On Wednesday, January 9, we spent our afternoon at Casa Hogar Orphanage. The orphanage currently has 28 kids, ages 3-18. It is impossible for anyone other than Mexicans to adopt Mexican children, and typically Mexicans don't adopt. The following is a passage from my journal entry that day:
"I hate that. I hate that the chances of these children leaving the orphanage before age 18 are very slim. These kids are so sweet and well-behaved, and while the orphanage workers are very kind and doing everything in their power to help, these kids deserve more. They deserve a mommy and a daddy who can love them unconditionally. They deserve their own bedroom, not one shared with five other children. They deserve to be loved unconditionally. I had the time of my life this afternoon playing with the kids. I saw their dogs. I played soccer and volleyball with them. I went down the slide with them. I sang with them. I played hand-clapping games with them. I ticked them. I tried to praise them a lot. I hugged them. I loved them. Why? because they need it and they deserve it. It was so hard to say goodbye and leave."
On Thursday, January 10, we spent our morning volunteering at La Estacion, which as I said in a previous post, is a Squatter's Settlement where people live very poorly. Houses look like shacks and are build out of whatever materials they happen to come upon- scrap wood, tin, cinder blocks, crates, cardboard, you name it... 6,000 people live in La Estacion. Some people from our group did painting or cleaning work, but the rest of us (myself included) spent our morning volunteering and the preschool across the street from the Community Center. I was with Kaitlyn in a classroom full of five year olds. The teacher was an 80 year old nun. About 45 minutes into the class period, she just left without saying anything. All of the sudden, Kaitlyn and I realized that she wasn't coming back. We were correct, because SHE DIDN'T COME BACK FOR 1.5 HOURS! We were stuck with no plans, no clue of what to do, and neither one of us was super good at Spanish. We have a decent vocabulary, but are by no means fluent- Especially when it comes to children talking really fast to you in very high voices. It's nearly impossible to keep up and understand. Basically, we didn't know what to do. We spent the rest of the morning reviewing all of the activities that they had already done that morning, counted to 50 in both English and Spanish, sang the ABC's a couple of times in both languages, and reviewed color names and the names of school supplies in both languages. Then I started reading books to them in Spanish. (FYI- Just because I can read them, doesn't mean that I have any clue what they were about!!) While I was reading, the teacher peaked her head in, gave me a thumbs up, and then left again. LOVELY...not. After that, we just got books out and had free reading time. In addition to all of that, the children were exceptionally crazy! The majority of them did not listen at all, were constantly trying to escape from the classroom, and we were trying to corral them. What a day it was!
In the afternoon, we watched the movie, "Border Towns," which tells about all of the violence that occurs at towns along the border. It was really interesting, but a tough movie to watch, because of the content.
In the evening, we visited with a woman named Maggie who had crossed the border with her mom and sister when she was 12. It took three tries before they safely made it across. In order to do so, they had to hide in a caves, climb the tall fence, run through the desert for over two hours while wearing five layers, and she watched her mom get abused and nearly raped. After living in the US for two years, she has been back living in Mexico since.
Today we went back to La Estacion to volunteer again, so I went back to the preschool. First, I went with my professor Ada to help her teach English to the class that she was placed with. We taught color words, clothing words, and words like tall/short and open/closed. Then I returned back to my class where it was Fun Friday, so we spent the entire day playing outside, doing a pinata, doing puzzles, and having fun! The kids were so sweet and much better behaved than yesterday. Yay!
This evening, we met with a local priest in Cuernavaca and listened as he shared about his church. Then, at about 9:00 PM, Alfonso (the priest) went with us to the local general hospital, where we handed out hot coffee and sandwiches to family members of those staying in the hospital. The hospital system in Mexico is very different than that of the United States. Pretty much, the doctors check you, and then if they need any medical supplies, they send family members to the pharmacy to pick up the supplies and bring them back to the hospital for the doctors to use. Tonight, there were probably 250 people waiting in the waiting room, sleeping outside on pieces of cardboard with blankets, or standing outside, hoping to find out some information about their loved ones. Once we ran out of coffee and sandwiches, we divided into small groups and walked around inside, inviting people to a prayer service with us outside, and writing down their ill loved ones' names for prayer purposes. At 9:30, we began a short mass outside in a little chapel located right next to the hospital. The priest read off all of the names and then one by one had a short conversation with the 10ish family members that chose to join us. They shared about what sickness their loved ones had and then said a prayer aloud for them. It was a very powerful time, full of sadness for these people.
My facebook status tonight sums it all up: "
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