An Emotional Week.....

Wow!! Its been a real roller coaster emotional ride this week as the children returned from their homes one by one. Much of the beginning of the week was taken up with preparing the ward, I put the wall displays back up, relabelled each and every cot with each child’s name, and prepared the daily activities board with Lesley. As the week progressed, everyday the ward was filled with sounds of crying and utter unhappiness as many of the children said good bye to their parents and families. We looked on helpless, we had been happily awaiting their return and had not given much of a thought to their feelings…. some however were glad to come back. As each child arrived the nurses bathed them and weighed them and checked them to ensure they were fine. Some had lost weight, some had blisters and sores on their bodies , and some had put on weight and had obviously been spoilt at home. Overall I got the feeling that all of them had loved being with families. There is nothing like unconditional love.
So, much of the time this week was spent playing and hugging and loving the children which was just wonderful, many falling asleep on our chests after bouts of crying, getting them adjusted to being back.
As I walked in one morning I heard my name being called by one of the older children, a huge grin across his face, proudly showing me his haircut!! He was happy to be back. I felt happy as I started the day greeting each child and then feeding them. The amount of work has multiplied which means we are busier than ever. But am still enjoying the washing up, preparing the feeds as well as helping with the laundry…tons of it!! Hopefully next week the children will be more settled .
The hospital is also in the process of setting up a sensory room and I have the opportunity to be involved in that… am looking forward to a new challenge.

Big day today as I noticed that Perla has started to coordinate her eye movements!!!!!

Zootime!!!

I have now had the chance to visit Guatemala City twice, thanks to Lelsey. One day we headed off for a day in Guatemala City. First stop: Guatemala Zoo. A queue of children and families waited patiently as we waited in the small area leading into the zoo. The zoo is quite small but well organised. It relies on contributions and sponsorship to keep it going, and they have really tried to make it interesting for the visitors. Meandering down the walkways, I felt happy and was glad to be near animals again. Memories of being in Africa and Borneo came flooding back. Though nothing can replace seeing animals in their natural environment, I smiled as I watched the excited children, eyes wide open and pointing at every animal, mimicking their calls or just looking; mouths wide open. It also started the debate on the pros and cons of having a zoo.
I still maintain that nothing can beat the wonder of a person when they see a new life form for the first time. I have constantly been reminded of this on all the trips I have been on with children and young people……
I saw my first, quite beautiful, birds of Guatemala and Central America.
Second stop: A shopping precinct and ‘Cemaco‘. This was a real eye opener, as I had no idea that such a place could be found here…this is where the wealthy and the many ex pats living in Guatemala shop!! It was like being in a store in Europe as I walked past designer shops and coffee shops before entering Cemaco and its ‘everything you could want for your house’. Lesley and I walked up and down every aisle until I found what I was looking for…… a salad spinner!!!!
Later we headed back to the car park and made our way up the winding road heading back to Antigua ,and as we climbed higher we could see the lights of Guatemala City in the valley below, shimmering and sparkling in the distance. The sky an almost mirror image above…………

The volcano on my way to work this morning.....

Enjoy

Adios amigos

Goodnight

Xxx