random talents: this week's group from canada was characterized by random talents. they have been very helpful, fixing small problems in all the house, painting, building shelves and bookcases. but they have also brought a lot of people who have been able to share their talents with the kids. we have one girl who likes art, so she brought small canvases and has been having an art class every other day with 10 of the kids who really like art. then she is going to take home the paintings, with a picture of the child that created them, and sell them as a fundraiser.then, we have another woman who loves to sew. so, she brought a bunch of fabric, thread and patterns and she has been teaching some of the girls to sew in the afternoons. (last year, she donated 15 sewing machines.) i went to the class with paola, but she is not very good with her hands, so we are doing it by hand, but i don't know how much help i am because i am a pitiful sewer (just ask kylie)... i thought you're supposed to tie the string on the needle... but i quickly learned that this is a no-no (woops... who kn
ew). anyway, we are making a quilt with pre-cut fabric squares... it's 7 X 12(84)... we've done 3.
we also have a woman who is an accountant, but in her spare time she volunteers as a clown at nursing homes and stuff. she has a ton of fun toys and magic tricks that the kids find fascinating. she also offered to come into the special needs home one day, which went really well. the kids laughed and laughed and we had a lot of fun. finally, to top it all off, we have a girl that plays the bagpipes... so she played amazing grace for us after mass on sunday. the kids were looking around a little nervous, like "what the heck is this noise and where is it coming from?", but it was cool.
elderly home: i like to try and take the special needs out and do something a few times a month since they don't go to school and it's good for them to get out of the house. we've done the beach several times and the park in san pedro, but this wednesday we decided to take a walk to a nearby batey. it's about a 30 minute walk down the road. when we got there apparently one of the tías knew about a home for the elderly, so we decided to go visit. it was quite the site. when you walk in, there is this long room just lined with bed after bed... with about 2 or 3 feet between each one. then in the back there is a small kitchen area with a covered area for the people to sit and eat and then a little outside "park"/sitting area for the people. i would say there were about 20-30 elderly people living there. it was so sad because it was just so dusty and dirty and so many people crammed into this small place. the people were very cute though... some were more with it than others, but they were all so grateful that we came to visit and told us that they never get any visitors. paola was so great with them too. for as difficult as she can be at times, she really is a great people person. she really senses suffering in other people and she's not afraid to talk to anyone. it was really cool to see her with these people. the weird thing about this place was that as different as it was from any places that we have like this at home, it smelled exactly the same as every alzheimer/nursing home that i've ever been in (well, mixed with a little more of a garbage smell). but it was very strange... something universal about the getting old process, i guess. it was a cool experience though and i hope we'll be able to go visit again.
day at the hotel: i think i mentioned last week that every sunday the canadian groups take 1 or 2 houses to the beach or to the hotel they stay in on the weekends, to spend the day swimming and eating. they also invite the volunteers and the tías of each house. so, this sunday it was casa santa rosa's turn, so i got to spend the day at the hotel with my boys. it was kinda sad because, very uncharacteristicly, it was rainy, cloudy, and cold all day long. but it didn't bother my boys... they jumped right into the pool and had a blast! the best part was lunch... the food wasn't that great... but the kids were hilarious. it was a buffet, and i don't know how many times the kids have been told, "eat as much as you want of whatever you want", but they were excited. i was trying to explain to them that they could come back through the line again once they were finished to get more food, but it didn't stop them from piling there plates hight with salad, rice, beans, chicken, hot dogs and 2 or 3 hamburgers. and i sat there and was kind of embarrassed because i was like, "oh these kids are going to waste all this food, this is horrible." but they didn't waste anything... they ate everything on their plates and then went back for more! i have never seen kids eat like this. they were so funny too because they were so cold from being wet in the pool. this one boy, josé (he's so tiny), he was just sitting there with blue lips, shaking uncontrollably, trying to fit the hamburger between his chattering teeth. i saw the coffee station behind me, so i asked him if he'd like a cup of coffee to warm him up (it was the only warm thing i could think of). well, after hearing this, everyone perked up and said, "i want a cup of coffee, i want a cup of coffee!". i
was like, "oh no, what did i do?" so i asked the tía and she just laughed and said it was fine. so we all made our way over to the coffee table and i started pouring 14 cups of coffee. then of course we all had to add milk and about 17 sugar packets to each cup, but they were so cute all sitting around the table drinking their coffee. the poor tías... i'm sure they never went to bed that night!"sing your praises... sing them loud as you dare..." - kalai
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