La Punta

Tuesday 14th  May

La Punta is the shelter that Tarpuy Sonqo volunteers at. It is a temporary shelter which houses girls who have been abused, become homeless or entered into prostitution. The girls are aged between 12-17 years old and tend to only stay in this orphanage for 2-4 weeks. 

For our orientation we played a name game. The language barrier was difficult as there weren't many good spanish speakers there. I am hoping that my spanish will improve as I go, however because we speak english at home i feel like my progress could be slower.

The girls at La Punta love to dance. They had a dvd of choreography and were able to mimic it. Another thing that they love is volleyball. They have a cord that they hang up in the hall and then play volleyball over it. They are all amazingly good at it and obviously play it a lot. It does sadden me a little that they seem to have become amazing at the things that they do a lot because it suggests to me that they don't get to do much else. They are not allowed to go outside and can have no contact with friends or family. 

It does further establish in my mind the reason that we volunteer. I hope that we can bring new ideas and activities to the girls and hopefully brighten their days with our love and support.

Tomorrow I am visiting all the other orphanages on orientation and then on Thursday I am going to the school where volunteers teach English. I am really interested in teaching english since I have seen some of the other volunteers preparing classes, which look like a lot of fun. Hopefully my basic spanish will be sufficient enough for me to communicate during my classes.