One of the experiences that makes me so happy is to hear the stories of people who found my blog and were able to help the children in Cabo San Lucas. I never could have imagined that so much good could ripple out from a blog and the ripple just keeps growing. If you are someone who has happened to cross this blog and want to be inspired, the following gives you the recent experience of the Shoemaker family from Canada. I welcome others' experience as well.
DAY 1
Volunteering at Los
Ninos del Capitan daycare in Cabo San Lucas was all that we had hoped it would
be.....and more! I think that each of us, as individuals, took away a little
something different from the experience, but the 5 of us all agreed that the
experience has left a lasting impression in our hearts and in our minds, and
that we are eager to return.
The daycare was located about 20 minutes from our hotel, in an
area that lays in stark contrast to the wealth that we had observed in Cabo's
hotel zone and tourist district. Where the paved, marked road ends, begins the
dusty, sandy, dirty, bumpy route to the barrio where the daycare is located. Homes in the barrio are small, typically one room shelters which seem in
mid-construction no matter where you look. In this neighborhood, homes are
built literally board by board, cinder block by cinder block, as the family can
afford to add to their home - with the poverty level here homes are never
really finished as we would be accustomed to in Canada. The building materials
available are of low quality as are the regulations guiding the construction,
as many of the homes, fences, rooftops are seemingly falling apart right before
our eyes.
This dusty road brought us past the Primary school to Los
Ninos del Capitan daycare - a large purpose built facility created solely by
donations - a far stretch from it's humble beginnings in 2001 in one room with
7 children and a kind grandmother who founded the centre. We are sad to report
that Herminia Zatarain, the founder of Los Ninos del Capitan, passed away while
we were there. Without her vision, perseverance and dedication to young
children, the 100 children enrolled at Los Ninos would be living a very
different life.
The Los
Ninos building is "U" shaped, housing the director's office, 5
children's classrooms, after school care, a dental office, a kitchen, eating
area, laundry facilities and more. In the middle of the building, lays the open
area for the playground. The selection of toys in the playground was very
limited - I noted some ride on toys that had been donated by other families
with whom I had been in contact, and a small kitchen centre in disrepair. I was
impressed with the progress that had been made since seeing photos even as
recent as a few months ago - the dismantling and removal of the old, unsafe
playground climbers , as , as well as the disappearance of the 40 sinks that
had been living in part of the playground for a long time.
Upon our arrival, we were greeted in
a most warm and friendly fashion. Some children were playing outside and they
ran to us to give hugs and to chatter excitedly in Spanish. When we entered the
toddler room, the toddlers and teachers performed a cute dance and many of the
children climbed into our laps and arms. In one of the older classrooms, the
children sang a welcoming song to us, and then busily returned to their preschool
workbooks in which they were coloring. Each child wanted to share the pictures
in their workbooks with us, their big, brown eyes gleaming with pride. My
initial impressions of the daycare were very positive, and I was quite
surprised by their operations in many ways, as I had no idea how a daycare
would be organized in Mexico.
The classrooms were very clean, equipped with
child-sized wooden tables and chairs, a bathroom with little cups and
toothbrushes all in a row, but little else in terms of toys or books. The
children looked well cared for at their daycare, which was open from 7 a.m. to
6 p.m., and were a very happy lot. Each group of children wore a different
colored smock to identify which room they belonged in. The teacher's wore
smocks as well, and white polo shirts emblazoned with the daycare's logo. The
children were very respectful of their teachers, of which there were usually
two per room, with the exception of the toddler room in which there were three.
Floors were swept and washed before mats were laid down on the floor for nap
time - even the bathrooms did not hold any unpleasant odors - amazing with the
heat there and the amount of usage those bathrooms must see. The children
moved across the courtyard (in an orderly fashion, I might add!) to the lunch
room where Marguerite and her crew were preparing meals for the hungry crowd.
Breakfast had been prepared earlier, and a snack would be provided in the
afternoon - this is definitely more food than the children would receive at
their home - a saving grace, if you will, as supper that evening may not even
be an option for them. Before the children eat, a prayer of thankfulness is
recited by all in unison.
Nap time was
an amazing event - mats with cotton covers were laid side by side with no space
between each, and all in the middle of the room. After lunch, the children
changed out of their morning clothes if they were dirty from lunch, and without
a whine, or a fuss, laid down on their mats, and went to sleep. Despite how
close each child was to the other, as their mats touched, there was no
wiggling, no giggling, no fooling around.................just sleep!
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| Nap time |
After nap time, I was thrilled to be able to read some
stories to a group of 4 year olds in Spanish. When I finished the first one,
they kept asking for more! I taught them a song about colors in Spanish, and
their favorite song was "Mi Cuerpa Hace Musica" - or "My Body
Makes Music", during which we clapped, tapped and danced the cha-cha!
As I
observed several children getting ready to be picked up in the later afternoon,
the teacher would wipe their hands and faces with a wet wipe, spritz down their
hair with a water bottle, brush their hair, or re-do the braids or pony tail
that was falling out. After that the teacher walked the child to the first locked
gate, on to the second locked gate, where the parent was waiting outside of it.
This was also where the records of daily attendance were kept. I was amazed at
the protocols in place and being utilized. Not once did I get the impression
that things were being done differently just because we were visiting - rather
it was just part of the everyday necessary practice at this daycare.
A few hours
into our first day's visit, we opened our big suitcases of toys and shoes from
Canada with Adriana, the director. We separated the shoes into a bin for the
girls and a bin for the boys, and one teacher from each class came to choose
the sizes of shoes that would best fit their group of children. We heard many
excited exclaims from the teachers as they looked at the shoes.
After nap time, the teachers called one child at a time to
try shoes on! There were big, big smiles on the children's faces as the shoes
were unveiled, and the children who were waiting their turn found it a very
difficult task! The children kept touching their new shoes, and one even held
it to his nose to smell it. Everyone wanted to show them off to us! New shoes
are such a rare commodity at this daycare that one of the Director's greatest
wish is to send each child off to Primary school with a pair of new shoes. Such
a simple request, and I truly hope that her wish comes true.
One of the
staff was responsible for recording each and every donation that we brought
from Canada, shoes included, as well as the new purchases that we eventually
made in Mexico. We were impressed with their accountability.
Day 2
Today was our big shopping day for Los Ninos del Capitan
daycare - the opportunity to spend all of that very generously donated money
from our Canadian friends and family to help support these children. Believe it
or not, it proved to be a much harder task than we had ever thought!
We hired Salvador and his big blue taxi van after discovering
that there was not a single truck to be rented in Cabo, nor a big enough SUV,
to take us shopping for the daycare. Our first stop was Walmart, thinking that
like in Canada it would prove to be a one-stop shop, and we would leave there
with playground toys in abumdance! This was not the case - a few hula hoops,
books, balls, bubbles, chalk, puzzles, a basketball hoop, cleaning supplies,
wipes and toilet paper - and still alot of money to spend. Our goal was to buy
playground toys to turn that empty space into a cheeful one - but not a
playhouse or slide in sight.
Sam's Club proved to be more disappointing, and then we were
directed to a store called Soriana. Patient Salvador drove us there, and again
waited and waited for us. We hit the jackpot of toys at this store! Right as we
walked in to Soriana's we saw.....a playhouse, a boat, a teeter totter and a
spaceship slide! The price tags daunted us - $3863.96 pesos, $1710.50 pesos,
$2476.38 pesos - Whoa! big , big numbers to compute, calculate and convert,
then re-compute, re-calculate and re-convert, as we didn't want to make a
gringo error at the cash register! We crossed our fingers that our calculations
were correct!
The service at the Soriana store was second to none - at one
point, I think we had 4 clerks helping us......in Spanish, of course! But they
were very forgiving with our limited vocabulary. They seemed amazed that we
were purchasing so much - in fact, I think we ended up buying most of their
store's toy displays. They really made a fuss over us and were especially
pleased when they learned where these toys were going.
We were so excited as Salvador and the Soriana staff loaded
the purchases into the van. We also purchased another basketball hoop, mini
soccer nets and 4 ride-on motorcycles. Our bill was enormous upon check out, as
it was in pesos!
Thanks to the Shoemaker Family for their contributions and to those who contributed. It is a joyous blessing to see little kids with new shoes and toys to play with, and to know that they will have food to eat. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to do the same. If we do just a little, it really does make a difference! Marlene
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| New toys for learning colors and counting |
