1 post tagged “el salvadorian busses”

I spent the day in the orphanage today which was really nice.

I caught my first El Salvadorian bus which was number 44, leaving from Pizza Hut. No one knows what time... just whenever it turns up. The bus hardly stopped at the stop... a man just hung outside the door and yelled at me to ´dale dale... pesa pesa pesa´. I dont know exactly what that means but i got the message to run. I grabbed on, feet dragging on the street and he hauled me in. I paid 25 cents and sat down.

I got off at the Álbol de la paz´ (the tree of peace´. Since the war was so recent they are obsessed with peace. They have the a state called Peace, and another called liberty... and half their streets have something to that effect. They even have peace adds on TV. There is a new campaign banning guns from beaches which i think will be really effective in stopping violence (note sarcasm) but its a start. Anyway. I got off the bus... and started asking directions. People are so friendly that i ended up with a group around me all arguing with each other about which way my map faced. In the end a lovely old lady escorted me half way.

I arrived to the orphanage to the outstreched arms of the toddlers. Everyone wanted to be hugged and played with but i had to do the filing so i played for a while and promised to return in the afternoon.

The filing was harder than i thought... not because filing in itself is hard but because of the things i saw. I had to arrage each file in cronological order which often meant i had to search for dates amonst the writing.

A brother and sister were brought in (ages 2 and 3) because their father was going to offer then as human sacrifies. He had already killed three other children in the family.
One girl who was 13, escaped her abusive home, taking her 6 younger siblings with her.
One boy was brought in on the brink of starvation. His neighbour abducted him to save his life. He is 7 and still weighs less than one of the 3 year olds. I call him my great lion and he shows me his muscles... i can wrap my fingers around the whole of his upper arm (biceps?). But he is always smiling... loves to be held and we often throw him to each other and he screams with delight. (Well at least i hope its delight! haha... cough)
Several children were the children of prostitutes and would be left at home alone all night. Most of them were brought in my their neighbours.
One girl... who is the most precous thing was left as a baby in a feild.

But you would never know when you play with them. They are happy... naughty... beautifil kids and i love hanging out with them.

I became the horse for the toddlers this afternoon. I had three kids at a time riding on my back... oh... my poor back. Then i helped the older ones with their homework... did most of it for them. How do you get a 14 year old who cant count to 20 in English to write what the world would be like if there was acid rain... in English. He didnt even know how to write it in Spanish since acid rain doesnt exist here. Hes intelligent but needs a whole lot of better teaching!

Then the older boys played... lets steal Gabbies hat and thow it to each other. They progressed from Lets steal Gabbies koala puppet and throw it to each other. Good to see they are moving on.