March 28, 2011 p.m.

Hola,
Last night we went to bed around 8 to make up for lost sleep and drifted off to the sound of the cicadas and noises of the city. We woke feeling refreshed and so happy to be here. We attended morning devotional and enjoyed a re-enactment of the David an Goliath story by some of the boys. Then, after breakfast, met with Claudia to get an overview of our week. So much to do, so little time.

For the rest of the morning we broke off into work groups. One group painted the second floor of the dorm a lovely shade of blue, while others mixed and poured cement in the courtyard outside the classroom. Last week´s team helped prepare the site and we hope to finish the project tomorrow. The sun shone hot and steady all day, but the breeze blowing through the campus felt great. It was definitely a day for plenty of water and plenty of sunscreen. Today I think I made up for every bit of Vitamin D I missed out on during the New England winter.

After classes let out the kids could choose from a series of workshops including Piñata making and Art. Several members of our team - led by Jill - organized a knitting workshop for some of the kids in the auditorium. We really have a fantastic group of women in this group with so many talents. Ginger, AKA Dr. Virginia Barrow, was pulled into service as soon as we got here. Yesterday she lanced an infected knee, and tomorrow she is setting up a clinic for the week. El Hogar no longer has a doctor and the staff is making good use of Ginger. Luckily, Jean is a nurse too. Tomorrow Jenny will be Ginger´s assistant in the clinic. They already have about 12 patients lined up.

Unfortunately, Claudia and Raul left for the States today and won´t be back until after we leave. We were sad to see them go but they left us in the capable hands of their daughter.

I will say goodnight now. It´s time to go outside and play with the kids until they head off to bed. We had a wonderful first day and can´t wait to see what tomorrow brings. We love and miss you all.
-- Julie