Marci Soifer

Casita crema. I arrived there this afternoon, and as soon as I walked in, I found 13 pairs of wide eyes staring up at me. The kids, complete with (runny) button noses, (bathroom scented) brightly colored clothing, and (mangled and messy) hair under caps or in pig-tails, immediately ran to me, fighting one another to hold either of my two hands. I told them that I was the new volunteer, and that my name was Marci. They shouted, ¨new volunteer, new volunteer, do you have markers and cookies?¨ I said, ¨sorry, no.¨ But, I know what their old volunteer used to bring each day.

The mamita came to meet me, said hello (although that was pretty much all she said to me for the rest of the afternoon), and went back upstairs where I presume she was busily working on cleaning or washing or something. However, that left me, and all the kids...and I was without supplies (as I figured that we would have an introductory day).

Chaos...

There are two girls who must be close to 10, two boys who are near 6 or 7, and the rest are a mixture of girls and boys between 3-5. And, one of the boys in the younger range just moved over from the center for the special needs kids, as he has Downs Syndrome.

Run around, run around, knock people down, hit anyone in our way, climb on the gringa...

The fun was just commencing, and I knew that being resourceful was going to be the only that both me and these kids were coming out of this alive. I glanced around the room...nothing. No supplies, a few ratty stuffed animals, and one hanging television. These kids have nothing.

Watch the rain fall outside, climb on the windows, cry and scream a little, convince the gringa that I have to use the bathroom 14 times in a row and really just want to splash my hands in the water because the gringa keeps making me wash my hands...

Okay, time to collect myself. Lima, Ayacucho...what did I do? My mouth was pronouncing, ¨pato, pato, ganso¨ (the real duck, duck, goose) before I even realized that my memory was serving me correctly. The kids knew the game and were excited. We sat in a circle and played...but attention grew thin. And Juan, the boy with Downs, got really frustrated that he was not picked as the goose ever, and decided to take his hand out of his mouth for a moment and smack everyone in the face, individually. Tears. All around.

At this point, the older kids departed for the school house (which was a shame because they were attempting to be helpful), and the mamita came downstairs. They all sat quietly, and stared at her, as she turned on the television, airing what I would equate with MTV in Spanish. Instantly, the two little girls jumped up and began dancing. The boys were a mixed bag of being mesmerized, and still shaken from the aftermath of Duck, Duck, Goose.

With Juan in my lap, as his dry hand had become fastened to my pants, my attention turned to one of the smallest boys. Slowly, tears rolled off his cheeks, and disappeared into a wet spot along his blue, fleece collar. I asked him what was wrong, and he shrugged. Motioning to the spot on the floor on at my side, I convinced his to sit next to me. Slowly rubbing his back, I felt the anxiety leave him, and after a short while, I was thrilled to see a smile re-emerge on his face.

Stop dancing so close to me, hit the kids around me, climb on the chairs, jump off and see if anyone notices...

Sitting, with the kids as attentive as I could get them for the moment, I decided to play another game. I went through every animal I could possibly think of in Spanish, and asked the kids what color the animal was and what sound the animal made. I was shocked to find that these kids LOVE ¨name that animal¨. And, some of their responses were hysterical. Did you know that a butterfly says, ¨blip, blip, blip¨? Cause it does. According to my new friends, anyway. Even Juan said.

After a few more rounds of ¨name that animal¨, the ever popular ¨ring around the rosie¨, and, of course, the ¨in your country...?¨ game, time had actually flown by. The mamita came down, and gave the kids bread and warm milk, much like the kids had for snack in the prison in Ayacucho. The little kids sat together at their own table, the older kids sat at a big table with big chairs, and the mamita put Juan by himself, at a separate table. I went and sat with Juan, as I already saw the milk around the corners of his mouth (and dribbling down his chin). He cannot really talk, but only make noises that seem to correspond to specific items around the room (because that is the only place we go). I hadn´t picked up on his language yet, and he became agitated while he was eating. I watched him for a moment, trying to decipher what he needed. At this point, one of the older girls came over and broke his bread up into pieces. She said, ¨he likes when the food is in pieces¨. I thanked her.

The mamita, myself, and the older girls put the rest of the kids in pajamas, and I was really interested to see that the government has supplied these kids with matching pink or blue (corresponding to gender) fleece pajamas. They were in a big pile, and there was no way of distinguishing whose is whose. We stripped all the kids down, discarding of their clothing in a bin, and putting them into fleece. Everyone, that is, except Juan. He was in flannel.

After the changing, it was time for me to go. The other volunteers came to my casita to pick me up, and I hugged and kissed the kids goodnight on my way out. Juan had a hard time letting go of my hand, but I promised to come back tomorrow. I think I may have made quite a good friend.

So, that was the beginning of my life in casita crema. To be continued, for sure. I have a million questions and wonder about many outstanding things...what are all the kids names, and why doesn´t anyone use names for anyone other than Juan? Although they are of varied ages and levels of attention, can I run an educational activity successfully with them? Do the kids remember their homes, or having parents? Are they happy together, and what can I do to make it better?

I am confident that I will get into the groove of things in this casita, and will even get good at planning for the mixture of their personalities (as I learn what they are like) (and maybe, their names as well). Things seem to be off to a good start, as today went well. And, this is only one of my placements.

I will only go to this one again tomorrow, as the bureaucratic bullshit and government paperwork have yet to go through for me to begin working on the other side. In the meantime, I have signed myself up for Spanish classes twice a week, which I am quite looking forward to. Not only do I think that I could use some help with everyday Spanish and want something to make communicating with my family easier, but I learned one big thing today...I had forgotten a lot of worked in my kid friendly Spanish vocabulary. I mean, it´s hard to remember things like, spit, hit, pull, fight, and push...to name a few.

Also, as a side note, I know that I am writing, but I don´t know that you are reading. Feel free to give me a shout, and comment. Really. Nothing to be scared of. I will even write you back. Promise.

I do hope all is well out there, and (of course) I will be back soon.