So it´s our third day as official volunteers for Panchita.  
Yesterday we didn´t work in La Casa but actually took a tour of the center of Lima with Ignacio.  Ignacio does the marketing for AGTR or Associacion grupo de trabajo redes aka, the NGO that gives money to the project that is La Casa de Panchita.  Ignacio was great - he took us to Lima´s cathedral which was enormous and had a big museum and a small catacomb  where we saw not only the bones of people buried there but the caskets of babies who had died and whose parents did not have the money to give them a proper burial.  We then went to the monastery where we saw much larger catacombs that held the bones of thousands of people.  At one point we looked into holes filled with the bones of people´s legs and the guide told us that they went about four meters (12ish feet) down.  
Ignacio was almost as knowledgeable as the guides and told us everything they had missed during the tours.  

Today in La Casa we got our big assignment for the time we are here: to write up 24 lesson plans for the English classes taught on sundays, though we aren´t actually going to be teaching the lessons because we work with the children during this time.  It´s a difficult task because we really don´t know very much about english grammar.  With the assistance of books and a guide, however, we´re doing alright and it´s helping us not only with spanish but understand more the difficulties of learning English.  (Does anyone know how to explain exactly what adding "est" to the end of an adjective does?  Ex. Biggest and Smallest.  We all understand, but how to explain?  Calling all teachers!)  Today we finished five lessons between the three of us.  (When I refer to the three of us I am also including Emily, another student from Colby.)  Our goal is to finish as early as possible because we really want to be doing more work with people, though I know they need a lot of help with things like this.  We were given two books about La Casa de Panchita and their work with children and families to read.  Later we´ll be writing some sort of report on them, but we don´t have the topic of the report yet.  It sounds a little crazy coming from me but it´s nice to be writing and doing school-like work .... in small quantities.  

Today we also learned a little more about La Casa de Panchita and the project (which is technically separate then la Casa but still a AGTR project) with the children.  The main goal of this project for the older children is to not only help them further their education but help them understand that they are allowed to have opinions and that they should express them.  Their voices are silenced by the nature of their job as domestic workers and have to re-learn that it is okay to express themselves.  For all the children the goal is to give a loving and warm enviornment.  They are encouraged to hug us and hold hands and seek any affection that might be lacking, not by fault of their parents themselves but of their situation in life.  This affection is begun at the very beginning of the day when the children line up outside the door and all of the volunteers go and kiss each one hello (that´s close to 60 kisses - we definitely feel the love).  I really like the goals of La Casa.  They care very genuinely about the physical, mental and intellectual wellbeing of the people who go to them for help.

Lastly, I found this article online about La Casa de Panchita and some of the work they do.  If you read spanish go ahead and click this link.  Sorry it´s not in English!  http://www.aprodeh.org.pe/reflexiones/anterior/rf41.htm
  
So that´s all for today - tomorrow I have a meeting with my sunday group to talk about next week´s work with the children, but the more work on the books and the lesson plans.
Goodnight all,
Emma