It was decided to take the kids down to the soccer field for more room. This gave us the opportunity to look around at the classrooms. The walls were about 6 feet high and the roofs were made of tin. There were desks on the inside the resembled the one-room school houses I remember touring when I was younger. A white board was in the front of each of the rooms and that was about it! No books, no pencils, VERY minimal supplies.

We learned more about the school as we listened to Virginia translate. There were four teachers, one for each room, two were paid and the other two were currently volunteering. The community and the parents kept the school running through donations and organizational support.

We walked down to the field day to a mass of excited children. We had the teachers try to help us organize the kids into two groups, older kids and younger kids. We ended up with two groups, but instead of split by age, they were split by gender. So we tried again for two with the age split and this time ended up with three split somewhat by age and somewhat by gender. Nonetheless, we let the games begin!

Adam and Mary started with some of the younger ones to try to teach them kickball...an amazing task. Eventually, kickball was forgotten and the group moved to link tag, and then Duck, Duck Goose.

Andrea and Kirsten took the really little ones and played with a sheet and a ball for awhile, the kids loved it! They also played with the bubbles and did other little games to keep the kids occuppied.

Amy and Starburst attempted to entertain the older kids. It started with blowing up balloons and trying to get them to play balloon games, but it ended in many kids digging through our bag to find something better. Soon, there were kites, planes, footballs, tennis balls, balloons, bubbles and Uno flittering about the field.

As the kids became worn, Starburst got out her balloon animals! A swarm of children soon consumed her as she twisted the colorful balloons into different shapes. She practiced saying the colors in Spanish and English as she made each balloon and then she remembered a very important fact. For all of these children, Spanish was their second language, and many didn't speak it yet at all! Many used their native language and were in the process of learning Spanish. This explained a lot of why instructions were hard to give, and colors were hard to say!

Many of the children were shouting "teng un", wanting a balloon, but Starburst could only twist so fast. Luckily, many of the other volunteers came to help and she was able to get most of the kids a balloon.

As she walked back to the schools when the field day was over, the kids followed, watching every movement. When she stopped, so did they. And when they returned to the schools, the kids were still asking for balloons. She entertained the kids while the rest of the volunteers sorted through the donations with the teacher. He was very excited to get the supplies and Virginia said his eyes were wide and seemed overwhelmed with joy. The school would now have crayons, scissors, paper, glue, etc, at least for a little while.

Starburst reflected on the way back to Chonita's about the day. The clown was such a special treat for the kids and even though they couldn't understand each other, they could still laugh and smile together. Smiles are similar in all languages and she was proud to be part of the sharing. For some of the kids, the field day was a time to let loose and act like a child. For many of the kids, who look after their siblings, and help their parents, they grow up quickly and miss out on the games...hopefully today was as fun for them as it was for her.

Jacquie

go to May 20