Saturday 30 June 2012

Congratulations Queenie

The United Kingdom celebrated the Queen's Jubilee about 4 weeks ago, but here in Peru time is different, and we celebrated the jubilee on Monday this week.

The International Colegio (which is British/Peruvian) was holding a special service for the jubilee and because the Latin Link missionaries are all British/Irish/Part of the Commonwealth then we were all invited as special guests. The British Consul was also there and he was wearing a kilt, but not just any kilt, he was wearing an Irish kilt.... very nice - though not as colourful as the Scottish ones are. 

It was an interesting morning, we sang the Peruvian and British national anthem while the flags were raised on the flag poles, listened to a devotion based on two people on the throne - symbolised by their crowns - there was the crown of the Queen and the crown of thorns of Jesus. From what I understood of it, it was a very good devotion - drawing out that there is only one true King, that is Jesus Christ.

During the morning we heard the occasional sound of bagpipes which Cecily who is from Scotland appreciated. We were also treated to a rendition of Amazing Grace sang in both English and Spanish - as usual during that song there were tears in my eye but hearing in Spanish was special... there is something about the Spanish language when it is sung, its beautiful. And when spoken to, just not by me!! 

At the end of the morning the band started playing Land of Hope and Glory and I felt like I was at the last night of the proms! 

There was a special 'breakfast' for us 'special guests' as well after the service, this included cornflake krispies, egg sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, shortbread, ginger but biscuits, scones with jam, English tea plus other things. But the best thing of the 'breakfast' had to be the two cakes - they had pictures of the Queen on it, one from when she became Queen 60 years ago and one of her now. 

It was very nice and was an enjoyable morning especially for someone who is Irish!  Here are some pictures for you: 

Congratulations to the Queen from the International Colegio

The Food Table

The Two Cakes

The British Consul (with his Irish Kilt), Rosemary Gibson (Latin Link Representative of the Colegio) and the Consuls wife.





El Dios de Amor

Tuesdays and Thursdays see me working in Nuevas Fuerzas and Wednesdays during my visiting... so what do I do the rest of the week? Well on Fridays (3pm - 6pm) and Saturdays (1pm - 6pm) I work in El Dios de Amor which is a children's home run by Jose and Gloria Ingalls.

There are 20 kids in the home aged between 8 months and 15 years old - they are all so different and like Nuevas Fuerzas no day is the same. There are 13 girls and 7 boys. As well as having 20 kids, there are also 3 Cats, 2 Dogs, 5 Chickens, 2 Turtles, 4 Parrots and 21 other birds - so it is a very lively place. 

One of the dogs hiding  - in need of peace!!

On Friday's I go to the home and help them wash their clothes - this is an interesting experience as it is done by hand and there are more soap suds over the kids and the floor then there is on some of their clothes! I have to make sure the clothes are washed properly and all the dirt is off them and also to make sure then they are washed, they are rinsed and hung up properly. As you can imagine with 20 kids the washing line is very full and sometimes there is no where to hang the clothes up so clothes can be found in interesting places.

Then on Saturday when I go, I have to make sure said clothes are now in order in the bedrooms, folded properly and put away neatly  - if not folded properly then they have to be folded again. I have to also make sure all the uniforms are in the right places so on Monday there is not a struggle trying to find a skirt or pair of trousers. 

The boys are chancers at this and always try to tell me that their clothes are not theirs etc.. but actually the boys are the tidiest - their room is always tidy and usually no problems whereas the girls are so messy - I was expecting this to be the other way round. 

I also help them do their homework, which they love when it comes to their English work and expect me to give them all the answers - this is for me the easiest homework to help with - tried to help a girl with her Maths and was useless at it - Maths was never my strong point. I am also meant to make sure they have done all their homework before we go to the park, but again they are chancers at this and say they have done it or have none to do!! Typical kids, I was never like that.... I always did my homework!!

Lunchtime is always a laugh as you can imagine with 20 kids at the table.

Lunch Time

I have managed to get all the boys names correct but still struggle with the girls names, hopefully one day I will get them right... now I understand why my Mum calls me ChrisJo Anne...as am calling the girls different names to get to the right ones, but like me when it comes to my Mum, they correct me very quickly.

Last Friday night they were taking part in a dancing competition (unfortunately my camera died on the night so have no photos) so they have been practicing while I have been there - they did not win, but they were excellent (They won last year).... really really good dances, especially two of the boys Alfredo and Jossep, excellent.

Practicing their Dancing

Again am looking forward to what the next few months brings from the home and getting to know the kids better.






Friday 29 June 2012

Nuevas Fuerzas Update

Well I have now been working in Nuevas Fuerzas for five weeks and am enjoying it there, think I fit in well.We meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays each week and no day is the same, each day brings new challenges/experiences.

Most people that come have a routine of when they are there for example Pablo, Maribel and Juan always use the computers for the first half of Tuesdays and then other people use them after the break. And Katy and Miraglos always colour in. - though Katy has nearly coloured in every picture we have, am always trying to find more on the web for her. When it comes to Miraglos I have never seen anyone colour in with so much concentration before until I met her it is amazing... her picture are always so neat and lovely looking.

Miraglos
Then they are games for the others to play including Uno and Jenga. Alejandro loves playing Jenga, actually he loves pushing the bricks over and watching them fall. He can be hard to work with sometimes, but for some reason he responds to me, and we have this thing where I copy what he does and then he gives me a hug  - its sweet. He also loves music and on Thursdays when we were cooking we put music on and he usually moves his arms to that. This Thursday I had him up dancing which he enjoyed. 

Alejandro and Me

Just about to do the twirl!!

Lots of them like music and can enjoy getting up and having a wee dance... think dancing in a church would not be on in some places, but seems to be ok here... 

Vanessa, Miraglos and Manuel

I have mentioned that on Thursdays we have a cooking time. During this time one of the professors from the International Colegio comes and does some cooking with us - we have made Peruvian dishes such as Arroz Chaufa and we have also made British biscuits including Chocolate Krispies which were nice. Last Tuesday I even made Top Hats (or in Spanish Sombero Altos) with a few of the young adults -think I ended up with more chocolate on me than the actual top hats did, cooking is a messy business!

So each day as different things and some times some people come and sometimes they don't but we most days there are 15 young adults, well 17 if you include Paul the leader and me! 

I am looking forward to the next few months and getting to know them better, they all have their wee quirks - like Katy who loves to talk and Javier who has taken to hitting me on the head and saying 'SO' everytime I say 'Que' (What?) so it makes 'Queso' which is Cheese in Spanish - funny! 

I still struggle in terms of talking to them with my Spanish but each day gets better and most of them are patient with me which is good.  At the end of July we will be having two weeks holidays. During these weeks the Step Team who are coming out from England will do a few activities with them for a couple of days and I will also go and visit some of the girls in their houses. I already visit Maribel, been to visit her twice now and that seems to be going well - she is helping me with my Spanish and I am teaching her a bit of English at the minute  - we have been doing colours and numbers so far.

Marible






Dia de la Padre

Well its been a while since I have blogged, and apologies for that - now have started work am more busy than I was but am also experiencing fun things.

On the 17th June it was Father's Day around the world but for me it has never been a big thing, yes my Dad gets a present but the churches I have been at have never made a big deal of it, so was nice to see in Peru, all the Dad's being celebrated.

On the Saturday night at Jovenes, the day before Father's Day, we all made origami cards in the shape of shirts to give to all the Dad's in the church on the Sunday, this was good fun despite the fact one of my origami shirts looked more like an aeroplane!!

The Origami Father's Day Cards

Then on the Sunday, all the kids from the Sunday School got up and sang two songs for the Dad's and some of them said nice things about their Dad's... well hope they were nice, don't actually know what was said!! 

The Kids 

And then all of us from the Jovenes, acted out three skits - the first one involved Airyn sitting at a table and eating some popcorn given to her by her Mum (acted by Rocio), and then her Dad (Daniel) comes and talks to her and they ended up sitting eating popcorn and playing dress up together. Think this was to show how Dad's dote on their wee girls they don't mind wearing weird things - don't think I have ever played dress up with my Dad, maybe when I come home!! hee hee... too old for that now.

Airyn as a little girl

The second skit was of a father and son (Beto and David) in a car driving together and after the son drives fast, the father who you assume would yell at him, says well done son. Not sure what this was meant to say

Beto and David

And finally the third skit was of a Dad and Mum sleeping (Josue and myself) and the daughter comes into the bed to give her Dad a hug and wish him Happy Father's Day. I was meant to be pretending to sleep but could not stop laughing!! 

Josue and Me

Sandra coming to hug Daddy!

Afterwards, all the Dad's got up on the platform with the oldest child of the family and played a game about who knew their Dad best. At this stage I was sitting wishing my Dad was there but then also glad he wasn't as I am afraid to say I have no idea what his favourite colour is or favourite bible verse is so we would have lost the contest! The only thing I would have got right I think it his favourite food - everything!! 

The Dad's and their kids





Saturday 9 June 2012

Shalom

Not yesterday but the Friday before I went to visit the Shalom Center, which is a school which caters for children with special needs. It is run by Ruth Green (a long term missionary with Latin Link, she has been in Peru for over 30 years).

Shalom is a social aid project of the International Collegio (which have previously written about) and employs one teacher, one classroom assistant and a physio. Eight children attend Shalom aged from 6 years to 13 years old and they all have different disabilities. I met five of the children when I visited, Miguel Ankla, Rut, Anthony, Mable, Carolie.

It was great to be able to see this center which celebrates its 10th Anniversary in September. I have heard so much about it as my parents are great supporters of the work and two step teams from N.Ireland have been out and worked on the center - one team helped build a great Garden there. There is a piece of cement with the teams hand prints in it and it was cool to see the names of Ruth McKee and Nicole Craig, two of the people I met before coming out to Peru.

During the morning I was there, I took Miguel Ankla and Rut for a walk with Blanca (one of the workers there), we walked around the playing fields (which are for the collegio) - this was an interesting experience. The reason was Rut - she only started walking about 2 years ago (though she is 9 years old)... but she is not totally steady on her own so she would rather walk holding hands with someone, but they try to make her walk solo - so when she was being clingy I walked in front of her with my arms held out and she walked towards me trying to grab my hands... was so sweet and yet hard to watch - but for someone who only has had difficulties walking, she was amazing to watch.

Rut, Miguel Ankla and Blanca

After the walk, I played a few games with Miguel Ankla, well tried to play games, he was more interested in trying to throw things at me and pull my hair. It is his job every day to take the lunch boxes to the table for break time, so after we finished playing, we went and gathered the lunch boxes and he carried them without dropping them (normally he does this) and then we all sat and had break together. It was so nice to be there and see Ruth in action in the school, she loves those kids and is so good with them as are the other three workers as well.

After break I went into the classroom and helped Anthony with his work  - they were doing squares that day and he and Carolie were colouring in their squares. 

Anthony

Carolie

Another interesting bit about going to Shalom was meeting Mabel. Mabel is 13 years old and she lives in El Dios de Amor which is the children's home I am working in (start there today actually), so it was good to meet her before I go. I am looking forward to getting to know her better (along with all the other kids as well).

Mabel
To see a video of Shalom please click here.