Between this crazy thunder storm we're having right now and the team from church coming home from Guatemala last week, I've been thinking a lot about my last trip to Guatemala. I was there during the rainy season so it rained most days which gave me some pretty good memories of rainy days. Here are my top three favorites :)
1. During my last week at language school, I volunteered at a children's home in Xela for a few days. I had told one of my friends that I met at the school about it and she said she wanted to go check it out, so I brought her along with me one day to show her the way. It was pouring so hard that our umbrellas were pretty much useless. We got to parque central and had to cross the street. Since the roads in this area of town are super old so it their draining system, so the street was basically flooded. My friend, Sonal, was wearing flip flops so when we ran across the street, through the "river", her shoe fell off and went right down into this big drainage thing that was on the side of the road. She was fishing through the dirty water to try to find it, but we both knew it was gone forever. Luckily, we were close to the market in parque central so she didn't have to walk too far shoeless (although I don't think I'd want to walk anywhere in Guatemala shoeless haha). We went and bought her some new sandals. She had to get a guy's pair because she's tall so she has bigger feet than most Guatemalan women, which I thought was pretty funny :) By the time we got to the home we were soaked all the way through and when we were working with the kids in the doctor's office we left puddles behind us where we had stood. It was pretty laughable :)
2. One of the first weeks that I was at school there was a pretty big storm and the electricity went out, which really isn't all that uncommon in Guatemala. Me and Tim got home from school and no one was around. There were a few pots sitting on the kitchen table to collect rain that was dripping from the ceiling, but other than that, it seemed like no one was home. So Tim and I had nothing to do but be there, in the dark. We decided to use his flash light and play pictionary in the dark kitchen with water dripping all around us until the electricity came back on. It was a fun time.
3. One night at the home, it started raining on our way home from church and of course I was sitting in the back of the pick up truck with a bunch of the kids and a couple girls from the team. Luckily, the church isn't far from the home at all so we didn't get too wet. When we got back, me and the girls were hanging out with the kids and Benny kept trying to push one of them out from underneath the roof and into the rain. Emily won and pushed Benny out into the rain before he could get her. So, he ran back into his room and changed into a different, dry sweater. Then she pushed him out into the rain again and he got soaked again. So, he went in and changed into another dry sweater. And this happened several more times. It was pretty funny. Benny is such a goof ball.
So there's my three memories :) I can't wait to go back to Hogar de Vida. I think about it almost every day. I miss that place so much! I just have to wait for God's timing.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Only a few more days...
I can not believe that I've been at the home for two whole weeks! The time has flown by so fast! Forgive me for my lack of posting, but I've been kind of busy here. The first week I was here, a team of 11 from a big church in Omaha was here. They were great, very spiritually deep but also really fun people at the same time. There were a couple of high school students and three young couples on the team. It was an interesting group of people. There was also another woman from the same church who came along to help Norm and Vicky host the team. She's been here a bunch of times and I actually knew her already because she helped host one team that I was on before. So we were both here to help host the team. My responsibility was breakfast. I got up each day and helped Norm prepare the food, which wasn't much work because the team helped out some too. We went out to a couple of aldeas (villages) in the mornings and the team performed a mime/skit and shared the gospel and we also washed, cut, and styled hair. We went to schools both times so we had around 100 kids each day, so that kept us busy. The other days we did some work projects around the home. I helped paint some primer on the new playground and did some other small jobs. The kids had a few days off of school that week too so we had some extra time to spend with them which was nice. Our nights were spent hearing testimonies of the missionaries here, worshiping with the team, and going to church a few times.
One of the guys on the team is a physical therapist so he worked with some of the kids here who needed his help. He looked at Alicia (the baby who was brought here at 3 days old when I was here with a team in November). They're worried about her because she's over 8 months now and doesn't roll over or put any weight on her legs. Also, her one hand is always in a fist and she can't fully straighten it out. So Matt looked at her and worked with her a little bit. He said something might of happened before she was born, like a stroke or something. Earlier this week we went to the Ficker's (medical missionaries in a town nearby who have a weekly clinic here in town) for a worship night. Vickie asked them if they thought it would be worth getting her looked at further to get a diagnosis. She said the there was supposed to be a neurologist coming into Quiche on Friday and, amazingly, that was the same day that Norm and Vickie had been planning on going to Quiche! God is so good :) So they took her to see the doctor yesterday- they had to take her in a baby swing strapped in with the seat belt because they don't exactly have a car seat here haha. The doctor examined her and noticed that the back of her head is unusually flat which most likely means that she wasn't able to move around in the womb much and still can't now. He said it could be a hormonal imbalance or something like muscular dystrophy and he recommended that she get some blood tests and scans done. If it's something hormonal, it can be treated with medication, so that's what we're praying for.
The team left early Sunday morning and Norm and Vickie didn't come back until Tuesday afternoon, so I was the only gringo here for a few days! Sunday morning I went to the clinic in town to work with the Ficker's. Lesley started the ministry with her husband like ten ish years ago and she's and RN and works with her daughters in law who are also RN's and other volunteers that come to help out. They see a bunch of patients in one morning so it can be kind of hectic. I started off by helping with the kids in the nutrition program. I weighed the kids and wrote down their information and gave out formula and food. Then I helped with the chronic and general patients. Lesley let me give a shot, which is a pretty big deal because I've never done that before! Other than that, I mostly just did blood pressures and blood sugars and observed a lot. Overall, it was a good experience and I'm going to be going back again tomorrow morning.
Since the team is gone I've been eating breakfast and lunch with the staff everyday so it's back to eggs, beans, and tortillas! But surprisingly, after a week of American food, it really doesn't bother me to go back to eating beans. When Norm and Vickie came back on Tuesday, they brought two other friends with them. One is a missionary in Antigua who works with disabled children and she also works with a ministry who gives out wheelchairs. She came to look at Chepa, a girl here with a brain tumor who has been pretty weak and unstable for a while now. Shes been in a wheelchair for the past few months but its not the best fit for her, so Pat is gonna work on getting her a better one. The other is a girl from Pat's church who just graduated from high school and came to Guatemala to work with her for a couple months this summer. Pat had to leave yesterday but Katie liked it so much here that she decided to stay until I leave. Then, when we went to the Ficker's for worship the other night, we also acquired another person. Amanda is another girl who just graduated and came here for a couple months to work with the Ficker's. She wasn't really enjoying her experience with them a ton so she decided to come here for a few days and see if she would rather be here. So now she's going to be here for about another month as well. So I haven't been completely alone here :)
This week I've just been trying to lighten the load of the staff by helping out wherever I can. I've done dishes for hours and washed, hung, and folded lots of laundry. I help a little but with cooking lunch but once they start to make tortillas, I'm pretty much useless. I tried to learn how to do it but the only thing it did was give everyone around me a good laugh :) Around three ish, I'm usually done with helping and can take a short nap and then go play with the kids.
I really don't know how I'm going to leave here on Tuesday! I wish I could stay here just a little bit longer. Or a lot longer :) It's hard to leave when you're not sure when you'll be back again. I really hope it's soon.
One of the guys on the team is a physical therapist so he worked with some of the kids here who needed his help. He looked at Alicia (the baby who was brought here at 3 days old when I was here with a team in November). They're worried about her because she's over 8 months now and doesn't roll over or put any weight on her legs. Also, her one hand is always in a fist and she can't fully straighten it out. So Matt looked at her and worked with her a little bit. He said something might of happened before she was born, like a stroke or something. Earlier this week we went to the Ficker's (medical missionaries in a town nearby who have a weekly clinic here in town) for a worship night. Vickie asked them if they thought it would be worth getting her looked at further to get a diagnosis. She said the there was supposed to be a neurologist coming into Quiche on Friday and, amazingly, that was the same day that Norm and Vickie had been planning on going to Quiche! God is so good :) So they took her to see the doctor yesterday- they had to take her in a baby swing strapped in with the seat belt because they don't exactly have a car seat here haha. The doctor examined her and noticed that the back of her head is unusually flat which most likely means that she wasn't able to move around in the womb much and still can't now. He said it could be a hormonal imbalance or something like muscular dystrophy and he recommended that she get some blood tests and scans done. If it's something hormonal, it can be treated with medication, so that's what we're praying for.
The team left early Sunday morning and Norm and Vickie didn't come back until Tuesday afternoon, so I was the only gringo here for a few days! Sunday morning I went to the clinic in town to work with the Ficker's. Lesley started the ministry with her husband like ten ish years ago and she's and RN and works with her daughters in law who are also RN's and other volunteers that come to help out. They see a bunch of patients in one morning so it can be kind of hectic. I started off by helping with the kids in the nutrition program. I weighed the kids and wrote down their information and gave out formula and food. Then I helped with the chronic and general patients. Lesley let me give a shot, which is a pretty big deal because I've never done that before! Other than that, I mostly just did blood pressures and blood sugars and observed a lot. Overall, it was a good experience and I'm going to be going back again tomorrow morning.
Since the team is gone I've been eating breakfast and lunch with the staff everyday so it's back to eggs, beans, and tortillas! But surprisingly, after a week of American food, it really doesn't bother me to go back to eating beans. When Norm and Vickie came back on Tuesday, they brought two other friends with them. One is a missionary in Antigua who works with disabled children and she also works with a ministry who gives out wheelchairs. She came to look at Chepa, a girl here with a brain tumor who has been pretty weak and unstable for a while now. Shes been in a wheelchair for the past few months but its not the best fit for her, so Pat is gonna work on getting her a better one. The other is a girl from Pat's church who just graduated from high school and came to Guatemala to work with her for a couple months this summer. Pat had to leave yesterday but Katie liked it so much here that she decided to stay until I leave. Then, when we went to the Ficker's for worship the other night, we also acquired another person. Amanda is another girl who just graduated and came here for a couple months to work with the Ficker's. She wasn't really enjoying her experience with them a ton so she decided to come here for a few days and see if she would rather be here. So now she's going to be here for about another month as well. So I haven't been completely alone here :)
This week I've just been trying to lighten the load of the staff by helping out wherever I can. I've done dishes for hours and washed, hung, and folded lots of laundry. I help a little but with cooking lunch but once they start to make tortillas, I'm pretty much useless. I tried to learn how to do it but the only thing it did was give everyone around me a good laugh :) Around three ish, I'm usually done with helping and can take a short nap and then go play with the kids.
I really don't know how I'm going to leave here on Tuesday! I wish I could stay here just a little bit longer. Or a lot longer :) It's hard to leave when you're not sure when you'll be back again. I really hope it's soon.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Mi Discurso
This is the short speech I gave at the graduation dinner on Thursday night. First in Spanish, so that you're impressed :) and then in English...
Yo no puedo creer mi tiempo aqui en Xela esta terminando muy pronto. Fue una experiencia muy buena y yo deseo la no tiene que terminar. Yo vine aqui para aprender espanol, pero you recibi much mas que eso. Yo encontre muchos amigos durante mi tiempo aqui y la experiencia no seria el mismo sin ellos. Yo aprendi mucho espanol desde mis maestros. Norma dos, Norma uno, y Joaquin- ustedes son muy intellegentes, amables, y pacientes. Muchas gracias por ensenarme. Hicieron apreder espanol muy divertido. Me gusta mucho sus historias y nuestros paseos alrededor Xela. Yo quiero decir gracias a los maestros que planearon las actividades. Ustedes hicieron el mes pesado una aventura divertida. Tambien, gracias a Edna por encontro un buen lugar para mi a hacer trabajo voluntario esta semana. Yo lo disfrute mucho. En el futuro, Yo deseo regresar y hacer esto el otro vez, pero sin la quemadura de sol, los verbos irregulares, y los frijoles.
I can't believe my time here is Xela is almost over. I have had such a great experience and I wish it didn't end so soon. I came here to learn Spanish, but I got so much more than that. I made some great friends along the way; my experience wouldn't have been the same without you guys. I learned a lot of Spanish from my teachers. You guys are so great- Norma, Norma, and Joaquin- Thank you guys so much. You are very patient, smart, and kind. You made learning Spanish fun. I enjoyed your stories and all of our walks around Xela. I also want to thank all the teachers who planned the activities- you made this past month a fun adventure. Also, thanks to Edna for finding me a great place to volunteer at this week- it was an awesome experience. In the future, I hope I can do this again, only without the sunburn, irregular verbs, and the beans.
Okay so that translation isn't exactly word for word and I know I made some mistakes, but everyone still understood what I was trying to say and that's the most important part. The dinner was a fun time to hang out with everybody one last time before I had to leave. I ending up sitting with a bunch of the teachers so I had to speak Spanish the whole time! But, it was a fun night and I tried to take a lot of mental pictures so that I'll always remember. It's sad to have to leave, but now I'm on to the next part of this adventure, which I'm so excited about. I'm sitting in Pollo Campero (fast food chicken restaurant) in Quiche right now waiting for Norm and Vickie and the team from Omaha. I've been here for about five hours and have about another hour left to wait because the team's plane was delayed! Can't write too much more because my computer is about to die and I haven't found an outlet, but hopefully I'll have time to update everyone while I'm in San Andres.
Yo no puedo creer mi tiempo aqui en Xela esta terminando muy pronto. Fue una experiencia muy buena y yo deseo la no tiene que terminar. Yo vine aqui para aprender espanol, pero you recibi much mas que eso. Yo encontre muchos amigos durante mi tiempo aqui y la experiencia no seria el mismo sin ellos. Yo aprendi mucho espanol desde mis maestros. Norma dos, Norma uno, y Joaquin- ustedes son muy intellegentes, amables, y pacientes. Muchas gracias por ensenarme. Hicieron apreder espanol muy divertido. Me gusta mucho sus historias y nuestros paseos alrededor Xela. Yo quiero decir gracias a los maestros que planearon las actividades. Ustedes hicieron el mes pesado una aventura divertida. Tambien, gracias a Edna por encontro un buen lugar para mi a hacer trabajo voluntario esta semana. Yo lo disfrute mucho. En el futuro, Yo deseo regresar y hacer esto el otro vez, pero sin la quemadura de sol, los verbos irregulares, y los frijoles.
I can't believe my time here is Xela is almost over. I have had such a great experience and I wish it didn't end so soon. I came here to learn Spanish, but I got so much more than that. I made some great friends along the way; my experience wouldn't have been the same without you guys. I learned a lot of Spanish from my teachers. You guys are so great- Norma, Norma, and Joaquin- Thank you guys so much. You are very patient, smart, and kind. You made learning Spanish fun. I enjoyed your stories and all of our walks around Xela. I also want to thank all the teachers who planned the activities- you made this past month a fun adventure. Also, thanks to Edna for finding me a great place to volunteer at this week- it was an awesome experience. In the future, I hope I can do this again, only without the sunburn, irregular verbs, and the beans.
Okay so that translation isn't exactly word for word and I know I made some mistakes, but everyone still understood what I was trying to say and that's the most important part. The dinner was a fun time to hang out with everybody one last time before I had to leave. I ending up sitting with a bunch of the teachers so I had to speak Spanish the whole time! But, it was a fun night and I tried to take a lot of mental pictures so that I'll always remember. It's sad to have to leave, but now I'm on to the next part of this adventure, which I'm so excited about. I'm sitting in Pollo Campero (fast food chicken restaurant) in Quiche right now waiting for Norm and Vickie and the team from Omaha. I've been here for about five hours and have about another hour left to wait because the team's plane was delayed! Can't write too much more because my computer is about to die and I haven't found an outlet, but hopefully I'll have time to update everyone while I'm in San Andres.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
5 Things I Won't Miss....
It's kind of sad thinking about leaving Xela and everyone at the school. So instead of focusing on the good things, I'm going to focus on the things I won't miss about this place...
1. The Smell. Xela does not smell very good at all. The cars and buses always give off this terrible exhaust smell and sometimes you can smell garbage burning and other gross odors, like when you walk by the meat store with all the raw meat hanging from the ceiling. I realize this is probably Guatemala in general, but San Andres isn't as big of city as Xela is so it has more fresh air, definitely looking forward to that :)
2. The Food. I'm pretty sure I've had enough scrambled eggs, black beans, and tortillas for a life time. I actually stopped eating tortillas and tomalitos a week or so ago because I just don't even like them anymore. The food at my house is so repetitive and uncreative. Sometimes its really good, but most of the time its just eggs and beans. And we hardly ever eat fruits and vegetables! Hopefully when I get to Hogar de Vida my meals will be a little bit more varied.
3. The Bugs. I realize there are bugs everywhere and when they're outside, it doesn't bother me so much. But when they're in the house, in my room, and in the shower, that freaks me out a little bit. The house that I live in has lots of areas when the only thing between the inside and the outside is a screen or nothing, so it's pretty easy for all sorts of bugs to make their way into the house. Gross.
4. Strange Sounds in the Middle of the Night. Guatemala is a noisy place. There's dogs barking and roosters roosting and fireworks going off at all hours of the night. I've gotten used to those sounds. But then every once in a while I wake up in the middle of the night and hearing banging on the roof (it's a tin roof so it's pretty loud). I just kind of ignored it but when Tim switched rooms and moved to the same part of the house as me, he heard it too. He asked Ana what it was and she said "It could be cats, dogs, or robbers. But don't worry about the robbers because there's no way they can get into the house." Remember, how I told you that there's multiple areas of the house with nothing or only a screen separating the inside of the house from the outside? Well, apparently Ana forgot about that. I've slept with my door locked ever since she said that.
5. The Weather. It is so cold here! People told me before I got here that Xela was cold, but I always thought well I'm from NY, cold in Guatemala is warm compared to cold in New York. And for the most part it is. Except that they don't have heaters in their houses, or even walls in some areas, so it feels a lot colder than it really is. There have been a few times when I've woken up in the middle of the night and was freezing and had to put more clothes on. I brought a bunch of pairs of shorts which was completely unnecessary- I've only worn them once!
1. The Smell. Xela does not smell very good at all. The cars and buses always give off this terrible exhaust smell and sometimes you can smell garbage burning and other gross odors, like when you walk by the meat store with all the raw meat hanging from the ceiling. I realize this is probably Guatemala in general, but San Andres isn't as big of city as Xela is so it has more fresh air, definitely looking forward to that :)
2. The Food. I'm pretty sure I've had enough scrambled eggs, black beans, and tortillas for a life time. I actually stopped eating tortillas and tomalitos a week or so ago because I just don't even like them anymore. The food at my house is so repetitive and uncreative. Sometimes its really good, but most of the time its just eggs and beans. And we hardly ever eat fruits and vegetables! Hopefully when I get to Hogar de Vida my meals will be a little bit more varied.
3. The Bugs. I realize there are bugs everywhere and when they're outside, it doesn't bother me so much. But when they're in the house, in my room, and in the shower, that freaks me out a little bit. The house that I live in has lots of areas when the only thing between the inside and the outside is a screen or nothing, so it's pretty easy for all sorts of bugs to make their way into the house. Gross.
4. Strange Sounds in the Middle of the Night. Guatemala is a noisy place. There's dogs barking and roosters roosting and fireworks going off at all hours of the night. I've gotten used to those sounds. But then every once in a while I wake up in the middle of the night and hearing banging on the roof (it's a tin roof so it's pretty loud). I just kind of ignored it but when Tim switched rooms and moved to the same part of the house as me, he heard it too. He asked Ana what it was and she said "It could be cats, dogs, or robbers. But don't worry about the robbers because there's no way they can get into the house." Remember, how I told you that there's multiple areas of the house with nothing or only a screen separating the inside of the house from the outside? Well, apparently Ana forgot about that. I've slept with my door locked ever since she said that.
5. The Weather. It is so cold here! People told me before I got here that Xela was cold, but I always thought well I'm from NY, cold in Guatemala is warm compared to cold in New York. And for the most part it is. Except that they don't have heaters in their houses, or even walls in some areas, so it feels a lot colder than it really is. There have been a few times when I've woken up in the middle of the night and was freezing and had to put more clothes on. I brought a bunch of pairs of shorts which was completely unnecessary- I've only worn them once!
Yesterday I went back to the home to volunteer again. Another girl from school came with me too because she wanted to have a tour of the place to see if it was a place that she would like to volunteer at for the next few weeks. When we left it was pretty much down pouring. By the time we got to Parque Central, which isn't even half way there, I was feeling pretty drenched and soggy. We got to this one street that was completely covered in water, it was basically a river. Sonal was wearing flip flops and lost one when we crossed the street. She went to grab it but it slipped down the drain before she could! It was pretty funny :) We stopped by the market to get her some new shoes before we kept going.
When we got to the home, they thought I was the psychologist girl again so I explained to them that I was nursing student, so they sent me to work with the doctor at the home for a little while. Me and Sonal worked with the doctor to cut all of the kids finger nails and toe nails and to clean their ears- there's over 80 kids so it took quite a while! When the doctor had to leave, she said we could go too, but I asked if we could go help with the babies until it was time for us to go and she said sure. So I got to go see the cute little kids again. There were so many kids that needed their diapers changed but I could only find one diaper so the baby that peed on me got it- the sqeaky wheel gets the oil :) When the woman working with the babies finally returned, she got more diapers for the rest of them. But, again the kids were unsupervised when we got there and some of the babies were wearing the same clothes that I had put them in the day before. It makes me really mad that these kids aren't getting better care. I'm going back tomorrow for one more day and to hopefully see the little ones again.
Tonight is the graduation dinner for this week. I have to give a speech! In Spanish! It's gonna be pretty short and to the point because I hate speaking in front of people. Joaquin was trying to talk me into singing something, but that was never going to happen haha. I can not believe that tomorrow is my last day! I'm getting a little nervous about figuring out how to get to Quiche from here because no one seems to know what time the bus leaves exactly. Hopefully, I'll get all of that figured out before Saturday morning!
When we got to the home, they thought I was the psychologist girl again so I explained to them that I was nursing student, so they sent me to work with the doctor at the home for a little while. Me and Sonal worked with the doctor to cut all of the kids finger nails and toe nails and to clean their ears- there's over 80 kids so it took quite a while! When the doctor had to leave, she said we could go too, but I asked if we could go help with the babies until it was time for us to go and she said sure. So I got to go see the cute little kids again. There were so many kids that needed their diapers changed but I could only find one diaper so the baby that peed on me got it- the sqeaky wheel gets the oil :) When the woman working with the babies finally returned, she got more diapers for the rest of them. But, again the kids were unsupervised when we got there and some of the babies were wearing the same clothes that I had put them in the day before. It makes me really mad that these kids aren't getting better care. I'm going back tomorrow for one more day and to hopefully see the little ones again.
Tonight is the graduation dinner for this week. I have to give a speech! In Spanish! It's gonna be pretty short and to the point because I hate speaking in front of people. Joaquin was trying to talk me into singing something, but that was never going to happen haha. I can not believe that tomorrow is my last day! I'm getting a little nervous about figuring out how to get to Quiche from here because no one seems to know what time the bus leaves exactly. Hopefully, I'll get all of that figured out before Saturday morning!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Hogar Temporal
Yesterday during class, Joaquin showed me the way to the children's home that I'll be volunteering at for this week. We went with another girl and her teacher and on the way we stopped for snacks. The teachers got these things that looked like snow cones except they put actual fruit on them instead of just juice and the one teacher got chili powder or something put on hers too. I tried hers and it tasted like puke, so I didn't get anything haha. I don't understand why you would ever think to put spicy powder with fruit.
When we got to the home, they gave us a tour of the place. There are almost 80 kids that live there and the majority come from abusive situations or were neglected. We saw some parents visiting with their kids but the visits had to be supervised by a social worker. I think the woman showing us around said that most of the kids can't be adopted because most of them still have parents. I couldn't understand a lot of what she was saying though because she talks really fast. They showed us where the kids sleep and it basically just these huge rooms with tons of bunk beds lined up and crammed in. It didn't look much like a home. The whole experience was just really sad. Then we went into the baby room and there was a volunteer in there with two super cute babies! She actually spoke English so that was nice. I decided to volunteer there three days this week because a lot of the activities this week are repeats, so I've already done them. I went yesterday and I'm going again today and Friday.
When I went yesterday, I got lost on the way there and couldn't find it. I asked a woman if she could help me but she said she didn't know where it was and then thankfully, another woman walked up to me and asked me what I was looking for and I was actually really close to the home, it was just around the corner. When I there I had to give them a letter from the school that explained my experience and when I wanted to volunteer, as well as the same information for the other girl who is going to volunteer there. They were mistaken and thought I was the other girl, who studied psychology in college. So they sent me to work with the psychologists. When I explained that I wasn't her and that I just wanted to help take care of the kids and play with them, we went up and got some babies and brought them back down to the room to play. One baby was new, so he cried pretty much the whole time. The only thing I could do to get him to stop was give him candy :) He had this big scar on the side of his face and the psychologist said it was from his parents. The other baby looked maybe 1 yr old, but she was actually 2 1/2! She was just beginning to learn to walk and she was so tiny! After a while we brought the kids back up to the baby room and there were more kids in there, probably about eleven. I'd say the majority were under 2 yrs old, but they were all under 5. When we got there to bring the kids back they were completely unsupervised. They were just in the room with the TV on. The babies were in cribs crying or with their bottles propped in their mouths. I think the majority of the time the babies are in their cribs, even when they're awake. There was this older girl (maybe 4 or 5) who kept trying to pick up the babies and I kept telling her no, she could've so easily dropped them. Then this other baby kept climbing all over the furniture- she somehow got on top of a dresser, so dangerous! There was only one woman assigned to work in the room and she was taking the babies out to give them baths and then bringing them back. She obviously needed help, so I'm glad that I could be there but it makes me wonder what happens when there's no volunteer. When she was changing some of the babies, she just walked away and left them on the changing table! They could've rolled right off! And the diapers were way too big for the little babies so there's basically no point in them wearing them.
I kept comparing it to Care-a-lot, the day care center I work at, and thinking how many laws they were breaking and how many things could go wrong. Ugh, it was so sad to see the kind of care these kids are getting. I mean, yeah its better then where they came from, but really, they need so much more to thrive and grow. A baby cannot stay in a crib all day and hardly ever be held. I'm glad I can volunteer there, even if it is just for this week, to give these kids a little bit more attention then they usually get.
When we got to the home, they gave us a tour of the place. There are almost 80 kids that live there and the majority come from abusive situations or were neglected. We saw some parents visiting with their kids but the visits had to be supervised by a social worker. I think the woman showing us around said that most of the kids can't be adopted because most of them still have parents. I couldn't understand a lot of what she was saying though because she talks really fast. They showed us where the kids sleep and it basically just these huge rooms with tons of bunk beds lined up and crammed in. It didn't look much like a home. The whole experience was just really sad. Then we went into the baby room and there was a volunteer in there with two super cute babies! She actually spoke English so that was nice. I decided to volunteer there three days this week because a lot of the activities this week are repeats, so I've already done them. I went yesterday and I'm going again today and Friday.
When I went yesterday, I got lost on the way there and couldn't find it. I asked a woman if she could help me but she said she didn't know where it was and then thankfully, another woman walked up to me and asked me what I was looking for and I was actually really close to the home, it was just around the corner. When I there I had to give them a letter from the school that explained my experience and when I wanted to volunteer, as well as the same information for the other girl who is going to volunteer there. They were mistaken and thought I was the other girl, who studied psychology in college. So they sent me to work with the psychologists. When I explained that I wasn't her and that I just wanted to help take care of the kids and play with them, we went up and got some babies and brought them back down to the room to play. One baby was new, so he cried pretty much the whole time. The only thing I could do to get him to stop was give him candy :) He had this big scar on the side of his face and the psychologist said it was from his parents. The other baby looked maybe 1 yr old, but she was actually 2 1/2! She was just beginning to learn to walk and she was so tiny! After a while we brought the kids back up to the baby room and there were more kids in there, probably about eleven. I'd say the majority were under 2 yrs old, but they were all under 5. When we got there to bring the kids back they were completely unsupervised. They were just in the room with the TV on. The babies were in cribs crying or with their bottles propped in their mouths. I think the majority of the time the babies are in their cribs, even when they're awake. There was this older girl (maybe 4 or 5) who kept trying to pick up the babies and I kept telling her no, she could've so easily dropped them. Then this other baby kept climbing all over the furniture- she somehow got on top of a dresser, so dangerous! There was only one woman assigned to work in the room and she was taking the babies out to give them baths and then bringing them back. She obviously needed help, so I'm glad that I could be there but it makes me wonder what happens when there's no volunteer. When she was changing some of the babies, she just walked away and left them on the changing table! They could've rolled right off! And the diapers were way too big for the little babies so there's basically no point in them wearing them.
I kept comparing it to Care-a-lot, the day care center I work at, and thinking how many laws they were breaking and how many things could go wrong. Ugh, it was so sad to see the kind of care these kids are getting. I mean, yeah its better then where they came from, but really, they need so much more to thrive and grow. A baby cannot stay in a crib all day and hardly ever be held. I'm glad I can volunteer there, even if it is just for this week, to give these kids a little bit more attention then they usually get.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
My last week of Spanish school!
I can not believe this is my last week at Miguel Angel Asturias! The time has flown by! I'm getting really excited about going back to Hogar de Vida though.
Saturday I had a pretty relaxing morning because I decided to not do the activity with the school. They were going on a two hour bike ride to see a historical church and then to ride the two hours back again. That's not really my idea of a good time haha. I slept in and the walked around and ended up at a cute little cafe for a little while. Since it was Tim's last day, when he got back we went to Blue Angel to finally try their burritos. They were pretty delicious. Then Jodi met up with us and we watched a movie and afterwards we went to another restaurant because Tim really wanted to try a mango mojito before he left. It was a nice relaxing day. I went to bed early because I had to wake up at 5 AM the next day to leave for the market in Chichicastenango. It was a little difficult getting out of the house because the older son parked his motorcycle right in front on the door! Good thing I'm small or I wouldn't have been able to squeeze around it. I kept thinking please don't fall over, please don't fall over haha. Thankfully, this time we did not take a pick up truck, we were in a nice comfy microbus and I even slept a little :) The market was huge and crowded. I got to practice my bargaining skills and I think I got some pretty good deals. I bought all the stuff I wanted to and only spent $15! It seems like you're spending a lot when you're shopping because its like Q115, but then when you do the math and it's only $15, you realize that you hardly spent anything at all.
Sunday night we got a new student at the house. Good thing too because I didn't really want to be alone. Sometimes you just need someone you can speak English to. She seems nice and she's in med school like Tim was. So many med/nursing students come to Miguel Angel Asturias.
Yesterday during class, I had Joaquin take me to get a new phone. We went to the mall and I bought the cheapest one they had which came with 100 minutes and was only like twenty bucks. Then, I got a text message saying that Tigo (the phone company) was giving me a whole month of texting for free! I was pretty excited about that. Afterwards, we went to Taco Bell! I got some nachoes and they pretty much tasted the same as they do in the states except that they had guacamole on them. But, whats really weird is that they have french fries!
Today I'm going to a temporary children's home to play with some kids :) I can't wait!
Saturday I had a pretty relaxing morning because I decided to not do the activity with the school. They were going on a two hour bike ride to see a historical church and then to ride the two hours back again. That's not really my idea of a good time haha. I slept in and the walked around and ended up at a cute little cafe for a little while. Since it was Tim's last day, when he got back we went to Blue Angel to finally try their burritos. They were pretty delicious. Then Jodi met up with us and we watched a movie and afterwards we went to another restaurant because Tim really wanted to try a mango mojito before he left. It was a nice relaxing day. I went to bed early because I had to wake up at 5 AM the next day to leave for the market in Chichicastenango. It was a little difficult getting out of the house because the older son parked his motorcycle right in front on the door! Good thing I'm small or I wouldn't have been able to squeeze around it. I kept thinking please don't fall over, please don't fall over haha. Thankfully, this time we did not take a pick up truck, we were in a nice comfy microbus and I even slept a little :) The market was huge and crowded. I got to practice my bargaining skills and I think I got some pretty good deals. I bought all the stuff I wanted to and only spent $15! It seems like you're spending a lot when you're shopping because its like Q115, but then when you do the math and it's only $15, you realize that you hardly spent anything at all.
Sunday night we got a new student at the house. Good thing too because I didn't really want to be alone. Sometimes you just need someone you can speak English to. She seems nice and she's in med school like Tim was. So many med/nursing students come to Miguel Angel Asturias.
Yesterday during class, I had Joaquin take me to get a new phone. We went to the mall and I bought the cheapest one they had which came with 100 minutes and was only like twenty bucks. Then, I got a text message saying that Tigo (the phone company) was giving me a whole month of texting for free! I was pretty excited about that. Afterwards, we went to Taco Bell! I got some nachoes and they pretty much tasted the same as they do in the states except that they had guacamole on them. But, whats really weird is that they have french fries!
Today I'm going to a temporary children's home to play with some kids :) I can't wait!
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