Playdates

The last few weeks the neighbor kids have been coming over to my house in the evenings after I come home from my groups. We have been playing games- something like tag called the ribbon, playing catch, volleyball, and more. I have taught them soccer, which none of them had played before. Soccer is not a common sport in the DR, but some of the youth from my Escojo Mi Vida group have shown interest in learning, so I can’t wait to show them this new game that I have grown up playing. I am honestly embarrassingly bad a volleyball and so I am really excited to show them a game that I am so much more familiar with. One night at my house with my little neighbors we had a talent show where I turned on the outside like from my house and everyone sang their own song and did a dance. We have had coloring days, I now have a wall covered in pictures that they have drawn, which brightens up my house. These kids are so kind, so giving, and so excited to have a place to play. They are also so creative. They figure out how to entertain themselves with very little. All last week one of my neighbor kids, Nunu, had found a small bike frame and had made a seat and handlebars out of wooden sticks and placed toy wheels on the spokes, trying to ride it down the hill. Another day Marielise and Nunu had balanced a perfect length stick between two trees and were using it as a pull up bar to swing from. A common toy that these two play with is the stick and tire, which they have made themselves. They can spend hours running up and down the dirt road with this stick attached to a half bottle and pushing an old tire along side them. This is a lot harder than it seems. They tried to teach me one day, but I failed miserably. Hopefully some day I’ll get the hang of it. They constantly bring my fruit like fresh mangos, cawhill, and berries. Sometimes after coming home from my talks I am exhausted and just want to sit down, watch a movie on my computer and drink some tea, but even on these days when the kids come over to play, I can’t say no. They are so grateful to have even 10 minutes to play at my house, fill my yard with laughter, and never overstep their bounds. They make me laugh and smile constantly and for that I am so thankful I have such great kids as my neighbors and sometimes my best friends in site.

This is Nunu and Marielise. They are the two kids of one of my favorite Donas, a woman my age who owns a colmado down the road. She is the newly elected president of my Hogares Saludables group in Tierra Prieta. These two little munchkins enjoying playing volleyball and “inventing”- making new toys and pretending like playing house.

This is Laura. She is very proud that she has the same name as my mother. She also lives with Nunu and Marielise. She is the younger sister by 20 years of Daniella, the mother of Nunu and Marielise. She is a strong and brilliant young woman. She often takes care of her niece and nephew while her sister is at church. Laura is very passionate about her church. She is always inviting the whole community to song sessions for the kids to sing religious songs. She is always so helpful whenever the kids are over in my yard and make sure that they are behaving very well while I am around. She and her neice and nephew take very good care of Lollipop when I am away and I am so thankful for that.

This is Carla. She is my host mother’s granddaughter. Her mouth never stops moving. She talks constantly, is super playful, loving, and sassy. I have so much love for her.