Once again, sorry for the delay in updating this blog, its partly because I am useless (sob) and partly because I haven´t had much access to the internet. Mainly the later. I have now been officially living in El Alfarero home for a week and two days and it has so far been an up and down ride of challenges and good times, which I imagine is the way that it will continue.
I thought I'd begin by just telling you a little bit about my living situation. I'm sharing a room with the daughter of the people who run the home, which is extremely nice of her, and together with Yanyt (who runs the home along with Salustio) I sleep one night on, one night off in the room where the younger girls sleep just in case anything happens during the night. Probably the most challenging thing about that so far has been my epic attempts to lock the door: its so stiff that I managed to turn it so hard that the head of the key came off, leaving the rest stuck in the door. Possibley the most embaressing moment of my life so far (of which there have already been many!). I've resorted to asking one of the girls to do it for me - there really is nothing like asking a ten year old for help to make you feel good about yourself!
The daily routine is reasonably quiet, although it does involve getting up at a heinously early quarter to six. I can honestly think of no reason why that could possibly be necessary! I'm going to come back to Scotland superdisciplined and an early riser. I got up at seven today and actually felt like I'd had a lie in - weird timess. We have devotioals at ten past six, then chores and then breakfast. Most of the girls go to school in the morning, and the ones who stay in the centre do a mixture of handcrafty stuff, tasks set by the teachers who come in the afternoon and cooking lunch. The food is reeeaaally good, but I have lost all my previous capacity to cook as everything is so different here. Hopefully I will become super cook!
I'd say that we have time for a few highlights and lowlights now! Yesterday was the day set aside for celebrating santa cruz, so we went on a trip to the sand dunes which was lots of fun until it came to be time to go home and the car got stuck in the sand, and then again, and the again, so it took us several hours just to move it - but everyone was extremely nice and so many people offered to help us which was lovely!
I spent some time with Yanyt talking with the younger girls so that they would be able to tell me some of their stories, and I would actually be able to understand. I wouldn't say that it was a highlight, as its never good to hear such distressing stories, but it helped me to understand them a little better. One of the girls, who is now 12, has already been a prostitute, and it just makes me sick to think about it. I feel so much love for them that I can't really put into words, and that love is enough to cover an awful lot of things, because they do have a tendency to be quite aggesive when they're not being extremely affectionate. Its understandable really.
Monday I went with Sergio to help him with his dentistry, because most of the girls have fairlly horrific teeth. I felt very important, and I did all the sunction things that dental nurses normally do. Future career? Possibly not, but it was lots of fun!
Low lights since the last time I wrote basically just involve me being tired all the time, as I am working quite long hours and I'm only beginning to get used to getting up this early! Sometimes I feel a little bit useless bcause I'm still not that sure how everything works, but hopefully that will pass in time.
THe poltiical situation here is still not great, I forget if I mentioned that in previous blogs or not. The only way hat its really affected me has been that some of the roads are being blocked off by protesters, and I haven't been able to continue applying for my visa as immigration is closed. But Bolvia could really do with your prayers right now!
I fully intended to put up some pictures this time, but like a dunce i remembered my camara but forgot the lead for the computer. Whoops! So sorry about that, and hopefully there will be some there next time.
Thursday 25 September 2008
Saturday 13 September 2008
Some random thoughts
I'm beginning realise that I should probably actually think out what I want to say in a blog before I start writing one,as opposed to just staring at a blank screen and begin filling it with total rubbish! Possibly because I'm new to this blogging lark, but I am going to give it my best shot!
I've been settling in a bit more again this week, and hopefully my spanish is getting better! I feel that I've begun to master the public transport system, and can now get to at least three places on my own.I feel that this makes me queen of public transport, and I expect a crown! It is really great to begin to feel a little more like I know what I am doing, and it also feels like I'm getting my independance back which is great!
The challenges of being in another culture always seem to revolve around feeling a bit like a little child again - not understanding everything people are saying, not knowing what you are doing, not being able do the absolute simplest of things! That was really frustrating me, as I am used to feeling reasonabley intelligant and in control of my own life. But I'm beginning to realise that it may be a good thing to feel like this - I'm reminded of Jesus telling us that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven we have to become like little children. Its funny that even though Jesus says that its unimportant people who will be elevated, people in the church always aspire after importance. So I think its a good thing to feel a little unimportant,because it reminds me of some of the most important things Jesus said: andI willchoose to become like a little child, with all the confusion that brings, and I will embrace the humility! Even when I don't want to...
I also thought it would be good to write down some of the cultural differences that I've observed. I'm going to do this in list form:
1. The milk comes in bags.Cool but weird.
2. On the buses, if someone is sitting by the aisle they won't shift over to the window if that person gets off. This goes against all the rules I ever learned about bus ettiquette but there you go!
3. The food here is really tasty, I'm going to learn how to cook it all before I come back and wow you all with my new culinary talents! Its all quite salty, but still good. Its also really cheap to eat out here, and i think I've eaten so much fried chicken that I may actually turn into a chicken. Also, everything comes with rice, even when you go to takeaways. The combination of chips AND rice is ever so slightly carbtastic.
I can't think of any more right now - I should really have written them down when I thought of them! On Tuesday I move out to El Alfarero for good which I'm really excited about, it will be really great to get into more of a routine. I do love a bit of structure! I'll let you know more about that is going in my next post.
Love to you all!
Paula
I've been settling in a bit more again this week, and hopefully my spanish is getting better! I feel that I've begun to master the public transport system, and can now get to at least three places on my own.I feel that this makes me queen of public transport, and I expect a crown! It is really great to begin to feel a little more like I know what I am doing, and it also feels like I'm getting my independance back which is great!
The challenges of being in another culture always seem to revolve around feeling a bit like a little child again - not understanding everything people are saying, not knowing what you are doing, not being able do the absolute simplest of things! That was really frustrating me, as I am used to feeling reasonabley intelligant and in control of my own life. But I'm beginning to realise that it may be a good thing to feel like this - I'm reminded of Jesus telling us that in order to enter the kingdom of heaven we have to become like little children. Its funny that even though Jesus says that its unimportant people who will be elevated, people in the church always aspire after importance. So I think its a good thing to feel a little unimportant,because it reminds me of some of the most important things Jesus said: andI willchoose to become like a little child, with all the confusion that brings, and I will embrace the humility! Even when I don't want to...
I also thought it would be good to write down some of the cultural differences that I've observed. I'm going to do this in list form:
1. The milk comes in bags.Cool but weird.
2. On the buses, if someone is sitting by the aisle they won't shift over to the window if that person gets off. This goes against all the rules I ever learned about bus ettiquette but there you go!
3. The food here is really tasty, I'm going to learn how to cook it all before I come back and wow you all with my new culinary talents! Its all quite salty, but still good. Its also really cheap to eat out here, and i think I've eaten so much fried chicken that I may actually turn into a chicken. Also, everything comes with rice, even when you go to takeaways. The combination of chips AND rice is ever so slightly carbtastic.
I can't think of any more right now - I should really have written them down when I thought of them! On Tuesday I move out to El Alfarero for good which I'm really excited about, it will be really great to get into more of a routine. I do love a bit of structure! I'll let you know more about that is going in my next post.
Love to you all!
Paula
Saturday 6 September 2008
One week later
Well, I've continually intended to write this blog before now, but haven't, either due to fatigue or the internet not working! But Saturdays are a good time to catch up with these things, so here we go. :-)
After one week, I've now seen every aspect of the ministry here! In one rather busy day, Patty, the lady who met me from the airport, took me to all the different homes here. I thought you too might be interested to hear how things work here. The first place they have is a reception home called El Toborochi where they take the kids to stay for a week on coming off the streets to get come one on one attention, full medical and dental checks, and an assessment of their emotional situation and needs. The two main homes are El Camino (for boys) and El Alfarero (for girls) and I've had the chance to spend a bit of time in both of them now. I was really impressed at the facilities that they have to offer, with a full education program, the support of a psychologist, sports facilities etc. Its unbelievable to me that the same kids that I met in these homes come from such troubled backgrounds of drugs, gangs and even prostitution. The final home I went to see has only just opened this year, and is their reintegration house where they have four boys who used to be at El Camino and are now at university and reintegrating into society. I think that the real difference between what YWAM are doing here and what a lot of the other organisations working with street kids do, is that they are working to get to the root of the problem rather than just providing over night facilites or food packages but not dealing with the reasons that these kids are on the street in the first place.
Perhaps the most impacting thing of the last week was the two days where I joined the first contact team in going out to visit the kids who are still on the street. I think that its something that you cannot really believe until you see it first hand, that people, especially such young children, are able to live like that. I found it quite overwhelming the first time, even an assault on the senses from the strong smell of the glue that most (if not all) of them sniff. Perhaps the most difficult thing was to see those who have already hit their early twenties, and realising that in many ways its already too late for them.
The aim of the first contact team, as well as providing basic first aid, is ultimately to encourage the kids to get off the street and either return to their families, or, if thats not appropriate (as in many cases it isn´t) then to move into one of the ywam homes where they can receive the help that they need. The other night we took one of the girls out for dinner to talk to her more and try to assess their needs. One of the most difficult things for me is not quite knowing what to say to the kids, especially when they've been taking drugs so I don't quite understand what they are saying. But I think that seeing the way they live, especially the girls, will help me to understand the girls at El Alfarero more when I move in there.
I'll be with the first contact team for one more week before moving in there. I'm beginning to settle into casa alfa, and get to know the people about better. If you're thinking (or even praying) about me, then one of the things I'm concerned about at the moment is that i might get lonely at El Alfarero because there will be no other workers my age there.
I'm sending you all love!
After one week, I've now seen every aspect of the ministry here! In one rather busy day, Patty, the lady who met me from the airport, took me to all the different homes here. I thought you too might be interested to hear how things work here. The first place they have is a reception home called El Toborochi where they take the kids to stay for a week on coming off the streets to get come one on one attention, full medical and dental checks, and an assessment of their emotional situation and needs. The two main homes are El Camino (for boys) and El Alfarero (for girls) and I've had the chance to spend a bit of time in both of them now. I was really impressed at the facilities that they have to offer, with a full education program, the support of a psychologist, sports facilities etc. Its unbelievable to me that the same kids that I met in these homes come from such troubled backgrounds of drugs, gangs and even prostitution. The final home I went to see has only just opened this year, and is their reintegration house where they have four boys who used to be at El Camino and are now at university and reintegrating into society. I think that the real difference between what YWAM are doing here and what a lot of the other organisations working with street kids do, is that they are working to get to the root of the problem rather than just providing over night facilites or food packages but not dealing with the reasons that these kids are on the street in the first place.
Perhaps the most impacting thing of the last week was the two days where I joined the first contact team in going out to visit the kids who are still on the street. I think that its something that you cannot really believe until you see it first hand, that people, especially such young children, are able to live like that. I found it quite overwhelming the first time, even an assault on the senses from the strong smell of the glue that most (if not all) of them sniff. Perhaps the most difficult thing was to see those who have already hit their early twenties, and realising that in many ways its already too late for them.
The aim of the first contact team, as well as providing basic first aid, is ultimately to encourage the kids to get off the street and either return to their families, or, if thats not appropriate (as in many cases it isn´t) then to move into one of the ywam homes where they can receive the help that they need. The other night we took one of the girls out for dinner to talk to her more and try to assess their needs. One of the most difficult things for me is not quite knowing what to say to the kids, especially when they've been taking drugs so I don't quite understand what they are saying. But I think that seeing the way they live, especially the girls, will help me to understand the girls at El Alfarero more when I move in there.
I'll be with the first contact team for one more week before moving in there. I'm beginning to settle into casa alfa, and get to know the people about better. If you're thinking (or even praying) about me, then one of the things I'm concerned about at the moment is that i might get lonely at El Alfarero because there will be no other workers my age there.
I'm sending you all love!
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