A week ago Wednesday I arrived at my mission site - finally! It has felt good to start to settle into my new home at the orphanage, where I will be working and living for the next year. If I had one word to describe my first week it would be: overwhelmed. Other words from this week: Overloaded. Exhausted. Frustrated. Helpless. Touched. Observing. And other first impressions from Montero: The whole orphange has an odor of baby poop (which I think is throughout the town too - not sure as to the sanitary system here - and I don't notice the smell anymore). We have a pet monkey named Patricio, and 5 pet parrots. The girls only tell the birds they are ugly; I was surprised when a parrot yelled at me one day "¡Feo, feo!" (He called me ugly... actually the only word he was 'taught'). And cold showers are most refreshing here.
The weather here at the hogar (what we call the ophanage, it means 'home' in Spanish) is hot and sultry... and you sweat all of the time! As it is only spring here, it really could (and will) be a lot worse. Right now the sweating isn't really 'sfitzing' or excessive sweating, but living with a constant 'glow', if you will. :) After my first two days here the electricity in my room was cut for four or five days (renovations at the hogar) so I was without a fan for a few nights... leaving me sweaty in the mornings, and very dehydrated and exhausted. During the days, there is the added variable of picking up sweaty bodies or holding sweaty babies. Yesterday, a girl wanted to know if I had ticklish armpits, an unfortunate curiosity, although I am not sure if it was as uncomfortable for her as it was for me. And sitting in one place for an extended period of time should really be avoided... this past Monday I sat in a line at the immigration office in Santa Cruz for two hours or so, and when I got up I thought I had peed my pants - I had sweat through my capris extensively.
Probably the two things that have been the most overwhelming is learning my responsibilities at the hogar, and starting to get to know all 120 girls (lots and lots of names!). My responsibilities are varied, and there are many small jobs here or there that get folded into my days, but my daily responsibilities revolve around caring for and entertaining 0-4 year olds in the morning, and in the afternoon supervising and helping 8-18 year olds in a library that we have here at the hogar. So far, a typical day looks something like this:
5.30 Girls wake up and do their house chore(s)
6.00 I get up
6.45 Breakfast with the girls, most go to classes from breakfast
7.30 Prayer, time to fill-up with the Lord
8.00 Medications for the little ones
8.30-11.30 Care for and play with 0-4 year olds
1.00 Lunch with the girls, most return from classes
1.40-2.00 Walk the 5-6 year olds to Kinder, some have afternoon classes (not morning classes)
3.00 Medications again
3.30-6.00 Time in the library, specifically for homework
6.00 Dinner with the girls
7.30-9.00 Library again, looser rules with activities; girls might be participating in ballet or basketball
10.00ish Sleep
The girls have been really great in this first week; most of them have welcomed me with open arms and open hearts. Actually, when I flew into Santa Cruz I was told that my site partner and a sister would be waiting for me. And much to my surprise in the airport, I saw a blond American walking toward me... with ten 2-3 year olds in matching outfits, all holding hands. I tried to take the best mental photo that I could - it was probably the most adorable thing ever, and such a perfect welcome to my 'home' here at the hogar. Before we left the building, a child was already holding my hand. I couldn't help but think of God and this wonderful welcome He had blessed me with... a welcome from Him, to Him. As I took this little girl's hand, I couldn't help but picture taking the hand of Christ.
Having 120 girls is quite a challenge (and I am only one week in). There are girls who are so hungry for attention, girls who are shy or timid, and girls who want nothing to do with you; there are girls who ask me "So what's my name?" (day 2) and girls who ignore me when I greet them in the hall. To those that haven't been totally hospitable, I can not blame them: every year a volunteer comes, a volunteer leaves, having the freedom to leave the poverty (and the girls) behind. I can feel resentment in some of the girls eyes - I have two loving parents and a family, maybe something she has never had. The girls here have known, maybe still carry, such a pain. I am so thirsty to hear their hearts. To help them carry their cross a little longer, a little higher.
Overall, the 0-4 year olds, and even some 5-7 year olds love without abandon. Truly a gift to be treasured in this world - a gift to emulate as example. Last night as I walked into the room where the little ones sleep, many children started yelling my name, and their eyes lit up, some running toward me to hug my legs. And even a child under two, who doesn't yet know how to talk, and hardly ever interacts with the other children, sat up in his crib upon seeing me with a smile. It is something so magical and heartwarming. (Getting 15 toddlers to sleep... easier if I knew magic).
But the older girls have mostly just been resisting getting to know me or giving me a chance. There have been many challenges in the beginning: my Spanish is lacking in vocabulary and in understanding. The Cruzian accent is strikingly different from the Sucrean accent, as they don't pronounce 's' here. (Example: despues (after) is pronounced depue). So much progress I had gained in Sucre, I feel as though I lost, especially my ear for Spanish, and understanding people. Also, it is hard to present yourself as an authoritative figure over the girls, when you don't even have authority over your words, the language. Something that was very hard for me at first - but I understand it, and might even be the same if I were in the same situation - is that many of the girls would flat out lie to my face or try to take advantage of me, because of my poor Spanish, and my not knowing the rules. They would tell me the wrong name, tell me a different name every day, be 'upset' when I didn't remember their 'name', ask me for things I wasn't supposed to let them do, break rules I didn't know existed... I am not sure if this wears off with novelty? Time will be a beautiful gift, as it will allow me to 'earn' my respect, as well as give the girls time to understand that I really do care about them, and am here to serve them.
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