Proyecto

After Kermes I had Proyecto Familiar with 4 boys: Belarmino, Ernesto, Nelson, and Carlos, the youngest, of whom has Down syndrome and does not talk. And I was scheduled to do it ALL BY MYSELF!! Oh dear! Luckily, Katie is wonderful and volunteered to come help me :) hooray for good friends! I asked all 4 boys in advance what they wanted to do, but the answer was always a resounding “lo que quieres” - “whatever you want to do.” Oh joy. Katie and I left to get the boys around 2:45 prepared with a travel, one-burner stove for making poporopo (popcorn), my ipod, and a key to one of the workshops.

We picked up all 4 boys and were told that 2 of the boys had a soccer game at 4, directly in the middle of project. How wonderful! I love last minute planning. Not. We decided it would be fun for the other boys to go and watch their brothers play futbol in Parramos after their first hour together.

We walked to the taller and proceeded to listen to fabulously terrible American pop music on my ipod (I’m talking Akon, Fergie, Backstreet Boys…you get the picture…) while playing game after game of futillo (foosball) and popping popcorn :). Unfortunately the poporopo didn’t work out so well, but it didn’t seem to matter for the boys – they just genuinely seemed to enjoy spending time together, and they were all REALLY good with each other, and especially with Carlitos.

At 4 we gather all of our stuff and headed out to Parramos to watch Ernesto and Nelson play their game. I think the boys were all just excited to be in town and away from the home, especially considering how many kids there were in Parramos to hang out with! They stole my soccer ball on more than one occasion, and one time it even ended up in the middle of the game! Oh dear. Anyway, I bought the boys some empanadas and chips and they seemed quite content to watch and eat. Around 5:30 Carlitos was falling asleep on the benches so his oldest brother, Belarmino, and I decided to walk home, leaving the other boys with their tio. Carlitos quickly began to fall asleep on the way home and so we took turns carrying him back to the home. By the way, it’s quite tiring carrying a 6 year old up and down the hills of Parramos, although it was also adorable to feel his little head bobbing up and down on my shoulder as he held on to my neck. We made it home around 6, just in time for bedtime for Carlitos, and dinner for us. It was definitely a really fun and rewarding proyecto :).


Ernesto, Belarmina, Carlos, and Nelson


Belarmino and Carlitos playing "futillo"