Day 4: Los Pipitos - The Picasso Imperative!

Christine Pays for the Paint and Lily Reaches for the Cash Register!

Yes! Today we were Picasso's, as Bill called us! We have started to transform La Clinica and the first imperative was to paint! So, Paloma took us to the ferreteria (hardware store), where our resident painter (Christine!) took charge of buying the paint. Even this was a challenge! It seems that the people still expect sterile white walls in a clinic, but our wish would have been a child friendly space with bright colors and maybe a Disney mural! We ended up compromising because there was no white in the washable shiny paint, so we chose crema (which seems to be more of a peach color!). Paloma took her leave and we walked back to the school with our project and spent the rest of the day painting. 

Christine with the Roller

We had lunch with the children today and they were great! I wanted to take some pictures, but I will wait until we are more integrated with the kids and they feel more comfortable with us before I take them. They seem very happy to have us there and made a point of sitting close to us and talking non-stop. 

Children Around the Table

During the day, the children are engaged in their classes. The rooms are separated by dividers, and the noise can be pretty loud! The groups are divided by ability and the most basic group is working hard to learn social skills. For some of the students, just sitting at the table is a challenging task, but it was apparent to us that the methods used at Los Pipitos are working! For the most part, the children all sat around the tables and participated in supervised activities. They were intrigued by us as we passed by on the way to or from the clinic, and they waved and shouted "hola!" But they quickly returned to the task at hand. If you look at the picture on the left above, you can see the wheelchair that is made of a plastic chair and wheels. Making needed equipment using available resources is an important skill here.

The 3 Picasso's and the Finished Masterpiece!

Bill was in Managua today and was able to bring us some needed clinic equipment. We're looking forward to setting it all up tomorrow, when the paint is dry.


We have appointments at the School of Nursing in Managua next week and we're excited about talking with the Dean of the school about how we can work together to serve the children and families of Los Pipitos.

Tonight we had a lovely dinner at my hotel, Hotel con Corazon. We are enjoying each other's company! Stay tuned for tomorrow's report of our first clinic day! Adios!