May 17th
Today, Ronal came with us to work. It was nice to have him there to translate and help out where he could. The language barrier is still really tough.. it takes a lot of patience and sometimes, I just dont have it in me. Suud is the most patient and so he works well with the Peruvians. In the morning, I just got fed up because I didn´t understand why we were doing things the way we were. In a perfect world, we would have someone come and explain the task at hand and how to do it and then leave the group of us to do it. But of course, it doesn´t work like that. It´s more a go with the flow type of thing and also, pushing to find yourself some tasks. We did finish the roof on the first building and get the walls for the other two buildings done. We also tore down the existing kitchen to make room for the new one.
We all have a new appreciation for the women who work in the kitchen of the school. They all help us where they can... they definetly can carry more than me and with a baby tied to their back(Ghana style)! They all work for a warm meal at the end, after feeding all the children. The women often do not have husbands to go home too. You see the other children caring for their brothers and sisters too. Thinking that these women are not making any money at their ¨job´means they have no way of escaping the cycle of poverty.
Another interesting thing that is going on here is the upcoming elections. I dont know a lot about it because I can´t read the Spanish newspapers but from what Ronal tells us, they have two candidates and he hates both, haha. The first is a woman who is the daughter of a former president and his presidency was corrupt, had trafficking ect. The other candidate is communist, or something. I wonder what they really stand for or if this is just what Ronal has heard. There are posters EVERYWHERE and graffiti also. It´s pretty interesting, the elections will take place in early June.
May 18th
Today was a much better day. For one, the weather was so warm again! We all had to use sunscreen and only one layer of clothing, very exciting. Also, we just seemed to get a lot more done. I was pretty determined today and brought all the patience I could muster. We got all the walls of the two remaining buildings standing! We seemed to have a break through with our communications with Miguel too. Suud talks to him most but we all started to get along and understand what he wanted to get done. It was a really good day at work. We also play with the kids all the time, Jorge is constantly in Mama Harjot´s arms and lots of other kids come around. One little girl named Carmen is super cute too!
Didn´t do much after, just went for groceries and cooked a stirfry dinner for everyone. There´s been quite a few people feeling sick so we´re trying to be more careful with food. Pretty much every meal is hilarious, such a great group of people.
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