For the last two weeks the daycare at my work, Plataforma Solidaria, has been open. There are three classes of about 15 kids each, but unfortunately there are only two teachers. So... Alvaro, Mateo, and I have been teaching a pre-kindergarden class!
It is so much fun! The kids all have an incredible amount of energy, which can get exhausting, but they are all really nice and good-hearted. I have done a lot of work with children through my jobs at camps, babysitting, and as a hockey referee, but this is the most work I have done with kids this young. I now know how to stop a crying three year old in SPANISH in about 5 seconds flat.. win.
The kids are all great, but they are also part of one of the most challenging things I have experienced in this program. My work placement is in a really rough area of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. It is full of poverty, sickness, drugs, and abuse. The kids come to the daycare since it is often the only option since many of the parents need to work long hours to try and help take care of their families. But some of the kids have a parent at home who, ideally, could take care of them. But due to drugs, or violence, they can't be left with them. One of the girls in my class is at the daycare because her mother doesn't trust her father to take care of her and her sister. This is the same girl who told me all about how her dad beats her mom. This girl, who is no more than four, knows all the details of her father's abuse against her mother. She told me about where and when her dad beats her mom, and she even knew the "why". In her eyes, as she had been told by her dad, her mom had done something to deserve it and that was why he beats her.
Listening to this child tell me about the horror in her home, and knowing that there was absolutely nothing I could do to help was one of the hardest things I have ever done.
Unfortunately, she wasn't alone. Most of the kids at my work have some kind of awful story. A mother of one of the children I worked with has a 5 pound tumor in her stomach that is so large she looks pregnant. They cannot afford healthcare, so she will almost certainly die.
Another lives in a very small house, with three generations of family. When I asked them how many people they cook for I was told that at every meal they serve between 30 and 35 family members, depending on who is home. Since they all live in such close proximity when one of them gets sick, it quickly passes throughout the entire house. Once again, this is a family that cannot afford medical care.
These are just a few of the many stories I have learned since working here. They are also what has made it so hard at times, knowing all of these awful things and not being able to do anything to help.
All I can do is make the best of the time with the kids at Plataforma, and hope that it over shines anything negative that happens!
Here are some pictures from my work:
One of the little boys decided he fit perfectly in Alvaro's shoes.. :)
The kids loved hanging onto Mateo's feet and seeing how many of them it took until he couldn't walk anymore!
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