Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Smiles for more than a day

I have recieved more than enough heart-filled smiles, in the last 2 days, to last me a lifetime. Yesterday doing the soy yo book with the kids was extremely rewarding. To see the smiles spread across their faces when we took their picture was amazing. The majority of the kids whose pictures we took had never had a picture taken of themselves. When we proposed the idea each child giggled to their neighbor and made excited Spanish remarks. In the afternoon I worked with a family who had come to Safe Passage for the afternoon from a refugee camp they are living in due to the recent eruption of a near by volcano. At first the young girls were very shy about having their picture taken but by the time we got around to taking the picture they were more than eager. The two young boys were so photogenic and their pictures came out looking absolutly professional. The family then decorated around their pictures on a piece of construction paper, and it shocked me at how much detail and slow precision everyone took with their details. What also struck me as different from the united states was that both boys and girls were fasinated by drawing hearts, not just the girls as I would have assumed. The finished products were quite intricate and beautiful. The fathers creations in-perticular were quite creative and visually appealing. One of the little boys played Uno with the older boys once he had finished his project and he owned every single round. He had a quite yet powerful and thoughtful ora about him and every one seemed to be drawn to him.
Today we worked wherever was needed and in the afternoon Madeline and I worked in a class room with young kids around 5-6 would be my guess. We got to sing songs and then help the kids with their reading and writing skills. I got to help this little kid with a word search and he reminded me of Oliver! Don't worry Ollie I've found someone down here just like you, your not your own breed after all :) He was dancing in this chair and singing and he made me feel very at home.