Hogar de Niñas 90th anniversary

Drummers from Instituto San Cristobal Drumming for the tipical dancing

Our Bishop getting ready to celebrate the Mass

Kitchen Crew preparing the lunch

Here I am in front of the beautiful flower arrangement that Funda Niños sent us

The entrance with people signing in

Easter Lunch

Here we are at Pencas an great restaurant nearby with views of the bay. Susy and Ana like it because there is face painting on Sunday.

Susi.

Ana and Rosa. Ana is Susi's sister and they plus Rosa spent Holy Week with me. Susi and Ana cannot stay with their mother but I picked up their mom and two siblings and they had a great visit at McDonalds - a tradition when they are here with me. Rosa has been with us for 11 years but we couldn't find her mother (they - the director and secretary at the home couldn't). We had not had contact since January. I found her and got her to come to the home to visit Rosa and take her to the health center. Rosa is special.

Ana

Good Day with Tutoring

Sorry, no picture! I have to get help with that again. Today we had 7 seniors from Collegio La Salle to help with our girls who need the most help with school things. Two of our 7th graders have quizes on Monday so they both got a tutor. One worked with 2 of the 3rd graders. One worked with Jenny, also in 3rd grade. (She needs more help). One worked with our 11 year old second grader who went to 1st grade years ago. She is doing ok. Grifina is improving a lot in 1st grade and she worked with her tutor. Angie, also 1st grade worked with her tutor. They are both improving and in addition to working on homework they had a cutting project and a cut and past project and a coloring project as their skills there need a lot of practice.

pictures

susi with her new glasses. jenny, also in third grade is beside her.

we have new play equipment. the slide plus 4 swings and a set of monkey bars

here is ana, second grade, using the multiplication program.

rosa, one of our new girls, at the computer.

here is one of our newest girls using the new computer. she is practicing multiplication with a free program on the net.

Saturday

Yesterday I got up early and went out to the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center. You can read about at at www.pipelineroad.org. I climbed the tower with a rest at each level. On the way up I had a beautiful view of a broadbilled motmot. At the top we saw a blue cotinga, a fruit crow, some migrating broadwinged hawks, two titryars flying by. We were way above the tops of the trees looking down on them. Of in the distance we saw a boat passing through the canal. It was a very quiet and restfull experience. Back at the visitors center I sat and watch many many hummingbirds feeding at nectar feeders. Themost common feeder had beautiful white tail feathers that flared out to the side. It was a wonderful relaxing day.

School starts tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I hope to take some pictures! Please keep the 1000s of girlsand boys going back to public and private schools here in Panama. The school year ends in December.

Basic entry level school skills.

Today I checked out Aralis one of our new girls for basic school school skills. She can trace and copy her name. She's learning the vowels and can cut and color. She didn't go to kindergraten but told me that some of the tings we were doing she did at home last year. No school for her last year because she was undocumented. No birth certificate! Born at home. She has another sister with us since last year and an older sister (9) but the older one doesn't have her documents yet.

Grifina - school will be new for her as well can cut and can use a lot of practice. She can color and copy very simple shapes and color.

Iam preparing a vocabulary game tolearn to say the name of pictures that start with each of the vowels. In Spanish there is only one sound for each vowel.

And 2 more today!

We welcomed two more new girls today. mailyn is 5 and the other is 6. This means that Mailyn will start school when she 'should' and the other girl will go to 1st grade. We will give her a quick kindergarten course starting tomorrow! Our young Kuna girl does understand some spanish!

Two new girls!

Today is the last day of Carnival. We admitted two new girls today, sisters, Kuna. The older one speaks Spanish but the younger, 7 only Kuna!

What a nice surprise!!

Graciela appeared at my bedroom door shortly after I got home (she lives with me) and said she had her injection ready for me to give her! She has been able to prepare the injection for a long time but today is a real breakthrough in responsibility. I am sooooo pleased.

Mini vacation

This weekend I took a mini vacation to a nice resport nearby. I addition to just enjoying the beauty of the place and the food I took a free ride to look for night mammals well animals. We saw a small herd of capyberras and one had babies. Also viewed sme wil pigs running fast. This was complemented by a large turtle. The next day I visited the orchard, snake, reptile and fish and the butterfly house. And todatyI took a 3 hour birding walk on pipeline road. Was pleased that I could make such a long walk. Also rested alot and some of the time in a hammock.

Adult education

Currently I am teaching an Adult how to read in Spanish. She is 28 and has never been to school. I have some parts of a program designed for adults and she is doing well and is motivated. I used this program a few years ago to teach a 3rd grader how to read after she didn't learn in school. She learned and has finished 7th grade.

Graciela is back

Yesterday the three girls, Ana, Susy, and Rosa, went back to the home so I am sort of on vacation! Yea!! Today Graciela came back from Changuinola, Bocas del Toro after a two week visit with her family. She went to rest right away but I think she had a good visit. More later.

Hi Again

I'm back. Now all of the kids have been to camp and returned. Rosa is also staying with me since her family did't pick her up after camp. She is happy to be here. Since all of the girls live at Hogar de Niñas, which will reopen from vacation tomorrow, not picking up a girl isnot as bad as it might sound. We have all just gotten up and the girls are feeding the cats and now will get ready for the day.

Hot and Dry

It is hot and dry here!!! This is 'summer' (no rain) and it is usually hot but dry? Tomorrow the youngest kids go off to camp and the ones there now will comeback. I will have Susy until the 27th and her sister Ana will join me when she gets back from camp on the 24th. Friday we will go pick up Susy's new glasses.

Camp

Yesterday I sent off 9 kids to our Youth Camp, 6 from the girls' home and 3 from St. Pauls. Now I am enjoying two days of quiet - Ana is visiting one of the other workers at the home, Mariella, so she and Mariella's daughter Pati can play together.

Family Visit

Today we had a family visit with Susy and Ana at McDonalds. They are Kuna indiginas and live in Panama city in smething lik highrise public housing. I go to pick them up near a community feeding program building for the children of the area. Susy and Ana are with me as they cannot live with their family. Susy, who is 10, saw her Dad for the first time! Then we went to McDonalds and they have food (which I get) and they eat together and play in the play area and I sit away from them and read and do sudoku. It was a great visit.

Graciela

Graciela (our adolescent with chronic kidney failure) and her mom went to Changuinola, Bocas del Toro today for a 2 week visit with her family. She went will all her dialysis equiptment. She is sleeping at one of our churche's rectories so she will have clean water and electricity to do dialysis!

Glasses

We went and had Susy's eyes tested. She was very cooperative and we also got a discount! They will be ready in a week. These glasses are much stronger in the frames than before! And she likes the frames she picked out! Pink.

Wow

Graciela and her mother are about to goto Changuinola to see her family - this time for 2 with dialysis equipment and all. And we got two free round trip tickets donated by Air Panama!!!

Wonderful news today!

Two great things happened today. A friend called me to say she had found someone to donate enough money for Susy to get a new eye test and a new pair of glasses. This is great because she cant see well even though she learned to read in second grade last year (we are in school vacation now).

I also received notification of receiving a large donation to help a young women in Medical School. There is a group of us supporting and this donation is really wonderful.

A nice Sunday

Today we went to Church at St. Paul's where I go almost every Sunday. We have a 'feed the hungry program' for which I have much responsibility. We serve sandwiches, cookies and juice to about 40 to 50 people who live a lot of their lives hungry. Today we only had sandwiches and cookies as I was too tired yesterday to buy 50 juiceboxes! It is nice to see the people over and over and some days like today some who have been away a time come back. Several of them help serve and clean up and put away tables and chairs.

The two younger girls (Susy and Ana) and I went out for lunch. At the restaurant there is a young woman clown who paints faces which the girl´s love.

A a rest we went as we often do to a nice playground near one of the Episcopal Churches' Schools. It gives them a chance to run around and let off steam.

Hope many of you have had a good day!

Hello Again!!!!

This is a quick note to say that I am starting blogging again. It is part of a resolution to connect again with people I know. Here we are in january, Summer here - the dry season! School was over in December and the Hogar is resting and the kids are with relatives or friends of the home. I have three, Susy (10), Ana (8) and Graciela (17) with me until the end of January. I plan to write at least once a week and will learn to upload pictures again!