Whre is this man taking his llama?
two students from PPA at their town
kitchen in home of one of the students
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Home Visits
This morning the team accompanied two girls (Jessica age 12 and Jamora age 10) and the social worker to do home visits. Global Volunteers hired a car and driver to take us to the outskirts of the city to a very, very poor community. It took about 40 minutes to get near, and another 30 to find Jessica’s place. Her mother, who sells flowers, was not at home. The area was a complete dust bowl. We met her older brother and sister. They live in brick place with two small rooms with an open fire to cook. There is no bathroom or running water. They had a chicken in a cage and a small black cat. The sister spoke English fairly well and is studying it at an institute at which she was once a secretary. The institute didn’t pay her so she’s taking the wages out in tuition. Jessica rides two buses home every two weeks for a weekend with her family. The social worker took notes on everything.
It was even harder to find Jamora’s house, but we did. It was more in town. Her mother works as a maid and lives at her employer’s house. Jamora visits her there every two weeks. No one was home. Jamora wanted to get inside but didn’t have a key. There is no running water in the whole community. A truck delivers water to oil drums in front of houses. Edith had told us that her dog sleeps on the roof to guard the house, and indeed I did see a dog on a roof.
We went to a soup kitchen which feeds about 15 families who pay 1.5 sols (about $.40 USD) for a meal. The women who work there get to eat free. The government only partially supports the soup kitchen. I was surprised to see some fields with crops. Maybe there is an irrigation system. The poverty was heart-wrenching, but Edith says that we should see it as the people do, with hope. At least they have something.
We went to Qubba again for lunch, which was a stark contrast to where we had just been.
In the afternoon I again worked with Maria Flores, the occupational therapist. This time I did a better job at the project of pasting masks on tag board. Perhaps she has a plan of therapy for me. She explained that the students would cut the masks out, paste a tongue depressor and a strip of paper on the back for reinforcement, thus making a mask or fan. I would cut the eyes out with a box cutter. Then there would be stories. The four-year old students were late, so we walked to get them. There were sixteen students, which seemed to almost paralyze Maria Flores. Six of the students did not have masks colored and pasted. Maria Flores was going to take them to another room and work with them, but ended up staying in the room with me and the helper and making sure the students finished their projects. When they were finished, nothing seemed to be happening. You know me, I stepped right in and told “The Three Bears” and “Henny Penny” in Spanish, and then we acted out the latter. Then it was time for me to go. I hope I didn’t step on Maria Flores’s toes. I also forgot to cut the eye holes, but I imagine that will be waiting for me tomorrow.
We took a cab back to the hotel, showered, and walked with Edith to the massage place where all the therapists are blind. Westin had never had a massage before! The cost was $10.00 USD with no tipping. My massage was delightful! We exited the place an hour later as wet noodles.
We walked a few blocks to a very nice Chinese restaurant and had dinner. It was a good walk home as we didn’t get run over. The days are quite filled but go by quickly yet it feels like I’ve been here a long time and have known Lulu, Laura, Westin, and Edith forever. I needed to get away and I’m so glad I’m in this place with these people.
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