The routine

Tyson took the bus to Lima today with a child who is five years old but looks barely two because of his size.

I stayed home and helped with breakfast. I am getting very sick of the avacado spread. I previously was not a fan of avacado but now it has become nauseating. It's hard to complain because the kids have eaten this every morning for their whole lives. We then help with dishes. The mamitas fill up one sink with a set amount of soap and water and a second sink with plain water. We scrape the kids plates into the garbage and dip the dishes into the each sink of water. By the end the water is black with floaties and sometimes when we are drying the dishes there is still food on them. We never refill the sink with fresh water, there just isn`t enough. You just have to look past it and keep antibiotics handy.
They never ever waste food, everything is kept and reused the next day until its gone. The mamitas are very creative and make fresh bread three times a week.
There is a set routine here. The kids wake up at 5am and do their chores (mainly cleaning) and head out to school after breakfast. Some kids were kicked out of school and some are too young so we play with these kids all day, mainly Uno and tag. We eat all our meals after the kids are done. The doctor eats breakfast and linch with the kids but dinner with us. On weekends the kids can watch a movie but other night they head to bed at 8:30. The weather is wonderful, fairly warm with a cool breaze. It`s perfect.
The doctor is in his 70`s and is very gruff with the kids. The only time he seems to relax is at coffee or dinner with the volunteers. He is yelling and shouting most of the time (like a parent) but the kids adore him. They always want to hold his hand and hug him. It must be a very rewarding position to be in but it came at a price. The doctor left his wife to begin this foundation in 1983. He gave up any chance of having his own family to serve these children. His wife did not want to come.
I have picked up a lot of Spanish here because the kids speak very little English and they expect you to understand them.
The churches are very supportive of this home and they donate food and supplies often. They often donate big bags of rice, flour and beans. The home is well known in the area and there are always people donating supplies, but it is never enough. Of course financial docations are the best because money goes much farther here than it would in North America. Only medicine costs about the same here as it would in North America. They DESPERATELY need an elevator in the home. There are always kids on cruutches falling down the stairs or we have to carry kids up and down. A small elevator has been estimated to cost $18,000 US. Apparently a rich spaniard had offered to pay for it a couple of years ago but never followed through. The doctor also has fundraisers in the States and Peru yearly and he has a foundation in the US.
My physical environment is comfortable here. All the volunteer rooms and bathroom are locked and we have to have keys on us at all times so the kids don`t sneak up. I sleep on the top bunk of bunk beds and it creeks at night. I have not seen any cockroaches in my room yet. May of the parts of the house have no roof covering it but luckily it rarely rains. We eat a lot of rice and onions and we do our own shopping to supplement our diet with neccessary junk food like coke and ice cream. We do our laundry by hand and we can only use hot water when we ask 30 minutes prior.
Outside is dirty, there is litter everywhere, the sidewalks are broken and unfinished. There are huge holes in the roads and sidewalks that make it impossible to walk around at night without falling. There is water running down ditches between the sidewalks and the streets (I`m not sure why). But they have beautiful parks with lots of butterflies. All buidings and even parks are surrounded by a compound of tall thick solid walls. These walls are decieving because on the inside the homes are beautiful.
The doctor has a few rules that we try not to break. For example he has a special plate (don`t use it), he has special tea (don`t drink it, and if you do sneak some, make sure to replace it before the next breakfast), do not slam the van door , do not flush toilet paper down the toilet and do not use the bathroom at 6am, 9am, or 11pm. Last night at 11pm (on the dot) I woke up to banging on the bathroom door (my top bunk is right next to the bathroom) and a frustrated voice shouting ``are you going to be long in there, it`s 11!!! And then I hear Tyson`s voice questioning``is it``. While most of us would have appologetically rushed out of the bathroom Tyson goes on to say ``I`ll be a couple more minutes``, the nerve of that boy! But we all laughed about it today.
The baby I held during baby hour today has a double cleft lip and palate so bad that I can see the bottom of his nose when he yawns and there are teeth growing out of his lip. I will be posting pics of the kids on facebook because I can`t figure out how to get them on here.
People have been asking me if they can help or donate. The answer is yes, they appreciate everything here. You can contribute money through paypal through their website or you can mail stuff to the house if you email the doctor and ask for the address. The website is www.villalapazfoundation.org
We went to the market today and I couldn`t figure out most of what was for sale but I think they were promoting worms as part of a weight loss program. I took pictures.
I forgot to mention yesterday that the girl who was dragged onto a moving bus came to the house a few years ago stuck in a pretzel position. Her body was so stiff that she couldn`t move. Now with the support and care of the doctor and nurses she can walk. Amazing.
Tyson got home from Lima at about 14:30 in the same shock that I was in from the driving and the hospitals and the bus system. Now that we have experienced this, we will probably just take a cab.