-On June 17th my site partner Andrea flew back home to start Veterinary school. It was really hard to see her go, and it has been a struggle to adjust ever since she left.
-A two year old nicknamed 'Luchi' fell out of her crib in June and broke her leg. It was so sad to see her stuck in her bed because she is a super active kid and is always yelling, running around and talking. When I first went to visit her, she just looked at me with these big puppy-dog eyes, and threw off her sheet to show me the cast all the way up to her hip. After the first 48 hours, the poor thing didn't understand why she couldn't go be with everyone else.
-In June, all of the 5-10 year olds (without exception) got their hair chopped off up to the ear as punishment for bad hygiene and rampant fungus and systemic bacterial outbreaks. Everyone was super embarrassed, and I felt bad because they did all look a little ugly (except for one little girl who looked super cute and cleaner). However, I did not stop myself from laughing a little and taking photos when the head Madre turned her bathroom into a hair salon. hehe.
-Since Andrea left, I am now the Hogar nurse. (I know, a scary thought). In my first week I had an appendicitis case, girl with dengue, and a girl mutilated her finger in an accident with the cookie-maker iron press. Naturally, I am pretty squeamish around blood, but with the whole finger incident: in the room with the girl, I was on the verge of passing out and was fighting with myself to not leave the 10-year old girl alone, however... I left the room to recover.
-And we had a group of visiting nurses who offered physicals to all the girls over age 10 (a fantastic opportunity, however a little overwhelming as I was in charge of orchestrating something like 60 girls' urine, poop and blood tests... and the medicine that came afterward). However, I can tell I am really improving in the infirmary (the first few days included some heavy praying)... :) And I can look at and heal a lot grosser stuff than when I started.
-All year, I have been in charge of running a sponsorship program that the volunteers set up many years ago... it is extremely grassroots, as all is by word of mouth, and it has to get fit in when I can find the time. However, when I arrived we had 40 out of 120 girls without sponsors; by the grace of God, and mostly Him sending them my way.... in the month of June (since January) we ran out of children without sponsors - and we currently have a waiting list of people who want to sponsor a child! Much of the past 6 weeks has been trying to get these last 10 or so sponsors oriented and enrolled in the program.
-We had two 7-years olds go out on adoption to Spain. One of them I was really close to, and she was super sassy and a prankster, so it was hard to see her go... yet it was the best thing she could have received and it was an answer to prayers for her well-being and love in her life. The hardest part was that when her family (who has to stay in Bolivia for 2-3 months with the child) came to visit us, the first day she acted like she didn't know me, and after, like she didn't want to play with me. However, the Madres had already told me that this is totally normal, as the child tries to disassociate with everything that has to do with the Hogar. Moreover, any form of maternal love I was providing that the child was lacking, she is now receiving in abundance and so I am also not needed. And may it be so, if that is the price of her happiness and love in a family!
Ok, that is all for now... oh, except in June it was actually really cold here! Really cold! And my room window doesn't have glass, so I would sleep with my snow hat on, and a sweatshirt, etc. I hope to write more soon, and I pray all is well with you in the States.
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