TADEO TORRES (CASAS & CUNAS)
Location: OSSO's Neighbor
Tadeo Torres is a large orphanage administered by Catholic nuns. We call it Tadeo, Casas or Cunas. It is at OSSO’s orphanage and here that you will serve the most. This orphanage is split into two sections: Casas and Cunas. Casas (houses) is for children 2 to 8 years old. When they reach about 8 years old, they are moved to another orphanage. Cunas (cribs/nursery) is for children under about 2 1/2 years of age. Tadeo Torres is the only orphanage in Cuenca for babies.
Cunas
What your journal entry may read like after a shift here: Dear Diary, I just had an amazing shift at Casas. Those children have SO much energy. I’m so glad that I know some Spanish but I wish I knew more though. I love these kids. They are so willing to love you and they love to play with anyone and everyone. Today when I walked in, they all yelled my name. It really made me realize how long I’ve been here and how much I’m going to miss them when I leave in a few weeks. I wish I could just take every one of them home with me.
I was assigned the activity for today so I brought popsicle sticks, hot glue guns, markers and lots of goodies like pompoms, googly eyes, feathers and tissue paper to decorate little funny characters and animals on the sticks. I’m so glad that there are so many craft supplies here at OSSO to choose from. I always go to Pinterest to get fun craft ideas to do with the kids.
After the activity, we ate a snack and then went and watched a movie all together in the commons. Around 5:30pm we headed to their little rooms to wash their hands before dinner. After dinner, we helped the kids get ready for bed, which is my favorite part of the day. The tias already set out their pajamas so I just tried to help them get ready and tucked them into bed. They begged for a bedtime story. Some of the other volunteers brought books to read to them but I just made up some story for them. They listened so intently, and even though my Spanish isn’t they best, they begged for another one. It was almost 6:30pm though so I had to go. I hugged them and said a million goodnights and finally made it out the door. We waved goodnight to the nun at the door and all walked back next door to OSSO. Shifts at Tadeo are always so satisfying at the end of the day.
Casas
What your journal entry may read like after a shift here: Dear Diary, these have to be the cutest children on the planet. The Cunas babies are so precious. The main play room has a bunch of toys. I love the bouncy toys and balls. One of my favorite things is trying to get the kids to make animal sounds. They also love to climb into your lap when you grab a book and read it to them. A nun walked in today too and the babies totally perked up and were so excited to see her. It was so cute.
We played for about three hours and then the tia came in and told us to walk them into the kitchen. She had prepared dinner for them. We grabbed a chair and sat in front of a baby and fed them a huge bowl of soup. After all the babies were fed we took them into their changing room. The tia showed us where each baby’s pajamas were and then she left us to change the everyone’s diapers and clothes. In Ecuador they dress the babies in many layers at night to keep them warm. It’s different than what we back at home but makes sense because the buildings don’t usually have heating and it can get cold at night. My favorite part of afternoon shifts at Cunas is probably putting them to bed like the Casa kids. You put them in bed, sing them a little song and put these cute little mosquito nets that hang from the ceiling around their beds. Afterwards we put the aprons that we have to put on in the beginning of shift away and put our shoes back on since we have to just be in socks all shift and then we headed back to OSSO.
