FUN things

Well, I know that like the terrible person that I am, I did not update my blog last weekend. However, there is a good and rather exciting reason for that: I was out having FUN, with people I know!! So definate progress there. So I thought that I would place this blog rather around that theme, of the various things that I've done in the last couple of weeks which have been enjoyable, all of which are helping me to feel a lot more happy and settled here.

One of the things that I am going to mention just in passing is that I am fully making the most of mango season. :-) Our friendly neighbour lets us pick up the mangoes that fall off his trees and there are absolutely millions which makes for a joyous time! On the downside, I do find that they really are quite difficult to eat, and according to my last (fairly poor quality) attempt at hand washing, mango stains don't actually come out of clothes. I'm not going to lie, that is disapointing, but it was worth it!

Another enjoyable event was going out with the other girls who work in the ministry, for what was supposed to be a hen afternoon at a swimming pool. The bride to be (the social worker in the ministry) didn't actually turn up which was a little bit strange, but it was still so good to be able to spend time with people that didn't involve working, and I felt so much more relaxed afterwards.

That same evening, we went out with all the girls, as my boss, Yany graduated from high school! She has been studying at night school for the last year or so to finish up the education that she wasn't able to do before because she had her daughter so young. It was an extremely boring ceremony (these things always are!) but an incredible achievement for her, and for adult education in general! It was also really good to see the way that the girls, especially the older girls who are really behind in their education reacted to what they saw, because it really confirmed their desire to do what she did and graduate from high school. What we're trying to work on a lot right now is to help the girls think about their future and w2hat they're actually going to do with their lives when they leave the home.

That weekend that Sandra and I spent alone with the girls went a lot better than all the other weekends we'd spent together, because somehow we just managed to have such fun! The girls weren't allowed to go to the wedding, so instead we put on a mock wedding, and everyone got dressed up and played around with it. We then spent the whole weekend (once we'd done all the things that had to be done) playing ridiculous games, and we just laughed so much. It is so good to me to be able to see girls who wasted their childhood prostituting themselves and abusing drugs, being able to take advantage of some kind of a second childhood. It makes me so happy! Because even though some of them can be absolute terrors at times, they all have beautiful things about their character.

One more fun thing before I move on to serious matters! Last weekend I went out with Sandra to the countryside where the American woman who teaches her English lives, and we stayed the night there. I must admit, when I first arrived I was reminded of how irritating Americans can be but that feeling quickly passed! It was quite a hilarious weekend, and really interesting as the family are incredibely self sufficient: they have cows, chickens and horses; they make their own butter and cheese; they even have coffee plants! The first day we made sonso (BOlivian dish involved mashed yuka and cheese) and then the next day we made sweet and sour chicken! I went horse riding, and only had a mild allergic reaction, and it was so good to be able to get out and go to different places and do different things.

Moving back onto a serious note, the construction work is still going well, there are even walls and everything. The only major thing that happened, and it was really awful, was that one of the builders burned his foot horrifically. Salustio and Yany went with him to the hospital, and they had to cut off the main part of his foot. Obviously he's not been back to work since then, and this is going to have major repercussions for his family if he's now not able to do any building work.

I feel like every time I've written a new blog I've had to say this, the only different is that this time I didn't say it right at the start: one more girl has left the home, so now we are down to ten. It was a really horrific situation where things had been uncomfortable with her for a while, and she had been developing some hugely innappropriate relationships with some of the other girls, especially int he way she touched them. Last Saturday when I was on my free day, she just blew up over something totally ridiculous (she didn't like the food) and insisted that she had to leave the home,a nd couldn't wait for her parents to come through from Beni to get her. The horrible thing is, that now no one has any idea where she is: her parents are calling all the time just frantic because she's totally disapeared in a city that she doesn't really know. But this is not your average girl we're talking about, this is a girl who has charges against her for narco traffiking into Brazil when she was 13 years old. There is no doubt in my mind that she will find a way to survive, and there is also no doubt that if she doesn't want her parents to find her they won't. Perhaps the worst thing is, that for me there is no doubt that she was the most difficult girl int he home, and that its much easier here now that she's gone, but of course I wouldn't wish the life that she's left for onto anyone. Its confusing mentally, but every day I want God to teach me more and more how to love people whom it would appear are almost impossible to love.

It has also been quite a dentistry filled couple of weeks, which I love not only because it means i get to leave the home a lot more often, but also because I really like helping Sergio, especially now that I know slightly more what he wants when he asks me to pass him something! I like it because its interesting, and because it feels like I'm doing something more specific, if anyone understands what I mean by that! It does still astonish me when I have a wee pick in their mouths and see that they really only do have half of some of their teeth, but at least we're doing something about it now!

Finally piece of news that I'm going to write, as this blog is outrageously long and its past my bedtime, is that today we went to the river to baptise five of the girls who have been taking baptism classes. It is a little unusual as while the home has been shrinking in size, so have the class who have been taking baptism classes: but in some ways that made it more special for me because it emphasised the commitment of those who stayed. It was really a great day, because we made a whole day of it: we went to the river early in the morning, and had a swim (even though the water is BROWN with earth) and cooked lunch out there. Then when we got back we had a special meal in the evening and we took communion together. It was really lovely, especially for one of the girls whom I know took the committment to get baptised really seriuosly.

Well, I'm going to leave this here. I'll do my wee best to reply to emails etc tomorrow but I can't promise anything as I have to go to immigration. Not my favorite way to spend my day off, but at least I think that this is the last time!