It feels weird that I have posted
three times, and have hardly mentioned the pequeños yet. They are, after all,
the reason why I'm here.
I have been greeted with a
variety of reactions. Some of the kids run up to me and give me a hug. They
love to touch my hair and comment on what I’m wearing. Others just stare and
scowl at me, because my presence means the upcoming absence of volunteers
that they have grown to trust and love. Others have just needed time. Even by
the end of the week, some of the kids have started to slowly approach me.
Perhaps the most challenging is when the kids try to test me. They all want me
to know their names. I’ve got maybe 30/300 kids down. Some of the kids tell me
the completely wrong name. They just make one up. They almost always ask if I know Spanish, and then demand that I prove
it. If I can’t understand everything (the Honduran dialect can be very fast,) they will often say
something like, “Well, you just told us you can speak Spanish!”
Part of orientation has included
visiting the hogars with the current volunteers. Each night, a volunteer spends
the evening in hogar. This includes eating dinner, helping with homework, and
spending time with the kids. Once I choose a hogar, I will be with them for the
year. For now, I have been visiting a different hogar each night. After a
couple weeks, I’ll list my preferences and be placed in a hogar for the year.
Last Tuesday was a really fun night
in hogar. I went to Casa Suyapa, which is the baby house. All the pequeños ages
0-8 live there, and then they move to girls/boys homes. Tuesday Casa Suyapa had
a birthday party to celebrate everyone with May and June birthdays. It was a
lot of delicious food and dancing. The kids had a blast.
Singing happy birthday to everyone.
One of the birthday girls. I didn't know it at the time, but I would get to know her very well, in both therapy and hogar.
On Saturday, I spent all morning
with one of the girls’ homes who are ages 10-12. In the
morning, the girls woke up, got dressed, and had breakfast, then it was time
for chores. A group of girls went to the Chapel to clean. I went with the other
group down by the bridge, where they cleared out some of the leaves and mud
from the little river that runs through the Ranch. The girls also had to cut
the grass…with machetes. I volunteered to help out with trimming the
grass, but I was horrible at it. I’d whack the grass and maybe get one little
blade. By the end of chores, I already had a blister on my hand. We also spent over an hour picking lice out of the girls. Later in the
day, two of the girls discovered that I know the songs from Frozen in English,
and they made me sing it to them about 100 times. I’m mastering the words in
Spanish now as well.
Visiting the different hogars has been fun, but also overwhelming. I’ve been asked about
where I come from, why my hair is so curly, why I speak English, and if they can have my watch, shirt, backpack, etc. when I leave. Every volunteer I talk to absolutely loves their hogar, so it’s
nice to know that I’ll likely love wherever I end up. But I still have no idea
what I’ll choose.
This week I started learning more
about my job. I’m excited to get started, but also a little nervous. I’ll post again soon about what work will look like, and include
some pictures of my classroom!
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