Pulseras y juguetes for all

Playroom 

The kids are always playing with my watch and my rings. They’re just astounded that I wear 6 rings. They ask if they can keep them, but that’s just not feasible. So the bleeding heart that I am, I decided to make bracelets for all the kids at the Clinic. It seemed like a great idea when I made the promise, but then it hit me: That’s a freakin lot of bracelets to make. I ventured to the market in search of yarn and bought blue, yellow, pink, and green. Geraldine has also been begging for a watch, and I realize that its not nice to play favorites but the poor girl is 15 and she deserves a watch, so I bought her a pink watch with flowers on it. It took about 2 weeks to make 24 bracelets (making them mostly on buses due to the many adventures we went on). We’ve been exploring new markets lately, and we stumbled upon one with a bunch of stands selling toys. Its impossible to pass toys and not want to buy them for these kids (immediate “OMG *insert name of child here* WOULD LOVE THAT”). I picked up some toy cell phones with interesting names, a few books and some Spiderman/Princess stickers. Keep in mind that the only toys they have are toys that volunteers have purchased for them, so they get really excited when new things come.

sweet pulsera! 

I think naughty boy speaks for itself...

check out Geraldine's awesome watch

I was super excited to give them the bracelets and especially to give Geraldine her watch. I gave Geraldine the watch and I thought I was being pretty secretive, I told her not to tell 

anyone and there was nobody else in the room when I did it. Almost instantly Maya comes up to me and asks why Geraldine got something special that she didn’t get. These kids are super observant! I played it off and gave her a princess sticker that was bigger than her head, which did the trick. I was tying bracelets all day. Which color combination to choose is like a life and death decision for them which is really cute. The most popular thing was the cell phones, not so appropriately named “Naughty Boy” and “Modern Girl”. I could barely even get them out of the packages to put the batteries in. They all wanted their own, but they’ve gotta learn to share. That’s one thing I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet—they’re horrible at sharing! I think maybe it’s because of a general lack of individual attention, because if there are no volunteers there to play with them, there’s just simply no one to play with. We broke the cardboard box that holds the toys, and brownie points to Diomedes, he asked to color on it. Gettin’ creative...you go guy.

Diomedes getting creative with his toy choice

Flor and Diomedes pretending to share

Playground? Wheelchair Friendliness in Peru

There are no real reliable numbers of how many Peruvians are “disabled”, but it has been estimated at 13% of the population, about 3 million people. There are no estimates of the percent of disabled people in the Peruvian Amazon or Andean regions, which kind of speaks to the problem we face in Cusco. Maybe we are spoiled in America with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but Cusco is the least wheelchair friendly place I’ve ever been. I can’t imagine having to get around on wheels! There’s stairs at every turn, and there are ramps from the street to the sidewalk but not regularly and they’re pretty steep if you ask me. Disabled children are oftentimes excluded from the education system, and in a major (really major) company, only .0006% of their employees were disabled. There are laws protecting the disabled, but it seems, like many regulations in Peru, they’re not really taken seriously. The disability law was only approved about 5 months ago. What does it entail? Here’s some of the big points:

"-People with disabilities are entitled to integral rehabilitation in their community 
  -People with disabilities have the right to inclusive education
  -5% of labour force in the public sector and 3% in the private sector should be persons with disability
  -Any vacancy left by a person with disability need to be covered by another person with a disability
  -All transport units have the obligation to be accessible
  -In congressional elections, political parties, electoral alliances and independent movements, have to include at  least   10% of persons with disabilities
  -In developing its Participatory Budget, the Regional and Local Governments need to prioritise projects and initiatives presented by persons with disabilities” 

(sources: http://www.cbm.org/Peruvian-Congress-approves-disability-law-372083.php, http://www.ideanet.org/content.cfm?id=5b5c7e)

How much of this will really happen and be enforced? Only time will tell, but my bet is not much. The point is, its already difficult being disabled, how much more difficult can we make it by making everything an uphill battle?

Sweet playground

Onto lighter things. Today we went out to the playground! Its actually a pretty nice playground (old, but nicer than a lot of Chicago parks), but not the most wheelchair friendly, which is what prompted my accessibility rant. For the most part, the kids can’t walk, they need to be carried (or at least held up). I wheeled Flor outside and scooped her out of her chair…little girl is heavier than she looks! We walked around, and she was just on cloud nine. She can move her legs, and makes walking and jumping motions but she can’t actually support herself. We walked and jumped around until my arms were about to fall off. We sat down and I pretended to be sleeping and she poked me in the eyeballs until I got up (typical Flor). We played for maybe half an hour more, and then I finally convinced her to go inside because all her friends were going in.

Florcita and I 

Later in the day, some strange people wearing orange shirts came to play with the kids. I think they were part of some church organization because there was a man with a bible in a suit boppin around. One of the strange ladies told me that Johan cries in the night if he doesn’t eat a lot of food, and I was like okay strange lady go away. The strange volunteers seemed like they were in high school. One of them was named Besatra (I had her write it down for me) and she wanted to help feed one of the kids. Poor girl had no idea what she was

Jhon David, the baby Besatra was trying to feed.
Doesn't he look sweet when he's not screaming?

getting herself into, she looked like she was about to cry. She was trying to feed one of the babies, and he was just spitting everything out. The strange lady that yelled at me about Johan was yelling at her too! This poor girl can’t be expected to force feed this baby, she’s probably only like 13! I didn’t like that old lady. Luckily, she never came back.

Unrelated note: A cab in Cusco is 3 soles, unless its late at night in which case it can be 4 or 5. A cab to the clinic costs 3, but for some reason on the way back its always 4. What a rip-off. 

Meet the tiny humans!

Names and ages in parenthesis of some of the kids, along with a riveting account of the weirdo things they do. Fun fact: most of them speak Quechua, and Spanish is their second language.

Adalid

Adalid (6)-Its probably not a good thing to say but Adalid is hands down my favorite. She is so feisty, and always hungry. When she eats its like she’s never seen food in her life, which is probably why she’s such a gordita. She can’t speak, but her facial expressions are very clear. She likes to rest her head on your arm and to have her hair messed with. She has a sneaky habit of taking off her red shoes and leaving them in strange places. Doesn’t like quinoa soup at all, and will not hesitate to reach her whole hand into her mouth to pull it out when you try to feed it to her.

Johan

Johan (3)-Johan stares into your soul with his big brown eyeballs. He rarely makes any sounds and it usually looks like he’s grimacing at you.

Evelin

Evelin (6)- Evelin’s hands are tied because she likes to scratch her face until it bleeds and pull out her hair. It took a while before I ever saw Evelin smile. She can’t speak, but she’s still pretty vocal. When she’s mad, she just folds over in her chair until you pay attention to her. 

Maya

Maya (8)- She can speak perfectly. Maya is the first kid who I talked to. I think she is intelligent far beyond her years. She’s more moody than most of the other kids and very vocal about her concerns. She likes Barbies and has a Spongebob backpack.

Geraldine

Geraldine (15)- She’s 15 but looks about 10. She speaks pretty well, and can walk with a lawn chair for support. One of the sweetest and most caring kids there. She’s definitely a hugger. Likes rings and watches, but can't tell time. 

Amy

Amy (8)- Amy is one of the newer kids. She doesn’t really speak but you can tell that what she wants to say is just on the tip of her tongue and she just can’t get it out. Her face lights up when she sees you and she has the biggest smile. Loves photos and watching block towers fall.

Diomedes

Diomedes (6)- He can walk and speak perfectly. He’s really sweet to all the other kids in wheelchairs. He pushes them around, races, and spins them. He’s shy at first, but once you get him talking he won’t shut up. Likes Spiderman and piggyback rides, also has an awesome leather backpack.

Flor

Flor (6)- Flor and I have a love/hate relationship. When she’s done hanging out with you, she just shoos you away with her hand. She doesn’t speak full words very well, but you can make out what she’s saying sometimes. At mealtimes, she only wants to drink water, but she always caves and eats her food. Likes blocks, fruit, and wheelchair races.

Catiluz

Catiluz (8)- This girl knows what she wants and has no fear. She’s pretty aggressive, but obviously all with good intentions. She’s just stronger than she thinks. She can’t really speak, but she can walk if she’s holding a bar or a chair. Likes going outside, high fives, and pulling hair.

Angelito

Angelito (4)- Angel is a trooper if I’ve ever known one. He speaks well, but has no arms or legs. He plays with the other kids like nothing is even different. Hates papaya (which is good because its gross).

Victor

Brayan

Victor (7)- Victor is very hot and cold. When he wants to play, he’s all in but when he doesn’t, he’s just not having it. He can speak pretty well, and plays alone most of the time. Likes puzzles and messing with other kids’ wheelchairs against their will.

Brayan (6)- He’s usually a favorite of the volunteers, but he’s really emotional. He’ll just yell (more like a desperate whining yell) until you give him what he 

wants, and he has no shame in crying for no apparent reason. His favorite game is taking every toy out of the box and putting them all back over an over again. Likes spinning around in his chair and playing the keyboard.