Contrary to custom, the team arrived a little earlier with this time a larger-than-normal group of kids waiting for us. To be honest with you (and realistic with ourselves!), quite a few of them were there before time to welcome the long-awaited Alfonso, alias Licenciado Vurro (Professor Donkey), who used to be Cuéntamelo Todo’s exclusive story teller over the project’s first few months. Most of our kids have been with us since we started, and many have regularly asked after ”El Vurro”… so today was an important rendezvous for which one had to be geared-up and on time!
Thanks to the help of some 15 little elves, we swiftly set up tent on the Plaza- it appears some of our kids have sussed out faster than some of the team members (;-0!) how to assemble the tent’s pieces... Instantly, books, papers and colour crayons started blooming beneath the tent. For those who were feeling more bouncy, games were initiated led by the cefistas, FyA’s team of student volunteers.
In less than half an hour, over 40 Cuéntamelo Todo’s stickers were handed out and Monica, our social worker, was having a hard time tracking down names and associating faces. This was enhanced by a noisy cluster of requesting mothers gathered around her asking for las navidades, a custom in this country which, in the run-up to Christmas, translates into gift distributions generally by charities and religious institutions. After explaining what Cuéntamelo Todo was all about and how that was not part of what we did, the crowd, which had doubled thanks to curious and inquisitive newcomers, finally dispersed enabling us to launch into the tale of the week.
“La maquina de cuando sea grande” is a really nice story by Mercedes Falconi about a scientist who creates a machine, which enables one to travel into the future as well as back into the past of one’ s life. Over 50 kids snuggled up under the tent, and as they were captivated by ”El Vurro” there was not a sound emanating from them- you could have heard a pin drop! As soon the story ended, many of the kids insisted on sharing with the rest of the crew what they would like to be when they grow up.
As part of recapping the values and rights we look to emphasize with the kids, ”El Vurro” then talked about how things we do today may affect our future, hence the importance of decision-making, and how in that process, there are many possibilities and outcomes. There is the chance, for example, that in your choice-making, you find you “got it wrong“... though as he underlined, “what does getting it wrong actually mean?” Nothing is ever totally wrong or right, there is always something good to get out of a choice you made and learning from that is an important part of that process.
”El Vurro” finished off this session with a series of jokes and riddles for the children to solve. A few of them decided to stand up and address the group with some other, more complicated ones giving way to a few more giggles! It is really great to see how many of our kids, most of whom share the Plaza outside of schooling hours, now have befriended each other thanks to Cuéntamelo Todo, play together during and beyond our sessions... and thus live another one of their key rights, one which we will be covering over the next months, namely the right to play.
To wrap up the session, the cefistas had organized a series of mime games for the smaller kids, including one where professions were to be guessed. The other children stayed in the tent with our guest of the day and split into groups for a little timed competition: make a sentence out of numbered colour letters. As you would expect all the groups made it on time!
As it was the last session before Christmas, we had decided to give our kids a book with a little note from the team, together with some candies the cefistas had brought. Unfortunately, with the higher turnout and the hefty motherly expectations, we decided to postpone it to the New Year, when our regular kids will be back. … The joys of working in the street for you- another work in progress and an entertaining process...
As it is holidays, we will be off this week to return next Wednesday 6 January with the Defensoria del Pueblo who will be looking at 'the right to get it wrong' starting off with a film….so until then, we wish you all a very happy 2010!!
