The first workshop

So today was our first day teaching at the orphanage.  At 1pm we got into our minibus and made the 1hr and 15 min trek to the orphanage at Croix de Bouquet.  As we ventured to the outskirts of Port au Prince the scale of the devestation of the earthquake just continued on and on.  The intensity of the heat, the fumes from the petrol and the noise all around you is overwhelming.  You want the window open to have a break from the heat but the fumes engulf your whole body.

As we made our way down the back streets on roads that make Herefordshire roads seem well maintained we finally reached the orphanage.  On our arrival a handful of children came to greet us with a mixture of excitment and shyness,  their beautiful faces half smiling back at us. Trusting but detatched. We met with the staff at the orphanage and were then kind of left to start work.  We introduced ourselves with name games and body popping but it was hard to communicate what we were trying to express without the translator who happened to turn up half an hour late.  The children did very well with the movement we were trying to get them to do and 4 little boys were incredible rocking out some tops and busting out the broken leg.  When we did the freestyle circle at the end of the day it was a truly amazing and hilarious experience.  One little girl who was probably about 6 but looked 3 came into the middle and waggled her finger at us, with hand on the hip and the best pout i have seen in a long time showed us what she was about.  It was like watching an episode of Oprah.  It was truly inspiring. We go back to the orphanage today with a clearer plan of what will work (hopefully) but who knows.  Its hard to plan in a country that has none. 

We talk long into the night and morning on the subject creativity versus structure?  Do we discipline or not?  At the end of the day these children have nothing really so whatever we do will give them something they have not had before. Fun, new experiences, creative expression and perhaps more importantly some routine in their lives. Today we go back to try again with new work and new ideas.

Tamsin Fitzgerald