Friday at the PPA!

Friday, January 21, 2011

** PPA **

Written by: Volunteer Kay

Quote of the Day: “It is not the malicious acts that will do us in, but the appalling silence and indifference of good people.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Our day began in our typical fashion. After breakfast we met for the sharing of our thought for the day and journal entries as well as taking care of daily living business.

The group at PPA arrived and Dick checked the playground. When that was completed and the leaves were bagged, Dick continued yesterday’s work with his friend. He helped get the scaffolding together, but thankfully he didn’t feel the need to try it out. A new light was installed while never turning off the electricity.

Anne continued taking the toddlers out to play. She began her day with 2 balloons each on a string for the children to hit – one broke and she saw the other being carried off as she returned with 2 other children. Anne shared with us that she doesn’t know what the children are saying so she just says, “Si!” Won’t she be surprised when she receives the bill for 3 college educations from Peru?

Illness struck in the infant area. One little boy had spent the night in the infirmary and was still there. Another boy was taken to be checked but did return. Sue is very impressed with the care the children receive. A volunteer pre-school teacher worked with a 10 month developmentally delayed boy. She volunteers weekly during the summer and did a super job. She said that he receives physical therapy 3 times a week.

This morning, Kay, Kristen and Bea gathered whiteboards and shaving cream to dive into some finger-painting with the 4-6 year old girls. When they arrived, everyone was just starting an outside breakfast, which the girls finished quickly. While waiting for the trash pickup, they taught them the “Hokey Pokey” and “If You’re Happy and You Know It”. The staff wanted to do the Hokey Pokey as much as the girls. There is a real desire on their part to soak up as much English as possible.

After our songfest we brought out the tables and whiteboards. Each girl received a gob of shaving cream on her board squirted with a requested color. For the next hour they played in the cream learning colors in English and covering everything around them with shaving cream.

A good time was had by all except for perhaps Sister Anna Marie who is an advocate of “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. Kay believes that is Sister’s thought for each day. As you may have guessed, the next half hour was spent cleaning tables, chairs, girls and clothes. We ended the morning in the park.

Even after show and tell by the waiter at the restaurant we were surprised at the lunch we received, but it was yummy!

After lunch, Anne headed back to the hostal, Françoise and Dick went shopping and the rest of us headed back to the orphanage. We were very glad to see Greg waiting for us at the office, as he had been under the weather to be with us in the morning.

We are still “working” on the afternoon Siblings’ Program; however, we did make some “progress.” Only one child was missing. We were all together again in a playground area.

Françoise and Dick returned with chain, boards and other materials to fix the beloved swings – a new project for Dick for the coming week.

We finished the week tired but truly rewarded by the interactions we have with the children and staff.