Today the team spent time in the classrooms again. The first grade classroom seems to be very demanding for the volunteers and clearly is for the students and teacher. There are many very disparate levels of ability among these new little ones and it is hard for one teacher to cover all the needs. The volunteers in this room hold onto their hats and come out exhilerated and exhausted. Others on the team continued the painting project in the dorm teachers apartment. Once 10am came around, we piled into the beloved van for the long drive out to the Agricultural School. Arturo drove and the ride, although long, was gentle and ´the driving was smooth. One of the Farm teachrs, Josue, gave us a great tour with lots of information about the newest things going on at the Farm. This includes a large field of very tall grass that is feed for the cows so El Hogar doesn´t have to purchase any, a newly fenced in corral for goats, and we learned that the Farm´s production of milk has quadrupled since February. Yony is off to a great start with management of the Farm. At the Farm they are eagerly awaiting a new chicken plucker, donated by a group in MD, that will help increase chicken production also.
We returned home and tumbled into the afternoon workshop activities. Who would have guessed that the knitting and crocheting group would have gathered such a following here at El Hogar? Little girls are spending hours sitting and making colorful creations from yarn that Martha, Susan, Jane and Jean then take back to the volunteer house to complete every night. There are requests for scarves and doll dresses and headbands and all manner of knitted goods. Well, not sweaters. Not yet anyway. Another week and perhaps all 100 children would be well outfitted for a NorÉaster.
The evening playtime is magical. The soft warm air and the sound of children´s voices, the locust_like swarm upon any volunteer who ventures outside carrying books or blocks or cards or cars or jenga or Uno or beads or sidewalk chalk. The theme for this week that gets discussed and elaborated on every mornng at the devotional time is WILL. By this they don´t mean willfulness but rather the strength and conviction to do one´s best and carry through on commitments despite obtsacles which will undoubtedly appear. The teachers diligently reminded the children of this tonight during playtime when some boys, to remain unnamed, began pocketing small cars and pretending theyhad given them all back to the volunteers. When the teachers got wind of this crafy behavior, they halted the playtime and gathered all the boys in a circle to discuss the matter. They were not doing their best nor were they keeping their commitment to follow the well known rules of play at El Hogar which clearly say that the children may not pocket all the toys and lie about it to others. What followed was a grand search for all the various hiding place where small things like cars could be hidden, such as under trees and behind bushes, until all the MIA cars where safely returned to the volunteer house.
Today I also had the pleasure of assisting Dr. Virginia Barrow for awhile in the medical clinic . We saw Pedro Sosa who appeared with a gash on his head that needed cleaning and bandaging. He also pointed out to us several other small abrasions he had on his hands, some of which had been there for quite some time. It is clear, from the youngest to the oldest, that all who sought the care of la Doctora ths week received gentle and thoughtful care and attention and went awayhealed on more than one level. We also saw a new girl who had asthma that seemed to have never been untreated in her life. After some discussions with the pharmacy, translations with Arturo and Dona Suyapa, references to the pediatric apps on Dr. Virginia Barrow´s iPhone, she wrote some prescriptions which Suyapa took to the pharmacy ahorita - immediately. Daniela returned to play,being able to breath better and she will have a regime to help manage her asthma in the weeks and month to come.
Tomorrow everyone at El Hogar welcomes the arrival of our new Executive Director, the Rev. Matthew Engleby, or Padre Mateo as he will be known here. There is much excitement and anticipation asa new chapter in the life of not only Matt, but El Hogar, begins. Dios les bendiga, Mateo y El Hogar!
Dona LeesKeenchen
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