Mexico Part 4

At the school, we do educational sessions in each classroom, as well as applying varnish to every child's teeth. We use an empty classroom to do continuous varnishing, and a few of us go around to do education. Many kids are nervous about varnishing, but since we did the same school last year, most of them knew what to expect. We used a small paintbrush to apply the creme-like polish on their teeth, focusing on chewing surfaces and problem areas, such as spots that clearly show obvious decay. At the same time, the experienced dentists (i.e. Dr. Levy, Dr. Nash, Julie) would check on each kid, record their gender, age, and do a ten second check-up, writing down roughly how many teeth show decay or cavities.

This year, I mostly helped out with the education sector. I was joined by Marcela, and my friend Katherine from school. Marcela took care of all the talking and teaching (with her Spanish skills), and Katherine and I aided by using character puppets. I had a styrofoam tooth on a stick, named Diego. One side of him was clean and smiling, and the other was dirty, bandaged, and frowning. It was perfect for visual aids. Katherine and I also helped pass out the bags of toothbrushes and toothpaste to every student at the end of the presentation. The kids were so fascinated with us, and always grinned and waved when we walked by. They didn't always say thank you, but you could see it on their face.

My favorite times were when a kid would walk up and yell "HELLO" to me, because they remembered from the introductions that I don't speak Spanish. I loved it. They were always smiling. There were also students who would speak rapid Spanish to me with a gleeful face. It broke my heart when I had to say "no ablo Espanol," because it was always followed by a face of disappointment.

But I still interacted with them. They asked us to play with them at recess, and we accepted gladly. We played a game, where two people are selected. The rest join hands in a big circle. One of the selected people are inside of the circle, and the other is on the outside. The kids joined in a circle would spin while singing a song(what the song meant, I don't know). Following the song, the person outside of the circle pursues the person in the circle. The tagger may break through into the circle trying to get them, and then the runner would have to break out. The people in the circle itself are trying to protect the runner.