Did you know that December 3rd is the International Day of Disability? Well I didn't know either, but I spent the third of December with the kids from the two special needs schools that the foundation supports in FANCA and the community of Kilometro 20. Thanks to INFA, we had an extra truck to pick up about 25 kids and moms at their homes, from the campo to the city, and bring them into Bahia for a day of celebrating their special abilities and special selves.
Our first stop was a visit to the infamous Miguelito, the Galapagos turtle held in captivity at a local elementary school. This was my first visit to Miguelito too; naturally, I have had some reservations about visiting an animal kept in such a sad condition, but I went to support the kids. Needless to say the kids loved him. And really his is an impressive animal. So huge and beautiful, and old! Over 100 years old, Miguelito spends his days on a dry patch of schoolyard waiting for someone to bring wanter and feed it into his nostrils. (how he drinks!!!!!) Well, I made an emergency trip to the market to buy some bananas to feed to Miguelito, which he ate peel and all. After eating about a 2 kilos of bananas, drinking 4 liters of water, being petted down by all the kids, and posing for countless pictures, we left him to rest and recuperate.
Our next stop in the half day tour of Bahia was the Velisco, where INFA was hosting an event for the day. In true INFA fashion, everything was running about 2 hours late. The DJ hadn't arrived yet, nor had the snack that was promised for the kids. hmmf. But a few of the INFA staff had dressed up like clowns to sing songs and do kids games with the participants, Ivonne the director of the office read a few children's stories and some of the foundations jovenes showed up dressed in our “muneca” outfits to play with the kids, which they loved. :D After about an hour and a half there, we organized the kids, grabbed the small ones' hands and walked down the Malecon to the beach.
(Pedro with the "munecitos" and Judy dressed up like a clown! cute!)
Once we picked our spot on the beach, we stripped the kids down, rubbed their little faces up with sunscreen and all ran off together toward the ocean. The moms hung close by, but Maria, Natalia and I were really the ones in charge of keeping everyone's head above water! I was in charge of a little girl named Hagna, a sweet little ball of energy who wanted nothing more than to lay face down in the sand as the waves came up around her, oh heavens! The kids had such a good time playing and sitting in the waves and playing in the sand. Like any kid, they wanted to stay at the beach all day, and so, getting everyone changed and ready for lunch was an ordeal, to say the least!
(R: Josue suncreened-up and ready to play! L: The kiddos playing in the ocean, Below: Hagna face down in the water, just how she liked it best!)
Lunch was an extra special treat. Many of our kids from the campo, even some of the kids from the city, have never eaten in a restaurant before! One of the restaurants right on the bay, El Buen Sabor, is a friend of the foundation and agreed to host us for an extra special lunch at $1.50 per person, woooo hoooo!!!!! They served us all a generous bowl of bola de verde soup, a creamy, peanuty, oniony soup with carrots, cheese, and a big ball of mashed green plantain filled with cheese, (mmmmmmmm!!!!!!!) and a plate of fried fish, potato salad, a green salad, rice, and fried ripe plantain (no wonder I have gained weight here!!! everything is sooooo tasty and delicious, but so high calorie! what a dilemma!!!) After everyone was nice and full, we had yet another surprise for the kids' stomachs....ICE CREAM!!!!!!!! And at 25 cents a bar, how can you resist!?
(Everyone enjoying their sopa de bola. mmmmmmmmmm!!!)
Now you may be thinking, this seems like a lot of hoopla for just one day! Yes, yes it was. But it was a celebration of these kids - kids that generally people are afraid to talk to, to acknowledge; kids that don't have a chance at a “normal” life because Ecuadorian society is not prepared to include them and support them with their special abilities; and more than anything, it was their mothers hard work and dedication to bring them to school everyday for 4 months, to participate and raise money for them to be able to get out of the house, out of their rural community and see the world of Bahia that is just a short bus ride away, but whom very few have had the opportunity to see. So we saw it all and did it all in one day, in celebration of them, and with the promise to do it again shortly! For the moms that couldn't make the trip into Bahia with us, to pasear a few hours, we ordered the special lunch to go for them and delivered it to them to thank them for their hard work and collaboration for the benefit of these very special, very wonderful kids.
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