Sports Day with Anita

Last Wednesday we had an early start so that we

could get to Cusco for half 9 in the morning. After hitch-hiking in a luxury tourist bus on its way back to Cusco, we met Nelly, the MSH Social Worker outside Uriel Garcia school. We followed her inside the school stadium where the entire school were assembled all dressed in their sport teams' gear and decorated with face paints and fancy hair-dos.

Anita is a ten year old girl who is in a wheelchair due to cerebral disabilities. She loves drama and last time we met her at her home she did a confident performance of a poem for us finishing with a bow. She and her little sister were there to take part in the parade and her parents were there too to watch them. We spent several enjoyable hours in gorgeous sunshine with Anita and her family watching the various dances and performances including a rather accurate rendition of Thriller and several rounds of fireworks.

Then it was our turn! Alex and I went onto the sports field with Anita and her team mates and walked the lap of the parade. I held a volleyball and flowers and Alex pushed Anita trying to stay in time with the shouts of the coordinators which resulted in some abrupt halts and several spurts of sprinting. Anita’s family were so welcoming and generous; her little sister ran off to put my jelly carton in the bin and her Dad disappeared and returned with a hat for Alex when the sun was at its hottest.

Anita’s Dad works really hard as a mechanic but they can’t afford the 20 pounds a month it would cost to get Anita to physiotherapy three times a week. Nelly has also recommended that Anita needs a laptop to help her at school because although she is just as quick at learning as any of her classmates, she struggles to write quickly. I really hope MSH can help her with these small things that would really make a difference.

New Volunteers - Jenny and Alex

We have just arrived in Ollantaytambo to work with Leander at MySmallHelp and what a busy and eventful start it has been! It has become clear very quickly that there is an awful lot of need in this area due to poverty and a lack of understanding and education. Our first few days have been a whirlwind of meeting new people, administrative work and long conversations about how best to help the people here who need it the most.

One great achievement MSH has made this week is securing school places for a number of disabled children living in the area. Access to education and stimulation will undoubtedly make their lives much fuller and more rewarding. Yet this achievement creates its own problem of how to find the funds to send the children to school on a private bus each day.

We have also been working with the charity Awamaki, to ensure home visits to a number of disabled people in the area are continued. The partnership aims to provide support, stimulation and company for these people, many of whom have been terribly neglected in their lives because of a lack of understanding of their illnesses and a lack of resources and support.

As well as working on the Disabled Outreach Program we have brainstormed about volunteer schemes, taken the children next door who are sponsored through MSH shopping for new school shoes and watered the plants at a local rehabilitation centre in time for its grand opening in May. The centre will provide rehabilitation, training in guinea pig rearing and lots of other helpful services and is funded by the government.

What has certainly become clear this week is that partnership between different agencies and organizations is something that can be beneficial for all involved.