Ex-Pat & Panamanian volunteers at SOS Children’s Village in Penonomè

For the past few years several Ex-Pat and Panamanian volunteers have visited the SOS Children’s Village in Penonomè, where they offer their time, energy and resources to help in the lives of the children and their housemothers. Upon arriving at the village, the volunteers are always greeted with the smiling faces of the children. Of course, bonds soon develop between the children and the volunteers. This article is written from my experiences at the orphanage. The other volunteers will have similar experiences - each drawn from interacting with the children in their own “Casa”.

At Christmas we ensure that each child receives a gift, a Christmas stocking stuffed with goodies, and Christmas candy.  For their birthday’s, each child gets to go to Penonomè and pick out their own birthday present. Birthday cakes always seem to appear too.  

There are 14 houses in the SOS complex. Each “Casa” has a housemother and 8 to 11 children. Our house is Casa #5 and our housemother is a real gem.  For the past 3 years we have visited the orphanage at least once a month and continue to come away from each visit blessed by the love given us by the children and the genuine gratefulness of the housemother.
 
I first heard about the orphanage in October 2006 from some Ex-Pat friends, who were looking for volunteers to “sponsor” two of the houses for Christmas. This entailed buying Christmas presents, stockings and candies for 19 children.

A few of us took up the challenge and began by getting the housemothers to write the names, ages and clothing sizes of the children. They were also asked to provide gift suggestion for each child – price range around $15. Next, we spent 3 or 4 very long and busy days at Albrook, with thousands of other Christmas shoppers, buying gifts for the children.

Our first project was tiring but fun. The story that my dear friend Cilla always likes to share is where we bought one of the little girls a watch, a cute t-shirt and some jeans. Having only been in the country for a few months and not being use to Spanish names, the little girl ended up actually being a little boy. He was somewhat puzzled and upset with his girly presents. However, we rectified the mistake with a trip to a department store in Penonomè. A cool remote-controlled car soon brought a huge smile to the little boy’s face.

Last week was the public school’s mid-term break. We contacted the owner of Las Iguanas restaurant, located just north of Penonomè and planned a special outing for the children.  Las Iguanas has two pools, a small playground, a restaurant plus one big iguana.  The children spent the day swimming and having fun. 

Our craft times have included cupcake and cookie decorating, painting, greeting card crafts and cross-stitch decorations.  The children also love bingo; we usually buy drink boxes and bags of chips for prizes. One of us will call the numbers, in Spanish, with the help of one of the kids.  The children love to help us with our Spanish words. We have also had games with water balloons, soccer balls and basketballs.  Earlier this year we purchased a small wading pool for the kids, giving them something to do during summer vacation.

If you are interested in any further information regarding the Penonomè SOS Children’s Village, volunteering or supporting up coming projects/events contact me at: donna@playacommunity.com