If you walk into the big
activity room of the clinic on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 10 a.m.
you will find a group of our moms and staff practicing Tai Chi for thirty
minutes. Imagine those images of parks in China at daybreak filled
with people slowly and silently performing a series of movements in
unison…well, maybe that’s not quite the picture! Sofia and
Siba are teaching the “short form” of this ancient exercise technique
to anyone interested in gaining its physical, mental and spiritual benefits.
But it’s like practicing in a whirlwind with children underfoot, others
being fed, some on the exercise balls and others on the mats getting
massage. Finding a place of stillness and focus within is a challenge
for all of us but especially for our moms who are pulled in every direction
so this class is a wonderful opportunity.
Federico, a young man with
severe seizures, cerebral palsy and autism, is celebrating his “quinceanero”!
This celebration is more typically for young women coming of age (15th
birthday) but occasionally boys get in on the action. His mother
Ofelia has been busy with preparations, right down to the dance practice
for the party. Bryan de Jesus is going to be one of the attendants.
He asked Sister Carol for money to buy his black dance shoes a few weeks
ago. He had scoped them out at the store in advance: canvas slip-ons,
black with white trim, $8.00. He and his mother took the bus downtown
to make the big purchase one Saturday and he came charging into the
clinic out of breath to show them to everyone (especially Carol!) before
we left that afternoon.
Our trips to and from the
clinic have improved dramatically in the past several months.
With the construction of a huge factory for electronics on the Mexican
side of the Santa Teresa, NM port of entry has come a new road into
Anapra to accommodate the busloads of workers on three shifts.
For now there is a two-lane gravel road but a wide “super-highway”
is under construction. On a good day our trip takes just 40 minutes
door-to-door. Summer rains make for some exciting detours in the
desert around mud bogs of uncertain depths! The wait times at
the port of entry can be awful. On one Saturday we were in line
for 3 hours. To put that in perspective, we could have driven
from El Paso to Albuquerque in the time it took us to get home that
day. Thank God that’s a rare occurrence!
At the end of this month Sister Peggy leaves for a 3 month sabbatical in New Hampshire. She has been busy giving us tutorials in the myriad tasks she does to keep Santo Nino Project running smoothly. Vaya con Dios, Madre Peggy!