Hello wonderful friends and family. As I'm sure all of you are aware from watching the news, the pound has been dropping like a stone in the last little while, with it now being at 1.35 to the dollar. It used to be two! So for all those who were jealous that i was living in a cheap country, while everyone else is struggling with the sky rocketing cost of living, I am beginning to feel the pinch! It hasn't left me penniless, but it does me that the university bursary which way back when I worked it out was supposed to cover all my accomodation costs and leave me with more than enough spending money is now not quite covering my accomodation on its own! I came here with a lot of savings so there are no problems, but it is extremely annoying. I would appreciate continuing prayers for the finances of the ministry which are really feeling the problem, and for the British missionaries here who have essentially just lost a third of their support through a poor exchange rate.
Last weekend the girls had the great experience of going to Kids Games, an event where various homes and churches come together to do a mini sports championship. Because there are not very many girls in the home who come in the under fourteen age bracket, four girls from the area came to play on our team, and it was lovely to have the girls interacting with different people. Despite not haivng done a great amount of training (we weren't sure until the very last minute if we were going to be able to go or not), the girls managed to come first overall in basketball, and second in football! I really liked seeing them encouraged by the knowledge that they can do something well and are able to win something through their skills!
Another enjoyable thing has been the presence of an outreach team from a Chilean school of counselling. Every morning they have been taking the girls through workships on inner healing, which is an obvious necessity for people who have gone through such difficult things in their very short leaves. It looks like they are learning a lot of things, and hopefully they will be able to talk more deeply with some of the counsellors in the week that comes. It has been really nice to have other people around, as ever, and on top of that having Emily and Caitlin settled into the home is really good. I don't know how to cope with having people about all the time to speak English with! But it has been wonderful having people to spend this weekend off with, and to be able to do normal friend-like things such as cook together. (Even if I did kill the macaroni cheese....)
I haven't been going to the dentist at the moment because we are now taking turns as staff to help out in the kitchen, and this week was my turn. It meant that I wasn't leaving so much, but it wasn't a problem as I enjoyed being able to learn a little bit more about how to cook Bolivian food. It also reminded me that I did learn how to manage a kitchen in Firestarters, and that I'm not as incompetant as I thought I was! Being there in the mornings also means that I've been able to help with their homework, which is another of my favourite things today: I have gone through the tables many times this week!
A piece of kind of sad news is that one more girl has left the home, putting us down to nine. However, it is not nearly as bad as the other times, as this was a thought through process and she has been reinserted into her family. She is going to live with her brothers in La Paz: who haven't seen her or her other brother since their parents died when she was very young. Prayers would be appreciated for her, that she will be able to use this as an opportunity to start again on a clean slate with people who don't already know her character faults.
I am aware that the week coming si going to be quite a stressful one, as Salustio and Yany are (finally) being forced to go on holiday, so I will essentially (with extensive support, obviously) be staying in charge of the home. Its always that bit more difficult when they leave, because the girls decide that that would be a good time to misbehave, but hopefully between the four of us we will manage to hold the fort well. I would really appreciate your prayers for this week though - I know that God is wanting to challenge me in more areas of leadership, but it is not a particularly easy challenge to take on. However, I do walk in the knowledge that God has always been faithful to me and will not leave me in the times when I need him most.
The most exciting thing that I have to look forward to is going to Peru next month! Much as I love being here, I am really looking forward to being able to take a bit of time off, and to be able to see the Herons again, and in their own land! Only twenty-four days to go. :-)
THats all for now, but keep in touch, and it shouldn't be too long until I update agian.
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Saturday, 10 January 2009
Oops
Well, I would like to start this blog by saying that I accidently left my last blog in draft form and didn't actually publish it - sorry about that, just in case some of you thought that I had been eaten alive by some kind of monster unique to Bolivia. On that note, this week I saw my first snake in El Alfarero! It was a green one, so it wasn't poisonous, but it was cool! It was slithering across a bush. On another interesting cultural note, I have eaten two new things: sopa de pata de pollo (chicken foot soup) and sopa de nervios (nerves soup). The figure is... the soup that comes with the chickens foot is amazing, the chicken foot less so. Its just really skin and cartilidge on the bones, so its not particularly tasty. Nerves soup was a different matter: its a soup made of the juices of cows feet with all the nerves still attached to them, with the foot left in the soup and a couple of onions added. Its not that great, and frankly made me want to vomit a little bit, but I ate it all up like a good missionary! Apparently its extremely nutrisious because its such an intense dose of calcium, but that does also mean that it made me incredibely sleepy.
Interesting news from Bolivia land is that we have two visiting teams at the moment, a DTS outreach team from England (Marjolein, I love you, you're the best person in the whole wild world!) and a team from a school of counselling in Chile. I helped Gabi make majadito (ricey meaty cruceño speciality) for the dts team today - I fried the bananas, which is always fun. It is also always nice to have a few more people around who speak English!
Its been another week of going to the dentist, probably the most traumatising experienc was having to sit with one of the girls through what looked like an extremely painful root canal, which still remains unfinished due to the complication that are added because of her pregancy. I feel like I'm beginning to know slightly more what I'm doing when I help Sergio, which always helps to make me feel like less of an idiot. Occassionaly I even know what he wants before he asks for it! But that doesn't happen that often.
Sandra and I did have one really bad day last week when Salustio and Yany left for the day. Not only did the water cut off the evening before so that we had to go to the neighbours to collect water in buckets to wash, but the girls where a total nightmare the next day. They were filled with the most unbelievable laziness which is always quite difficult to snap them out of, especially when I know that it only seems to come on when Yani is not there... Funny that. They started to get extremely mouth, and after managing to go almost four months in the home without this happening, one of the girls made me cry. Still, I think that four months is a sign of some level of strength of mind, as they do have a habit of saying reasonably horrible things when it takes there fancy. But I still believe that love is something that goes beyond all the horrible things a person can say or do, I still have huge amounts of compassion for my girls: who knows what my character would be like if I had grown up in the same situations that they have. She asked my forgiveness the next day (with a tiny bit of coersion!) and we are certainly friends again - at least until the next time she loses her temper.
The rains have started in a major way here: its making me glad that I decided to fly to Peru instead of get the bus, as it seems that all of the bridges on the moterways to Cochabamba have fallen down, and a similar situation on the way to La Paz! My room-mate just travelled to Oruru (another department of Bolivia) and they were waiting for a full day on the side of a river with no way to cross, and no way of getting anything to eat. Being here makes me realise how incredibely destructive that rain can be, but it does always amuse me that even the slightest amount of rain seems to make life stop, and no one leaves their homes!
Yani and Salustio went to visit a few of the girls who have left the home recently. Yani told me that when she went to visit the girl who was smuggling drugs into the home (to give her her 'libretta' the sheet proving that she passed the year of school), she was so angry that she couldn't even look at her, just gave her her sheet and left. However, the good news is that she is still living with her mother, and has not left to go to the street. They also went to visit the young girl who was living at the home with her son, again good news, as she is still living with her grandmother. There have been conflicts between her and her aunts, but her son appears well cared for. One of the other girls who left in the middle of the drugs scandal, is attending the church of an English minister who used to be the director of the home, which is great as it means that she's still staying in contact with the ministry. However, the location of the last girl who left, as I mentioned before, is still a ministry. One of our neighbours thought that he saw her in San Jose (the village we live in), but her family are following some kind of a lead to try and find her in Cochabamba.
Well, thanks for thinking about me enough to have kept reading this blog after being out of the country for four months! I hope that you are all still praying for me and for all the people we work with her in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Interesting news from Bolivia land is that we have two visiting teams at the moment, a DTS outreach team from England (Marjolein, I love you, you're the best person in the whole wild world!) and a team from a school of counselling in Chile. I helped Gabi make majadito (ricey meaty cruceño speciality) for the dts team today - I fried the bananas, which is always fun. It is also always nice to have a few more people around who speak English!
Its been another week of going to the dentist, probably the most traumatising experienc was having to sit with one of the girls through what looked like an extremely painful root canal, which still remains unfinished due to the complication that are added because of her pregancy. I feel like I'm beginning to know slightly more what I'm doing when I help Sergio, which always helps to make me feel like less of an idiot. Occassionaly I even know what he wants before he asks for it! But that doesn't happen that often.
Sandra and I did have one really bad day last week when Salustio and Yany left for the day. Not only did the water cut off the evening before so that we had to go to the neighbours to collect water in buckets to wash, but the girls where a total nightmare the next day. They were filled with the most unbelievable laziness which is always quite difficult to snap them out of, especially when I know that it only seems to come on when Yani is not there... Funny that. They started to get extremely mouth, and after managing to go almost four months in the home without this happening, one of the girls made me cry. Still, I think that four months is a sign of some level of strength of mind, as they do have a habit of saying reasonably horrible things when it takes there fancy. But I still believe that love is something that goes beyond all the horrible things a person can say or do, I still have huge amounts of compassion for my girls: who knows what my character would be like if I had grown up in the same situations that they have. She asked my forgiveness the next day (with a tiny bit of coersion!) and we are certainly friends again - at least until the next time she loses her temper.
The rains have started in a major way here: its making me glad that I decided to fly to Peru instead of get the bus, as it seems that all of the bridges on the moterways to Cochabamba have fallen down, and a similar situation on the way to La Paz! My room-mate just travelled to Oruru (another department of Bolivia) and they were waiting for a full day on the side of a river with no way to cross, and no way of getting anything to eat. Being here makes me realise how incredibely destructive that rain can be, but it does always amuse me that even the slightest amount of rain seems to make life stop, and no one leaves their homes!
Yani and Salustio went to visit a few of the girls who have left the home recently. Yani told me that when she went to visit the girl who was smuggling drugs into the home (to give her her 'libretta' the sheet proving that she passed the year of school), she was so angry that she couldn't even look at her, just gave her her sheet and left. However, the good news is that she is still living with her mother, and has not left to go to the street. They also went to visit the young girl who was living at the home with her son, again good news, as she is still living with her grandmother. There have been conflicts between her and her aunts, but her son appears well cared for. One of the other girls who left in the middle of the drugs scandal, is attending the church of an English minister who used to be the director of the home, which is great as it means that she's still staying in contact with the ministry. However, the location of the last girl who left, as I mentioned before, is still a ministry. One of our neighbours thought that he saw her in San Jose (the village we live in), but her family are following some kind of a lead to try and find her in Cochabamba.
Well, thanks for thinking about me enough to have kept reading this blog after being out of the country for four months! I hope that you are all still praying for me and for all the people we work with her in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Thursday, 1 January 2009
Happy new year!
Well, its very exciting to be writing a blog post on the very first day of 2009! I love new year, with all the hope and fresh startiness that it brings. I hope that this year is a wonderful one for all of you: if 2008 was a bit rubbish, that you can put it behind you, and if it was great that you can continue in that vein!
I spent last night, once again, at the girls home, and it was certainly a really good way to see the new year in. As with Christmas, it involved the most enormous amount of work in terms of getting the place decorated and food prepared for the night. Because we were doing a talent show to celebrate, we had to put up a stage and set up the sound equipment, and use all kinds of balloons and streamers to make the area look beautiful.n One of the things that always impresses me about Yani and Salustio is that whenever they do anything, they do it really well! In terms of food, the girls prepared a whole bunch of delicious desserts! For the main meal, we had barbecued meat which was AMAZING. Seriously, probably the best meat I have ever tasted in my whole life. Our lovely neighbour gave us vast quanities of limes and passion fruit to make juice with, which I did also enjoy.
The church that we go to in El Torno (nearest town) joined us for the evening, which did mean that there was 15 more people to cook for, but it was really nice to have guests, and the girls really enjoyed it too. I had to judge the talent show with the minister of the church, who is really quite a scary shouty person, which was frankly a terrifying experience. He took it all very seriously, and obviously wanted his daughter to win! I took it all a bit more as a joke, and it was hilarious! Three of them together did one of the funniest dramas I have ever seen, which they wrote themselves and everything. One of the little ones whom I would always have described as being really quite slow has the most fabulous comic timing. There were also songs, including a few from members of the church, and a couple of dances. The entry of the new year was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life though, as people began to set off fireworks seemingly without thinking about age or place. We started eating at roughly one o'clock in the morning (I was absolutely starving) and it was great! Mmmm food. I didn't get into bed until half past three though, which possibley explains why my grammar may be failing a little in this blog - apologies for that!
Other than new year, things have basically been continuing on as normal, although I would like to fill you in on a few of the problems that have become more notable in the last week. One of them is quite simply, a problem of lies. I'll give you a quick example of what this may look like, with the little ones who are especially prone to lying. They have to do some constructive activity every morning, and I told them that they couldn't go and play until they had made at least one bracelet. I later found them playing basketball, and they told me that Sandra had said they could go because they had finished: this was a lie, and when I went to check it with her they ran away and hid in the mango tree. This would probably be funny if it was just the once, but its all the time! They lie about anything and everything,, and there is absolutely no way to tell by there faces and voices that they are lying. Lately, even the older gils have started to lie, which is extremely irritating as it means that I have to check up on everything they say. Its a problem, and it is definately something to work on.
Well, thats all the news I can think of for now. Happy new year once again, and I hope to hear from you soon.
I spent last night, once again, at the girls home, and it was certainly a really good way to see the new year in. As with Christmas, it involved the most enormous amount of work in terms of getting the place decorated and food prepared for the night. Because we were doing a talent show to celebrate, we had to put up a stage and set up the sound equipment, and use all kinds of balloons and streamers to make the area look beautiful.n One of the things that always impresses me about Yani and Salustio is that whenever they do anything, they do it really well! In terms of food, the girls prepared a whole bunch of delicious desserts! For the main meal, we had barbecued meat which was AMAZING. Seriously, probably the best meat I have ever tasted in my whole life. Our lovely neighbour gave us vast quanities of limes and passion fruit to make juice with, which I did also enjoy.
The church that we go to in El Torno (nearest town) joined us for the evening, which did mean that there was 15 more people to cook for, but it was really nice to have guests, and the girls really enjoyed it too. I had to judge the talent show with the minister of the church, who is really quite a scary shouty person, which was frankly a terrifying experience. He took it all very seriously, and obviously wanted his daughter to win! I took it all a bit more as a joke, and it was hilarious! Three of them together did one of the funniest dramas I have ever seen, which they wrote themselves and everything. One of the little ones whom I would always have described as being really quite slow has the most fabulous comic timing. There were also songs, including a few from members of the church, and a couple of dances. The entry of the new year was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life though, as people began to set off fireworks seemingly without thinking about age or place. We started eating at roughly one o'clock in the morning (I was absolutely starving) and it was great! Mmmm food. I didn't get into bed until half past three though, which possibley explains why my grammar may be failing a little in this blog - apologies for that!
Other than new year, things have basically been continuing on as normal, although I would like to fill you in on a few of the problems that have become more notable in the last week. One of them is quite simply, a problem of lies. I'll give you a quick example of what this may look like, with the little ones who are especially prone to lying. They have to do some constructive activity every morning, and I told them that they couldn't go and play until they had made at least one bracelet. I later found them playing basketball, and they told me that Sandra had said they could go because they had finished: this was a lie, and when I went to check it with her they ran away and hid in the mango tree. This would probably be funny if it was just the once, but its all the time! They lie about anything and everything,, and there is absolutely no way to tell by there faces and voices that they are lying. Lately, even the older gils have started to lie, which is extremely irritating as it means that I have to check up on everything they say. Its a problem, and it is definately something to work on.
Well, thats all the news I can think of for now. Happy new year once again, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Saturday, 27 December 2008
Christmas Fun
Well, I'd first of all like to take the chance to wish all my blog readers a very merry Christmas and, hopefully, a wonderful 2009. This is officially the second Christmas I have spent far away from home, and it was very different from teh last one that I spent in South Africa. Salustio and Yani offered me the chance to take either Christmas or New Year off, but as all the people I know have either gone home to be with their families or will be in the homes over both festivals, I decided that it would certainly be better to spend both holidays working than to spend one of them alone, potentially watching television!
Christmas here was different in the sense that it didn't really seem to get mentioned until the week of the 25th, there were no Christmas parties or any of that, bairly even Christas music on the radio. Probably the strangest thing for me, was that even on the last Sunday of Advent, Christmas was not mentioned at all in church - not a Christmas song, or even a Christmas reading. That meant that I really have felt a bit distant from the whole 'birth of Jesus' shenanigans this year, which was a real shame, as thats normally such a special thing for me, and God almost always teaches me something new about his character. I think its probably just an effort on the part ofthe church to distance themselves from the commercialism of Christmas, but it was still really strange for me. I also really missed advent candles.
We had one very exciting trip out in the evening to see all the lights that have been set up around the city. Typically, they were totally hideous (not much different from George Square last year!) and one of the light displays was essentially just a massive piece of Coca Cola advertising, but the girls absolutely loved it, if only for the chance to get out and have a wander around the city. I now have an enormous collection of pictures of girls with Santa, girls with giant light up snowmans etc. Which are obviously exactly the kind of pictures that I want!
We also decorated the home for Christmas day, there was no tree or anything like that, but we wrap lots of shiny ribbon around the pillars and put up lights so it was really pretty. The main prepartion for the day itself just involved a massive amount of cooking. We made panetoni which, to my huge disapointment, didn't rise and is really hard, but it was a lot of fun to make and smelled really good in the process so I'm not too upset about it! There were other desserts that had to be made, and we had to prepare the pork and turkey for being roasted (the pork was amazing mmm).
As with I think most of the countries in South America, the main part of the Christmas action happens late on Christmas Eve - celebrations started at about 10pm, by the time all the food was done with being cooked and the table was all decorated and everything. All the girls put on the clothes that they bought at the market for Christmas day, and then we put on music, mainly salsa, for dancing. I'm not going to lie, I didn't do a huge amount of dancing although I did participate, but some of the girls just dance so well so it was amazing to watch them. At about 11.30 Salustio got back from visiting his family in the city and we got the food out which was extremely tasty. At twelve when the fireworks started going off around the city (slightly dodgy, dangerous fireworks that are sold on street corners) I gave the gifts that I bought for the girls (mainly sweets and hair things) and opened my very exciting package from my family. As exciting for some of the girls as it was for me, especially when I split up the chocolate coins!
Christmas day was interesting as it felt a lot more like boxing day than Christmas day itself: we got up late, we had a lot more visitors, we ate Christmas leftovers, quite a lot of the day was spent watching films and having naps. All in all it was an interesting Christmas - not the best one I've ever had, but it is always a great experience to spend Christmas in another culture.
Things weren't qutie as difficult on the 24th as I had thought it would be, or even as I had been warned it would be. There were a few tears as people began to think of their families, and some girls isolated themselves from the group at various points but nothing too dramatic happened. Its funny as the vast majority of them (not all) will never have particularly celebrated Christmas with their families, especially not something quite this flamboyant with food and presents. But seeing what can happen in a family of people who love each other makes them start to miss what potentially could have been, awakens their knowledge of how their parents have failed them and so they get sad. But as I said, it wasn't too horrific although a few hugs were needed.
Things have greatly settled down in the home, and even though our numbers have gone down to 10, things just feel so much better. When Salustio and Yani leave things don't just go crazy like they used to, and the vast majority of hte people who used to pick all the fights have now left. The main concern at the home is now the financial situation. The director has said that the whole ministry has only got 3 months in which it can survive unless the financial situation starts to improve, and we are certainly not taking in any more girls for precisely that reason. Anyone intersted in helping with this potential horrific situation should go to the new Operation Restoration website http://www.ywambolivia.org.uk/ where you can also see the new sponsorship program that has been set up for both the girls and the boys. This will hopefully be an amazing way of bringing in more support for the wondeful work that goes on here.
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope to hear from you all soon.
Christmas here was different in the sense that it didn't really seem to get mentioned until the week of the 25th, there were no Christmas parties or any of that, bairly even Christas music on the radio. Probably the strangest thing for me, was that even on the last Sunday of Advent, Christmas was not mentioned at all in church - not a Christmas song, or even a Christmas reading. That meant that I really have felt a bit distant from the whole 'birth of Jesus' shenanigans this year, which was a real shame, as thats normally such a special thing for me, and God almost always teaches me something new about his character. I think its probably just an effort on the part ofthe church to distance themselves from the commercialism of Christmas, but it was still really strange for me. I also really missed advent candles.
We had one very exciting trip out in the evening to see all the lights that have been set up around the city. Typically, they were totally hideous (not much different from George Square last year!) and one of the light displays was essentially just a massive piece of Coca Cola advertising, but the girls absolutely loved it, if only for the chance to get out and have a wander around the city. I now have an enormous collection of pictures of girls with Santa, girls with giant light up snowmans etc. Which are obviously exactly the kind of pictures that I want!
We also decorated the home for Christmas day, there was no tree or anything like that, but we wrap lots of shiny ribbon around the pillars and put up lights so it was really pretty. The main prepartion for the day itself just involved a massive amount of cooking. We made panetoni which, to my huge disapointment, didn't rise and is really hard, but it was a lot of fun to make and smelled really good in the process so I'm not too upset about it! There were other desserts that had to be made, and we had to prepare the pork and turkey for being roasted (the pork was amazing mmm).
As with I think most of the countries in South America, the main part of the Christmas action happens late on Christmas Eve - celebrations started at about 10pm, by the time all the food was done with being cooked and the table was all decorated and everything. All the girls put on the clothes that they bought at the market for Christmas day, and then we put on music, mainly salsa, for dancing. I'm not going to lie, I didn't do a huge amount of dancing although I did participate, but some of the girls just dance so well so it was amazing to watch them. At about 11.30 Salustio got back from visiting his family in the city and we got the food out which was extremely tasty. At twelve when the fireworks started going off around the city (slightly dodgy, dangerous fireworks that are sold on street corners) I gave the gifts that I bought for the girls (mainly sweets and hair things) and opened my very exciting package from my family. As exciting for some of the girls as it was for me, especially when I split up the chocolate coins!
Christmas day was interesting as it felt a lot more like boxing day than Christmas day itself: we got up late, we had a lot more visitors, we ate Christmas leftovers, quite a lot of the day was spent watching films and having naps. All in all it was an interesting Christmas - not the best one I've ever had, but it is always a great experience to spend Christmas in another culture.
Things weren't qutie as difficult on the 24th as I had thought it would be, or even as I had been warned it would be. There were a few tears as people began to think of their families, and some girls isolated themselves from the group at various points but nothing too dramatic happened. Its funny as the vast majority of them (not all) will never have particularly celebrated Christmas with their families, especially not something quite this flamboyant with food and presents. But seeing what can happen in a family of people who love each other makes them start to miss what potentially could have been, awakens their knowledge of how their parents have failed them and so they get sad. But as I said, it wasn't too horrific although a few hugs were needed.
Things have greatly settled down in the home, and even though our numbers have gone down to 10, things just feel so much better. When Salustio and Yani leave things don't just go crazy like they used to, and the vast majority of hte people who used to pick all the fights have now left. The main concern at the home is now the financial situation. The director has said that the whole ministry has only got 3 months in which it can survive unless the financial situation starts to improve, and we are certainly not taking in any more girls for precisely that reason. Anyone intersted in helping with this potential horrific situation should go to the new Operation Restoration website http://www.ywambolivia.org.uk/ where you can also see the new sponsorship program that has been set up for both the girls and the boys. This will hopefully be an amazing way of bringing in more support for the wondeful work that goes on here.
Merry Christmas everyone! I hope to hear from you all soon.
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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!
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!
Thursday, 4 December 2008
All the chat
First of all, I would like to give many apologies for not updating my blog in a while, I promise to try and write something extra special for you all today! In one piece of amazing news, this morning i finally managed to send a christmas package to my family! After having to jump through all kinds of hoops: leave the packet open, provide us with four photocopies of your passport, we need your fingerprints etc I eventually managed to do it this morning with a lot of faff around but ultimate success. I have possibley never been so proud of myself in my whole life. It was quite strange though, because there was a Christmas tree and a Santa Claus in the post office, and i don't really feel like its Christmas as it seems to be passing with so little comment. I am very interested to see how Christmas is at El Alfarero, but I do always think that there is nothing like having a Christmas that is the same as every other Christmas you've ever spent.
Things do seemed to have calmed down a bit in the home, although unfortunately one more of the girls who was involved in the drug taking has now left the home, taking the numbers down to eleven: its hard to believe that there were seventeen at one point! In some ways this is a good thing, as it feels like the less girls there are, the more attention that we are able to give them, but my heart does also stay with the girls who have left the home, as the chances are I will never find out how their lives end up.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how the lives of the girls will be when they leave the home, because as well as I get on with some of them, I just can't imagine them in any other context: studying, with jobs etc. There are a few whom it is obvious have the capacity to go far, but what of the rest? What of the girls who already have two children before they even turn eighteen? Obviously they are studying and starting to equip themselves for the future, but I just really hope and pray that they will all genuninely be able to do something with their lives, something that they really want to do.
One piece of news is that the handcrafts the girls are constantly doing are finally coming to some kind of a purpose, which excites me as it did all seem a little bit pointless! All the little cross stich designs that they have been working on, we are now turning into cards for Roger to take to the States and sell when he goes there for Christmas. They look really really nice which is great, and its great for the girls to be able to see that people are willing to buy something that they have made. Its also good as the whole minisitry continues to suffer in terms of finanaces, so it would be really good if you could pray for that. Also, the house parents who have lived at the boys home (El Camino) for the last two years, are leaving at the end of the year on fairly short notice, so it would be really good if the praying types could pray that we will be able to find new people for that demanding job in a short space of time.
Other than these pieces of news, it does seem that things have just chugged along the same here, with the same kind of daily challenges. On a personal level, I'm feeling much more settled here this week than I was last week when I was quite itchy to get back to Scotland and see you all again. But realisitically, I know that I am only here for another six months, which is not really that long in the grand scheme of life and I have to make the most of it, and try to make the biggest different possible in the lives of these eleven girls while I am here. I still don't have millions of friends here, but I am going to a hen 'afternoon' tomorrow, as the social worker is getting married on Saturday. Thank you for continuing to think about me and pray for me, and hopefully I'll have more news for you next time!
Things do seemed to have calmed down a bit in the home, although unfortunately one more of the girls who was involved in the drug taking has now left the home, taking the numbers down to eleven: its hard to believe that there were seventeen at one point! In some ways this is a good thing, as it feels like the less girls there are, the more attention that we are able to give them, but my heart does also stay with the girls who have left the home, as the chances are I will never find out how their lives end up.
I've been thinking a lot lately about how the lives of the girls will be when they leave the home, because as well as I get on with some of them, I just can't imagine them in any other context: studying, with jobs etc. There are a few whom it is obvious have the capacity to go far, but what of the rest? What of the girls who already have two children before they even turn eighteen? Obviously they are studying and starting to equip themselves for the future, but I just really hope and pray that they will all genuninely be able to do something with their lives, something that they really want to do.
One piece of news is that the handcrafts the girls are constantly doing are finally coming to some kind of a purpose, which excites me as it did all seem a little bit pointless! All the little cross stich designs that they have been working on, we are now turning into cards for Roger to take to the States and sell when he goes there for Christmas. They look really really nice which is great, and its great for the girls to be able to see that people are willing to buy something that they have made. Its also good as the whole minisitry continues to suffer in terms of finanaces, so it would be really good if you could pray for that. Also, the house parents who have lived at the boys home (El Camino) for the last two years, are leaving at the end of the year on fairly short notice, so it would be really good if the praying types could pray that we will be able to find new people for that demanding job in a short space of time.
Other than these pieces of news, it does seem that things have just chugged along the same here, with the same kind of daily challenges. On a personal level, I'm feeling much more settled here this week than I was last week when I was quite itchy to get back to Scotland and see you all again. But realisitically, I know that I am only here for another six months, which is not really that long in the grand scheme of life and I have to make the most of it, and try to make the biggest different possible in the lives of these eleven girls while I am here. I still don't have millions of friends here, but I am going to a hen 'afternoon' tomorrow, as the social worker is getting married on Saturday. Thank you for continuing to think about me and pray for me, and hopefully I'll have more news for you next time!
Thursday, 20 November 2008
Troubles
Well, even though I was only back at El Alfarero for four days, I think that it is fair to say that it was not an easy four days. The Saturday that I was gone was a particularly dramatic day, as after the girl who left on Friday (lets call her Jane) confessed that she had been bringing drugs into the home a lot more confessions came up. Salustio and Yany found drugs stashed in at least five places around the home, including in the rooms and on the volleyball court. It turns out that four girls had been taking drugs up to three times a day, one of them ever since she arrived in the home over a year ago. Jane had been selling drugs on for her dealer in school, and exchange for this he gave her drugs for her own personal use which she then shared with the four other girls. It turns out that even on the nights when one of us was sleeping in their room they were smoking drugs, completely without us ever noticing - the drug that they were smoking has no particularly distinct smell, and if we were sleeping then they were careful not to do anything to wake us up. Although looking in retrospect, there were nights in that room where I woke up every hour seemingly for no reason: I'm now beginning to think that there may have been a reason for that that I didn't quite twig in my half asleep state. Basically what Jane has done is jumped ship, leaving four drug addicts behind her: it all becomes even more poignant when you realise that she has not yet turned fourteen, and also left ten habitual drug users in her class at school.
It is unbelievabley disapointing, especially for Yany and Salustio who have been here for so much time, because despite all the time and energy that has been put in for them, the girls quite consiously deceived us. One of the girls who was using would literally be dead if the ministry hadn't paid for her operation and taken care of her during her recovery. Jane had been in the home for two years, and Yany and Salustio had placed quite a lot of trust in her, which she just threw back in their face. Although I obviously still do really love the girls and want to help them, this has left us all with little desire to organise activities and do things to help them. Especially since despite the fact that only five girls were taking drugs, its fair to say that all of the other girls knew about it, and some of them actively helped them to hide the drugs and conceal their behaviour.
Obviously, all actions have consequences, and the discìpline for the three girls that remain is quite strong: none of them will go to school next year for the entire year, they will only learn from the teachers that come to the home. The reasoning behind this is obvious: the ones who were already in school were taking drugs in school, and the ones who weren't are not trustworthy to go to a place where there will be temptation to take drugs. As a discipline for all the girls, we as a home are not going to go to Kids Games, a sports day event that they normally go to every year.
In other news (sorry that I can't bring you anything happy!) Another girl (we'll call her Val) left the home on Tuesday with her one year old son, to go to live with her grandmother. In some ways it was actually a good thing that she wanted to go, because if not we were going to have to throw her out of the home because of her unbelievable manipulative behaviour with the other girls. But on the other hand, we are not sure how long she will stay with her grandmother, as she alawys struggled to control Val, and was the victim of her manipulative behaviour. What Val used to do, was if her grandmother told her to do something she didn't want to do, like wash her babies nappies, she would go tell her uncles (her grandmothers sons) that her grandmother was beating her and wasn't giving her anything to eat, which they would react to by going to her house and beating her grandmother. Clearly not a great situation for her, but she's willing to take Val back, if only to ensure that her son is well taken care of.
To close, I would like to tell you all that I am sick! This has not been the happiest of blogs, so I might as well finish on a piece of unhappy news. I've had a stuffed up cold for the last few days, and I had a fever last night. It is rubbish, but don't worry, I am taking plenty of paracetomal! It does make everything seem a little more rubbish though, when having a cold takes away all your enery. You need to send me loving messages to cheer me up!
It is unbelievabley disapointing, especially for Yany and Salustio who have been here for so much time, because despite all the time and energy that has been put in for them, the girls quite consiously deceived us. One of the girls who was using would literally be dead if the ministry hadn't paid for her operation and taken care of her during her recovery. Jane had been in the home for two years, and Yany and Salustio had placed quite a lot of trust in her, which she just threw back in their face. Although I obviously still do really love the girls and want to help them, this has left us all with little desire to organise activities and do things to help them. Especially since despite the fact that only five girls were taking drugs, its fair to say that all of the other girls knew about it, and some of them actively helped them to hide the drugs and conceal their behaviour.
Obviously, all actions have consequences, and the discìpline for the three girls that remain is quite strong: none of them will go to school next year for the entire year, they will only learn from the teachers that come to the home. The reasoning behind this is obvious: the ones who were already in school were taking drugs in school, and the ones who weren't are not trustworthy to go to a place where there will be temptation to take drugs. As a discipline for all the girls, we as a home are not going to go to Kids Games, a sports day event that they normally go to every year.
In other news (sorry that I can't bring you anything happy!) Another girl (we'll call her Val) left the home on Tuesday with her one year old son, to go to live with her grandmother. In some ways it was actually a good thing that she wanted to go, because if not we were going to have to throw her out of the home because of her unbelievable manipulative behaviour with the other girls. But on the other hand, we are not sure how long she will stay with her grandmother, as she alawys struggled to control Val, and was the victim of her manipulative behaviour. What Val used to do, was if her grandmother told her to do something she didn't want to do, like wash her babies nappies, she would go tell her uncles (her grandmothers sons) that her grandmother was beating her and wasn't giving her anything to eat, which they would react to by going to her house and beating her grandmother. Clearly not a great situation for her, but she's willing to take Val back, if only to ensure that her son is well taken care of.
To close, I would like to tell you all that I am sick! This has not been the happiest of blogs, so I might as well finish on a piece of unhappy news. I've had a stuffed up cold for the last few days, and I had a fever last night. It is rubbish, but don't worry, I am taking plenty of paracetomal! It does make everything seem a little more rubbish though, when having a cold takes away all your enery. You need to send me loving messages to cheer me up!
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