Day 13

A first attempt at sculpture... :)

The older kids were collecting donations for Haiti today at some of the schools, so Kyla and I got a ride into town again. We ran some errands and I had a check up at the doctor's. My hands are achy and pretty rashed as are my feet. The result of my consultation was that I got another (different) shot in the rear. I had to go downstairs to the pharmacy, buy the needle and my hydro cortisone and take it back upstairs so they could stick me. This one really hurt, but the didn't come with crazy side-effects. I really hope this is the end of shots. I was told to show up again tomorrow for another check up. I hope I'm mostly cured by tomorrow. At least the kids aren't afraid of me anymore!

On another note, we haven't had water in a long time. The main building has water so we haul it in buckets and also do our laundry in the sinks down there. The thing I miss the most is flushing the toilet. It doesn't smell pretty in our room. We throw a bucket of water down it occasionally, but one can only make so many trips across the green to the main building throughout the day. I'm super at bucket baths now. I actually prefer them to cold water showers now that I have a hot water wand thinggie. I don't know if this lack of water is normal, but it's pretty bearable minus the stank.

Other news of the day is that the baby pigs were born at 3am this morning. I visited them all cozy under their heat lamp in a separate container next to their mama. They were really pink and tiny. So cute. The runt of the litter is my favorite. He is about half the size of the others and long and skinny. I even got to pet them. And, yes, in case you are wondering, the whole place reeked of pig, but it was so worth it to see the new piglets!

I had a make up art class today. We attempted to make imaginary animals with feathers out of homemade dough and multicolored feathers I bought in the States. I made the dough out of flour, salt and water, and it was a little too wet, so they had a hard time making anything stand up very well. I think these kids are so new to art that even the basic project is hard for them. Most didn't build very high on their plate and just threw a bunch of feathers on a blob. Oh well. Tomorrow I try again. I realize it is a unique challenge to teach kids of varying ages and skills, most of whom have had very little access to art. Like I shouldn't assume that they will know how to make basic animal shapes out of dough. And I need to always have a finished example. Most importantly though, I think the kids are having fun and getting a chance to try their hands at something new, messy and fun.