Milkawhaaa

Today, there were 2 memorable moments for me. The first came at lunchtime as we were convincing the kids to complete their lunches. I´m working with three-year-olds at a program called INABIF in Villa El Salvador. A lot of the kids are malnutritioned, so it is important that they finish each of their meals. I was already at the point of wanting to hug each one of these little bambinos after spending the day with them. I taught them "I'm a little teapot" this morning. We played games. And learned the number 3. But my heart absolutely swelled up with love, when I saw these two 3-year-old boys helping their classmates eat lunch. One was gently picking up the spoon and making airplanes to convenience a boy to finish lunch. The other was coaching a little girl to 'coma un poco más.' ahhhhh! To see them being so gentle with one another was absolutely precious.

The second incident wasn't so precious. Actually it was just disturbing. As we drove out of the shantytown, our youngest volunteer announced "look there´s a naked woman walking down the street." Well, yesterday when he said it, we all ignored him. Today, when one of us looked there really was a naked woman. She was "bucket nekked" -- her who-ha was out. There was no shame in her game. Mind you, I'm not talking about the body of a 20-year-old swimsuit bikini model here. I'm talking about a woman, who likely has had a child or two, sporting at least H cups down to her belly button. Swollen aureolas. No shirt, no bra, no panties. FULLY NUDE. Walking down the sidewalk, of a busy street, with school children and their parents, at noon! Now, while this itself seems off, it was her demeanor that struck me. She was carrying a purse (yes, that's right a purse while naked), head up high, and walking like she had places to go, and walking nude was the most obvious, natural thing to be doing to get there. While folks were taking double takes, because of her demeanor, one kinda wanted to shrug it off. It wasn't until we started talking about it moments later that it truly sank in how odd it was.
-- "Did anyone notice if the woman had on shoes?"  
-- "No, but she was carrying a purse and had a headband on."
-- "Did the woman's belly cover all her private parts?"
-- Long pause. "No. Actually, that was all out there. But there was a surprising lack of hair. But no, her belly DIDN'T cover her privates."
-- Long pause. "Ya know. I need to tell the folks back home about this."
Looking back, all I can say now to really reflect my personal reaction is milkawhaaa...