Wawa Wasi update

The whole gang ...

Lunch time ... can get a bit messy!

I've been working in the Wawa Wasi every Monday and Wednesday, and it's hard-going, but I'm determined to stick with it! The children are really wild, haven't been taught how to behave, so there's a lot of fighting over toys, hitting and pinching each other, and just crying if they don't get what they want. They are also very messy - their noses run continuously, if they eat anything it goes everywhere, and they always manage to walk through the mud on the way in and out of the Wawa Wasi. On the other hand they have a lot of spirit, are very warm and friendly, and are keen to learn. I'm growing very fond of them!

Nicol, Thalia, Mayli, and Kevin

Nicol & Kevin dancing while we were singing

My Mama, Vilma, is nice, but quite reserved and doesn't organise much for the children, though I think she'd like to learn how to teach them more. She works hard to keep the place clean and tries to establish a routine - play, wash hands, milk, more play, sing, wash hands, lunch - but she leaves me to keep the kids occupied during most of the play time, and she's often busy looking after or feeding her 10-month-old baby anyway. She's not totally passive, but she could do with getting a bit more involved. She's not a trained nursery teacher though - she's a tired mother of 4 children under the age of 7, and she earns 120 soles (about 35 pounds) per month to run the Wawa Wasi 5 days a week.

It took a while to work out what my role is. There is a danger that the volunteers are perceived by the Mamas as being useful just for bringing in crayons, paper, and other expendable materials that aren't supplied, and for babysitting the kids. I wanted to do more than this; I've been trying to work with Vilma in the hope that she will pick up some new ideas, develop her skills as a nursery educator, and hopefully continue with some of the new activities after I've gone. And Vilma seems keen, even though in a reserved kind of way, to do more and learn by watching me ... not that I'm an expert, but I'm having a go!

I'm making a bit of progress, I think, but it's baby steps! I've started by trying to get the children to say 'por favor' and 'gracias', to use each other's names (I was 'la gringita' for the first week, but now they've got the hang of Hazel), and to be nice to each other - and if they are not, to say sorry. And if they hit anyone they are now put on the naughty seat for a few minutes, and are not allowed to play with any toys or anyone else until they have calmed down - this is difficult to enforce, but gradullay I'm getting more support from Vilma to do this. And we've done lots of work on colours and numbers when playing, doing puzzles, or looking at books that I've taken in. And we've started some wall displays of their colouring, colours and numbers - and as I'd hoped, they are now taking more pride in their colouring, and it's something to talk about - before it was just a scribble-free-for-all, with the toddler climbing onto the table and toddling through the crayons and screwing up the colouring! Vilma occasionally carries on with colouring activities when I'm not there if I leave paper and crayons, but she tends to put her own neat work on the wall, rather than the childrern's, so hasn't quite got it yet! As my Spanish gets better, I'm managing to explain more why I'm doing certain things and I think it is gradually sinking in.

Our wall display

I'm also working on hygiene - partly for selfish reasons!! I'm trying to get the kids to use toilet paper rather than their clothes to wipe their noses, and we're working on cleaning hands without causing a flood or needing to change our clothes, and cleaning teeth, though this is proving tricky and most seem to just eat the toothpaste!

Most weeks we take the kids out for a walk one day and this is pretty wild!! It's hard to get them to hold hands for more than 5 seconds, and they all seem to head straight for the mud, puddles, or rubbish ... and they have no understanding of roads. I'm getting quite good at hanging onto about 5 kids at a time!

And I'm now diversifying when it comes to craft activities - I've been collecting empty toilet rolls, cereal boxes, anything that's free that we could use to make things with. We've made cats and dogs, by sticking on faces, ears, eyes, etc. and we've progressed to people too - with the help of another volunteer who came to visit for the day - couldn't have done this without you, Angie, thank you! And I took in some string and clothes pegs to create a 'washing line' to display the work, like in primary school - the children love this, and it's a nice talking point.

Last week I also went to the Wawa Wasi on the Friday afternoon to paint chairs - Vilma had been given paint and she needed a hand. It all got a bit messy as the paint wasn't really the right kind, but the chairs got painted and things look a bit more colourful in the Wawa Wasi now!


Chair painting - in the road!

And on a more general level, CCS set up a meeting with the Wawa Wasi Director and social workers and we found out more about the overall objectives of the programme and what they want our role to be. This should help future volunteers, as it was a ll a bit vague when we started. We also talked about the possibility of doing some kind of workshop with the Mamas later in December, to share some of the activities that have worked in our Wawa Wasis - to provide a bit more input and training for the Mamas who want to improve their skills. It's a good idea, but yet to see if we'll manage it or not!

And the good news is that my Wawa Wasi was visited by the social worker this week, on a day when I wasn't there, but she was apparently really impressed with the work on the wall and on the 'washing line', and my Mama was clearly very happy with the feedback and thanked me for what I'd done. I felt quite proud!