Tuesday 13th (again)

We just had a look around three possible placements. The first was a home for disabled children, young ones aged about 3 to 12. Some are orphans ,some have parents who cant cope. I thought id find it completely daunting and upsetting but i loved it. A lot of the children are in wheel chairs or have downsyndrome and other mental disabilities, but one of the boys wheeled over and reached for my hand and pointed outside, so we took him out to play, then lots of the others joined. I really think i´ll choose that one for the mornings.

Then we went to a home which has tiny kids who get looked after while their mothers sell things on the street, unfortunately we dont get to work with them because they are adorable, we just played with them till the owner was ready to show us round. Upstairs were three different classes with different age groups roughly years 3, 5 and 6. The older ones gasped when we walked in they were that excited! We would teach them english and serve the dinner. It is based in a very poor part of cusco and a lot of them sleep over there and sometimes, if for example one of their fathers is ill, the mother is allowed to sleep their with the kids. This one was also very tempting!

The last place was an orphanage for older disabled children aged about 12 and up, unfortunately they had just sat down for a meal time (they have 5 a day) so we couldnt really interact with them, but this place was a bit more unnerving, i think because there are so many of them and there much bigger. There are a lot of staff here and it would be more a case of helping the adults than playing with the kids. The young ones seem to appreciate the attention more aswell. In this one its got a strict routine, 5 meals a day, brush their teeth after every meal, bath and in their pyjamas after the fourth meal then dinner and bed. They sleep early because they´re up at 5!!

We have three more places to look round tomorrow and then another one the next day, so lots of decisions to be made!

Also had my first bus experience, that was exciting, they literally pile you in, they have people standing in the middle holding the bar like a tube. One boy sits sliding the door open at any potential customer, and the driver shouts the stops as you approach them and you have to respond if you want him to pull over!

I promise i haven´t actually spent that much time on the computer, i just thought id make the most of my free hour, and the free, free hotel computer!