At the Casa de
Anciano
This week at
the Learning Center we are having a Spiritual Emphasis week. Our focus is on the persecuted church. In North America, we can worship with
relative ease, but in much of the world that is not the case.
Today was
Servant Day. The plan was for our students to go to various localities and work
on community projects, such as cleaning or painting. My group was supposed to stay at the Learning
Center and sweep, pull weeds, and move a pile of dirt. It poured rain last
night and the rain continued today, which meant the pile of dirt was a pile of
mud. So the plans for my group changed
at the last minute.
A small group
was going to a home for the elderly in El Torno, a town about 45 minutes west
of Santa Cruz. My group piled in the
back of a mini-bus and joined them.
Around 9:30 we arrived at a tropical garden, where the Casa de Anciano
is located.
We entered a
very large clean place, where about 40 or more elderly were gathered. Some were making crafts, or playing
games. Others were talking to their
friends. Some waited in line to get
their hair cut. We were introduced to
the people and then given a variety of tasks to do. Some kids were shy, so they lucked out. The bold ones, who volunteered first, had the
opportunity to sit and get to know the people.
I was with a few kids who helped some play a matching game. The Casa tries to keep their minds occupied
and thinking.
The kids were
given the challenge to learn the names of the abuelos (grandparents). Some kids took up the challenge and got to
know a few. I didn’t do that well, but I
did talk to two sisters from Oruro.
Later in the morning they played some games to see if the kids had
learned their names.
The best part,
for me, was when they lined up all the students and gave them one of the abuelos. The abuelos were given the task of giving the
students a tour of the facility. They
have different activities every day, including church on Tuesdays. Some days they work in the garden, or in
carpentry, making crafts, or cooking. As
I said before, the idea is to keep their minds young by keeping them busy.
They have plans
to add to the facility, which would include helping troubled teens by teaching
them crafts and occupations that could earn them a living. The abuelos here would do the teaching. They want to put the two generations together
to learn from each other.
As usual in
places like this, they loved us and treated us well.
Each student was given a Christmas ornament, created by one of the
abuelas. We were served a delicious lunch. And we climbed a hill so the kids could play
on a slide.
I think it was a good day.
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