I fully expected to be able to update this blog quite a long time ago, but was not able to as my schedule was a whole lot busier than I actually expected it to be so I did not find the time. But I’m pretty sure that better late than never! Unfortunately, I have to start this blog with a piece of news that has been extremely distressing for me and for everyone at the home. The girl in the home who I previously mentioned as having had major head injuries after being assaulted has had serious health problems in the last week. After some time of mistreating her head, which is extremely delicate after an almost total skull reconstruction on one side of her head, various falls resulted in what seemed like a week long headache climaxing in a seizure one night that Yany was sleeping in her room. They rushed her to the hospital in the middle of the night, and after some scans discovered two lesions on her brain. They say that she will probably have seizures like this for the rest of her life, and she is notably mentally imbalanced, talking like a child. The anti-convulsion medication that she is taking has left her feeling ´drunk´ as she describes it, she has double vision and isn’t able to walk very straight. It has just been a terrible experience, as all the girls in the home are so worried about her, and I’ve been feeling really down as I feel like a lot of the hope that there was for her future life has just gone. It’s a really difficult time for the home directors as well as the doctors’ recommend that she goes home to live with her mother and son, so we are not sure what the best decision to take is. We would really appreciate your prayers for her right now, she is asking for them.
In other news, I have realised that I haven’t actually posted any blog updates since we first started working with the first contacts team every second week. This has been really interesting for me, to be able to go out to the streets and see how things work in the boys’ home. It has also been a lot more sociable which is really nice, as one of the things that I was suffering from previously was a lack of fun things to do.
This last week I spent in El Toborochi, the reception house for kids coming off the streets and entering the homes. We had two quite young children staying there for four days: a girl of eight and a boy of eleven. A brother and sister from Tarija, they were sent to us by the same project that one other girl in the home comes from. It was interesting again for me to see an aspect of the ministry that I’m normally not involved in. The girl is settling into the home with some difficulty, as she is clearly not used to the kind of discipline that is expected from the home timetable. She is also, to put it in a nice way, extremely disobedient, one of those children whose first answer to every instruction is always ´no´. This did not make my life any easier this weekend, but she really is still very young, so I am sure that she will continue improving!
However, on the plus side, my greatest fear was not realised and there was no birth at El Alfarero this weekend when Salustio and Yany were away and we had no minibus! This does however mean that the poor girl is still pregnant and actually looking ready to explode any day now: it is noticeable that she is now beginning to feel very uncomfortable. On Saturday night I slept over in the room that has her, the new girl, the girl who recently suffered a head injury AND one of the other girls had a bad stomach. It is fair to say that I did not get very much sleep at all that night, partly just because I was opening the day for her to go to the toilet, but partly just because I was so nervous that something would happen and I would sleep right through it! Other than the lack of sleep, and small disobedient children, the weekend did go fairly well though.
This week I am back in the girls home which I do love: I feel like only being there every second week now makes me realise how much love and affection I do feel now for the girls. I really do care for them so much, and am beginning to realise just how much I am going to miss them when I eventually do leave. It has been good as well to be able to spend some time on the streets to be able to see the way that my girls used to live, which is so very different from the way that they are living now: it has enabled me to appreciate the change in their lives more.
Well, thanks for still reading! I hope to be able to update with more news from the girls home as some point this weekend, and I hope that even those of you who do not pray so very often will find some time to pray for the girls this week. I hope that you are all well.
Monday 30 March 2009
Sunday 8 March 2009
Back to the world
Well, as you have all probably guessed, I have now returned from Peru, hopefully refreshed, destressed and ready for my final three months with Operation Restauration! My holiday ended really well, it was wonderful to feel part of a family again, and it was a great time to relax in. I did manage to see some of Lima, as well as reading nine books in ten days: I saw the city centre and went to a really impressive water display park. Despite how much I love living in Santa Cruz, it did look awful dirty and bleak in comparison with Lima which had much more of a big city feel about it: Santa Cruz kind of feels like a small town of several million inhabitants.
I arrived back in time to cover my weekend shift at the home, although thankfully I was able to stay at Casa Alfa on Friday night at head back to the home early on Saturday morning. (I was out of the house by 7, my previous student self wouldn´t recognise me. I even make my bed every day!) Thankfully, although I did find the thought of going back into the home a little bit of an effort by Saturday afternoon I felt like i had never left, and my fear of having lost all authority with the girls over my time off did not come to pass! It was a fairly uneventful weekend, and in many ways, those are the best kind!
The biggest change in my life, which I believe I have not yet mentioned was in the pipeline, is the new timetabling for all the young female volunteers. Because there are now five, possibley soon to be six of us (hard to believe not that long ago I was the only one!) we will not be spending all of our time in the home. Rather, we will spend one week working in the home and another week in the first contact teams. I have mixed feelings about this, as while I am excited about getting the chance to get out and about in the city, I have always felt (despite how difficult it has been) that the things that I am good at fit better int he home. I am basically going to see how it goes this week, and then get back to the directors about how I feel.
There is one very good piece of news from El Alfarero this week: the neighbour has given us a nice bit of his land to grow vegetables on, so the girls have been spending a good part of this week clearing it all to put seeds in. This is particularly good, as the finances of the minsitry are in a much more precarious state than I mentioned before. Roger is saying that unless something dramatic happens, the ministry, after about 15 successful years, will be completely out of money. This is an extremely serious situation that everyone involved in leadership and finances, and, lets be honest, everyone else, is stressed out and worried about. If anyone does feel that they would like to give something to help out, either one off or regular (like sponsoring a child) PLEASE get in touch with me.
The most tragic decision that had to be taken this past week was to pull the two youngest girls out of school as they confessed to having developed sexual relationships with several of the boys from school. This was obviously extremely distressing news from such young girls, and shows that the restoration process is nowhere near complete with them. Our psychologist is trying to work out a process of rehabilition for them, to try and help them recover and be healed from the countless bad experiences they have had in their lives so far that lead them towards these kinds of activities that are so unnatural for children there age. But then, so many unnatural activities have already been forced on them. For me, this was one of the most distressing things to happen so far as it reminded me of how messed up they are, plus forcing us to take a decision that will put them even further behind in their studies. But at the moment, it is certainly better to keep them out of temptations way and within our protection.
Anyway, thank you all very much for your continued support and prayers. I am sure that the next three months will bring continued challenges and hopefully some excitement. I am even starting to build up a social life! (Thank you Caitlin and Emily!)
I arrived back in time to cover my weekend shift at the home, although thankfully I was able to stay at Casa Alfa on Friday night at head back to the home early on Saturday morning. (I was out of the house by 7, my previous student self wouldn´t recognise me. I even make my bed every day!) Thankfully, although I did find the thought of going back into the home a little bit of an effort by Saturday afternoon I felt like i had never left, and my fear of having lost all authority with the girls over my time off did not come to pass! It was a fairly uneventful weekend, and in many ways, those are the best kind!
The biggest change in my life, which I believe I have not yet mentioned was in the pipeline, is the new timetabling for all the young female volunteers. Because there are now five, possibley soon to be six of us (hard to believe not that long ago I was the only one!) we will not be spending all of our time in the home. Rather, we will spend one week working in the home and another week in the first contact teams. I have mixed feelings about this, as while I am excited about getting the chance to get out and about in the city, I have always felt (despite how difficult it has been) that the things that I am good at fit better int he home. I am basically going to see how it goes this week, and then get back to the directors about how I feel.
There is one very good piece of news from El Alfarero this week: the neighbour has given us a nice bit of his land to grow vegetables on, so the girls have been spending a good part of this week clearing it all to put seeds in. This is particularly good, as the finances of the minsitry are in a much more precarious state than I mentioned before. Roger is saying that unless something dramatic happens, the ministry, after about 15 successful years, will be completely out of money. This is an extremely serious situation that everyone involved in leadership and finances, and, lets be honest, everyone else, is stressed out and worried about. If anyone does feel that they would like to give something to help out, either one off or regular (like sponsoring a child) PLEASE get in touch with me.
The most tragic decision that had to be taken this past week was to pull the two youngest girls out of school as they confessed to having developed sexual relationships with several of the boys from school. This was obviously extremely distressing news from such young girls, and shows that the restoration process is nowhere near complete with them. Our psychologist is trying to work out a process of rehabilition for them, to try and help them recover and be healed from the countless bad experiences they have had in their lives so far that lead them towards these kinds of activities that are so unnatural for children there age. But then, so many unnatural activities have already been forced on them. For me, this was one of the most distressing things to happen so far as it reminded me of how messed up they are, plus forcing us to take a decision that will put them even further behind in their studies. But at the moment, it is certainly better to keep them out of temptations way and within our protection.
Anyway, thank you all very much for your continued support and prayers. I am sure that the next three months will bring continued challenges and hopefully some excitement. I am even starting to build up a social life! (Thank you Caitlin and Emily!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)