The last week of June was
vacation week, thanks to
el Día
del Maestro.
That meant 39 free and unoccupied niños.
But thankfully
we managed to fill (in
fact overfill)
the week and the bored minds of the kids.
Monday:
We
spend the day making pulceras (bracelets) out of wool. The tricky
designs and craft-work were quickly conquered by the kids and
by the end of the day all had arms full with bracelets. The activity
was so popular it continued into most of Tuesday and some even spent
the next week turning up with new ones they had made at home.
Tuesday: We had our periodic medical control out at the family support centre.
With a brigade of doctors and med students here at the school we
headed out to do our health check ups. Height, weights and general
checkups were all taken. And apart from the odd cold all came through
with flying colors.
Wednesday: After a couple
of weeks of detailed planing and writing and with the great help of a
couple social work students, we presented workshops (talleres) on healthy relationship and sexuality,
drugs and alcohol, and education. We broke the kids into 3 groups, the
young kids together (minus the pulgitas) and separated the older boys
and girls. The sexuality taller focused, firstly on respect for
yourselves and the importance of respect, friendship, and support for
your partner. We also touched on the delicate subject of sex and
contraception with the older ones. Drugs and alcohol spoke of the
reality of why people drink and even like to drink, but that it also
has grave consequences. It finished up with alternative solutions to
dealing with problem drinking. Finally we wrapped up the
morning with the importance of education in all forms, not just in
school. They all went down much better than expected, although it just about exhausted the concentration of the smaller conejos (8-10
years).
Thursday: Reforestation,
with the help of the last group of families that had received stoves
and 15 Pop Wuj students. We all ventured up into the surrounding hills of
Llanos del Pinal and some even half way up Volcan Santa Maria. We successfully planted over 400 arbolitos. A great time was had by
all, especially by the families that generously donated their
precious land for the project.
Friday: After
a very busy week it was time to recover, so making dream-catchers was
just the perfect way to recuperate, and recover all that
spent energy of the week past.