Orphanage

Orphanage

On Thursday after doing our computer stuff we split up. Roy off to the bakery, etc. and then home to wash the car. The car was really dusty from sitting and the other night it sprinkled enough rain to make it look a mess. Our rain storm consisted of a very slow drizzle, not even enough to wet the ground. No chipi chipi here John.

I caught a bus downtown and then walked about 4 blocks to an orphanage we had read about. We had brought a few things with us for the kids from home. The orphanage is called Hogar Paz y Bien- loosely translated to Home of Peace and Good. After haltingly explaining my presence to the Madre, she introduced me to the dozen or so boys clustered around us. The boys wanted the pencils; but the Madre told them "no" those would be for school. She allowed them to have the activity books (luckily had enough that they got 1 each) and she took the toothbrushes away with her. The Health Unit in my home town had given me these items for the children and they were a hit with the kids.

The Madre explained that the girls were upstairs and the boys downstairs and she took a few minutes to show me around. They have a large outdoor space, all tiled and extremely clean, lots of pots of flowers and trees with everything brightly painted in primary colors. She finally gave in to the boys and brought out a bucket of crayons. The boys and I settled down on the tile floor and the Madre went back to her duties. I had taken a map with me to show the children where I was from and the older ones decided that it is a long way away! As the children learn english in school, some of the older ones knew the words for the colors in english. I felt like a mother hen with her chicks around her, with 12 little boys sitting in a semi-circle around me. We colored and chatted and they laughed when I had to look up a word in my dictionary. The littlest one couldn't figure out why I couldn't speak proper spanish. One of the older boys said that they call the youngest one "little chicken" which brought a bunch of laughter. The children were very well behaved, with only one altercation over the crayon bucket. I had to laugh as one boy said to me, when I interceded, "I had it first". Kids are the same everywhere!! After an hour or so the Madre returned to collect the boys for their lunch, so after many thank- yous and goodbye I left. A good time had by all.