Petals and Post at the half-way mark

The Volunteer Clock

Processing the girls emotions around the coming and going of the volunteers was one of the first needs that I noticed here at Menindança's Pink House.  In fact I noticed it even before setting foot in the house itself, when on my very first evening in Medina I was introduced to some of the girls when we crossed paths in the square (wow, how long ago that seems now, even though it was just 3 weeks!) 

The girls had just had their first group of short-term volunteers come and go - the 'EIC girls' as we hear them called, Emma, Sara and Nicola, who came to run dance workshops, and after the amazing two weeks they had together it was apparently really tough to see them go. My arrival, only a few days later had many of the girls huffing and puffing or looking disappointed to hear I would only be here 6 weeks.  As I've said in an earlier post, although it was very hard to see this disappointment and I know it will be sad to say goodbye after getting to know these gorgeous girls, I still believe there is a huge value in short term volunteering in terms of what seeds you can leave behind and in the quality of the relationships and experiences that we can share in the time we do have. 

In creating this "volunteer clock" with the girls, the idea was to visualise the placement-period of each volunteer, so that the girls can be aware from the start of how long each volunteer will be here with them.  The girls each decorated a pink petal with their names and designs, and we arranged these and green leaves with staff and long-term volunteer names around a circle painted with blackboard paint, where corks we decorated represent Rachel, Lauren and I .   The blackboard is marked up at the moment to show that Rachel and I are in our 4th week of our 6 week placement and that Lauren is 5 weeks from the end of her current 6 months.   This means I've just past the half way mark of being here, and it seems like I've been here so long already.  It also seems a good point to reflect on what has been achieved and learned so far, and look forwards to the next three weeks to think about what I would like to achieve with the remaining time with the girls.

Since it's been up on the wall the clock seems to be doing its job as it is stimulating conversation with the girls about how long each of us have left. And yes, this has caused some tears and difficult feelings for a few, but we believe that the important thing is that it is giving the girls the opportunity to talk about the endings that are approaching, to say how they feel about them and to be prepared for them.  It is also giving Rachel and Lauren the opportunity to reassure the girls that although they are leaving soon, that they will be coming back after they have sorted out visas and fundraising.

 Pink House Post Office

Another response to observations about the girls behaviours - the Pink House Post Office has also come into being this week. Each girl decorated an envelope with her name and a design to sit alongside those of all the other girls and staff on the reception wall.  The girls love writing letters to one another and to staff and volunteers, but the director Rita was concerned about them writing to short-term volunteers so here, with the post office, they will hopefully have enough of an outlet within the house to enjoy their letter writing without feeling the need to write to short-term volunteers. (Though I have to say, I feel sad not to be allowed to receive their letters when I see their poetic outpourings to the others!)  

Another reason for the post office is to facilitate communication between the girls who come in the morning group and those who come in the afternoon group, as they usually never cross over within the house.   The girls certainly seem excited by the idea and were writing away towards the end of last week, so it'll be lovely to see if they do start to communicate between groups as well as between themselves and staff.

One of the highlights of Medina life is the Saturday fruit and veg market, the once-a-week chance we have of getting lettuce and where for the first couple of weeks I was surprised and delighted to be able to get four giant avocados for just 2 reais (about 60p!).   Food-wise we volunteers actually have to buy very little because we are fed breakfast, lunch and afternoon snack (that's often like a second lunch) every weekday at the Pink House with the girls and other staff, and there often seem to be enough left overs to get us through the weekend.  So really the only food we're buying is fruit, salad and yoghurt.  Thank you Casilãndia!

A photo one of the girls took of me in front of the volunteer clock, I like how it makes me look like I'm wearing a Native American headdress! 

:-)