Volunteering

This will be short because it's time for bed...We're 2 days into our volunteering at Friendship Village. I was a little discouraged on the first day because the language barrier is more difficult to overcome than I had anticipated...It's hard to understand how things work at Friendship Village and where we're needed most. Mom spent yesterday helping the house mother clean in the AM, then helping kids in the classroom in the afternoon. I spent the day in the clinic working alongside a physiotherapist. I was a bit confused because there's a handful of kids in the clinic at any given time; however, there's only one per time slot on the schedule. I'm having a hard time understanding how things work. Also, I was a little frustrated because I have no info about the kids and it's almost impossible to verbally communicate with the therapist and the kids. It's putting my observational and clinical reasoning skills to the test, that's for sure! We work approx 3 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon. The kids nap in the middle of the day and don't start classes til mid-afternoon because of the heat. The kids who come to the clinic in the afternoon have significant balance deficits. A few have ataxia. Today I felt a little more in my element at the clinic. It went much smoother. Seems like they need help to entertain the kids in the AM, rather than give services because a bunch just come in to hang out. I started the morning in the organic garden and ended in the clinic. Then, I spent the entire afternoon in the clinic. I think it's important for us to embrace the cultural differences and just be flexible and fly by the seat of our pants. Anything goes! The kids don't have much (if any) instruction during the day...

Sorry this post is a little all over the place. We'll share more details later. Time for bed now...Mom and I came into the city tonight to stay in a hotel because it is so hot. Last night it was 95.9 degrees inside (with fans blowing) when we went to bed. It was 101.3 degrees during our lunch break today. Outside, it was 117.6 degrees. We're enjoying a night of air conditioning..it'll be nice to actually sleep under blankets! We'll head back to Peace House early tomorrow morning for another exciting day of work. I think the heat is supposed to break in a few days. AKA it will be back in the high 90s, hopefully not 100s!!! We haven't had rain in about a week now.

...stay tuned for more info and pictures. we're still having technical difficulties...sometimes we have no internet...the computer at the hotel isn't registering my jump drive and the mouse sucks so it's time to shut down!