Today was the annual meeting for St. Paul's Parish. I am on the vestry and have been secretary for the last year. Today was our annual meeting. We spent time a week ago and a bunch of time yesterday planning the meeting and finetuning the bidget for 2007. There were 70 people present - which is a hign. We surprized everone by having the elections for new Vestry members and for delegates to convention very near the beginning of the meeting. It was a good move. We have elected 3 new vestry members (I have 2 more years to go) and 5 deligates and two people who will be there to replace one of the 5 if she/he can't be present. I am happy to say that I am one of the deligates. That means that besides attening the business meeting on Saturday the 10th of Feb I will be participating in workshops on the canons and possible changes and on strategic planning for the Diocese of Panama.
After the meeting, which lasted 3 aand 1/2 hours (about the usual time), I picked up the two of our girls who went to the camp for chiquitas or nenes (ages 5 to 8). There camp was from Friday until today and the staff were tired and happy. Zol and Eni sang camp songs in the care on the way back to the home.
Next week there is no camp as there is a gira medica using the camp site in Santa Clara. I will be there as a translator for the medical mission - my first one. I am excited. You will receive a big blog about it next weekend.
On the 28th there is the last camp of the summer season, kids ages 9 to 11. We have three going. All together 17 girls with some relationship to the home will have been to camp. Saint Paul's was also able to send a number.
In the next week st. Paul's is offering a week of talks and some biblical reflection on sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, family planning and self estime. A number of our girls will be participating.
Next week (starting tomorrow) will be the last week that the young people from Instituto San Cristoble do Social Service. They will finish their painring projects. We have a wonderful new sign on the wall out side the entrance and the inside and out side are newly painted. Inside we are green! Different shades. They will have an outing with all the girls on wednesday to Summit GArden.
More at the end of the week.
Tia Sue
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
The home is turning green.
We have a group of 13students from Instituto San Cristobel, one of the Diocesian Schools, doing 80 hours of social service with us. The social service is one of the required things they have to do to graduate. Most of the kids are working on painting and we are being painted inside and outside. The outside hasn't been painted for 10 years and looks really nice - a light brownish pink. Inside we have changed the color of the walls to a light green and the columnes to a dark green. Along with the new paint we are getting some paint drops on the cement walk and on a few other things as well. These are beginning painters and they are enthusiastic. The school is bilingual so almost all of the talk to me some in English.
I have one young woman who is working just for me, sometimes with a helper. We took all of the books out of the bookcases (that is our library), mended a lot, organized them and she and another student made a list of almost every book we have - especially those that are from the same publisher. It is great. Now when I go to a book store I know what I have and so can easily add more.
At this moment the adolescents are at camp so we have only a few younger girls with us. Some of the Social service Students are working with them on some school reinforcement. Yesterday I took to the the swimming pool in Paraiso where we have gone every summer. The pool was not open because they needed a special piece for the filter. So we went and played on the climbing games at McDonalds and had ice cream. When we got back we took out our little pool and filled it up and the girls played in it contentedly.
One of the girls who went to the first week of camp said she had a really good time - not just good but that she had a real spiritual experience!
Next week I am going to go on a medical mission trip to help as a translator. I am excited and you will hear about it when I get back. I think I will be out of contact with the internet for the time I am away.
See www.padremickey.blogspot.com for some photos of his walk from home to church and also to read Martin Luther King's letter from prison.
Tia Sue
I have one young woman who is working just for me, sometimes with a helper. We took all of the books out of the bookcases (that is our library), mended a lot, organized them and she and another student made a list of almost every book we have - especially those that are from the same publisher. It is great. Now when I go to a book store I know what I have and so can easily add more.
At this moment the adolescents are at camp so we have only a few younger girls with us. Some of the Social service Students are working with them on some school reinforcement. Yesterday I took to the the swimming pool in Paraiso where we have gone every summer. The pool was not open because they needed a special piece for the filter. So we went and played on the climbing games at McDonalds and had ice cream. When we got back we took out our little pool and filled it up and the girls played in it contentedly.
One of the girls who went to the first week of camp said she had a really good time - not just good but that she had a real spiritual experience!
Next week I am going to go on a medical mission trip to help as a translator. I am excited and you will hear about it when I get back. I think I will be out of contact with the internet for the time I am away.
See www.padremickey.blogspot.com for some photos of his walk from home to church and also to read Martin Luther King's letter from prison.
Tia Sue
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
CRYSTEL starts school
Today Crystel (age 4 and 8 months, just starting to talk, with mild retardation and mild CP) started school. THis is a summer program and will serve to diagnose her and help them place her in a program near her home in MArch. For this program someone has to go with her each day (I hope this will be her 17 year old sister) and that involves going by bus to a reasonalbly near shoping center to get a ride to the center (they will bring her back too.) Crystel and her sisters are coming to visit me at the home tomorrow so we can talk about what we need to do to see that she get there every day (and to help her do her homework). She drools a lot and that is one of the things they and we are going to work on first. Her teacher wasn't too happy about this but that is one reason she is there. The support staff at the school, which has very nice classroom furniture, designed for kids with CP, are very nice and supportive. I haven't warmed up to the teacher yet, but it is only the first day. The school day (2 hours) includes as meal which is great because she will be eating meat (chicken today) and rice and beans. She ate everything today and can feed herself well, I think.
Some of the girls are returning to the home today and tomorrow so that the ones over 12 can go to camp on Saturday! It is nice to have them here again - it helps me work harder. Three sisters all told me they were very bored at home and I think are glad to be back. More about all this in the next post.
The home is slowly turning green - the new color it is being painted. We also have a new sign painted on the wall under the kitchen - it is great and is being done by the students from Instituto San Cristobal who are doing their social service work there.
Yesterday was a holiday here - Dia de los martires - check www.padremickey.blogspot.com for an account of what we have this holiday.
More soon.
Tia Sue
Some of the girls are returning to the home today and tomorrow so that the ones over 12 can go to camp on Saturday! It is nice to have them here again - it helps me work harder. Three sisters all told me they were very bored at home and I think are glad to be back. More about all this in the next post.
The home is slowly turning green - the new color it is being painted. We also have a new sign painted on the wall under the kitchen - it is great and is being done by the students from Instituto San Cristobal who are doing their social service work there.
Yesterday was a holiday here - Dia de los martires - check www.padremickey.blogspot.com for an account of what we have this holiday.
More soon.
Tia Sue
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Diocesian Camp Starts
Each year the Youth of the Diocese put on Diocesian Youth Camps - which are really SUPER. Today was the start of the 1st one for this year - Jovenes - ages 15 to 19. Yasuri is attending this one. She is now living with her long lost original Godmother - so I told her I would pick her up and take her to the Diocesian Office where they gather and then go off to Santa Clara where the church has The Bishop Shirley Camp-Confrence Center. It is close to the ocean so that going to the beach and swimming is part of the camp experience.
Had to leave church early to go get Yasuri. With (well placed ) foresight I had the director show me how to find the apartment building she lives in on Friday. It is the first right turn after entering a part of San Migalito from the road to the airport - BUT the turn is not very obvious and on Friday the director and I with the aid of my cell phone took about 30 minutes to find it. Today it was easy. Yasuri has one of my older duffle bags and it turns out it is the very one I used to come to Panama in 1984 for a vacation in the forest with bird netting and banding - a trip that was part of Earthwatch.
It was fun to remind people that Yasuri is an alumae for the home. In the car she told me that things were going well in her new home but that washing the dishes was a bit of a problem. She suggested that they make a schedule - and they seem to like the idea. I told her that dishwashing is often a somewhat contentious point in any home.
Next wednesday the girls in the age group 12 to 14 will return to the home so they can get ready to leave for camp on the 13th. There will be 8 girls leaving from the home and 2 others leaving from the homes they are staying in this summer.
Tia Sue
Had to leave church early to go get Yasuri. With (well placed ) foresight I had the director show me how to find the apartment building she lives in on Friday. It is the first right turn after entering a part of San Migalito from the road to the airport - BUT the turn is not very obvious and on Friday the director and I with the aid of my cell phone took about 30 minutes to find it. Today it was easy. Yasuri has one of my older duffle bags and it turns out it is the very one I used to come to Panama in 1984 for a vacation in the forest with bird netting and banding - a trip that was part of Earthwatch.
It was fun to remind people that Yasuri is an alumae for the home. In the car she told me that things were going well in her new home but that washing the dishes was a bit of a problem. She suggested that they make a schedule - and they seem to like the idea. I told her that dishwashing is often a somewhat contentious point in any home.
Next wednesday the girls in the age group 12 to 14 will return to the home so they can get ready to leave for camp on the 13th. There will be 8 girls leaving from the home and 2 others leaving from the homes they are staying in this summer.
Tia Sue
Thursday, January 4, 2007
lots of help arrives
I knew about this but it was a surprise when at 8AM (I was eating breakfast and no one else was here - remember the girls are all visiting relatives) when a bus from Instituto San Cristobel pulled up and discharged 12 enthusiastic students to start their Social Service with us. They have to give 80 hours of service and that is a lot!!! 80 X 12 = 960 hours. We will look new (paint and fix up and repairs). I jave one (maybe two) young women to help me prepare teaching and study materials!!! I feel so, so, blest. The young woman (who will be in 12th grade in MArch) lived in the US when she was 3, 4, and 5 and is very happy to work with me and speak English so she can bring her English more up to her age level. What a gift.
I found that giving Canela (one of our dogs who was wounded - see previous entry) her pills is very easy with a one inch chunk of hot dog into which I have inserted the pill. A bit harder is putting the healing cream on her wound which is deep - but she was very cooperative tonight.
More about the renual of our living space!
Tia Sue
I found that giving Canela (one of our dogs who was wounded - see previous entry) her pills is very easy with a one inch chunk of hot dog into which I have inserted the pill. A bit harder is putting the healing cream on her wound which is deep - but she was very cooperative tonight.
More about the renual of our living space!
Tia Sue
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
At the home - with no girls!
I am back at the home. All the girls are visiting family or a friend of the home. Well, we do have two girls - our two dogs, Machita (Spotty) and Canela (Cinnamon). It is very quiet at the home right now and we are spending time doing adminitrative things. I am spending mmost of my time preparing for the summer program. Summer here is the dry season, which may be just about to begin (it is windy) and that is January to April.
I was at the computer this morning and heard a dog fight down the hill. Later I saw that Carnela was bleeding!. Someone took a bite out of her backside. Many vets here transport animals and so we had one close by come and get her. The decided not to stitch anything (I don't think there was anything to stitch - there was a loss of material at the site of the bite). They called and we elected to have it cleaned and then they returned her with the medicine - which I will have to give and apply - a many of you know that I am a CAT PERSON! New experience. Canela is old - over 11 and is blind or partially sighted and almost toothless - but she still bounds around a lot.
The Diocesian Youth Camps start on Sunday and for the four camp we are hoping to send 18 girls. Cost is $60 each - so if you would like to help a girl enjoy a tropical beach, church camp vocation, drop me a note: suewillpanama@hotmail.com.
Tia Sue
I was at the computer this morning and heard a dog fight down the hill. Later I saw that Carnela was bleeding!. Someone took a bite out of her backside. Many vets here transport animals and so we had one close by come and get her. The decided not to stitch anything (I don't think there was anything to stitch - there was a loss of material at the site of the bite). They called and we elected to have it cleaned and then they returned her with the medicine - which I will have to give and apply - a many of you know that I am a CAT PERSON! New experience. Canela is old - over 11 and is blind or partially sighted and almost toothless - but she still bounds around a lot.
The Diocesian Youth Camps start on Sunday and for the four camp we are hoping to send 18 girls. Cost is $60 each - so if you would like to help a girl enjoy a tropical beach, church camp vocation, drop me a note: suewillpanama@hotmail.com.
Tia Sue
Monday, January 1, 2007
BIRDING - El VALLE
My Christmas Present to myself was a trip to Canopy Lodge, a top class birding lodge, in El Valle Panama. They were able to squeeze me in from the 27th through noon on the 30th - between two Birding tours. For me it is a wonderful restful place and so, so different from my usual occupations - the Girls' Home, St. Pauls .... I was an avid birder in my late teens and onward into college and then again while living in Philly.
That is even how I came to Panama for the first time: with an Earthwatch trip in 1984 helping with research on birds on Pipeline road here in Panama.
You can view any of the birds that I mention by typing the name in Google Images. The Rufous Motmot is spectacular and there were up to three each morning at the feeders eating bananas.
Just being there is relaxing. I can relax in a hammock or sit in comfortable chairs watching hungry tanegers and other come to feeder where bananas are put out for them.
Guide lead birding trips are part of the visit. My guide, Tino, (shared with two interesting women, twins, who grew up in Mississippi), was very good. One of his top talents was whisteling bird calls and then having conversations with the birds who often flew in close to see us and be seen in our binoculars. My last day, Saturday, he had long conversations with a Black Throated Trogan and also a Blue Crowned Motmot - but neither came close enough for us to see. He had a good sense of humor too. We were lucky to see two Silver Bellied Gas Hawks.
When I arrived on Wednesday I mentioned that I would like to see kingfishers. Right around 3PM two Green Kingfishers showed near the rushing stream that runs right by the lodge and they stayed there well ove one hour - allowing me wonderful views.
I also wanted good looks at a Smooth Billed Ani - a neat black bird with an interesting beak and a floppy tail - and we saw a lot of them very close on the second day. Also I had been day dreaming about seeing a trogan and although the Blacked Throated didn't come in close enough we did see the Orange Bellied Trogan with spectacular views after almost an hour or Tino's calling and being answered!!
We went to a garden which is around the owner's house. Tino put bananas on the two feeders and in about 2 minutes there were a lot of tanagers and clay colored robins gobbling them up. Some of the tanegers are really spectacular: Crimson Backed Tanager, Lemon Rumped Tanager, and the Thick Billed Euphonia. WE also saw Red Legged Honeycreepers at the feeders. The highlight of the garden visit was very close views of Rufous Crested Coquette (a hummingbird). There were two males and they were sometimes as close to us as 18 inches!
At birding lodges almost all of the guests have a common interest in birds, so it is easay to introduce yourself and have a chat with interesting people. I had a wonderful half hour visit with a very interesting couple. If you would like to hear the story of that leave your name in a comment and if I don't have your e-mail leave that.
Happy New Year to all.
That is even how I came to Panama for the first time: with an Earthwatch trip in 1984 helping with research on birds on Pipeline road here in Panama.
You can view any of the birds that I mention by typing the name in Google Images. The Rufous Motmot is spectacular and there were up to three each morning at the feeders eating bananas.
Just being there is relaxing. I can relax in a hammock or sit in comfortable chairs watching hungry tanegers and other come to feeder where bananas are put out for them.
Guide lead birding trips are part of the visit. My guide, Tino, (shared with two interesting women, twins, who grew up in Mississippi), was very good. One of his top talents was whisteling bird calls and then having conversations with the birds who often flew in close to see us and be seen in our binoculars. My last day, Saturday, he had long conversations with a Black Throated Trogan and also a Blue Crowned Motmot - but neither came close enough for us to see. He had a good sense of humor too. We were lucky to see two Silver Bellied Gas Hawks.
When I arrived on Wednesday I mentioned that I would like to see kingfishers. Right around 3PM two Green Kingfishers showed near the rushing stream that runs right by the lodge and they stayed there well ove one hour - allowing me wonderful views.
I also wanted good looks at a Smooth Billed Ani - a neat black bird with an interesting beak and a floppy tail - and we saw a lot of them very close on the second day. Also I had been day dreaming about seeing a trogan and although the Blacked Throated didn't come in close enough we did see the Orange Bellied Trogan with spectacular views after almost an hour or Tino's calling and being answered!!
We went to a garden which is around the owner's house. Tino put bananas on the two feeders and in about 2 minutes there were a lot of tanagers and clay colored robins gobbling them up. Some of the tanegers are really spectacular: Crimson Backed Tanager, Lemon Rumped Tanager, and the Thick Billed Euphonia. WE also saw Red Legged Honeycreepers at the feeders. The highlight of the garden visit was very close views of Rufous Crested Coquette (a hummingbird). There were two males and they were sometimes as close to us as 18 inches!
At birding lodges almost all of the guests have a common interest in birds, so it is easay to introduce yourself and have a chat with interesting people. I had a wonderful half hour visit with a very interesting couple. If you would like to hear the story of that leave your name in a comment and if I don't have your e-mail leave that.
Happy New Year to all.
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