Escubi

Amalia talks to the school kids

We split the morning at the school into 3 sections: 1st the Grade 1-2s, then the Grade 3-4s and finally the grade 5-6s.

The younger kids got a story which contained a bit of information again about how to be safe around dogs, what to do if bitten by a dog, and some of the dogs needs (clean water and food, rabies vaccines every year).

Children listening to a story

The kids then did some colouring and it was fun to see what they drew and what they took away from the story (some kids wrote that dogs needed to be bathed and vaccinated every day!).

They drew pictures of the dogs, of a rabid dog, of a dog having surgery etc.
The older kids got a bit more information about rabies and health and then we answered any questions they had.

 The big hit of the day though was Scooby Doo. Roberto had donated his Scooby suit to VWB-VSF and had shipped it to Stacey, our technician from Victoria. Scooby arrived in a plastic bag with his googly eyes pressed against the plastic - more than a little disturbing and I wonder what the UPS guy thought. Elena informed Stacey of the VWB-VSF 'rule' that whoever brings Scooby gets to be Scooby so Stacey was Scooby 2013.

Introducing Escubi

 Stacey made a great Scooby.

Roberto is about 6'5" and so as Scooby, the head was stretched back with the eyes pointing up. With Stacey being shorter we got the full on Scooby face and it worked fantastically.










The kids were initially a bit shy and Stacey would wave or put out her paw for them to shake and they would hang back. As soon as a few got braver though they all wanted to shake Scooby's hand or high-five Scooby and soon they were all wanting to hug Scooby.

 One little girl in purple just couldn't leave Scooby alone - she kept coming back to hug Scooby and to stand by Scooby.   

The boys of course wanted to pull Scooby's tail or ears and we had to explain that you don't pull dogs ears or tail. It soon got out of hand with Scooby being swarmed by excited kids and in danger of being pulled down by the hugging packs of kids.

Teaching the kids to pet Escubi, not maul her

At one point Elena and Guillermo had to rescue Scooby - almost like bodyguards rescuing a rockstar.

They ushered Scooby into an empty classroom and shut the door against the hordes of clamouring kids, to give Scooby a brief rest.

Scooby!! Scooby!! Scooby!!

The kids swarmed outside the classroom and pounded on the door yelling "Scooby! Scooby! Scooby!" and climbing up to the bars of the window to look in. It was an incredible scene and when Scooby emerged from the classroom about 5 minutes later the kids swarmed just as crazily as Beatles fans in the '60s.









It was interesting to see how much the kids wanted hugs once a few started. We've been very careful not to casually hug the kids in Todos Santos because the people tend to be reserved and there is a long-standing suspicion about strangers wanting to steal the kids. It seemed however that the kids are craving that contact and once they started hugging Scooby they didn't want to stop.

When they couldn't get to Scooby they wanted to hug Elena or myself. In general the kids tend to be shy but once the ice is broken (either we've been there for awhile or they've seen other kids be more relaxed around us) they are dying for attention and very friendly.

We are still careful to ask permission before taking photographs of individuals and a significant number of Todos Santerans still move away if we are photographing something near them or say know when we ask to take a photo. I have seem a change in the last 4 years though as everyone has cellphones and some of these can take pictures and some people here have cameras and take photos at various events.

Scooby was definitely the star of the show.  The kids couldn't stay away and kept coming back for hugs and to just sit and touch Scooby.
















Even during the speeches and stories, the kids wanted Escubi with them.