"No te vayas"

I've had many great days with the kids of Lima. Yesterday was as memorable as any I've spent here.

We took 17 kids, 14 boys and 4 girls to the cinema in San Juan. I hadn't realised before hand that they had never been to the cinema before in their lives. You can imasgine the excitement. It was electric.

The kids in San Juan are somehow different to the others I work with, not that I don't love them all equally, but there's something about San Juan that gets to me.

When I arrived at the centre with Pedro, most of them had already arrived or been collected by Flor. They knew it would be my last day for a while and were all over me and chanting "no te vayas Donald". Incredible. Love them to bits.

We walked to the cinema, about a twenty minute walk and bought sweets,chocs etc. We went to see Narnia which was just as you would expect. The kids loved it of course, but this was their first time in cinema, so any film was going to be memorable. There was all the usual nonsense like talking cow and lion and was it a rat or a mouse? Some funny bits. CS Lewis was a bit odd. Kid turns into some kind of dragon and tows the boat!

We all had a great time. Flor brought her mum and daughter along, so it was nice for them too. We walked back to the centre and had some coca cola and cake, sitting outside at 7 pm.

Luis Miguel and Samuel have decided that I'm to be their padrino. So now I'm godfather for 2 more kids. Maybe someday there will be a Godfather 4 in the cinema! I don't know that I will see them as often as I've seen Heber over the years. Will have to see. But I don't think they will forget. I'm going back to see them in January all being well.

On Tuesday I had my last day in Villa Maria. We had a party and Flor made a speech. Lots of the Villa Maria kids turned up. Maybe 25 of them. I had to say a few words in Spanish to thank all these kids for being so friendly and welcoming. It's not easy but I think the kids appreciated muy efforts for them.

Will post a pic or two later. It's my last day in Lima, so have my packing to do. It's a pain in the butt. Tomorrow in Cusco. It's raining there.