Sandita

La Sandita Orphanage

While in Piura, I have had the opportunity to help out at La Sandita orphanage near my apartment.. La Sandita is not affiliated with the church and has 37 residents,most of whom were living on the streets of Piura before they were taken in. 17 of the 37 residents are mentally or physically handicapped. Many of the physically handicapped kids to not get out of the home often, so every Sunday afternoon we take them to the park a few blocks away. It has been a great experience for everyone involved. I have helped with a few Special Olympics events in Tulsa, but with Sandita, I have been able to really get to know the handicapped residents and learn about their capabilities. In Piura, handicapped people are rarely seen in public, so taking the residents to the park has been good for the general population and some people even help out when they see us. Then of course, the residents have a great time and look forward to it all week. Many of them can�t communicate very well verbally due to severe Cerebal Palsey so the language barrier has not been much of an issue.

Here is the normal group that goes to the park on Sundays.

They love to ride the merry-go-round. After sitting in a wheel chair all week, the external stimulus of this must be exhillerating. Many of them can�t hold on by themselves so we have to ride with them and hold them.

Some of the more physically capable kids like to go down the slide. This is Carla. She rarely speaks but she says "El Parque" (The Park) every time she sees me. I�m not sure if she thinks my name is El Parque or if she just knows me as the guy who takes her to the park every Sunday. One shoe invariably falls off every time we help her climb to the top of the slide.

Yvonne can�t walk very well on his own but he likes to push others in their wheel chairs. So at the park, we let him push Ronnie around, both of them love it. Somebody has to walk beside the chair to keep Yvonne from pushing Ronnie into a tree or off a ledge.

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