Week one: check! The first week has been transitional and geared towards blending into the preexisting system at the childrens home. We used the 7 hours there each day to learn the children's names, care for the children, and ultimately be an extra pair of helping hands. Like a sponge, we spent the first week soaking up everything, observing, and being kids with the kids. We played and danced; washed and dried; fed and cleaned; and everything in between.
Now we are shifting gears to start tackling small projects everyday while planning a few long term fun events for los ninos. On Monday, we started with the closet area where shoes, sheets, and clothes for all 39 children are kept. The room can be overwhelming because there is bins with clothes and spare shoes in addition to the shelves that are literally overflowing.
However crowded, the room is definitely a testament to the strength and power of community support. With 39 children of different ages, shapes, and sizes, you can imagine what a challenge it is to dress the children and fit them with shoes. In order to make it easier for the workers to find and fit shoes, we reorganized the shoe shelves and sorted it into boys and girls, casual to fancy, and from smallest to largest- hopefully this will help in the future to get the kiddos ready for their day.
Along with daily projects, we have casually started bringing picture books and reading to the children when they have play time in school. They LOVE it. Bimbola, one of the older children, had me read a story about airplanes and helicopters to him. Hungry for more, the moment we finished he started over again but this time traversing through the book himself, stumbling and falling on some words and soaring on others. It was so rewarding to sit with him and help him piece together words such as "helicopter." He is a fighter and a survivor. He has pushed through the situational adversity and taught himself how to read. A skill that will carry him far beyond the walls of the Marigold Basic School for Children. Of the 39 children at Marigold, Bimbola is one of two children who know how to read.
This morning, Elin and I took a field trip to Rainbowland Preschool and Kindergarten, a highly sought after pre-k in Kingston, to visit the first school I went to! It was wild seeing teachers that had taught me as a 3 yr old! Rainbowland is exactly what it sounds. An oasis for small children filled with love, learning, and singing, where children love school and love learning. There were a myriad of differences between the two schools, differences that truly highlighted the great need for an extra spoonful of tender loving care for the kids at Marigold.
Tomorrow can't come any quicker! The last few days we have been gathering individual photos of the children for our first art craft tomorrow morning. Today we printed the photos, and I have 39 photos hot off the press ready to be hung up on the veranda after a little bit of spicing up by the kids. I won't ruin the surprise for anyone, i'll let the photos later this week tell the story. On Thursday, Elin's friends come in! Brave souls I know... ha ha just kidding, it seems like Kingston is back to normal. This afternoon, I went on a beautiful 2 mile loop run today around a reservoir, then had some jerk chicken for din and sorted through the books we have collected to pair one with the craft tomorrow. After searching through piles of books, we finally settled on a baby Einstein book about taking care of yourself. Its filled with mirrors, a treat the children will be sure to enjoy in the morning.
keep it irie,
tkm
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