Que Pasa en Antigua.......

This week I had the opportunity to explore working with slightly older children which proved to be different and equally demanding. All of the older children are physically disabled, and some more mentally disabled than others. So it was good to be able to talk and receive verbal responses to questions and comments. Of course as is always the case, some of them are very demanding, or cheeky !The day always begins in the same way with quite a lot of time given to having breakfast. Then my first new job….making them gargle followed by washing their faces after their teeth (those that have them) have been brushed This involves huge amounts of water and towels and water all over me as many cant actually do this and just spit everything out. Then its time for some form of physiotherapy. One day I went into the room to watch them exercise the children. Not easy when they are paralysed and many don’t actually like being moved about so they cry all the way through. Some of the children can go into walkers so we put them in them for a little while. Its amazing to see the amount of concentration that goes into moving one foot in front of the other, especially when the rest of the body is not coordinated, and there is no sense of direction. Yet such a sense of pride and joy when they manage even a few steps. Words of encouragement and exaggerated applause ever present. With some we give them crisps or biscuits to encourage hand , eye and mouth coordination. (I long to find packets of Hoola Hoops to put on their fingers but alas….) This I find very difficult at times as I see them struggle for ages only to have the crisp fall to the ground at the vital moment when the mouth opens and the food is released from the fingers. But we persevere because we know that eventually they will achieve. As you can imagine the place is quite messy when they have finished.

Imagine my happiness when I heard a little boy named Henry calling me in the morning when I arrived at the centre. So of course I reacted every time he called me, not the thing to do apparently because as I encouraged him I became aware of the jealousy that was beginning to rear its ugly head in some of the other children. So now I have a rota for when I can be with each one, to ensure that everyone gets some individual attention. We also continue to take the children to the park and with the older ones we can play with the water in the fountain and every day I buy some biscuits for the children to enjoy. They marvel at the trees and the sunshine and the people that give them attention and ask us about the work we are doing. I have found that people here really appreciate what we do as they often come and say something encouraging to us.
Later after returning from the park and with lunch ready to be served, I sneak off to see the babies and of course Perla. I feed her and play with her before heading home for my lunch. (I have a lunch break from 12.30 to 2.00) Work days always pass by very quickly….

There isn’t time to do much for me during the week as I always feel quite tired so it was good to spend the weekend in Antigua. Of course there was the usual outing to the market followed by long walks around town taking pictures.

During the weekend some of the streets are closed off so its very relaxed, also lots of the houses and hotels have their gates open so a perfect opportunity to take a sneak look at the many beautiful courtyards.

It was also time to visit the famous cross with great views of Antigua and the volcanoes…but it was a cloudy day!! It has rained a lot recently and the temperature has dropped so it gets cold at night
I also caught two movies…Cinema 2000 has 3 shows a day each with a different film, its free to go in as long as you have a drink or something to eat, a great idea I think and always very popular. It was also the last weekend for a couple of people I have got to know quite well so we all had breakfast together on Sunday, sat and talked in the park before heading back to our respective homes for the usual Sunday ritual of cleaning, ironing and preparing for the week ahead all topped off with a couple of hours of Spanish… which is coming along slowly. I doubt I will be fluent…too many verbs etc but I hope to le to be able to get by. One thing which I know will be difficult is that people stay here for short periods of time so friendships are always short term. But many good friendships are forged along the way. Of course I miss everyone and look forward till we are all together again.

As I prepared for bed I opened my first edition of Love in the time of Cholera in Spanish and found the line…
‘ Luego miro a Florentino Arizo, su dominio invencible, su amor impavido, y lo asusto la sospecha tardia de que es la vida, mas que la muerta , la que no tiene limites.’

Adios amigos

Goodnight
Xxx