Day 2 Update

We've only been here 48 hours, but it seems like way more because we've been doing and learning so much. Tesha and I are happy to see how well organized the orphanage is.
I'll give you a briefing on the orphanage and what we'll be doing here: At the orphanage in Quito there are currently 42 children. The main caretakers are called Tias (Spanish for Aunts). There is one Tia for each 4 or 5 kids. The Tias work 24 hour shifts, and the children are kept on a pretty regular schedule. In a typical day the children wake up around 6 for bath time and breakfast. From 9-11:45 they have play time, pre-school and physical therapy in the pool for some. 4 of the older kids go to school during this time - two children to regular school and two to a special needs school. Lunch is around noon followed by nap time. Before dinner at 5, there is a little more time for playing and pool therapy. Dinner takes about an hour an a half (it really takes a long time to get all those kids to eat). After dinner the children have bath time and movie time and then go to bed at 8.
Most of the kids are between 1 month and 3 years, but the oldest child is 12. 20-25 % of the orphans have special needs.

This morning Tesha spent some time in the physical therapy pool working with some toddlers while I went out to get us a cell phone. We'll need a cell phone once we get our drivers licenses next week and start driving children to doctors appointments and school. In the afternoon I worked with the two oldest children, Adriana and Veronica, in the pool. Veronica is 12 and has many special needs as she is almost blind, has trouble moving on her own, and cannot quite talk. Adriana is 11 and is a little easier since she is learning to walk and can see well, but I have been warned that she bites. Tesha fed some of the babies their dinner and complained that they eat slower than I do.

Some of the activities we'll be doing this year include:
Most importantly, spending time with the children: helping to feed them, holding babies, talking with them, teaching pre-school, showing them love, changing diapers, etc;
Setting up a program for music for the pre-schoolers as well as playing music for the toddlers before bed to help the Tias calm them down;
Driving the kids to their medical appointments and school;
Helping with pool therapy and swim time;
Setting up a program for short term volunteers;
(I'll stop my list here since this blog is getting too long)

Our Spanish is already improving a lot since we spend a lot of time with the Tias who speak Spanish with us.

Come visit us,
Pete