With every week that passes this feels more and more like our normal life. Time has become a daily mystery. Trying to understand the quickly diminishing amount of time we have left is hard. We can analyze and count down the days in any number of ways, but it doesn’t make it any more real. Part of me feels like this life will go on forever. We have our routines, our schedules, the places we go and the things we do. It just feels like life will be like this forever. But my logical side constantly tells me that time is running out and I need to soak all of this in while I still can.
Every morning Cailin and I wake up in anticipation of what surprises the day will bring (always our fair share), every afternoon we start to guess what dinner will be by the smell (we’ve gotten really good at this), and every night we start to look forward to the tea and fresh fruit that will be on the table for breakfast. Since we have finished so much of our work and the kids at the orphanage are in school we have been spending lots of our mornings at the apartment. There is a sort of a lawn in front of the building that overlooks an incredible view of the community below. Behind the lines of drying laundry and a few beautiful trees with bright orange flowers, the red dirt road winds off into the distance and the tin roofs of the shops and buildings glint in the sunlight. It’s become a perfect place for us to spread out a blanket and spend part of the morning. There’s something wonderful about being fully in this place but with enough distance to avoid the constant stares. The other people in the building have gotten more used to us, although whenever the kids are home from school they gather and surround us, happily watching us read as if it was the most entertaining activity in the world. Its easy to get caught up in the familiarity of our life here, but feeling the sun and the breeze and the fresh air reminds me how incredible it all is. In the afternoons we go into the school to spend time with the kids when they finish their classes. We play outside or if the 4pm rain storm hits, which it does pretty regularly, we draw inside. We did a scavenger hunt with them one day, reaching back to our camp-going/camp counseler days to think of fun activities. They had never heard of a scavenger hunt before, and it was fun to see them all eagerly running around and working in their teams to collect all the items. Samson energetically joined in and his team came in first, the whole group giggling as Samson led them in singing a song for us, the final task to complete. Another day we sent them outside with paper and colored pencils to draw objects around the compound from real life. They all found places to sit and drew trees and cows and flowers and houses. Joash climbed on top of a woodpile to look into the hut where the dogs are kept so he could draw them. And Hesbon drew Samson and Jackline sitting outside and could not have been more proud to show us the result. These kids are something else. None of them can ever be found without a ready smile. Listening to Samson talk about them and watching him interact with them makes it clear that the support they are getting from the staff at the orphanage is grounded in respect, compassion and love. A couple of days last week we went in to the school early to sit in on classes. As soon as we walked into the first classroom I found myself reverting back to elementary school me. It was hard to not whisper to Cailin sitting next to me and I got anxious every time a teacher would look my way, nervous they would call on me. Besides struggling with my own desire to misbehave and avoid answering questions, it was so fun to see the kids from the orphanage in a classroom environment. The classes were active and involved. The teachers constantly asked the class if they were understanding and often the full class would respond to the teacher. There was definitely no room to be dozing off. Whenever a question was asked, all hands would shoot up, fingers snapping, the kids calling “teacher teacher!”. Many of the kids from the orphanage seemed to be leading their classes, answering a lot of the questions or helping the teachers gather books and erase the chalkboard. In the first grade classroom, any time a student answered a question correctly on the board the whole class would sing and clap on beat as the student did a little dance in the front of the classroom. Despite the crumbling red brick walls, unfinished rooms, dirt floors and the cramped wooden benches, it was clear that as much active learning was happening there as in the sterilized classrooms filled with posters and craft supplies and books that I spent my elementary school years in. During our art lessons and games, one of the boys has emerged as an artist and a bit of a troublemaker. Shilley’s mischievous smile is often one of the first we see and he is clearly very well loved among the kids. It’s not unusual to hear his name being called back and forth as his friends laugh at his antics or encourage him to come to join their games. He returned his drawing from our time outside with an incredibly accurate picture of a cow and an impressively detailed car. He needs sponsorship for the upcoming year, and we’ve made him a profile at https://mixonium.com/mx/1964. It's hard to describe these kids and express how incredible each one is in their own way. Spending time with them and building relationships with them has been the biggest gift of this trip, and the idea of being able to spread a bit of the energy and joy of each one is exciting and inspiring.
1 Comment
Gaynell
9/16/2014 09:38:30 pm
Keep it up ladies, these are awesome! I feel closer to this world with every blog entry! Great job! Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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