Change in direction...

I´m super excited about my latest findings and wanted to share them with u all!

As you know, i was volunteering (or attempting to at el Hogar Temporal) and although i have really connected with Christian, something just didn´t feel right about that place.  Perhaps i have a naive point of view here but my perception is if someone is offering their time and help, then i expect the recepient to be happy about it...? But this shelter made me feel like i was in the way and was a burden...They also have a lot of volunteers so they seem to be sick and tired of us lot.  I am still gonna go back and try to talk to the director to see if there´s anything i can do to help Christian, but in the meantime i´ve been looking for something else. 

So, after my crappy experience there last week, i went straight to my spanish school and asked them if they are involved/ know of any projects that actually truly need help.  They did some digging around over the weekend and took me to 2 places today.  The first place was a private shelter for disabled kids and is run by nuns.  We had a look around and gosh...i couldn´t help myself but cry...It was really upsetting to see this.  Imagine this big giant room, with kids in wheelchairs scattered around.  Along the walls are cubicles made of net, where the kids are just placed there in their wheelchair inside this net to protect them from the flies.  They just sit in their chair, behind this net, staring at all the other kids all day...It looked like something from a sci fi movie when aliens are cloning humans and keep them in cylinders!!  These kids had Downs Syndrome, mental retardation and some just had an upper body...One kid just kept calling me mama and reaching out to me to pick him up but i was not allowed to:-(  They were all in wheel chairs and had a blanket tied around them and the chair in order to hold their hands down.  It seemed cruel...but apparently they scratch each other so they have to be bound. 


Continued...These are kids who, for the most part, have been abandoned by their parents due to their condition.  They are found at the church just behind the shelter - where the parents just leave them at the church door.  They are between the ages of 0 and 25.  We spoke with a woman there and i got a list of necessities that they need so i´m gonna go shopping to get it.  It´s stuff like milk, rice, beans, etc.  I prefer to do this than just give money - so i´m looking forward to this shopping trip!:-)  I was told that not a lot of people like to work there and that the are in desperate need of volunteers - just to spend time with the kids, to give them some love and attention, and just to hang out so i´ve asked permission to work there for an hour a couple days a week.  I find out on Wednesday if that is ok.  I hope so...In the few minutes i was there, i had already bonded with a couple of the kiddies!  This has also made me think that this is probably something i could do when i´m back in the US - i mean there are disabled kids there too, i just never considered it for some reason...so we´ll see.

The next place i went to was an orphanage for older girls.  Typically, people like to adopt younger kids - easier to manage i guess? This was a place that housed 10 girls - mainly older - and who are very good at their studies.  Once they hit 19, they can leave the orphanage and start their life, hopefully with the skills they´ve learned in the orphanage.  Apparently, they were in another orphange but due to their good grades, they got moved here.  It´s a pretty nice place - again privately funded.  The girls make sure that it´s clean as they live there; they cook, wash their clothes, learn how to sew, learn computer skills, etc.  Again, i got a list of things they need like food, medicine, female things, clothes so i´ll get to that soon.  I asked whether i could teach the girls english and salsa and they said yes!  So i start on Wednesday!  There are no volunteers there at all and the girls would apparently love it so i´m pumped!  They were listening to bachata whilst i was there so i think this is gonna be fun.  And i feel that these kids would actually benefit from what i have to offer once they leave the orphanage - so here i really feel like i will make a difference!!  And i may even get close to a couple of them and keep in touch over email - of course, my imagination is running wild here but u never know.  The opportunities are endless!:-)  I mean they could all hate me too, so i will keep u posted laters!

In the meantime, i am not giving up on Christian!!  u know when someone really gets to u?  This kid really did...so I really hope that i manage to get somewhere tomorrow with what little espanol i know!

Hasta luego guys