The Kids at the Door
I felt
like a mini-celebrity in the Philippines. I
thought it would be even worse here, but the oh-look-at-the-white-man phenomenon
is much less pronounced. I still get people coming up to me on the
street and wanting to shake my hand and say thank you. It's nice.
The local kids around the house lurv any attention we can give
them. Just wandering out the front door will attract a gaggle of
kids. Some of them are absolute nutters and will throw
themselves at you and assume you'll be able to catch them. No
dropped kids yet...
We have very strict rules governing just what the kids can and can't
do. They are:
- No hanging around the house between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Peace and quiet after dark is great.
- No child may enter the house for any reason whatsoever
One kid came across the threshold the other day to return some
pencils to their rightful place just inside the door. She was
told to get out by three volunteers in unison.
- No hanging around any bedroom windows
A great rule as it allows all volunteers to have their own private
spaces.
The kids spend at lot of their time peering in at us through the
front door and windows. It is a little disconcerting at first, but
you soon get used to it.
The kids seem to be forever asking for stuff. Popular choices
include:
- Ple' gi' me sheet
... or "please give me sheet of paper".
We give each kid one sheet of paper and a pencil per day. They
love drawing and tend to give the picture back to some one,
which is nice
Questions? Comments? Try contacting
me.
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(c)
2005 and 2006 Malcolm Trevena.
All the stuff on this site is written by me, Malcolm Trevena. Feel free to
link to this page. Heck, you can even copy stuff from here if you
want. Just make sure you sight me as a reference.
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