! teachers apparently didn´t want to teach. So they´d had the day to clean their rooms. The Tías decided who helped the most with cleaning and they were the ones who got to make the stages and do the first plays (which turned out to be the only plays.) I ended up in charge of the stage decoration and play practice. Then we called everyone else in and had them sit in chairs like an audience. The kids I worked with did their little play, which were not at all what they had practiced, but cute anyway I suppose. I was going to work with another group on plays, but things pretty much fell apart at that point and we ended up just playing with the puppets. Mostly me and the toddlers playing the same ridiculous game for hours. When we left, I forgot to put the puppets in a safe place up high and they mysteriously disappeared. Only the dog has been seen since then--and he wasn´t looking his best!
Monday was also the day the new baby arrived. As far as I can tell they basically got a call that a 3 day old was coming and they
Homework time...
It´s serious business! had about 30 minutes or so to rush around to get things ready and she was there. Super cute and tiny, Valerie Milagros. I still haven´t heard her full story (they hadn´t either for days) but she was turned over to the courts and seems healthy.
Tuesday was a pretty typical day of dishes then homework and reading. I also had a long talk with Lilia about what I could do with the kids. She wants me to work with 3 different groups of them at their specific levels. One of those groups is made up of toddlers--help! Anyway, it sounds really good Wednesday there was a strike here so transportation was shut down and we couldn´t go out to work. I felt bad because the kids didn´t have school so they were cooped up all day and the Tías had to deal with them, but boy was it nice to have a day off and pretty much spend my afternoon lazing around in the sun in our entry way.
On Thursday I showed up with copies of my activities, crayons, and roasted beans to use as math manipulatives. As it turned out the kids had so much
Grand Ambitions
My 'All About Me' project. homework I never got to do my activities with them. But I did have my habas with me to help José learn to add and subtract--those came in handy for his homework. Unfortunately I found out just how much the kids love them as about half of them were eaten by the end of the evening. At first I was frustrated trying to control the eating, one of the Tías was laughing at me when she heard me chastise one of the kids by saying 'I didn´t bring those for eating I brought them for math!' But by the end I may have helped eat them just a bit--they were yummy. Guess I´ll have to go get raw beans for the next go round.
Friday was fun. It was Helena´s last official day at the orphanage so she wanted to do something fun with the kids. She decided on making some Swedish no-bake cookies with the kids. I worked on homework while she got started with them, then we the university students who come and help on Fridays showed up I got to go hang out around the cookie making too. It was really fun. We washed hands super
Mauricio
Trying to get back up on my lap after choosing yet another book. well and let them at it in groups. They had a blast, then we put the cookies in the fridge and sent the kids outside while we blew up balloons and set up the dining room for a dance. When we let them back in we had the balloons and music and we spent about an hour dancing with them. Then we put the dining room back in order and ate their dinner/snack with them--tea, bread, and chocolate balls. Yum! Then they did a little presentation for Helena and we were off--later than usual, but it was worth it.
The Tías had asked for extra help on Saturday since one of the babies (Angel) is in the hospital and with someone there with him they are short people. I had originally thought I couldn´t make it since I was planning on being out of town, but then it turns out I could, so after doing some touristy things in the morning I headed out there around 3:30. Madeline had already been there for several hours. I ran in to Lilia a few blocks from the house and she told me to get the group of 5 boys and do
Mauricio and Joseph
The two who spend the most time reading with me. They´re brothers. academic stuff with them. So, that´s what I did. 2 hours locked in the basement with the 5 of them and you know what we did? Math, math and more math! Someone reading this (ahem--Arantxa--ahem) better be proud of me and maybe even feel guilty for what she´s done to someone who used to be a true literacy freak. It wasn´t anything spectacular, but I think we made some progress.
As we were getting ready to leave and asking about how Angel was one of the Tías suggested that we go visit him. It was 5:45 and visiting hours are until 6:00 so we hopped in a taxi and got there as quickly as possible. It was interesting to see a hospital here. I´ve seen them in Ecuador and it´s basically the same. Nothing too bad, but somehow it just seems third worldish. He was in the pediatrics part in a big room with 7 basic small metal cribs. There were 4 babies in there that day. Tía Gladys had been there all day with him and was staying all night. I think she was glad to see us, she used the time to take a bathroom break, wash
Sounding stuff out
Joseph will learn to read before I leave! No really, he will. her food dishes and then used my phone to call the orphanage to request some things for them to bring the next day.
Last week Angel had had a fever at night that the Tías couldn´t get down, turns out he had a urinary tract infection he had been to the hospital then and then come home, but then it happened all over again. So this time they´re keeping him for observations and to do tests to see why he keeps getting them since he had one a month ago too. He seems to be doing well, he fever was down and he was pretty much the happiest I´ve ever seen him, all smiling and gooey. He had an IV like thing in his arm, not connected to anything, but to put drugs in when necessary and he can still be picked up and held, which he loves. Hopefully he´ll be back home and healthy soon. I was glad we went--he´s such a doll!
So, that about sums up my week at the orphanage, I´d like to write about the other awesome things I´ve done, but my camera won´t upload the photos so that will have to wait
a day or two. Be sure to click and see page two of the photos, that´s where the dancing is.
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MOM
non-member comment
Hey Kiddo, The finger puppets look great, you may have to invest in some to bring back w/you. Seems like your time is flying by w/the little ones. Enjoy!!! Love, MOM