Merry Christmas!!!!

Feliz Navidad a todos. Being in another country for Christmas is very surreal but also an experience that I wouldn’t change for anything.

Leading up to Christmas there has been a lot of activities and celebrations going on at the Hogar. The week before, there is a tradition called posada. Posada is when there are two groups of people: 1. visitors and 2. hosts. The visitors come and stand at the door or gate of the host asking to be let in. The hosts have the gate or door covered with sheets so that nobody can see each other. This is then following by the two groups on opposing sides of an entryway singing back and forth to one another. The visitors begin by singing to the hosts asking to be let in and then the hosts sing back a resounding no. This goes on for about 7 stanzas with a back and forth and people on each side are holding candles. As the song comes to an end, the lines that the hosts sing become more obvious that they are going to let the visitors in and finally in stanza 8 the two groups sing together the door is swung open and there is a short fiesta of thanks and what I am assuming to be “togetherness” or “community.” This week there was posada every night. The volunteers were lucky enough to be assigned to host the first one…which I thought was ironic since we had never seen it done before, knew the song or what to do. But, as with all things in Honduras, it turned out just fine and everyone was happy. I made around 300 cookies for the night and Rachel made even more the day of, so when everyone entered they got a little snack and everyone exchanged hugs.  For the rest of the week other people either at the Hogar or in the neighboring town hosted the posada. More often than not, there was a snack provided but if there was no snack, there was a prayer service in lieu of that. I am pretty sure, based off of reading the lines of the song that posada is in memory of Mary and Josephs trek to Bethlehem and wanting to be let in at the inn.

Fastforward to later in the week when things really started to pick up. On Friday night one of the Madrinas snatched me after prayer circle to help wrap all the clothes for the boys. In Honduras another tradition is that everyone gets a new outfit for Christmas, at the Hogar this is their only gift. They celebrate the coming of the Kings on the 6th of January and that is when they get new presents. I learned two things in beging asked to wrap gifts: 1. I’m really fast at wrapping 2.  being good at wrapping means you wrap the bulk of clothes and get stuck working until midnight while everyone else sorts clothes and watches telanovelas. It was cool to help with this though because I got to see the clothes that each kid was going to receive on Christmas and could picture their faces when they were going to receive them, it also got me extremely excited for Christmas which I hadn’t been before because of other work and the lack of snow haha. While I was sitting on the floor in the corner wrapping, with telanovelas on in the background I couldn’t help but think how great it was that Amigos is able to purchase brand new clothes for the kids instead of getting hand-me downs or nothing at all. Some of these kids never got presents before on Christmas another great things is all the kids I had talked to were beyond excited to get these clothes — such an opposite for American kids. I remember being a little punk who would get clothes and toss them aside hungrily searching for toys. First world problems.

Amy and Wilson left for the US for xmas this past week which made me have a twinge of homesickness because I wished that I could go home too, if only for a day. On Saturday morning we had a meeting with all the volunteers to begin discussing plans for the new school year, since we were asked to propose plans for a schedule for school. Later that night we met for a few hours with Suyapa and Madrina Karen to make a list of all the gifts that each child would receive at a later date. In the meeting the volunteers had earlier in the week we decided that we were also going to make the kids all cards, so on Saturday night I stayed up till 4am to make 40 cards (meaning we needed 20 more and I had only drawn the fronts and none were filled in!) So I woke up Sunday morning EXHAUSTED

We are short staffed here at the Hogar and half of the staff get vacation time for this holiday so needless to say the volunteers were on full duty for the 22nd, 23rd and 24th. We were asked to watch the chiquitos for the 23rd and 24th all day, which turned out to be A LOT of work – god bless the madrinas for what they do and for not strangling a child on a regular basis (not apologizing for that comment, I love the kids but goooood lord.) As of right now there are 10 little ones, ranging from 2 to 8 and they are a handful. Mostly because they have no ability to listen and all run in opposite directions when presented with the chance to do so. We split the 7 of us up into 5 hour shifts, 3 people for each shift and 1 person with the day free. On SundayI took half the kids I we were watching to my classroom where we calmly colored, read and played with play dough. We left around 11 to head back down to their room and that is when things began to get a little chaotic. It turns out that the older kids were cleaning the hogar in the morning and had painted benches, so naturally the chiquitos got covered in green paint and mud..I’m not sure how.. but they are kids. It was a breath of fresh air after lunch when we were relieved of our duty and set free haha.  

In the Afternoon I prepared about 10 bathes of cookie dough, which took a heck of a lot longer than I thought. At this point I was sleep-deprived and felt a little delirious. Around 4 I finished the bathes and made my way to the kitchen. I can’t remember what I did for the 2 hours prior to dinner but I know that I did not sleep. After dinner I made as many cookies as I could until sleep finally won. At 9 I packed everything up to make more in the AM since we were told to get up at 4:00am the next day. The madrinas were still working in the kitchen preparing tamales for Christmas day among other things. The cooks have off for the 23rd, 24th and 25th, which left the cooking up to them (another reason why we were on Chiquito duty)

On Christmas Eve we got up at 4:30 in the morning because we were told that was when all the kids got up to receive their stockings….guess who wasn’t awake at that time? ALL the kids at the Hogar. So we put all the stockings in the tree, laid all the cards out on a table and then headed back to the house. To our surprise the madrinas were still in the kitchen the next morning, meaning they didn’t sleep at all the night before. We finally realized that we didn’t have to be awake and left. David Sosa, one of the older boys had been in the kitchen and said he couldn’t go to sleep because Chango took his bed while he was helping in the kitchen so we dragged him back to our house and let him sleep in one of the extra beds. Since we had ample time I made everyone breakfast and we watched “The Santa Clause” in our kitchen and finally at 7am we heard movement and made our way to the kitchen to help serve breakfast, take pictures of the morning and generally just be available when needed 

The kids were stocked to get their stockings. Each stocking had 7 pieces of candy in it and they also got on of our cards. For breakfast there were beans and platanos and hot chocolate with coffee. I took tons of pictures for the morning. Another great thing that happened was that the boys put together about 70 bags for the impoverished to give away that morning. The bags included all the makings for tomales. So at 9 am there were at least 100 people waiting outside the gate for their bags of food. It was awesome to watch the boys helping to give out coffee to those waiting and to hand deliver bags for waiting families. After an hour the last family recieved their bag and it was back to chiquito duty. Who knew I was so good at counting to 10 like I had OCD? not me haha I must have counted the kids over 200 times that day. While we watched the little ones the older kids played across the stream and got to win prizes. After a long 3 hours we were once again relieved of duty. At 2:00 the clothes were handed out to all the kids. I have NEVER seen them so attentive and so happy to get clothes. It was awesome to get to watch. The little ones especially were excited. Silvia, who is five, was jumping up and down with pure glee for the new clothes. When we finally made it back to the house at 3:30ish I was in the middle of doing Kristens hair when Jose strolls in and asks us if we are ready to to set up the comedor for Christmas. I’m not sure if we forgot that was a duty of ours or not but the three of us headed to the comedor, moved tables and set the dinning room. With just a .5 hour to get ready I put myself together and looked presentable. At 5:00 we had our last posada. Chepe put together a reading of the Story of Christmas – both in spanish and English. And afterwards kids could light candles for their loved ones and families. It really made it feel like Christmas since we had no chance for Mass this weekend because of the heavy rains. For dinner the madrinas made an awesome dinner of twice baked potatoes stuffed with cheese, rice, somekind of meat that resembled pot roast and soda. It was so good. Following dinner we had a dance party for about 5 hours In the middle all the kids were given fireworks, firecrakers and sparklers…not dangerous at all, right? I nearly had a heart attack haha kids are sooo stupid with fire but none the less they had a blast and thats all that mattered. I gave out the cookies to everyone around 10 and at 11:30 there was mass fireworks for all to enjoy (bt not set off! the grownups did these ones) After another half ohour of dancing the fiesta was finally over and at midnight everyone exchanged Christmas hugs. We were absolutely exhausted, but the day was a good one. I finally crawled into bed at 2am for various reasons – one being laziness and passed out

On the American day of Christmas there is literally nothing going on here at the Hogar beyond tamales (which is a treat..for people that like them.) The kids all slept in to recover from the night before and cleaned up the mess from all the fireworks and right now they are at the rio swimming. I guess I didn’t realize that they don’t celebrate Christmas the 25th I thought they did a two-day celebration and only came to that realization when I walked into the comedor said “buenos dias y feliz navidad” and was answered with a “that was YESTERDAY” from one of the boys. To which I said “well, in the United States it is Christmas.” a little more annoyed than I needed to be but I walked into the kitchen part and Suyapa and the madrinas were laughing at me in a approving way as if to say good for you haha.

SO that was our Christmas at the Hogar. I hope everyone had a good one in the US!!! Love you and God Bless

I’ve gotten used to a rhythm here at Amigos. Every day I get up, go to school, play/teach pre-k for 3/4 hours, come home, do miscellaneous activities, have lunch hang out ect ect. It’s an enjoyable schedule. I get to play and see the kids on a daily basis but also get time to myself. The novelty of these children is beginning to wear a little, not in the way that I don’t love seeing them, because I do but because but it’s getting easy to view the kids as kids and to forget where they have come from. This is mainly a good thing but has it’s downsides as well.  Today was one of those days where the reality of their pasts hit me square in the face. 

I’ve noticed this past week, and so has Jose, that the kids in the pre-k class have been a little crazy and unmanageable. And we’ve been searching our brains for the reasons as to what could be causing this. At first we thought it might be us, then we thought it could be lack of sleep among other reasons. But then we thought about and realized that the amount of chiquintos (age 6 and younger kids) have increased by 900% since we have arrived here. When we got here, there were only 2 chiquitos ( a brother and sister, ages 3 and 5) and now we have 11 plus a 11-month year old. They all live in the same room and spend pretty close to every moment of the day together. Some of the kids were taken right out of poor home situations and others from really terrible orphanages. In any case in just 5 months, with so many additional kids and the exodus of staff we came to the realization that their is a deep and desperate need for more attention, and what’s the easiest way to get noticed? Being bad, of course. But on top of that some of the kids came from backgrounds with more rules whereas others came from ones with no rules. The ones who follow the rules have mixed with the majority who didn’t have rules and bad behavior has begun to spread like a virus and is used as a means for getting attention.

Today was more or less trying in class. And it was easy to focus on the small picture, focusing kids, trying to get them to learn ect but to not really think about why the day was tough. We have a song that we sing in class about the month. And I thought it would be a great idea to ask what was a special fiesta in December and after a few minutes someone finally said Christmas. And thats when we lost everyone’s attention and had everyone put their shoes on to head out to the slide. Katarine has been here for about 3 months now and she used to be AWFUL in class, but understandably so because he past is really grim. She has become on of my favorites (easily) and she’s still a little nut job but I just love her. Anyway today she was back to her old antics and wasn’t being very good. And after we did that little bit about Christmas I noticed she got a even more down. When we were leaving the classroom, she refused to go out so I left her for all of a 2 minutes to help the other kids down the little hill outside our class.  I came back to her and she was laying on the floor looking up at the sky. I tried to “reason” with her to get her to come with us and walk and she refused and said she wasn’t going to, so I picked her up ( I knooow what you are thinking, how could I give into that, but well, I did and I don’t regret it…yet)  and we walked behind the other three I had helped earlier who were now holding hands together. We were walking by the music room where a class was practicing Christmas songs and I started singing Feliz Navidad to her. When we finally caught up to the other three one of them asked me if Santa was coming. I told her “of course,” she asked me if he knew she was here and I told her he did, she asked how and I said we made sure he knew.

When we were approaching the Soccer field they began talking about Christmas together started talking  about how Santa was going to come to their homes…not Amigos de Jesus but their family homes. They didn’t say anything much beyond that but it felt like someone punched me in the stomach. Here I am, a child of three with two awesome parents who are both living and healthy. I am 22 years old and have had the world given to me on a platter, meanwhile I am walking with children who are just a little older than 5 who have been taken from abusive households, have dead parents or were abandoned and they are talking about their families so matter-of factly. Silvia began to tell me about her mom and how she was a Queen of dancing and her dad was the king. And Katarine told me her mom liked to make a lot of food for Christmas when they had the money for it. It was one of the first times I felt so overcome with emotion that I thought I might cry in front of them. Like I said before it is easy to forget where some of these kids have come from, and I am thankful for moments like today. I am thankful for the reminder that they have overcome a lot, are in totally new situations and just want to be loved and cared about.

So I guess for Christmas and for the rest of the year I’m just praying I can make it extra-special for them and give all the kids as much attention as possible.

 

 

Here´s to New Beginnings

There has been a lot of changes in the last week.

Today, 3 of our boys, Roni, Vikey and Adonis left us today to go on home visits. Home visits are just what they sound like, it is when kids go to their home for a period of time to be with family. It usually only happens if there has been established contact and visits from family members at the Hogar and nothing out of the ordinary occurs. Then the family is permitted to see them for a longer duration of time and eventually then can get a home visit if both parties want it. Adonis left with his grandmother today and will be gone for two weeks, he barely knows this part of his family so his visit is a little shorter. Roni and Vikey are brothers and have left the Hogar for the next 1.5 months to live with their mother. I saw Roni today before anyone else was awake, he was sitting outside the comedor (dinning hall) It was nice to get to talk to him a little. There was a mixture of excitement and nervousness, which is understandable since he´d been living at the Hogar for about 8 years. It was sad to see them go because we´ve gotten so accustomed to seeing them daily but hopefully it is a blessing for them. Even though I was sad to watch them leave I know that they are doing what is best for themselves and hopefully for their family. I am under the impression that if things go well that they will be given the option of staying for a longer period of time…or for forever. Hope you guys can send good vibes their way. 

Today, one of the oldest boys, Mario, left. He is 21 years old and went to live in San Pedro Sula. It was really sad to see him go too, because this has been his family for so long. Unlike the others, he doesn´t have the option of returning to live (but can visit!) He got his resume together today and I am hopeful that there are a lot of good things coming his way. He went to live with his step’mother. Last night Mario got to lead prayer circle. He was thankful for a lot. At dinner, he also gave a brief goodbye to everyone at the Hogar. It was a little heart breaking to see him go, because he was clearly upset about it, but I think it is the best thing for him. 

Yesterday 3 of the 5 teachers left for the “summer” to return home. They won´t be coming back for next year, so saying goodbye was really hard. <in the past 2 months, the volunteers have been having dinner parties with the teachers so I got really close with these three. They are off to bigger and better things, I´m sure, but their absence will be felt by all. In January, ADJ is beginning a volunteer program for Honduran teachers, so we will be meeting new teachers for the upcoming school year! We are really excited for the new volunteer program and keeping our fingers crossed that it works out for the best. 

In addition to the mass exodus of children and teachers, 2 madrinas said adios yesterday too.  BUT we did get two new kids this week. A 2.5 year old and 5 year old, Jefferson and Fanny. Jeferson is probably the cutest little guy ever. Pictures to come!

Tomorrow is the last game in the soccer tournament that the older kids have been playing in for the past 2 months. If they win, they go on to tournament and if they lose, they are out! Here´s to hoping for a big win

Escuelita

This week we begun escuelita, which is basically summer school. The kids in the older grades all do programming with volunteers, teachers and the padrinos. They are offering specials – like science, art or sports. During the day they have two specials they can pick to do and then they stay in them for the rest of the 2 months.  Since pre-school began in September we have been asked to continue teaching through escuelita. So for the first month of school we will continue to teach the preschoolers.

Unlike regular class time though we have decided to split the class up. In our class we have 7 students. Four of them are over the age of three and have the capacity to be learning more than they are currently. The other 3 are 3-years old and do well but hold the older kids back a little bit. So we decided that to give the kids the most out of their 4 hours with us that we would dedicate the first two hours  with the 4 and 5 year olds to work at a faster speed. Without the distraction of the younger students, we can work on more material with them. This week we are working on the letter k, reviewing numbers and continuing to work on English. We’re mainly excited for this time to work with the kids because it means that we can teach them more English than we have been teaching them. After 2 months in the classroom the kids are finally acclimated to sitting in their desks and taking directions (somewhat) well.

At 10:00 the rest of the children come and we do the routine of what we had previously done plus more playtime. It’s a good way for the kids who worked the first 2 hours to wind down a little. We’re pretty optimistic that by the end of our time here, the preschoolers will be speaking more English than other kids at the Hogar – who have just begun taking English!

For the 2013- 2014 upcoming school year there are going to be a lot of changes. Amigos de Jesus will be partnering with another volunteer site. This site mainly works within the education system and specifically caters to teaching English.  The school at Amigos de Jesus is meant to be a billingual school, but has never fully reached it’s potential in that aspect, so next year is the big push where English is a must in all grades for some of the classes. I think there will obviously be growing pains but 5 years down the road I’ll be interested and probably amazed as to what it will look like here. With that said, we will be receiving trained English teachers to help in the classrooms and they will likely be living close by. 

Lots to look forward to!

 

Feliz Navidad

Since I did suuuuch an awesome job fundraising prior to departure (first one done!) I have been put in charge of bringing in money for the holiday season for kids gifts. So with that said, here is a nice little advertisement!

Every Christmas, the staff at Amigos de Jesus purchase presents with proceeds raised from donors for each child at the Hogar. Since Christmas 2011, we have welcomed in 23 new children to the Hogar and have done much construction onsite to improve the quality of living. Because of the added expenses over the past year we are seeking to raise at least $1,000 to purchase gifts for the children. This amount of money would enable us to buy a new outfit for every child for Christmas as well as another gift that they want.

It only takes a small amount of money from multiple people to reach this goal. So please think about it! You can donate online at this link

In the memo (on on the page after submitting the primary information for payment) please write Christmas – Family and Friends Fund.

Thanks for reading! I’ll be uploading pictures of the kids in Santa Hats ASAP