Judy Blume and Rainbow Crowns

Hi guys!

I spent this morning in the special needs orphanage again. This orphanage is actually split into two parts--Casa Milagros (House of Miracles) and Casa Alegria (House of Joy), and the volunteers are stationed at one of the two houses.  Casa Milagros houses the older residents--I think the youngest one is about 10, and the oldest is 27, while Casa Alegria has the younger kids--the youngest we have is 3, and the eldest is about 15.

I was in Casa Alegria today.  A lot of the kids here are more severely disabled--we have quite a few who are nonverbal, and for some of them, the employees (the orphanage hires physical therapists, social workers, psychologists, and other professionals) have no idea how aware of their surroundings they are.  However, there are a few who are pretty aware of what is going on.  For example, one little boy named Bryan is mentally fine, but was malnourished for the first few years of his life and is also mostly (around 75%) deaf.  Fortunately, they fit him for hearing aids today, so he should get them reasonably soon.  He can't really communicate with people, which is really difficult, as he is very smart--we have a bunch of matching games, and he can get all of the answers right on the first try.

This morning, my first job was to feed all of the kids.  For some of them, it was really easy--a lot of them love to eat, and it's just a matter of how fast the spoon can get to their mouths.  For others, though, it was more interesting.  One boy tried to spit out every bite, giggling all the while, and it took me around 20 minutes to get him fed.  That was definitely interesting.

After that, everyone took showers.  I wasn't responsible for actually giving the kids showers, but had to undress them and carry them around.  That actually went fairly well--most of them are accustomed to the process, so it was pretty quick.

In the midst of that, I set Bryan up with some more matching games, because it would occupy him during all the wheelchair transfers and quick clothing changes. If not, he tends to get involved in the chaos and run everywhere, which would likely end in me or one of the tias tripping over him with another child in our arms.  Not good.

There's another girl in the orphanage named Cecelia who is very ill.  She has a degenerative condition and is unable to move or speak.  She's also on oxygen full-time, so it's hard to take her out of her room.  However, she is aware of her surroundings, so the volunteers are encouraged to spend time with her.  I went into her room and just talked to her for a while, but eventually ran out of things to say about her bedroom and the other kids in the orphanage (I guess if I really wanted to just talk I could have lectured on Harry Potter for a while or something), but fortunately I had other plans.  The orphanage has quite a few English-language books, so I spent an hour or so reading Superfudge (by Judy Blume, from the Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing Series) to her.  I don't know if she enjoyed it, because she can't really react, but I did.  I loved that series when I was little.  And I'm sure that she appreciated not being alone all of the time, because she is not given a lot of attention, because the other kids are much louder and more vocal about their needs.

This afternoon, we went to the grocery store to pick up some stuff for the house.  It was the same store that we went to a few days ago, but foreign grocery stores are always an interesting experience. It's weird to see how people live their ordinary lives here (or anywhere that is not where I'm from), and food is definitely a big aspect of that.

Speaking of food, I tried to make macaroni for dinner tonight, and spent 10 minutes trying to google translate the directions.  I finally figured it out, only to find out that for some reason the stove didn't work (there was gas, but no fire, and I didn't know how to light it).  So I ended up just eating a sandwich.  It's an adventure.

This evening, we went to another orphanage, the one for older kids that I went to on my first day here (and twice since).  We usually go on Mondays and Thursdays, and Mondays are craft nights, while Thursday is outdoor play.  I was in charge of planning the crafts, so we ended up making coffee filter flowers (we only stay there for about an hour, so it needs to be something fast).  Some of the girls made incredibly elaborate flowers, with multiple layers of paper petals.

One of the groups of girls was teasing their friend about a boy she liked--I tried to join in their discussion, but wasn't able to contribute much.

One of the youngest girls came up to me after, as I was kneeling on the floor picking up paper scraps, and put something on my head.  It was a rainbow coffee-filter crown--probably the most regal thing I have ever worn.

I'm slowly starting to understand Spanish a bit--when someone is talking to me, I can usually get the gist of what they are trying to say, although I won't usually be able to respond.  At the beginning, everything would come out in French, which was a problem, because apparently my brain thought it only had room for one foreign language.  Fortunately, I've been able to get a little Spanish here.  Although I wish it was all in French--I would be able to explain what I was planning on doing next Thursday, and what didn't happen yesterday, and how I could give the kids their toys only if they listened to the nuns.  But it's ok.  It's good to experience being completely lost sometimes.  I'll just say that it builds character.

Anyway, it's pretty late now.  Thanks for reading!