The Usual Week

Last week we were given our jobs and I was excited to hear that I have been given the position as one of the social workers here on the Amigos property along with Grace and Regina, two other volunteers. This job entails working with those boys who are older and have left the orphanage to live in the surrounding communities outside of the Amigos property (Posas Verdes, aka PV, and Macuelizo). The social work position entails a lot of paperwork which is time consuming but interesting because through a lot of that paper work, and going through the boys files, I am learning a lot of their “stories”. Also giving the boys, whose families and loved ones are still alive, phone calls and house visits. This job will definitely help me work on my Spanish which is something I continue to be frustrated with.

It’s a matter of challenging myself not to speak English to the other volunteers around the boys (which is disrespectful in itself) and to take my own time to study. I find myself not talking to the padrinos or some of the older boys because I am not confident in my Spanish. This is upsetting because for those of you who know me I am NOT the type to not engage in conversation… I love getting to know people and hearing their stories. I think this lack of confidence also comes with the fact that there are times where a padrino or nino/joven will say something in Spanish and I don’t understand it and they do not repeat it and instead laugh. That’s mega frustrating. It’s an uncomfortable feeling having people talk in Spanish to each other, know that you don’t understand, and laugh and look at you… I’m constantly wondering, “What did I do”, or “Why are they laughing at me”?

NORMAL WEEK AT THE HOGAR:
I figured I should probably go through a “normal week at the hogar” with all of you. Every weekday we have community prayer at 7 AM and end each day with community prayer by 9 PM. Monday nights we have “Spanish night” in our house after prayer circle and we only talk in Spanish with encouragement from Chris (the volunteer who had the idea to start Spanish night).
Prayer circle happens 2 or 3 times a week and consists of all the boys, padrinos, and volunteers standing in a circle, holding hands, with 4-5 boys assigned to a certain night to pray aloud with their intentions. Afterwards we all say an Our Father and Hail Mary together. Afterwards we walk around to everyone and say, “Buenas Noches”. It’s a pretty amazing experience and one that I always look forward to because after a day of disciplining and having certain kids that drive you crazy it’s great to either shake their hand or get a hug from them and realize that tomorrow is a NEW day.

Tuesday night is “Silent Night” and after community prayer around 9 PM there is NO more talking in the house, no music, no electronics used. It’s a great time to write letters, read, reflect, go to bed early, or do whatever with your personal free time.
Wednesday night is “Community Night”. Two community members are assigned to make dinner. After eating we have a community reflection (once a month is Catholocity which is a question posed about Catholicism that we discuss- really great) and then afterwards we have a community activity. This could include watching a movie, playing a board game, asking goofy questions, or playing soccer outside on the field bringing in some house rivalry. Wednesday nights are a lot of fun.

Thursday night we have Celebracion where everyone at the hogar gathers in our volunteer chapel to exchange the sign of peace, sing, and listen to the readings of the day. It’s so much fun listening to the boys getting into the music and singing along!
Friday night we get to lay low. After dinner the volunteers all gather up at the Amigos cross (a 25 ft. cement cross up on the hill) to say the rosary with the boys. Rosary is optional so it’s neat to see the large amount of boys that decide to participate. Afterwards the boys get to watch a movie while, most times, some of the jovenes (older boys) and a few of us volunteers play futbol. After the movie and the boys all go to bed we are all able to come back to the house and bake something, veg. and share ridiculous stories from the day, or watch a movie.

Saturday we are able to wake up and eat, the special breakfast the cooks make, with the boys. Afterwards we are able to either go back to bed or veg. until 9 AM community prayer. After prayer we are supposed to play with the boys till lunchtime at noon. This usually means taking the boys out on bikes to play and swim in the river or heading to the park in Macuelizo. The rest of the day is pretty low key and then Saturday night is basically just like Friday night.
Sunday we get up for Mass in Macuelizo. Sometimes we walk, the half hour, to Macuelizo for Mass which is a really great experience. It’s fun crossing the river with the boys. After Mass we come back for lunch and then veg. for the day. Sunday night is another “community night” and two people make dinner for everyone. Afterwards we go over our “Biz List” as a community and take care of all business.

That’s basically a normal week with all of our individual work thrown in there.