Tadeo Torres
This is the orphanage I work at everyday in Cunas. It is run by Catholic nuns who are all very kind to all the volunteers and children, but we don’t see them very often. The workers at Tadeo Torres are the ones that do all the cooking, cleaning and help me to change the kids. The nuns run from place to place which makes me think they have a lot of important stuff they are doing all day haha They drive a red pick up truck and I love seeing them in full nun outfit driving out the gate. A funny experience I had with one of the nuns… It was Erica’s first birthday and the old volunteers last day, so we had a party. Jo was sitting on the table eating her cake, the nun was sitting in the chair next to her, and I was across the table from the nun. Jo wanted to hold her plate and eat by herself, so I was keeping a close eye on her. The one and only time I took my eyes off her, she decided to tip her plate. As I looked back, the cake was in mid air, so I reached my hand out quickly to grab it, but instead the cake hit my hand and flew onto the nun. It stuck to the front of her dress and then slowly slid down into her lap, leaving a long streak of pink frosting. We both stared at each other for a few seconds and then she started laughing. I was so relieved to hear that laugh! I apologized a thousand times, and she just kept laughing and telling me it was ok. I’m sure she will steer clear of me at the next party.
In my morning shifts, I get there about 7: 20. I go into the cuna room and am welcomed by “Lanitaaaaaaa!” (that’s what makes me get out of bed at 6:30 every morning) Then we change them and take them to the comedor for breakfast which is always colada. Then we play in the sala and I take the kids out one by one to read to them or work on letters, shapes, body parts, colors, animals, etc. while the other volunteer stays in the sala. Next is papilla (snack) and we go back to the comedor. After papilla, we change them again, play in the sala more until its time for lunch. Lunch is always a different sopa and I love watching my kids as they are starting to learn to eat on their own! I still help them a lot with eating and don’t leave the orphanage without sopa on my jeans, shirt, face, or in my hair. We leave at the end of lunch and come to our house for our own lunch. Afternoon shift starts at 2. When I get there, I give them colada and then change them. Then we play in the sala and I take them out one by one again. Around 4 either me or the other volunteer helps feed all the babies and then we take all the others into the comedor for dinner- sopa and colada. After dinner, I brush their teeth, change them and put them into their monos. Then we put them into their cunas, and I give them all lotion and Vaseline for their lips. We say our goodbyes (the hardest thing!!) and then leave at 5: 45. Also, I get to wear a very attractive frock to work in.
The baby room has four babies. Elvis Josue, Andrea (her name used to be Rosita, but the nuns just changed it), Maria de los Angeles, and Richard Paul (We call him Gordo because he’s so chubby). They are in their cunas most of the day except for feeding time because the nuns say that we can’t get them in the habit of being held all the time. It breaks my heart, so when there are enough volunteers at a shift, I always have one of us go in and play with them on their mats:) They are all so perfect and little, and I love watching them laugh, roll over, or just stare in my eyes.
Erica is the youngest of my Cuna kids. She just turned one a few weeks ago, and we are working hard to get her walking all by herself by the time I leave. She is always happy! She always pulls her hair elastics or clips out, so she is usually sporting a mohawk. She doesn’t talk at all yet, but we say different sounds to her and she will repeat them back. During the afternoon shifts, we feed her and the babies separate from the older Cunas.. On Friday, I had her in the back kitchen and was feeding her sopa while she sat on my lap. She kept trying to put her hands in the sopa, so I gave her a spoon to play with. She started banging it against the table, and as she brought it up to hit the table again, she hit me square in the eye with the side of the spoon. I had a fun-shaped bruise right under my eye for the next two days. I love funny little moments like that with my kids- I’ll remember them forever.
Sofi has the cutest little scream. She doesn’t really every use it when she’s upset or sad.. only when she gets really excited. Her new favorite spot is on my back, playing with my hair. She also loves sitting in my lap and saying “Tickle tickle tickle!” while she tickles my neck and then she does her adorable scream when I start laughing. She isn’t quite two years old yet, but she is smart and holds her own! Whenever its changing time, I’ll be at the changing table with one of my kids and I’ll feel two little arms wrapping around my leg and I look down to see Sofi’s beautiful smiling face. Sofi hates that the workers put little pieces of bread in her colada. When I’m feeding her, she has to inspect every spoonful to make sure there is no bread in it. If I get some bread in there without her knowing, she’ll spit it out. So I’ve learned to crush it up as much as possible for her, and there is usually just a bunch of soggy bread at the bottom of her cup when she’s done.
Camilla is a little under two years old as well. When I first got here, I had a hard time connecting with her because she never showed any emotion- whether she was happy or sad. But I’ve gotten a lot closer with her as my time has gone on! She has the cutest raspy voice and giggle. She loves when I throw her up into the air. Her walk is more of a waddle and when she runs I can’t help but laugh to myself. Her favorite thing to do is get a play plate and spoon and feed me sopa. She will walk to different parts of the room, pretend that she’s getting something off the window sill, wall, ball, rocking horse, etc. put it on her plate and run back to me to feed it to me.
Javi is about 2 and a half along with the rest of my kids. He loves screaming my name and then saying “dee dee dee” and move his head side to side, so that I will copy him and do the same thing. Almost everytime he hits, he will immediately run over to me with a huge smile and give me a hug so that I won’t get mad at him. Another of my favorite things about him is that about every 15 minutes he will say my name, come give me a hug, and hold my face and put his up to mine so that we are just staring into eachother’s eyes. Whenever we come back for afternoon shift and the kids are still sleeping, Javi’s legs are sticking out of the side of his cuna-just a cute, quirky thing he does. He gets so excited when he does something right, or knows what a certain thing is in a book so he will yell my name until I look at him and acknowledge that I saw what a great thing he did, and then we will both clap and say Bravo! together.
Anna Cris loves to dance! The second I turn on music, her hips start moving side to side. And she’s really good at it too! Her favorite animal is a pato (duck) and whenever someone mentions it, she starts flapping her arms and quacking. When she quacks, she only opens one side of her mouth- its adorable! Anna Lou is her best friend and she loves asking Anna Lou if what she is about to do is ok. Her favorite game is to run away from me, touch a wall and then run back as fast as she can into my arms. When she was sick and had to stay in the cuna room away from the other children, we played this for at least 20 minutes.
Jo has become more and more of my little discipliner. If someone is doing something wrong, she will come grab my hand and take me to the person who is acting up, or she’ll just yell at them herself. She is very protective over me and gets very upset if one of the other kids isn’t acting nice when I’m changing them or playing with them. When I give her colada at the beginning of afternoon shift, she will whisper “Aqui” and pat next to her so that I will sit in her cuna with her until she is done. Then she shows me that its all gone and I say “Se acabo?” and she says Si- which actually sounds more like Ti ! when she says it. Any time Jo is sitting on my lap and wants to get up to do something else, she will say Chao! and blow me kisses. At the end of the day, when I’m saying bye to her, she will give me a huge hug and kiss and then says Chao Chao and pats my back in another hug. Also, she has one of her bottom middle teeth missing which makes her that much more adorable.
Anna Lu is so incredibly smart and beautiful. She’s my little helper. If I’m looking for one of the kid’s shoes or pieces of clothing, I ask her and she brings it to me right away. When it is time to clean up and I start singing the clean up song, she runs around as fast as she can to pick everything up to give to me. When I’m saying my goodbye to her at the end of the day, she always leans her face into mine to give me a kiss, and then grabs my hands and holds them to her face or to her chest. I just wish I could stay all night!! My favorite thing that she says is “A mi, Yah?” It’s just when I am about to give her something or wants something and she’s pretty much saying “For me, yes?” Her favorite book is one of a little baby doing different things like sleeping, kissing, hiding, etc. She loves acting it out with me.
David has the biggest, most beautiful dark eyes you will ever see. His laugh and smile could make anyone happy. He absolutely loves bombas (balloons) When I come into the cuna room at the beginning of a shift, he screams my name and jumps up and down in his cuna. When I’m brushing the other kid’s teeth, he will stand at the door and say my name, and when I say “Mande” he says Hola! And then he’ll start over. David’s favorite thing is his big exercise ball. He will push it up against the wall and sit on it and bounce forever. While he’s bouncing he’ll scream my name, and when I look over he’ll say “boing boing boing!”
These children are perfect. I always am so excited to go to shift to see them and have more adventures with them. They have stolen my heart and break it everyday when I think of having to leave them. They have such a perfect love and have honestly changed who I am as a person.
Along with my site responsibility, I am in charge of food for the house. I go grocery shopping every Tuesday to buy all the food for our pantry and cupboards and also for our cook, Catalina. Catalina cooks lunch for us every day but Sunday. Her meals always consist of a massive platter of rice, a dish of meat, dessert on Monday Wednesday and Friday, and another side dish of a salad or fried platanos or fruit. Its pretty fun trying to figure out all of her lists since she is writing it all in Spanish. Before I go to the grocery store, I do an inventory of our kitchen and pantry to see what we need and then put it all away when I get home. Along with grocery shopping, I also go to the fruit market twice a week. Its pretty close to our house, so we just walk there and then taxi home with the purchases. It is so fun!! The fruit market is massive and there are piles of fruits and vegetables everywhere you look. On average for one trip to the fruit market, I buy: 60 apples, 70 bananas, 20 pears, 30 granandias-we call them monkey brains, 30 oranges, 15 mangos, 15 peppers, 10 avocados, 2 cucumbers, 2 zucchinis, 2 libras of tomatoes, 2 libras of onions, 4 papayas, 2 pineapples, and 1 watermelon. (That was pretty difficult to list everything in English- I only say the fruits/vegetables in Spanish now!) And then I also buy whatever Catalina asks for. I also get our eggs from a cute little old lady at the fruit market- 40 eggs for 3.50. We put all the fruit/vegetables/eggs in cartons and then walk as quickly to the taxi as possible with 50+ pounds of fruit. Once at home, I wash everything in dish soap and then again in bleach and put them in the fruit baskets for everyone.
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