The end of orientation

Well, I'm officially done with orientation. The first two weeks were a whirlwind of information, visits, and questions. Although there is still so much to learn and figure out, I'm glad I had a few weeks to get my feet on the ground here. Typically, orientation lasts 3-4 weeks, but since all but one of the July volunteers had to get back to the States for jobs and medical school, we had to squeeze in some job training/shadowing before they left. So it was a shorter, but more intense, couple of weeks. 

I'll share with you the highlights of week two, along with some pictures.

Monday through Wednesday I spent time at school learning more about my job. I got to explore my classroom, meet the students and staff, and start to see what a typical day is like at Escuela Rancho Santa Fe. I also visited Casa Angeles in Tegucigalpa, where I will do therapy once day a week. 

On Thursday, we visited Talanga, a town about 30 minutes away from the Ranch. We spent time at the Comedor Infantil, which is a soup kitchen for children. The children come each day for lunch and stay to do homework. In order to attend the Comedor, the children must be enrolled in school. The soup kitchen provides the children with a safe place to eat and spend time, in the hopes that they will stay in school. When the children arrived, they wanted to play soccer (of course,) so we all headed across the road to a makeshift soccer field. I honestly haven’t played soccer in 10 years, but it was really fun! I’m not good at all, but the kids had a blast. Some of the boys started to cheat (we were playing boys vs. girls). For those of you who know me well, the rule-follower in me was dying a little, but the kids were having fun, which was the most important.

Sorry, I didn't snap a lot of photos here. I was busy playing soccer!

Delicious tacos for lunch in Talanga's center.

On Friday, we spent the day in Tegucigalpa. We visited the NPH offices in the city and the rest of my orientation group met the sweet kids who live at Casa Angeles. It was nice to go back, because I could practice with names before I officially start doing therapy there. The kids who live at Casa Angeles have severe disabilities, and/or medical needs that require them to be closer to the city and a doctor. The Ranch is about 45 minutes outside of Tegus, so it would be really challenging to have the kids live so far away. Plus, many of the children have limited mobility, and the Ranch is full of hills, tree roots, cracks, and bumps. I haven’t wiped out yet, but it’s bound to happen soon.

After lunch, we went to Pasos Pequeñitos, which provides childcare and support for single mothers. As soon as the kids saw us walking towards the door, they started to scream “una visita!” which means “a visit!” The kids were so excited to have us there. We got to see them hit a piñata and play with them. When it was time to leave, they asked us to stay. I really enjoyed spending time there.

Pretending to be a monster. He waddled around in the tunnel trying to scare us for a long time.

He told me to fold my arms, but I didn't know we were supposed to make serious faces. 

Throughout the week, I continued to visit different hogars each night. It has been a fun way to get to know the kids and see where they spend their time outside of school.

That’s what my second week in Honduras looked like. I’m continuing to adjust to the food and water (I’ve successfully made the switch to Ranch water!), mosquito bites, and the Honduran heat. I will share more about week 3 soon! 

Here are a few more pictures during my first few weeks here:

A playground on the Ranch. 

The awesome view from my classroom! 

I stepped outside my classroom one day, and this is what I found. 

My currency for the year. Approximately 20 Lempiras is equivalent to $1.

For those of you who know me well, you will understand how excited I was to see this is in the volunteer house library. I hope to get through the series in Spanish over the course of the year!

Los pequeños and visiting hogars

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! 

Orientation highlights

I’ve officially been here a week! In some ways, I feel as though I have been here for much, much longer. It has been a whirlwind of a week. I’ve seen a lot of the Ranch, and been given a great deal of information. In true Jessica form, I’ll give you a list of highlights:

• Orientation began the evening I arrived (6/29) with a bonfire. All of the current and new volunteers introduced themselves, made s’mores, and hung out. I found out that in addition to fellow American volunteers, I will be spending part of my year with volunteers from New Zealand, Holland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, and Colombia, which I’m very excited about. By 9:00, however, I had been awake for almost 21 hours, so I’m not sure I was the most fun to be around. Over the course of the week, I'm slowly getting better with the names and jobs of everyone!
• I’m currently living in a dorm with the two other July girl volunteers who are here. It’s the not the most glamorous living situation, but overall I don’t mind. I could do without the cucarachas as extra roommates, however.
• We have met several offices and departments around the Ranch, such as Human Resources, the Godparent Office, Communications, the Religion Department, Internal/External Clinics, Holy Family Surgery Center, Social Work, and Psychology. It has been interesting to hear about each department’s role, and see what a big operation NPH is.
• We went to Tegucigalpa for a day to get to know the city. We learned how to catch the bus, where to get off, and where to find the bank, grocery store, post office, etc. I can’t say I’m confident enough to do it on my own quite yet, but hopefully over time! While we were there, we stopped at a store to buy some juice. I chose jugo de límon y mango. It was delicious! It was cheaper to buy my juice in a bolso, or bag, so I drank from a plastic bag with the straw poking out.
• Tuesday was Día de Talita Kumi, which is the name of all the homes where the girls live. We ate a delicious lunch of churrasco, rice, and salad, and spent the afternoon playing and dancing with the kids. It was a really fun day.

I have moments where I look around and think, “oh my gosh I can’t believe I’m here!” which is exciting to think I have so much time to grow and learn. But sometimes I feel homesick and lonely. It’s hard to ever have privacy, so even my brief phone conversations with home are surrounded by others. I’ve learned to appreciate even 10 minutes alone in the dorm, just for a few minutes to give myself some space.

I know it will take time. Everyone has told us we have a “three month hump” to get over, before we can really settle in and adjust. I’m nervous to see what these months will bring, but also excited to finally feel as though the Ranch is home. Thanks to those who have continued to send prayers and good thoughts. Although I know this year will not be easy, I’m so thankful to have you thinking of me.

I want to post soon about the kids, visiting hogars, and share a few pictures with you. The internet is tricky, so I’m often at the mercy of when it works. I'll do my best!

Where the volunteers live. I'm on the roof looking down. 

A view of the mountains from the roof. I love seeing them when I'm walking around the Ranch. 

Enjoying my juice from a bag. 

Hello from Honduras! But first, a quick history...

I'm happy to report that I arrived safely without any major difficulties. Although I was nervous to go through customs and manage my bags on my own, I did it. I walked out of the baggage claim wearing two backpacks and wheeling two suitcases, (looking super beautiful, as anyone who has spent the past 12 hours awake and traveling is bound the look...) hoping that someone from NPH would be there. And sure enough, as I walked out of customs, I saw the NPH sign and was greeted with a hug.

Before I dive into my first day here, I wanted to back up and explain exactly what I'm doing here. I know many of you have heard me talk about NPH, but I want to familiarize anyone who hasn't had the chance to hear me gush about this amazing organization that I'm lucky to be a part of.

Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH,) was founded by Padre William Wasson in Mexico. Rather than testify against a young boy caught stealing in the church, Padre Wasson decided to ask for custody. Over time, Padre Wasson became the guardian of over 1,000 children in Mexico. NPH Honduras welcomed its first children in 1986, and is the second oldest NPH home. There are now NPH homes in 9 different countries in Central and South America.

Each NPH home has employees, but they also have volunteers from all over the world who spend a year working in a specific job. So, I was particularly interested in the homes that had speech-language pathologist positions.

I actually applied for NPH in December 2011, when I was applying for graduate school. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go straight to grad school, or if I should take a year off. I was fortunate enough to be accepted into two NPH homes, and so badly wanted to come. However, due to a variety of reasons I was unable to volunteer in 2012 after graduation. I called the USA volunteer coordinator crying, but she encouraged me to reach out after my Master's.

In March of this year, I emailed the NPH USA volunteer coordinator to say hello, and see if I could still apply. I was juggling a variety of international options and programs, but I wanted to be considered for NPH as well. Things moved quickly, and after a quick catch-up interview, I was offered a position as the speech-language pathologist.

And now, I'm here! I'm tired and sweaty and a little overwhelmed, but I'm here. And for that, I am thankful.

Here we go...

With less than 12 hours before I leave for the airport, it's time to get this blog up and running! My bags are packed, my to-do list is dwindling, and the adventure I've hoped and prayed for for over two years is just about here.

I've never blogged before, so bear with me as I figure this out. I'll do my best to post regularly, and share my experiences with you. Thank you for the love, prayers, well wishes, and support as I head to Honduras for the year. More to come soon!