tantrums

Sometimes I have to do things that I don’t like. For example, a couple weeks ago the Tia was gone, accompanying Ceci to the hospital. I was trying to get all the younger ones bathed. I asked Camila (7) several times to get ready for her shower, but while I was looking for her towel, she put her pajamas on instead. I gave her a chance to take off her pajamas, but she wouldn’t do it, so I had to do it for her. Then she started crying, which eventually turned into a full-on flipout session as I pulled her up the stairs to the bathroom. She was refusing to get in the shower and even once she was in she kept shrieking and fighting with me and flailing her arms around. Carolina had to help me, holding her arms down so that I could shower her and wash her hair. Forceably showering crying little girls is not something I had in mind when I came here.

It happens every once in a while, sometimes she starts crying uncontrollably for really no reason at all and doesn’t calm down for a long time, sometimes hours. Usually at some point she starts screaming for her mother, which is so horrible to hear because her mother is never going to be there for her. Sometimes the older girls yell at her, "Shutup, stupid! Your mom is not here!" Something is going on with her, they were going to take her to a psychologist, but it’s gotten a lot better recently.

The other girls say that Linda (7) also has her tantrums, where she gets violent and starts scratching the tias. I have never seen her in that state though, so I guess she has gotten better as well.

Maria (9) has been acting weird lately, refusing to do her work in study hall. It’s as though she flips a switch. For no reason, she refuses to do anything, goes completely stiff, we can’t even move her because she grabs on to tables and chairs and refuses to let go. If we try to carry her out of the room she starts a crying fit and throws herself on the floor and makes a scene.

new post

Recently I decided to get out my summer shoes….pulled them out from the bottom of my closet and they were completely moldy. Nothing else in my closet is moldy, and I didn’t notice at all cuz the light down there is not too good. But there was no evidence of mold on the walls or anything. And my backpack was not moldy at all. Just the leather of my shoes. It was really gross and I've never seen anything like it. The photos don't do it justice.
It is pretty irritating, since it means I have to buy shoes now. The orange moccasins are irreplaceable and were a brand-new going-away present. The sandals I bought cheap in Pakistan. The Birkenstock were the best and most comfy, practical summer shoes, and expensive, but at least I can get them again back in Berlin. I don’t mind having to replace them so much because now I can buy them in the color that I actually wanted. :D





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We went to the theater to see some of our girls perform. All the special education schools of Temuco were present, each school had a short piece on stage. Three of our girls are in special ed, Jessica, who goes to the deaf/mute school, and Catalina and Cynthia. Jessica wasn’t performing, but Catalina and Cynthia were in a short “Flintstones” dance. Here are some photos:

Catalina is standing behind the wheelchair, she was "Betty" from the Flintstones. Cynthia is the white bird in the middle.

Cynthia and Catalina after the performance. They are both 13 years old. Cynthia has a growth problem, she is very small for her age. They don't know much about her condition, apparently her aunt had the same thing and died in her 30's.

my photo site is currently full, so i am not uploading fotos right now, i have to rent more webspace.

hogar

here are a few fotos from recent life in the hogar.

Once we went out to the grassy area by the mall to fly kites…the kites wouldn’t fly, probably because the building was blocking all the wind, but at least the kids had fun anyway, and got some much-needed exercise:

kites

There is an old ping-pong table which we got out of storage and bought some paddles for.

Also the Hogar had a big bazaar to get rid of some of the old clothes.

The other day we had a wellness afternoon where we invited some of the older girls up to our apartment and made peelings and masks with them, and cocktails from fruit juice.

I also posted some pictures out around town in Temuco, so you can get an idea of what it's like.

http://chile.marahtyler.com/#33.0

spendenstand

aktueller spendenstand ist 1489,46 Euro.

this means i'm only 310,54 Euro away from the goal of 1800,00!! if you would like to donate, see the sidebar for options, or send me an email.

and now i am going to plug my friends' photo pages again.

borko in south america: http://kontraband.tumblr.com/

and phil, in nepal: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philinjordan

seminar

i put the fotos from our seminar in santiago/viña del mar/valparaiso online:

http://chile.marahtyler.com/#28.0

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