In the last week I said goodbye to one of my last original friends who has been here since the beginning of my time and while saying goodbye to so many people has been uniquely hard for me on this program, I also realized that it may be a blessing in disguise. It has really given me the chance to form an attachment to my placement, which has been especially necessary here because working there has been such a challenge compared to working essentially anywhere else I've ever worked. Through my time there so far, we have (and are still) waging a war against lice, colds and now... SURPRISE! Chicken pox. We've had behavior problems, revelations of past abuse and abandonment, and a constant struggle with figuring out how to help the kids deal with the reality that no, their moms are probably not ever coming for them. 

But last Sunday a few other volunteers and I went to a festival held at my kids' school in Villa for their Independence Day (month). Every single one of my kids there was smiling, dancing, running around, just being a kid. I don't know if I've really ever felt that much joy and love radiating from one area ever in my life. During the few hours I was there, I really realized just how resilient my kids are and how resilient a population can be. Learning about resilience is one thing, but the impression actually witnessing it on such a large community scale has made on me is something I never could have gotten in a classroom and I could not be more grateful to have this opportunity. 

Every day this week I couldn't wait to get back to placement and see the light in my kids eyes when they figure out a new game or choreograph a dance to their favorite song on my iPod (I don't think I could ever be as good of a dancer as even the two-year-old if I took classes for YEARS). I was absolutely blown away too when I saw the older kids caring for the younger ones when they became upset and modeling good behavior and problem-solving skills they have been taught (no matter how infrequently that may happen, they have it in them somewhere!). I am so incredibly lucky to be able to witness this every day and hope with all of my heart that these kids continue to have people in their lives who wake up each morning grateful that they get to spend another day with them seeing the amazing accomplishments they are making. 

Casa Hogar Updates... Finally

So since we last talked lots has happened. Lets catch up. 

My first week at placement was terrifying. I didn't speak enough Spanish to feel like I was making any kind of impact or being of any kind of help to my kids or my placement overall so I had to reassess. This was a different kind of placement for me than what I'd experienced before. They didn't have a goal for me as a volunteer that I could latch onto. In Russia I needed to spend time with the children, take them outside, and help care for their basic needs to give them the best chance at thriving as tiny little people. In Tanzania, I needed to create lesson plans and IAPs for the children based on their specific strengths and deficits to work towards integrating them into the community. Casa Hogar was a little less clear. I was meant to help them with their chores and homework, get them dressed for school, and be a positive role model since they had not really been exposed to one before coming into the orphanage. Once this was clarified, it was much easier to integrate myself into the placement. 

In my first half of my volunteering, I have really gotten to know and love each of my kids. I saw that they could benefit from IAPs (individual action plans. They essentially set up specific behavioral and cognitive goals and objectives in tandem with the kids to improve their quality of life), so I introduced this concept to the nuns. They seemed receptive to it and thought that this was something that they could continue with children who come to Casa Hogar even after I've left. I also think that this gives the kids something to help each other with to increase their sense of community and family during a time in their lives when these two things might be severely lacking. I hope to revisit this sometime in the next week to make sure they are being used and if not see what they think might be more useful. 

I've also started to teach a few of the kids English. One in particular is smart as a whip. We have a few books in English and Spanish and he is amazing with the pronunciation. While we do chores, we teach each other phrases and his face lights up every time. Scrubbing floors becomes exponentially more fun when he can laugh at my ridiculous pronunciations of Spanish and blow me out of the water with how quickly he's learning English. 

As lots of people have heard, we also had/have a lice outbreak. It's literally like going into a microscopic war zone every day and the sense of victory I feel when I go home bug-free is only comparable to how itchy my head is when I watch a lice fiesta on the heads of my kids while I'm helping them with homework. I tried to bring lice shampoo but they don't seem to be using it as much as I push for it and my lack of Spanish makes it hard for me to do any education on what kids of behaviors are and aren't safe when you have lice (ie don't rub your head on my head and don't have a lice race on the table while doing homework). I've gotten to the point now where there isn't much more I can do. Some battles you win, some you don't. It won't stop me from stealing kids away to shampoo throughout the day though. 

That covers most of what's been happening at placement for the past month. I promise I'll update this much more often in my next month and I promise that from now on these blogs will be MUCH funnier. 

Ciao for now!