Los Estudiantes son muy bueno

This week I have had the pleasure of accompanying the students in VILA to their respective sites where they are volunteering here in Quito. The first two days I got to go with some students who were working in the markets in the south side of the city. The volunteers were two Stanford students, and a French student from Austria and a Scottish student. Together, they were running a day program for the street children there, and kids of people who have little tiendas en el mercado. This particular week, they were teaching the children about different parts of the earth. Out of their own pockets, the volunteers purchased materials to make volcanoes con los niños. Since there are so many volcanoes in Ecuador, it was a good lesson, and the kids got to name the ones they knew, and they seemed to really enjoy it. The day started with the volunteers setting up, then going around the market to gather the children. Most were very eager to come with the volunteers. They sat in a circle and sang lots of songs in español. I was so surprised at how into it each of them were. Both boys and girls were eager and excited to sing the songs and play the games (including, pato pato ganzo a.k.a. duck duck goose). Most of the kids clothes were in poor shape, but others clearly had new clothes on. After the songs, they each participated in making the volcanoes. At the end of each day, they go with the volunteers to wash their hands with soap and water, and brush their teeth. It was really amazing. I´ll send pictures soon. The following day, they had a similar routine, but instead of volcanoes, they created a mural of the ocean, and the kids either colored in or drew sea creatures. Again, they were all very excited about the project and were generally very obedient. Very impressive.

Wed. and Thurs I went to Casa de la Ninez, where five other students were volunteering. This was an interesting experience. It is basically a camp, which also offers social services for kids and their families, with pretty nice facilities (though it is located right next door to a jail, and you can actually look down into the courtyard of the jail from the Casa). Although there were seemingly more resources at this location, the volunteers were a bit frustrated with the disorganization and miscommunication from the director. I´m really glad I got to see this first hand, because it was truly and interesting situation. The VILA volunteers have a lot to offer, and it seemed that their skills were not put to great use. They did play games with the kids and do art projects, but it was very haphazardly with Ecuadorian volunteers yelling and treating the little kids very poorly. In any case, the VILA students were making the most of it.

A few more sites I´ve had the chance to check out include El Panecillo - this amazing hill with views of all of Quito. Atop this hill is a huge silver stature of the Virgen de Panecillo w/ wings. She is the virgin saint that looks over the city and connects Quito to the sun. It was interesting climbing inside to the area with the view -- to me it was very reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty (climbing inside a tin lady).

Friday I accompanied another student, Maria, at CENIT and her volunteer work included bringing los ninos to la dentista. It was really amazing to see the work she was doing, talking to the parents about dental hygene and bringing the kids in for check ups and fillings (yikes!) The dentist office was a little stall in the mercado, it was far from a dentist office you see in the US (cement floors, paint coming off the walls, etc.) But, she kept things very clean and sterilized things in a hot oven-like box. The kids that came by for check ups that day had lots of cavities, one little girl, probably 5 or 6 years old had 10 cavities! I don´t know how else they would get dental treatment because CENIT subsidizes half of the cost ($12 for 1 filling total).