Food

The volunteers eat with the girls in the 'comedor'. This is the daily menu à la Hogar Sagrado Corazón...

Breakfast: a piece of bread (which isn't always stale) and a hot drink (usually one of tea, coffee or hot chocolate).

Lunch: The main meal of the day. Typically a chicken and rice dish, sometimes with cabbage. One glass of 'refresco' (which, because it's mixed with water, I have to decline).

Dinner: Another piece of bread. Or a bag of crisps. Or some biscuits.

Varieties on the above include having pasta instead of rice for lunch, and some days having a sweet jam or butter to have with your bread. I've heard that from now on the kids should be having a piece of fruit at least once a day, either with breakfast or lunch. Okay, so they're not quite getting their '5 fruit and veg a day', but it's a step in the right direction...

(Incidentally, although it sounds poor when it's written down like that, the food here is okay and, on the whole, edible. Plus we volunteers have the advantage of having our own 'cocina personal' – personal kitchen – where we can eat our own food: bread, biscuits/cookies, fruits, coffee, tea, etc. so I'm never hungry. In fact, I reckon I'll be putting a bit of weight on while I'm out here - the Madres are especially keen that I 'engordarme' or fatten up!)