A Canadian Family's Vacation Experience at Los Ninos del Capitan

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!

Nap time

 The teachers did not speak any English, but despite the language barrier there were several with whom we really connected. They were kind, caring and had a happy demeanor with the children, and they welcomed the help from our family. We helped create decorations for the upcoming festival, fixed some bikes, painted a bathroom, as well as some of the exterior of the building.

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

New toys for learning colors and counting