Amor in Acción (con'd)

After looking at a number of the charities in this area, Barb is especially interested in Love in Action. There is another orphanage on the other side of Jocotepec.That puts it quite a distance away (probably over 20 kns) while L in A is only about 5 - 6 kms in Chapala. On Sunday, there was a picnic for some of the children and godparents from Love in Action as well as an information session; Barb attended, but I didn’t. It was held just up the mountain in a gated community above La Floresta. Barb had been saying that there should be some program for the retired expats here to be ‘foster grandparents’ or some such. This would allow expats who are missing seeing their grandchildren as often to have an outlet. Then, she discovered that Love in Action has such a program, although they term them godparents to the children.. The most important contribution from godparents, they insist, is just taking them out for excursions, remembering birthdays, etc. Otherwise, they say that the children have few opportunities to go outside the center except to school. They say, yes, give presents, but small, relatively inexpensive ones; otherwise, there may be big gaps between what the children receive. The other thing is that they have some infants who need to be handled and given attention if they are to thrive. The workers there tend to be busy just feeding and changing. As you might imagine, Barb is especially interested in doing that. The children at the center have their tuition paid by the government, but there is no money for school uniforms or school supplies; they estimate that these extras cost about $100 per child per year. They hope that the godparents can contribute that as well They also are eager for sponsors who perhaps do not live here or who don’t feel able to give the personal attention desired from godparents but are willing to help with money contributions. Barb is going to go further with this.

Last night, there waa another Music Appreciation Society concert. This was a family from Toronto. Actually, the parents, both pianists, were originally Russian, but have lived and worked in Canada for a number of years. Their daughter, a soprano, has no accent and was mostly brought up in Canada.The parents did mostly arrangements for 4 hands of orchestral pieces. LLana, the daughter, did at least 3 songs or arias in Spanish; she is working on her 6th language! Altogether, it was the most extensive concert yet--over 1 hour for each half. Although some of Llana’s songs were 20th C, most of the music was 19th C--Brahms, Chopin and Lizst--and more in line with my preferences,.Jack & Kate were there, as was Sonya, from Dartmouth.