Easter Joy

Well, I would like to begin this blog by wishing a happy Easter to everyone, I hope that you have a great, meaningful Easter weekend as we remember the tumultous events of this weekend several thousand years ago. :-) As we remember on Sunday the new life created by Jesus rising from the dead I have another exciting story about new life... Yesterday and 10am the new entrant at El Alfarero was born by Caesarean in a local hospital and despite some initial resistance by his mother, the operation went well. His name is Samuel, he weighs 3.5 kilos and he is absolutely beautiful! I went to visit his mother and him last night at the hospital, which was really amazing for me. He is so tiny and beautiful. His mum is in quite a lot of pain from the caesarian and it bothers her that this pain won´t let her pick up the baby, but overall I would say that she´s doing a good job as a first day mum. It is all very exciting.

However, in this kind of work every joy does seem to come with some measure of sadness. Unfortunately, last week another two girls left the home. On the plus side, however, neither have gone back to totally impossible situations. One girl had to be asked to leave the home due to consistant bad behaviour and the level of bad influence that she exercised over the other girls, but has gone to stay with her aunt, a good woman who visited regularly and whom I know will take good care of her and help her on the road to recovery. Perhaps more upsettingly, our other home mother made the decision to leave the home with her baby, in part due to constant clashes with the other girls. After a very brief stay in a catholic home, I believe that she is now working with a family and I hope that she will get on well and be able to continue taking good care of her son.

Last week in the home was quite fun, as two days in a row the home teachers were not able to come in to give classes: one days because of protests and blockades, and another day because they both had to go and have a health check. Because we had the extra free time, and didn´t want to spend the whole day doing handcrafts, we made the most of the free time to play some more sports with the girls, and one day we took them all out to the village for ice cream! Ok, it wasn´t the most exciting, fancy of ice-creams, but it was still a lot of fun for everyone to get out and about for a bit.

Today when myself and the other girls go back to the home, the home directors leave for two weeks holiday so it would be really good if you could pray for us as we look to being in the home without them, although with the support of other members of staff who do not normally spend as much time in the home. I am sure that all will go just fine, but as I am sure you can all imagine, it is not easy for the girls to spend a significant chunk of time without their parents.

This week in first contacts was good, although we only managed to get out on the streets once because of all the other things we had to do ie visit pregnant woman! It was very interesting the one time we did go out though, as we met a little boy who was living under a bridge, totally alone, who seemed to be completely deaf. It was really sad to see him living there, and frustrating not really to be able to communicate with him but he seemed to have a really sweet personality, if a little shy. And slightly nervous about all these stange people coming into his home! I´m enjoying the experience of goign out on the streets, although I don´t always feel like the most useful person when I am there. Although, at the end of the day, its not really about me feeling useful, is it.

Thanks again for all your thoughts and prayers. I´ll see you in 7 weeks!