Deakin Dan in Quito

Orphanage, Father Christmas and Birthdays



13 - 22nd of December.
So another 10 days has gone past quickly again.
This has been a crazy week. Full on working throughout the week with a couple of sneaky nights out in the evening. I´m going to keep this entry short though, because, while it has been a huge week for me, the placements have been similar and I am due back at the casa by 7am for the beautiful dinner I expect she will cook!
In the mornings, again, we worked in the Young mothers home and in the afternoon Angus and I worked in an orphanage. Though a different one from the week before, where Hannah and Kara continued on for another week.
This second orphanage was also situated in Mitad Del Mundo with the young mothers home, about one hour and a quarter from Quito. It was like going from one extreme to the next. While the first was extremely underresourced and crowded, the second seemed to have all the space in the world and the resources to match it. The kids had textbooks and uniforms and it was based on a huge piece of land with beautiful gardens and well maintained buildings. The kids (about 50 i suppose) live about 6 to a house and carer, which makes those kids massively fortunate in Ecuador terms. The place had been built by a rich Swiss man (I think) and seemed almost like a paradise for the kids comparative to the last home. For this reason I was initially extremely cynical about going to the placement as I felt that my work could be of more use elsewhere.
That changed when I met the kids though, and as I learnt mroe about the orphanage. The kids were the same and still had the same needs as the kids in the other placement.

By far the most scary and nerveracking experience of the trip so far was in this placement. As part of the christmas celebrations the kids at the orphanages were to recieve christmas gifts from Santa. Once at the orphanage it became apparant that that guy was going to be me. Although I objected I was soon dressed up in a red and white santa suit complete with a belt, beard and hat. ¨Ho Ho Ho, Feliz Navidad¨ I said, and nodded whenever a kid said something in Spanish that I did not understand. I think it turned out alot better than it could have, as I got though it without getting my beard pulled off, or told that ¨my mummy said you are not real!¨.

The week was capped off grandly with my 21st birthday that seemed to stretch for the whole weekened. The guys and girls treated me very well with a late night out (a very cheap one at that) and even my own mariachi band on the sunday night!! Tonight we head off to the coast for a few days off over the chrissy break. Looking forward to it like nothing else.