Happy Fall, Thanksgiving, and soon to come, Advent. Some days it seems as though we have been here for a long time. When I think about all the rush we experienced to pack up our apartment in Forest Park, cancel all our utilities, say goodbye to everyone while packing in all the dental appointments we could before we lost our insurance, those events seem so far away. Other times when speaking Spanish is tiring or when I’m at a loss for what to do with the kids, I’m thankful we’ve only spent about 1/3 of our commitment here so far. I could use the rest of the time to make numerous improvements. I do feel like I’m starting to find my place here, though, and settle into the smooth, calming rhythm of continuous, sometimes chaotic, daily change.
One of my more recent challenges has been to maintain energy. I just don’t know how elementary school teachers do it. Some days I feel like I start fresh, with all frustrations from the day before forgotten and my stock of patience refilled. Other days, when the same kid is acting up as the day before, I forget the hours that passed since then and feel myself heading right back to where I was with that kid yesterday—past the point of creative solutions and straight to raising voice or threatening with a written report. Some of these days I feel like seven months left to go are just a few too many.
Going to the retreat in Saltillo last week was tremendously helpful with all of this. The best gift of the retreat was getting to hear from the other year-long volunteers about the challenges they face and some of the different ways in which they handle everything. It was wonderful to know that we are all going through similar experiences and that not one of us is failing at them. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, but coming together as a group and feeling such tremendous support was such a lift for us all. Rick says that the mid-year retreat is meant to be like a booster shot, just enough to recharge us and keep us going strong for the rest of the year. For me, it was like a great big hug, and then a swift kick in the butt. At first I was comforted by being able to share our experience with the others and hear their stories and meet their kids as well. After a few days, though, I was thinking to myself, “Alright. Now when you get back, you have a lot of work to do. You’ve thought about it, prayed about it, and now need to maintain the energy and determination to follow through with it. Get going.” So much about our experience this year depends on what we make of it ourselves. The sisters here are not going to push us past a breaking point, but we do have to take it upon ourselves to really get in there and do something. This is a gift but can also be a challenge because we have to find the best ways to share ourselves with the children. I am learning that this can be a slower process than expected and can not be taught outright by anyone working here. This process takes a lot of observing at first, which made me feel like I wasn’t contributing. I still challenge myself to really make a place here and in the lives of these kids, but again, I still have about seven months to go… poco a poco.
The support we have been receiving from our family, friends, and even people we didn’t know has been amazing. It was incredible to meet all the volunteers who came down to Saltillo for a week on a mission trip while we were there for the retreat. I couldn’t believe how wonderful it felt to know that they were all praying for us, and how much it meant to hear such encouraging words from people who had heard about us, but until moments before, had been complete strangers. Emails from family and friends help keep our spirits up, and honestly I don’t think we’d make it through the year without their incredible support. The sisters here also frequently invite us to talk about how everything is going and almost daily say to me, “Lo que necesite, aquí estoy.” (Whatever you need, I am here.)
Another part of this whole experience that has really started going well is my relationship with the older kids. When we first got here, I was extremely sensitive about anything the older kids said to me because I often couldn’t tell if they were making fun of me or being rude. I used to drive myself crazy with frustration and sometimes anger and would vent furiously to Luis about something one of the older kids said to me and how I didn’t know how to respond. Sometimes, when I did respond, I shot back the same attitude and could hear the voice of my 13 year-old self. (Ask my older brother, Eric, if you need clarification about what that might have sounded like.) I hated the feeling that they had the upper hand and I was feeling younger than them and most definitely disrespected as an adult. Well, I can’t say that this was the best way to handle it, but the truth is that after about two weeks I completely cut myself off from the older groups. I spent the mornings with the kindergarteners and the afternoons with the first and second-graders. (Now they don’t always respect me as an adult, either, but that’s a different issue in itself.) Any communication with an older kid was quick and to the point. I was afraid to say too much to them for fear of them witnessing my embarrassment.
Well, I don’t know when all of this starting changing, but I first realized something was different a few weeks ago. A few of sixth-grade girls were asking me about something, and after a few minutes, Carmen said, “You speak pretty strange, but I can understand you.” That by itself was a compliment, at least in the way it made me feel. But then we started talking about why I sound so different, and they didn’t seem to know the answer. I thought that it was obvious to everyone that I would have grown up speaking English and therefore, would have a different accent and would still be learning how to speak another language. Somehow, this thought hadn’t occurred to these girls because then they were confused and were asking me how I knew how to speak Spanish. I tried to explain that I have been trying to learn Spanish as an adult, which includes learning sounds that we don’t use in English. This was all news to them, which again was a compliment to me because I felt like they’d given me credit for speaking Spanish all my life, just with an accent that made me sound “bien rara,” or “quite strange.”
Ever since that day I realized that I have a different attitude with the older kids which I believe stems out of greater confidence in speaking Spanish. I am happy now to be able to sit and chat with the older kids, and I can tell them if I don’t understand something that they said. I can also tell more clearly if they are being rude. From what I’ve experienced more recently, though, they are respecting me more because I am spending time with them and making time to develop better relationships. It’s also nice, by the way, to feel something other than completely terrified at the idea of talking with a preteen, being as it is, that I am double their age.
I have to tell you that Luis used my idea to talk about the reading (Matthew 25:31-46) from this past Sunday to relate to our experience here. This reading is the perfect example of how God speaks to me, or at least of how I can actually listen. There’s really not a lot of room for argument or debate, and it’s a part of the Bible that makes a lot of sense to me. The reading is about how doing things for others is also doing those things for God. When we had our orientation and beginning of the year retreat, I listened to some of the other volunteers express that the reason they are volunteering for the year is because it’s God’s will. They made it sound so clear and simple. I asked myself if we had come because we thought it was specifically what God was wanting us to do, and I decided that maybe I hadn’t exactly thought about it like that. Through this passage, though, I can hear that I am doing the best I can right now to see God in my life by looking for Him in those around me who are so much in need of love. There’s a lot I don’t understand about faith, but I figure this experience could only move us in the right direction. Hopefully, we are close enough to being on the right path.
Janiene
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Retiro de Medio Año (Mid-year retreat)
This week we went on a retreat to Saltillo, about an 11hr bus ride from Chihuahua. The other four year-long volunteers are there and another 19 week long volunteers came down to do some work at a Salvation Army home. It was a great time getting to know the 19 volunteers and it was awesome to get to hang out with the other four volunteers. We didn’t take part in the work that the week-long volunteers were doing, as we had our own, separate retreat, kind of a, ‘how you doin’ so far?’ retreat. As Deanna said, it gave us time to “read, write, and reflect.” We also got to see the other Casa Hogares.
Getting to meet the week long volunteers was something else. This group had the widest range of personalities I had ever seen under one roof. Every evening, when we gathered for group prayer and reflection, I got to see some of these very different personalities; from John’s humorous and off-beat personality to Tom’s huge heart and kind smile. Every night and morning, we were also together for breakfast, we got to know them more and more. I enjoyed my talks with Janet and Ray who are a couple that had spent three and six years, respectively, as volunteers in Paraguay. I could go on and tell the attributes of all the volunteers but I’ll spare you, the whole group was great at sharing their background and had a fervor for their work that they were doing that week that gave a boost to my spirit. The gospel this week was the one where Jesus said, “whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” It’s hard not to see God’s face in a group of people that are trying, to the best of their abilities, to live that passage out.
We picked things back up with the other year-long volunteers like no time had elapsed at all. And what I mean by that is we started playing Nerds and it was all downhill from there. If you haven’t heard of the game, learn it, and prepare to become addicted. As mentioned earlier we didn’t work with the week long volunteers as we had our mid-year retreat. It was great to get some mandatory time-out time and be able to reflect over our time so far. And equally amazing to get to hear what the other volunteers were experiencing so far. I saw God’s face every time I was with the group. I saw it in Maribel’s compassion that comes spilling out of her whether she wants to or not, I see it TJ’s loyalty, to God, and to all his brothers and sisters, that makes you want to serve, in Deanna’s faith, that is sometimes so deep and overwhelming, you just stand in awe, and in Laura’s humility whose unassuming and genuine attitude works its way into your heart, and in my wife’s breathtaking smile (added by Janiene, of course).
Their experiences have helped me see my own experiences in a different light. I see the relationship that they have with their kids and it constantly reminded me of our kids. I came back to Chihuahua ready to deepen the relationship I have with the kids. I haven’t built the relationship I would like to have with the kids but I am revitalized in my attempt to strengthen our relationship. All in all it was a successful week and that couldn’t have come sooner.
Luis
Getting to meet the week long volunteers was something else. This group had the widest range of personalities I had ever seen under one roof. Every evening, when we gathered for group prayer and reflection, I got to see some of these very different personalities; from John’s humorous and off-beat personality to Tom’s huge heart and kind smile. Every night and morning, we were also together for breakfast, we got to know them more and more. I enjoyed my talks with Janet and Ray who are a couple that had spent three and six years, respectively, as volunteers in Paraguay. I could go on and tell the attributes of all the volunteers but I’ll spare you, the whole group was great at sharing their background and had a fervor for their work that they were doing that week that gave a boost to my spirit. The gospel this week was the one where Jesus said, “whatever you did for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me.” It’s hard not to see God’s face in a group of people that are trying, to the best of their abilities, to live that passage out.
We picked things back up with the other year-long volunteers like no time had elapsed at all. And what I mean by that is we started playing Nerds and it was all downhill from there. If you haven’t heard of the game, learn it, and prepare to become addicted. As mentioned earlier we didn’t work with the week long volunteers as we had our mid-year retreat. It was great to get some mandatory time-out time and be able to reflect over our time so far. And equally amazing to get to hear what the other volunteers were experiencing so far. I saw God’s face every time I was with the group. I saw it in Maribel’s compassion that comes spilling out of her whether she wants to or not, I see it TJ’s loyalty, to God, and to all his brothers and sisters, that makes you want to serve, in Deanna’s faith, that is sometimes so deep and overwhelming, you just stand in awe, and in Laura’s humility whose unassuming and genuine attitude works its way into your heart, and in my wife’s breathtaking smile (added by Janiene, of course).
Their experiences have helped me see my own experiences in a different light. I see the relationship that they have with their kids and it constantly reminded me of our kids. I came back to Chihuahua ready to deepen the relationship I have with the kids. I haven’t built the relationship I would like to have with the kids but I am revitalized in my attempt to strengthen our relationship. All in all it was a successful week and that couldn’t have come sooner.
Luis
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Monthly update
Currently I’m trying to learn all the names of the children. As we mentioned, there are 135 kids here and I have most of their names down but some are still unknown to me. Also, I’m trying to get a better understanding of the kids here. At the moment I am looking after the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders and they are very well behaved. Some are doing their work, some are playing games, and still others are wondering aimlessly about. We keep hearing some of the kids’ backgrounds and it helps us understand when things happen, like when we see some random acts of violence. But it’s great to see the kids acting just like kids. It’s good to see that here the kids feel and act like normal, rough around the edges, kids, most times.
The challenges don’t seem to be changing. I always get a different response from the kids than when a staff member says the same thing. I am sometimes disconcerted when they ask me to get the kids to do something. Often times they have to do it themselves anyway and I all I get is frustrated. Also I joked with a friend a while ago about keeping money in the bank. And while I believe it necessary to have some savings for when we return, I find that the security forms a barrier. It’s kind of like a bond to the States that doesn’t let me immerse myself completely here in Mexico. I thought it would be easier for me with Mexican roots to feel at home here in Mexico but I constantly find myself feeling too American.
As far as what has gone well, although I get a different response from the children than do the staff, I have been getting better with them. Little things have let me know this. Before when I would walk into a room it was as if nothing had changed. I mean, if the children were misbehaving they would continue to misbehave. But now they at least try to hide whatever they are doing when I walk in. Next week I’m going to be all by myself with the kids so we’ll see how that goes. I hope to become a more solid figure that they can count on and rely in.
We have friends and family that constantly ask what support they can provide and there are the Collette vacationers that bring supplies (school and personal) to the kids. Last week some wealthy ladies from Chihuahua came and had different activities for the kids (see pics on blog). I see God in their understanding that they are blessed and the need to share that blessing. And I see Him in all the others from the community and the world that share with these children.
Luis
The challenges don’t seem to be changing. I always get a different response from the kids than when a staff member says the same thing. I am sometimes disconcerted when they ask me to get the kids to do something. Often times they have to do it themselves anyway and I all I get is frustrated. Also I joked with a friend a while ago about keeping money in the bank. And while I believe it necessary to have some savings for when we return, I find that the security forms a barrier. It’s kind of like a bond to the States that doesn’t let me immerse myself completely here in Mexico. I thought it would be easier for me with Mexican roots to feel at home here in Mexico but I constantly find myself feeling too American.
As far as what has gone well, although I get a different response from the children than do the staff, I have been getting better with them. Little things have let me know this. Before when I would walk into a room it was as if nothing had changed. I mean, if the children were misbehaving they would continue to misbehave. But now they at least try to hide whatever they are doing when I walk in. Next week I’m going to be all by myself with the kids so we’ll see how that goes. I hope to become a more solid figure that they can count on and rely in.
We have friends and family that constantly ask what support they can provide and there are the Collette vacationers that bring supplies (school and personal) to the kids. Last week some wealthy ladies from Chihuahua came and had different activities for the kids (see pics on blog). I see God in their understanding that they are blessed and the need to share that blessing. And I see Him in all the others from the community and the world that share with these children.
Luis
October update
With the chill of mornings and the intense sun in the afternoons, we can definitely feel the transition from Summer to Fall. We are still learning our way around here at La Granja, and I’m thinking will probably continue to do so until we leave. Every day brings different challenges and experiences and I feel as though I will never really have a good grasp of it.
My job in the mornings now is to help Toñita, the person in charge of the afternoon, with whatever she needs. So far this has included organizing supplies and creating booklets with slips for documenting misbehavior and consequences. I just started doing this a couple of weeks ago, and I hope that I will be able to use some of this time in her office to also plan some afternoon activities. The rest of my schedule hasn’t changed. I play with the kindergarten kids for a while before I take the 3 & 4 year-olds to the guardaria for their nap. On Mondays we get to take the kindergarten class to the farm to clean cages and feed the animals, which is really fun to do with them. (Well, it’s a lot of fun for me, but I’m not sure if sometimes we just make Luis’ job take longer!) This cuts nap time a little short, but I have stopped stressing about it and just try to get them settled as quickly as I can so that they can have as much time to sleep as possible before I have to wake them up for lunch.
After lunch I am still with Karen and the 1st and 2nd graders, but I have been trying to bring my own ideas and activities to the class instead of just trying to help Karen out with whatever she is doing. It seems to be more helpful if I lead an activity with a group of kids from the classroom, leaving Karen with a more reasonably sized group. Most of the kids are pretty well behaved when I am leading an activity because they know they’ll be asked to leave the group if they are too disruptive. Basically, it works like this: if what I am doing is new or involves materials that they don’t get to use everyday, the ball is in my court and suddenly my words are “heard” more clearly and my requests are followed much more closely and quickly. I like this system because I can feel like I’m more fun and I’m a better person for them if I’m not frustrated. I am also much more respected as an adult in these situations, which is pretty nice as well.
One of my biggest challenges here is dealing with the realities of the histories of these children. For example, last Sunday night Rosita was telling me that her mom died that weekend. She told me a terrible, detailed story about how her mom had an affair and that her boyfriend had come to their house and killed her mother on the street in front of their home. I asked her to repeat the story and she retold the events in the exact same way. Honestly, I didn’t believe her but I wasn’t sure if I should be more upset about whether the story might be true, or that she was possibly making up a horrific story and calmly explaining it to me, assuring me repeatedly that it had occurred this past weekend. The next morning, I told one of the sisters here, Maria del Mar, everything that Rosita had told me. She explained to me that the entire story was true, all the horrible details. Apparently her mother’s boyfriend had wanted her to leave the family to be with him, and she had decided not to go. He took his revenge. I asked if it had really happened this past weekend. She said no, and that Rosita’s mother was killed four years ago. Rosita had been three. She was standing outside with her mother and witnessed the murder. Rosita has been seeing a counselor, but has just recently begun to talk about the experience.
This story, and the other stories similar to it that most of the children could share, present a number of challenges. When the children are acting like normal, healthy kids I often forget where they have come from. When they are acting as I would expect them to—aggressive, angry, quiet, or upset—I don’t quite know how to handle the situation. Sometimes I feel like they should receive harsh consequences for violent or inappropriate behavior, and then other times I think they should be held tightly in a hug for a long time and not allowed to leave until they express some of their anger through words. I don’t know. Sometimes I wish they wore labels like, “my father’s in jail” or “abused” or “raped” or “left to eat on the streets.” Maybe that sounds horrible, but sometimes I forget and then I let myself get so upset by their behavior, when really, it makes perfect sense.
One of the aspects of life here at La Granja that I feel is going very well is the dedication I see from the sisters and the lay staff members. Sometimes, of course, there are situations that I wish were handled differently. However, many times I later learn more underlying circumstances that allow me to have more respect for the decisions made or actions taken. I have so much faith in the sisters here that they are doing everything possible to make the best life for the kids here, and there isn’t much in me that feels I could do it better myself. I am so incredibly thankful to be working for and with such an amazing group of religious sisters. My relationship with the staff members is going well also, although they do have ideas that differ more slightly. I also feel that my relationship with some of the kids here is stronger and more personal, and I am happy also to see those connections growing. I don’t think my Spanish has been improving recently, but I seem to be getting by and am reasonably understood/can understand enough to keep going. Just keep moving forward, and hopefully this will pick up as well.
I see God here in all the amazing support that La Granja receives from the community. I love it when a group of kids come back from the dentist and they proudly show me their clean teeth or a new filling. I know that they were able to have dental treatment because of a few local dentists who have offered their services at no cost. I love when I arrive at the afterschool program and there’s a group of college students, professionals, moms, or a whole family who came out for the afternoon to bring games or treats to share with the kids. I spoke to one of the families who came a few weeks ago. I noticed that they were extremely well-dressed and had beautiful, well-kept children. The two moms told me that they wanted to come because they have so much to share and want their children to appreciate their lives and know that not everyone has been as fortunate. You just wouldn’t believe how much support La Granja Hogar receives from the people of Chihuahua and elsewhere, and it’s amazing to see all the helping hands. This home is truly blessed with support, and I know that we’re receiving enormous support through prayer as well. Thank you for that, to every one of you who reads these letters.
Con amor, Janiene.
My job in the mornings now is to help Toñita, the person in charge of the afternoon, with whatever she needs. So far this has included organizing supplies and creating booklets with slips for documenting misbehavior and consequences. I just started doing this a couple of weeks ago, and I hope that I will be able to use some of this time in her office to also plan some afternoon activities. The rest of my schedule hasn’t changed. I play with the kindergarten kids for a while before I take the 3 & 4 year-olds to the guardaria for their nap. On Mondays we get to take the kindergarten class to the farm to clean cages and feed the animals, which is really fun to do with them. (Well, it’s a lot of fun for me, but I’m not sure if sometimes we just make Luis’ job take longer!) This cuts nap time a little short, but I have stopped stressing about it and just try to get them settled as quickly as I can so that they can have as much time to sleep as possible before I have to wake them up for lunch.
After lunch I am still with Karen and the 1st and 2nd graders, but I have been trying to bring my own ideas and activities to the class instead of just trying to help Karen out with whatever she is doing. It seems to be more helpful if I lead an activity with a group of kids from the classroom, leaving Karen with a more reasonably sized group. Most of the kids are pretty well behaved when I am leading an activity because they know they’ll be asked to leave the group if they are too disruptive. Basically, it works like this: if what I am doing is new or involves materials that they don’t get to use everyday, the ball is in my court and suddenly my words are “heard” more clearly and my requests are followed much more closely and quickly. I like this system because I can feel like I’m more fun and I’m a better person for them if I’m not frustrated. I am also much more respected as an adult in these situations, which is pretty nice as well.
One of my biggest challenges here is dealing with the realities of the histories of these children. For example, last Sunday night Rosita was telling me that her mom died that weekend. She told me a terrible, detailed story about how her mom had an affair and that her boyfriend had come to their house and killed her mother on the street in front of their home. I asked her to repeat the story and she retold the events in the exact same way. Honestly, I didn’t believe her but I wasn’t sure if I should be more upset about whether the story might be true, or that she was possibly making up a horrific story and calmly explaining it to me, assuring me repeatedly that it had occurred this past weekend. The next morning, I told one of the sisters here, Maria del Mar, everything that Rosita had told me. She explained to me that the entire story was true, all the horrible details. Apparently her mother’s boyfriend had wanted her to leave the family to be with him, and she had decided not to go. He took his revenge. I asked if it had really happened this past weekend. She said no, and that Rosita’s mother was killed four years ago. Rosita had been three. She was standing outside with her mother and witnessed the murder. Rosita has been seeing a counselor, but has just recently begun to talk about the experience.
This story, and the other stories similar to it that most of the children could share, present a number of challenges. When the children are acting like normal, healthy kids I often forget where they have come from. When they are acting as I would expect them to—aggressive, angry, quiet, or upset—I don’t quite know how to handle the situation. Sometimes I feel like they should receive harsh consequences for violent or inappropriate behavior, and then other times I think they should be held tightly in a hug for a long time and not allowed to leave until they express some of their anger through words. I don’t know. Sometimes I wish they wore labels like, “my father’s in jail” or “abused” or “raped” or “left to eat on the streets.” Maybe that sounds horrible, but sometimes I forget and then I let myself get so upset by their behavior, when really, it makes perfect sense.
One of the aspects of life here at La Granja that I feel is going very well is the dedication I see from the sisters and the lay staff members. Sometimes, of course, there are situations that I wish were handled differently. However, many times I later learn more underlying circumstances that allow me to have more respect for the decisions made or actions taken. I have so much faith in the sisters here that they are doing everything possible to make the best life for the kids here, and there isn’t much in me that feels I could do it better myself. I am so incredibly thankful to be working for and with such an amazing group of religious sisters. My relationship with the staff members is going well also, although they do have ideas that differ more slightly. I also feel that my relationship with some of the kids here is stronger and more personal, and I am happy also to see those connections growing. I don’t think my Spanish has been improving recently, but I seem to be getting by and am reasonably understood/can understand enough to keep going. Just keep moving forward, and hopefully this will pick up as well.
I see God here in all the amazing support that La Granja receives from the community. I love it when a group of kids come back from the dentist and they proudly show me their clean teeth or a new filling. I know that they were able to have dental treatment because of a few local dentists who have offered their services at no cost. I love when I arrive at the afterschool program and there’s a group of college students, professionals, moms, or a whole family who came out for the afternoon to bring games or treats to share with the kids. I spoke to one of the families who came a few weeks ago. I noticed that they were extremely well-dressed and had beautiful, well-kept children. The two moms told me that they wanted to come because they have so much to share and want their children to appreciate their lives and know that not everyone has been as fortunate. You just wouldn’t believe how much support La Granja Hogar receives from the people of Chihuahua and elsewhere, and it’s amazing to see all the helping hands. This home is truly blessed with support, and I know that we’re receiving enormous support through prayer as well. Thank you for that, to every one of you who reads these letters.
Con amor, Janiene.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
From the notes in my memo pad
“And your boyfriend?” is a question that I am asked I’d say about once a week, and Luis receives inquiries about his girlfriend as well. Sometimes the question is asked by mistake, just a child forgetting that Luis is my husband and truly wondering where he is if they don’t see him with me. Many other times, though, we are asked even while we’re together, or when we’re already talking about each other with a child. We had a meeting last week with Maria del Mar, the sister here who is in charge of everything related to our specific jobs. She was explaining to us in more detail about one of the most important aspects of our job here—to provide the children with an example of a loving and respectful married couple who are faithful to each other. I know I have mentioned this on our blog earlier, but sitting there in the office, listening to the stories about some of the home situations these children have come from really seemed to sink in this time. Many of the kids here have parents who are openly “with” people other than their spouse, and I can tell you from checking the kids in on Sundays and seeing their name cards, that a good portion of these siblings have different last names. [There are also countless stories of kids who were abandoned or removed from their home as a result of drugs, violence, alcoholism, poverty, or health problems. I seem to repeatedly forget all of this when I allow myself to get really frustrated here.] The commitment that Luis and I were fortunate to have experienced in our own families growing up is not common among Raramuri families, those who come from the Sierras. Most of our kids here are Raramuri. This gives me a great sense of responsibility as we are the only married couple working here at La Granja, and we live here, so there isn’t really much room to hide. She also spoke with us about how important it is to just be with the kids. I was told the same when we first got here, but I didn’t really understand what that meant. On Sunday nights, our most difficult nights, what is really needed from us is to sit with the kids and chat. Chat! I couldn’t believe it because despite my somewhat un-amazing Spanish skills, this is something I can do. Getting forty or so wound-up little boys to shower, put their dirty clothes away, stop fighting with the sheets as weapons, and go to bed has not particularly been one of my best skills, and I usually leave their dorm feeling mean and horrible and just everything but sweet, warm, and welcoming. Maria del Mar said she’s going to try to make sure that we aren’t solely responsible for a dorm so that we can walk around and talk with the kids and just try to ask about their weekends, how they are doing, and provide a bit of the warmth that they need as they transition back into life at La Granja after a weekend that may or may not have been a positive experience for them. This, hopefully, I can do.
If you check out our pictures (link to the right on this webpage) in the album dated 10.6.08, you will see a bunch of pictures from one of the mornings that we took the youngest kids from the kindergarten over to the farm to help Raul. They were thrilled to help, as you can see in their faces. One of the reasons the farm is here is to provide an opportunity to teach the kids here how to care for life. It’s amazing to see how excited they are to see the animals and with what great care they show them when they are holding brand new baby chicks, for example. One of my most challenging students in the afternoon in the first and second grade room is Salvador. The first week that I did check-in on a Sunday I had to leave the desk for a while to go back to the house and change my clothes. I had blood on my shirt and jeans and was still shaking from breaking up a fight in which I’d had to use all my force to hold down a bloody-nosed Salvador. It was pretty freaky for me and when I was finally alone in the house to calm down, I realized just how upset and terrified I was. I had never seen a fight with blood between kids that young—thank you Villa Grove Elementary. The point of this is that Salvador was a real challenge for his first few weeks, new to La Granja, and I had no clue what to do with him or how to handle his aggression. Now, though, I am happy to say I have only witnessed one outburst in the last month. What has changed? He has a deal. He and Karen (who is in charge of his classroom) agreed that he can help Raul at the farm every day after he finishes his homework, if Raul is there and invites him to help (which is pretty much every day, thankfully). It’s amazing. From what I have seen, Salvador takes pride in working on the farm and his time there allows him to get rid of energy in a positive way, as well as spend time with an outstanding adult male role model. If we didn’t have the farm, I don’t even want to imagine what every day would be like with Salvador in our classroom.
In overall news, things are going pretty well for us here. Sometimes I get frustrated because I don’t feel like I am doing enough with my time here, but change is slow and I try to just keep thinking of ideas here and there and hope that my presence is enough to make an impact. We are enjoying the transition into fall weather with cooler mornings and continued sunshine. I receive a lot of warning about how cold winter will be, but it’s difficult for me to really understand between all the differences due to using the Celsius scale to measure exact temperature in addition to the different way cold will feel here in buildings without central heat and few portable heaters. We’ll just have to wait and see.
For now, though, I hope that you are all healthy and happy. Enjoy pumpkin carving season and the annoyance of Christmas decorations already flooding store aisles. Rest assured, they are here as well. We aren’t as far as you may think.
Love, Janiene
If you check out our pictures (link to the right on this webpage) in the album dated 10.6.08, you will see a bunch of pictures from one of the mornings that we took the youngest kids from the kindergarten over to the farm to help Raul. They were thrilled to help, as you can see in their faces. One of the reasons the farm is here is to provide an opportunity to teach the kids here how to care for life. It’s amazing to see how excited they are to see the animals and with what great care they show them when they are holding brand new baby chicks, for example. One of my most challenging students in the afternoon in the first and second grade room is Salvador. The first week that I did check-in on a Sunday I had to leave the desk for a while to go back to the house and change my clothes. I had blood on my shirt and jeans and was still shaking from breaking up a fight in which I’d had to use all my force to hold down a bloody-nosed Salvador. It was pretty freaky for me and when I was finally alone in the house to calm down, I realized just how upset and terrified I was. I had never seen a fight with blood between kids that young—thank you Villa Grove Elementary. The point of this is that Salvador was a real challenge for his first few weeks, new to La Granja, and I had no clue what to do with him or how to handle his aggression. Now, though, I am happy to say I have only witnessed one outburst in the last month. What has changed? He has a deal. He and Karen (who is in charge of his classroom) agreed that he can help Raul at the farm every day after he finishes his homework, if Raul is there and invites him to help (which is pretty much every day, thankfully). It’s amazing. From what I have seen, Salvador takes pride in working on the farm and his time there allows him to get rid of energy in a positive way, as well as spend time with an outstanding adult male role model. If we didn’t have the farm, I don’t even want to imagine what every day would be like with Salvador in our classroom.
In overall news, things are going pretty well for us here. Sometimes I get frustrated because I don’t feel like I am doing enough with my time here, but change is slow and I try to just keep thinking of ideas here and there and hope that my presence is enough to make an impact. We are enjoying the transition into fall weather with cooler mornings and continued sunshine. I receive a lot of warning about how cold winter will be, but it’s difficult for me to really understand between all the differences due to using the Celsius scale to measure exact temperature in addition to the different way cold will feel here in buildings without central heat and few portable heaters. We’ll just have to wait and see.
For now, though, I hope that you are all healthy and happy. Enjoy pumpkin carving season and the annoyance of Christmas decorations already flooding store aisles. Rest assured, they are here as well. We aren’t as far as you may think.
Love, Janiene
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Oiga, si oigo
Oiga means something like listen but it is also how the kids address us and pretty much everyone else.
It’s half way through October, time seems to be flying. Some weekends I look back and the week seemed like a blur. Janiene and I have been here a little over two months and are pretty much in the swing of things in some stuff and still a little lost in others. Everything on the farm is still pretty much the same, except it’s about to be pecan picking season. We have a pecan tree outside our house and if the wind is blowing at night we’re woken to the sound of pecans pelting our roof and windows. In the afternoons, when we are with the kids, Janiene has thought of some fun activities to do with the kids. I pretty much float around, either playing with the kids or helping with homework (mostly English). The afternoons have been pretty calm lately; the kids are taken in groups to be fitted for winter coats (bummer, actual winter weather) and the rest busy themselves with playing or trying to get pecans to snack on. Sundays are still our toughest days with Janiene checking kids in and me outside and in charge of dinner.
The dinner thing is still a little new so I was a little lost on my first attempt. This past weekend the kids didn’t want to line up or settle down for prayer, which could have led me to losing my cool. Luckily one of the older boys, older being 12-14 yrs. old, helped me get the kids in line and settled down for prayer. He also volunteered to help with the clean up, all around he made the whole thing go more smoothly, he then snuck out with a bag of cereal… ah well. I’m still working on getting to a position where I don’t have to lean on a 14 year old to help me do my job. We’re also helping out with these groups of tourists that come from an agency called Collette Vacations. It’s this kind of conscious minded organization that incorporates social justice into their vacation packages. Currently they are helping supply the kids with dressers which the nuns believe will help instill a deeper sense of identity and self esteem in the kids. Currently everything is shared here and the kids really don’t have any personal space. Working with Collette vacations has been great as in doing so we have been able to learn more of the back stories of the children. One of the past Granja students is now at a university studying phys. ed. and works weekends here. This, I believe, is the ultimate goal of this institution to produce valuable members of society of good conscience. If you want the actual mission statement of La Granja I will forward it upon request. At the moment Janiene and I are working on a trip to the Sierras, pictures to come… hopefully. For this weekend we have a quinceañera (catilian for all those that don’t habla español) and trip to these rock outcrops in the hills behind La Granja that look like these ancient pillars of some ruined temple.
Peace
It’s half way through October, time seems to be flying. Some weekends I look back and the week seemed like a blur. Janiene and I have been here a little over two months and are pretty much in the swing of things in some stuff and still a little lost in others. Everything on the farm is still pretty much the same, except it’s about to be pecan picking season. We have a pecan tree outside our house and if the wind is blowing at night we’re woken to the sound of pecans pelting our roof and windows. In the afternoons, when we are with the kids, Janiene has thought of some fun activities to do with the kids. I pretty much float around, either playing with the kids or helping with homework (mostly English). The afternoons have been pretty calm lately; the kids are taken in groups to be fitted for winter coats (bummer, actual winter weather) and the rest busy themselves with playing or trying to get pecans to snack on. Sundays are still our toughest days with Janiene checking kids in and me outside and in charge of dinner.
The dinner thing is still a little new so I was a little lost on my first attempt. This past weekend the kids didn’t want to line up or settle down for prayer, which could have led me to losing my cool. Luckily one of the older boys, older being 12-14 yrs. old, helped me get the kids in line and settled down for prayer. He also volunteered to help with the clean up, all around he made the whole thing go more smoothly, he then snuck out with a bag of cereal… ah well. I’m still working on getting to a position where I don’t have to lean on a 14 year old to help me do my job. We’re also helping out with these groups of tourists that come from an agency called Collette Vacations. It’s this kind of conscious minded organization that incorporates social justice into their vacation packages. Currently they are helping supply the kids with dressers which the nuns believe will help instill a deeper sense of identity and self esteem in the kids. Currently everything is shared here and the kids really don’t have any personal space. Working with Collette vacations has been great as in doing so we have been able to learn more of the back stories of the children. One of the past Granja students is now at a university studying phys. ed. and works weekends here. This, I believe, is the ultimate goal of this institution to produce valuable members of society of good conscience. If you want the actual mission statement of La Granja I will forward it upon request. At the moment Janiene and I are working on a trip to the Sierras, pictures to come… hopefully. For this weekend we have a quinceañera (catilian for all those that don’t habla español) and trip to these rock outcrops in the hills behind La Granja that look like these ancient pillars of some ruined temple.
Peace
Sunday, September 28, 2008
September update for Mi Casa Foundation
1. What are you doing?
2. What are your challenges?
3. What are your successes?
4. Where do you see God?
In the mornings I am helping Irma in the laundry room with outfitting new girls with a set (five days’ worth) of clothing, as well as packing together changes of clothes for all the girls in the morning. It’s a bit chaotic and quite unorganized, but I try to bite my lip and just help out however I can for now. It’s very frustrating and upsetting when the boys don’t have a clean change of clothes to put on after showers on Sunday night, so I am trying to keep an eye out for how this happens and see what I can do to help. Then, I head over to Casa de Niños (3-5 year olds) to play games, read stories, and do activities with them that either I’ve planned or a visiting teacher brings for them. My time there is really enjoyable and I have the freedom to bring my own ideas as well as pick up a few new ones from the teacher at the kindergarten, Ester. An hour later, five of the youngest kids walk over to the guadaria with me for their noontime nap, which has been increasingly easier from week to week and I now have the hang of it enough to go with them alone. It helps that I know many more commands in Spanish, such as “put your shoes on the floor, lay down in your bed to sleep, don’t move, close your eyes, keep quiet,” and “wash your hands and face” (after the nap). Words seem to be quite helpful—especially with proving my authority—in addition to just acting everything out with hand gestures, as I used to do. I also have started using time-outs because earlier I didn’t have anything to do if they didn’t go to bed or wouldn’t stop playing around when I asked. When someone else was there with me at the beginning, the kids seemed to just know her voice more seriously and would do what they were told after a few times. With me, though, that could go on the whole hour. This seems to be helping and even though it’s not the tactic that the teachers use during school, they don’t mind and are content that I found something that works for me and can now take the kids alone. In the afternoons I am still working with Karen’s class of first and second-graders, as well as putting wart medicine on everyone who has them—which is almost everyone, it seems. This is an all-afternoon affair with kids randomly grabbing my arm or digging into my bag for medicine. I have been talking with our afternoon coordinator about starting something more focused with smaller groups of kids in place of the time I spend in Karen’s room with the whole group. I’d like to offer something more personal and fun, rather than try to battle the chaos of Karen’s room that, it appears, only she can tackle alone. For example, we’ve discussed that I could have a few groups of 3-5 kids at a time (at least to start with) for about 20 minutes per day to read stories, do arts and crafts that are difficult to do in a larger group, and play games or maybe go for walks outside La Granja. This is still in the planning process, so I will keep you posted as it evolves. I won’t go into a great deal of detail about my task of anger therapy with a few of the boys here because that, too, is still being worked out.
I would say that one of my main challenges right now is to find a place where I can really offer something that the kids don’t have when I’m not here. This is why I’ve been trying to plan a weekly program full of activities that are fun and that the kids will want to do with me. The hope is that kids will quickly figure out that if they’re not behaving well with me, they will be sent back to the classroom and will be doing what everyone else is doing—with the goal that what I’m doing is special and more fun. I want to offer something that motivates them positively to have good behavior—something besides a threat to do more chores. Another challenge is finding a way to create some kind of rewards system for the kids who are behaving well during the week. (My personal idea has been that I’ll take the kids who’ve behaved well all week to a store near La Granja to choose an ice cream treat. This idea is currently being considered.) I suppose that what is most challenging to me is to work in an environment that I would organize completely differently if the rules were mine to make. It’s difficult to find a balance between being open-minded to the way others do things and to share your education and experiences in order to hopefully make something a little better. I am in the middle of that ethnocentristic battle right now and expect to remain in the position until I leave. My hope, though, is to find a respectful way to share something of what I know in order make an impact that can last a long while after I’ve left.
One area where I have felt some success is that I am getting more comfortable with the older groups of kids here, due in part to my Spanish skills improving slightly. Every little bit helps! I am becoming more confident to just try to say what I can and see if what I’m saying is understood; this can be clearly told by the presence of unmistakable confusion on a child’s face versus the continuation of the conversation. Another part of this experience that is going well is the ordeal of Sunday afternoon check-in. There are a few (maybe around 20) children here who are truly orphaned and have no where to go on the weekends, not even to the house of a relative or friend, as some of the others do. I used to have one of these older kids who lives here every day help me with the check-in process because she knows everyone. However, I am proud to say that I now prefer to welcome all the kids back and check in their cards by myself. Sometimes it’s frustrating because I can’t always understand what they’re saying and not all the kids know which of their four names I am searching for, so they just keep repeating their full name. I am really starting to enjoy these Sunday afternoons, and am still hopeful that someday I will learn all these names!
Seeing God in the patience of one of the sisters here, Maria Del Mar is a constant reminder of who I want to be like and the kindness I want to show the children here. She is here, working, more hours than I could fairly count and yet, never seems to become exhausted of her work or the highs and lows of working with this particular population of children. She is also extremely patient with me (and my Spanish) and works hard to make sure that Luis and I are happy here with the work we are doing. I am thankful for her and can easily see how she is a gift to La Granja Hogar and to my life as well.
2. What are your challenges?
3. What are your successes?
4. Where do you see God?
In the mornings I am helping Irma in the laundry room with outfitting new girls with a set (five days’ worth) of clothing, as well as packing together changes of clothes for all the girls in the morning. It’s a bit chaotic and quite unorganized, but I try to bite my lip and just help out however I can for now. It’s very frustrating and upsetting when the boys don’t have a clean change of clothes to put on after showers on Sunday night, so I am trying to keep an eye out for how this happens and see what I can do to help. Then, I head over to Casa de Niños (3-5 year olds) to play games, read stories, and do activities with them that either I’ve planned or a visiting teacher brings for them. My time there is really enjoyable and I have the freedom to bring my own ideas as well as pick up a few new ones from the teacher at the kindergarten, Ester. An hour later, five of the youngest kids walk over to the guadaria with me for their noontime nap, which has been increasingly easier from week to week and I now have the hang of it enough to go with them alone. It helps that I know many more commands in Spanish, such as “put your shoes on the floor, lay down in your bed to sleep, don’t move, close your eyes, keep quiet,” and “wash your hands and face” (after the nap). Words seem to be quite helpful—especially with proving my authority—in addition to just acting everything out with hand gestures, as I used to do. I also have started using time-outs because earlier I didn’t have anything to do if they didn’t go to bed or wouldn’t stop playing around when I asked. When someone else was there with me at the beginning, the kids seemed to just know her voice more seriously and would do what they were told after a few times. With me, though, that could go on the whole hour. This seems to be helping and even though it’s not the tactic that the teachers use during school, they don’t mind and are content that I found something that works for me and can now take the kids alone. In the afternoons I am still working with Karen’s class of first and second-graders, as well as putting wart medicine on everyone who has them—which is almost everyone, it seems. This is an all-afternoon affair with kids randomly grabbing my arm or digging into my bag for medicine. I have been talking with our afternoon coordinator about starting something more focused with smaller groups of kids in place of the time I spend in Karen’s room with the whole group. I’d like to offer something more personal and fun, rather than try to battle the chaos of Karen’s room that, it appears, only she can tackle alone. For example, we’ve discussed that I could have a few groups of 3-5 kids at a time (at least to start with) for about 20 minutes per day to read stories, do arts and crafts that are difficult to do in a larger group, and play games or maybe go for walks outside La Granja. This is still in the planning process, so I will keep you posted as it evolves. I won’t go into a great deal of detail about my task of anger therapy with a few of the boys here because that, too, is still being worked out.
I would say that one of my main challenges right now is to find a place where I can really offer something that the kids don’t have when I’m not here. This is why I’ve been trying to plan a weekly program full of activities that are fun and that the kids will want to do with me. The hope is that kids will quickly figure out that if they’re not behaving well with me, they will be sent back to the classroom and will be doing what everyone else is doing—with the goal that what I’m doing is special and more fun. I want to offer something that motivates them positively to have good behavior—something besides a threat to do more chores. Another challenge is finding a way to create some kind of rewards system for the kids who are behaving well during the week. (My personal idea has been that I’ll take the kids who’ve behaved well all week to a store near La Granja to choose an ice cream treat. This idea is currently being considered.) I suppose that what is most challenging to me is to work in an environment that I would organize completely differently if the rules were mine to make. It’s difficult to find a balance between being open-minded to the way others do things and to share your education and experiences in order to hopefully make something a little better. I am in the middle of that ethnocentristic battle right now and expect to remain in the position until I leave. My hope, though, is to find a respectful way to share something of what I know in order make an impact that can last a long while after I’ve left.
One area where I have felt some success is that I am getting more comfortable with the older groups of kids here, due in part to my Spanish skills improving slightly. Every little bit helps! I am becoming more confident to just try to say what I can and see if what I’m saying is understood; this can be clearly told by the presence of unmistakable confusion on a child’s face versus the continuation of the conversation. Another part of this experience that is going well is the ordeal of Sunday afternoon check-in. There are a few (maybe around 20) children here who are truly orphaned and have no where to go on the weekends, not even to the house of a relative or friend, as some of the others do. I used to have one of these older kids who lives here every day help me with the check-in process because she knows everyone. However, I am proud to say that I now prefer to welcome all the kids back and check in their cards by myself. Sometimes it’s frustrating because I can’t always understand what they’re saying and not all the kids know which of their four names I am searching for, so they just keep repeating their full name. I am really starting to enjoy these Sunday afternoons, and am still hopeful that someday I will learn all these names!
Seeing God in the patience of one of the sisters here, Maria Del Mar is a constant reminder of who I want to be like and the kindness I want to show the children here. She is here, working, more hours than I could fairly count and yet, never seems to become exhausted of her work or the highs and lows of working with this particular population of children. She is also extremely patient with me (and my Spanish) and works hard to make sure that Luis and I are happy here with the work we are doing. I am thankful for her and can easily see how she is a gift to La Granja Hogar and to my life as well.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Dia de la Independencia
It’s a rainy Monday here in Chihuahua; it’s also the day before Mexican Independence Day and since the kids don’t have school most of them are with relatives. Right now there are about 30 kids here so it is pretty quite and chill right now. This gives me some time to sit and write for a while. I just finished a game of soccer with the kids and man do they love soccer! They are pretty good but more than that they love to talk about how good they are and what skills they have. That, coupled with their vulgarity (Janiene has a hard time catching it), their roughhousing reminds me of my uncles, or at least what my uncles must have been like between 6-16.
Janiene and I keep finding our niche here more every day. The farm life is pretty much the same for now, but shortly they are planning on making some big changes. One of those big changes is getting rid of all the ducks, rabbits, and Cornish hens and increasing the number or chickens. This means getting rid of about 500 animals, mostly Cornish hens (~450) and all their cages. It also means a lot of clean up and removal and installation. On the bright side the nun in charge of the farm said that we might just release the ducks and rabbits on the farm grounds. That would be great because I wouldn’t want to kill the, to quote my friend, “adorable, furry, cute, sweet bunnies.” If you need proof of their cuteness please see the photos, we just put up some new ones of Independence Day celebrations and new animals. Also they want to make the farm, get this, 100% organic, so they can sell products that say so. This means setting up fields for crops and increasing what few ‘crops’ they do have. They are going to use a mineral called zeolite, and with out boring you with the scientific jargon, it is supposed to reduce the soil’s dependency on rainfall and fertilizer. Hope it works. So it seems they will be keeping me busy on that farm for a while.
Our relationships with the kids have also been growing with leaps and bounds. We are more comfortable to jump in on games that they are playing, and sometimes they even seek us out to play with them. They also ask us for help on their homework, mostly English homework. Not all of our time with the kids is great and some of it is pretty testing, and I’m sure some of you parents are saying ‘Well duh!’ But we try to take the good with bad and just really focus on the good. Story time: Last weekend Janiene and I had to put all the little boys to sleep. Sounds easy, right? But as I think Janiene has mentioned we really don’t understand how the consequences work so that’s difficult. Sundays are especially difficult because the kids return from their homes and want to share the stories with their friends and they are running around and goofing off. Finally, and I don’t know how, we got most kids in bed but they were still yapping away so I said if they didn’t quiet down I wouldn’t tell them a bedtime story. This actually worked pretty well, except now I had to come up with a bedtime story. So I did what any self respecting adult would do and told them the story of “The Princess Bride.” It worked, they liked the story line (who doesn’t?) and they went to sleep. I guess that really sums up the dichotomy of my relationship with the children. At times they are the sweetest kids and you feel sorry that this guy from Chicago has to be the one to tell them a bedtime story and at others they drive you mad and you just want to… never mind.
Until next time
Luis
Janiene and I keep finding our niche here more every day. The farm life is pretty much the same for now, but shortly they are planning on making some big changes. One of those big changes is getting rid of all the ducks, rabbits, and Cornish hens and increasing the number or chickens. This means getting rid of about 500 animals, mostly Cornish hens (~450) and all their cages. It also means a lot of clean up and removal and installation. On the bright side the nun in charge of the farm said that we might just release the ducks and rabbits on the farm grounds. That would be great because I wouldn’t want to kill the, to quote my friend, “adorable, furry, cute, sweet bunnies.” If you need proof of their cuteness please see the photos, we just put up some new ones of Independence Day celebrations and new animals. Also they want to make the farm, get this, 100% organic, so they can sell products that say so. This means setting up fields for crops and increasing what few ‘crops’ they do have. They are going to use a mineral called zeolite, and with out boring you with the scientific jargon, it is supposed to reduce the soil’s dependency on rainfall and fertilizer. Hope it works. So it seems they will be keeping me busy on that farm for a while.
Our relationships with the kids have also been growing with leaps and bounds. We are more comfortable to jump in on games that they are playing, and sometimes they even seek us out to play with them. They also ask us for help on their homework, mostly English homework. Not all of our time with the kids is great and some of it is pretty testing, and I’m sure some of you parents are saying ‘Well duh!’ But we try to take the good with bad and just really focus on the good. Story time: Last weekend Janiene and I had to put all the little boys to sleep. Sounds easy, right? But as I think Janiene has mentioned we really don’t understand how the consequences work so that’s difficult. Sundays are especially difficult because the kids return from their homes and want to share the stories with their friends and they are running around and goofing off. Finally, and I don’t know how, we got most kids in bed but they were still yapping away so I said if they didn’t quiet down I wouldn’t tell them a bedtime story. This actually worked pretty well, except now I had to come up with a bedtime story. So I did what any self respecting adult would do and told them the story of “The Princess Bride.” It worked, they liked the story line (who doesn’t?) and they went to sleep. I guess that really sums up the dichotomy of my relationship with the children. At times they are the sweetest kids and you feel sorry that this guy from Chicago has to be the one to tell them a bedtime story and at others they drive you mad and you just want to… never mind.
Until next time
Luis
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Getting the hang of it
Last week one of the kids was “snacking” on a spice shaker full of hot pepper powder. Several other kids were jealously asking for a taste. He had taken the lid off and was pouring it down like I can remember doing with the sugar at the bottom of a Sour Patch Kids bag. (Granted, it’s not too hard to remember from probably only a few months ago.) To each his own, I suppose, but I had to laugh as my eyes were watering at the thought how it would burn my own throat. One can not define the word “candy” while attempting to avoid ethnocentrism at the same time, I suppose.
Some of you have asked me if I have grown accustomed to the food, but really, we’re not eating food like what you’d think of when you imagine the Mexican cuisine. Mostly we are eating a lot of processed meats and high starched, fatty foods that have been donated. Apparently the kids here won’t eat the fresh fruit, so the cooks make it into fruit water drinks. Vegetables don’t go over well either, so they are usually served in some form that leaves a nice shiny glow on your plate when you’ve finished. The other morning the cooks asked me if I had already eaten, and I stuttered for a moment because they were serving beans with hot dog pieces in them and tortillas, and I just didn’t know if I could go for that sort of thing in the morning again, when I’d probably had it in some form the day before. I didn’t want to lie, but she could sense my hesitation and said, “Would you like some yogurt and apples?” Ahh, sigh of relief. I walked out with a full container of peach yogurt and four delicious green apples. Saved. The cooks were told that the Americans like healthy food and therefore, they are happy to offer fresh food to us whenever they can and we in turn are grateful to take it off their hands.
We work Sundays through Thursdays and enjoy Fridays and Saturdays off to get lost on the unmarked bus routes as we head to the market, catch a movie, or enjoy delicious tacos and tamales. I’m thankful to have these days off because some of the kids here at La Granja wait by the fence, sometimes waiting all weekend, for relatives who do not always come to pick them up. I know it must sound a bit selfish that I don’t want to be here to see that and be here for the kids then, but honestly I don’t understand all their situations at home and I don’t know if I should be happy for them or worry about them if someone does come to take them for the weekend. If they are here, I at least know that they are safe. I’m not sure how everything works and what efforts are made to protect the children as far as where they go on the weekends, but since I am not a part of that process I feel that staying out of it—at least currently—is probably best for avoiding becoming overwhelmed and discouraged.
One of the aspects of the environment here that the sisters are trying to change little by little is the issue of rewards and consequences. Punishments are usually in some form of a chore, and they are infrequent, randomly assigned, and often do not match the severity of the particular misbehavior. I also have no real way of enforcing them and am also without rewards for the ones who are following directions or playing in a friendly manner. When Luis and I are trying to get the younger boys to shower and go to bed on Sunday nights, if we ask them to stop running or fighting, what can we do if twenty of them choose not to listen? It’s total chaos, and sometimes it really gets to us when we feel like we are being walked all over by a group of nine year-olds. The voices from those who have been here longer have such a greater impact, so we are hoping that before the year is over, our voices will as well. Poco a poco, the sisters keep telling us. They know this is difficult and that the kids are more than difficult to control, but, little by little is all we can do.
The other day I was putting the youngest kids down for their siesta and thought it would be a good idea to give each one of them a hug when they got into bed, as a way of calming them down and creating some kind of routine. I figure that there’s no way they are getting enough hugs, and this would be something I could offer to them. However, when I tried out my idea, it turned into a game and the girls were hopping out of bed and trying to give hugs to everyone in the room and giggling and laughing and doing everything besides quieting down for a nap. A while later and after several (nearly empty) threats I had everyone settled and in their beds again. I’ve decided to maybe try offering hugs when I am waking each one of them up after naps instead, in an attempt to avoid emotional exhaustion and complete frustration on my part. Some days I am learning more quickly than others.
Last week we met with Maria del Mar, the sister in charge of our work schedules and placements. Luis is going to keep pretty much the same schedule, and I made a couple minor changes. First of all, I’m not going to help the youngest girls with their hair in the mornings anymore because there’s another woman who’s there every day and has them almost finished by the time I was getting there. This is wonderful because my workday starts now at 9:30 instead of 6:30, which is a huge gift if you have ever witnessed my superb early-rising skills. When my day starts at 9:30 now, I’m helping in the laundry room until 11:00. The idea is that I will be taking two girls each day to help them find a few sets of clothing that they like and that fit them well. The women who work in the laundry room typically have to estimate the sizes of the girls for their clothes, and often they’re not a good fit. I have been working a couple of days in the laundry room so far, though, and haven’t been able to start this process, so we’ll see how this goes. A huge perk about the schedule change is that now I’m with the youngest kids for another hour each day and can plan any activities I’d like to do with them. From 11-12:00, the hour before their nap, I’ll be with half of the kids while their teacher, Ester, has the other half. She’s asked me to teach them any songs and games I know, so I’ve been trying to translate anything I can remember. The other day we sang, “Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies.” If you can’t figure out what that is, you have a bit of homework to do!
The other day we had a meeting for the after-school program staff. Just as I was about to completely daze out due to mental exhaustion from concentrating on rapid Spanish for so long, Toñita, the coordinator, looked at me and said, “Oh, and Janiene, we have a very special job for you.” Luis (who was starting to day dream as well, but for no excuse that I’d accept) and I both perked up. It looks like my “special job” is going to be some form of anger therapy with two kids in my after-school room who severely need extra attention. It also looks like I am being assigned to this job because of my “experience with children with problems.” Luis assures me that I conveyed my work experience accurately when explaining to one of the nuns about my college degree and one-on-one work with a student with learning disabilities. Somehow, that was translated into my being an outstanding candidate for an anger therapist. Granted, I am thrilled to be offered the challenge because I have really been hoping for an opportunity to take on some responsibility here in order to really make a difference. I don’t mind if I work with two children closely or a hundred in a group. I just want to offer the education I have received and the experiences I’ve had as a member of a loving family and community, somehow, in some way, as gifts to the kids here. I guess this is my chance!
My Aunt Marjorie suggested that I keep a journal with positive experiences with the kids here so that I can look back on them years down the road as well as while I am here and searching, some days, for purpose. I’ll share with you one of my first entries because I think that it may be a rare one with this child. Shortly after leaving the meeting where I was assigned my new job (details to come later when I understand them myself), I saw one of the two kids I’m going to be working with outside on the playground equipment. I decided to catch him in action while he was not upset or causing any trouble, and try to make the first move. I hung around him for a little while, just talking to him and enjoying the fact that he wasn’t sticking his tongue out or making rude faces in my direction, as usual. After a few minutes, a soccer ball appeared from nowhere and somehow, magically, we played together for a solid twenty minutes or so, without interruption or any negative behavior or comments. I can’t explain to you in worlds how exciting it felt to have my first experience with him that wasn’t negative in some way. When it was time for us to all leave the playground and head in for dinner, I even got a high five. My breath stopped for a moment, I’d say. I think I walked away floating just a bit, the slap from his hand still stinging my palm, and “thank you, thank you, thank you” running through my head as I thought about how most of the days to come with him would not leave me with such a light feeling. I will most definitely look back on this day after many of my more difficult days with him, and I will be waiting for his name to be in my journal again soon as a day we shared success.
Thank you all for your prayers and continued support, and until next time, que le vaya bien. Much love, Janiene
Some of you have asked me if I have grown accustomed to the food, but really, we’re not eating food like what you’d think of when you imagine the Mexican cuisine. Mostly we are eating a lot of processed meats and high starched, fatty foods that have been donated. Apparently the kids here won’t eat the fresh fruit, so the cooks make it into fruit water drinks. Vegetables don’t go over well either, so they are usually served in some form that leaves a nice shiny glow on your plate when you’ve finished. The other morning the cooks asked me if I had already eaten, and I stuttered for a moment because they were serving beans with hot dog pieces in them and tortillas, and I just didn’t know if I could go for that sort of thing in the morning again, when I’d probably had it in some form the day before. I didn’t want to lie, but she could sense my hesitation and said, “Would you like some yogurt and apples?” Ahh, sigh of relief. I walked out with a full container of peach yogurt and four delicious green apples. Saved. The cooks were told that the Americans like healthy food and therefore, they are happy to offer fresh food to us whenever they can and we in turn are grateful to take it off their hands.
We work Sundays through Thursdays and enjoy Fridays and Saturdays off to get lost on the unmarked bus routes as we head to the market, catch a movie, or enjoy delicious tacos and tamales. I’m thankful to have these days off because some of the kids here at La Granja wait by the fence, sometimes waiting all weekend, for relatives who do not always come to pick them up. I know it must sound a bit selfish that I don’t want to be here to see that and be here for the kids then, but honestly I don’t understand all their situations at home and I don’t know if I should be happy for them or worry about them if someone does come to take them for the weekend. If they are here, I at least know that they are safe. I’m not sure how everything works and what efforts are made to protect the children as far as where they go on the weekends, but since I am not a part of that process I feel that staying out of it—at least currently—is probably best for avoiding becoming overwhelmed and discouraged.
One of the aspects of the environment here that the sisters are trying to change little by little is the issue of rewards and consequences. Punishments are usually in some form of a chore, and they are infrequent, randomly assigned, and often do not match the severity of the particular misbehavior. I also have no real way of enforcing them and am also without rewards for the ones who are following directions or playing in a friendly manner. When Luis and I are trying to get the younger boys to shower and go to bed on Sunday nights, if we ask them to stop running or fighting, what can we do if twenty of them choose not to listen? It’s total chaos, and sometimes it really gets to us when we feel like we are being walked all over by a group of nine year-olds. The voices from those who have been here longer have such a greater impact, so we are hoping that before the year is over, our voices will as well. Poco a poco, the sisters keep telling us. They know this is difficult and that the kids are more than difficult to control, but, little by little is all we can do.
The other day I was putting the youngest kids down for their siesta and thought it would be a good idea to give each one of them a hug when they got into bed, as a way of calming them down and creating some kind of routine. I figure that there’s no way they are getting enough hugs, and this would be something I could offer to them. However, when I tried out my idea, it turned into a game and the girls were hopping out of bed and trying to give hugs to everyone in the room and giggling and laughing and doing everything besides quieting down for a nap. A while later and after several (nearly empty) threats I had everyone settled and in their beds again. I’ve decided to maybe try offering hugs when I am waking each one of them up after naps instead, in an attempt to avoid emotional exhaustion and complete frustration on my part. Some days I am learning more quickly than others.
Last week we met with Maria del Mar, the sister in charge of our work schedules and placements. Luis is going to keep pretty much the same schedule, and I made a couple minor changes. First of all, I’m not going to help the youngest girls with their hair in the mornings anymore because there’s another woman who’s there every day and has them almost finished by the time I was getting there. This is wonderful because my workday starts now at 9:30 instead of 6:30, which is a huge gift if you have ever witnessed my superb early-rising skills. When my day starts at 9:30 now, I’m helping in the laundry room until 11:00. The idea is that I will be taking two girls each day to help them find a few sets of clothing that they like and that fit them well. The women who work in the laundry room typically have to estimate the sizes of the girls for their clothes, and often they’re not a good fit. I have been working a couple of days in the laundry room so far, though, and haven’t been able to start this process, so we’ll see how this goes. A huge perk about the schedule change is that now I’m with the youngest kids for another hour each day and can plan any activities I’d like to do with them. From 11-12:00, the hour before their nap, I’ll be with half of the kids while their teacher, Ester, has the other half. She’s asked me to teach them any songs and games I know, so I’ve been trying to translate anything I can remember. The other day we sang, “Cabeza, hombros, rodillas y pies.” If you can’t figure out what that is, you have a bit of homework to do!
The other day we had a meeting for the after-school program staff. Just as I was about to completely daze out due to mental exhaustion from concentrating on rapid Spanish for so long, Toñita, the coordinator, looked at me and said, “Oh, and Janiene, we have a very special job for you.” Luis (who was starting to day dream as well, but for no excuse that I’d accept) and I both perked up. It looks like my “special job” is going to be some form of anger therapy with two kids in my after-school room who severely need extra attention. It also looks like I am being assigned to this job because of my “experience with children with problems.” Luis assures me that I conveyed my work experience accurately when explaining to one of the nuns about my college degree and one-on-one work with a student with learning disabilities. Somehow, that was translated into my being an outstanding candidate for an anger therapist. Granted, I am thrilled to be offered the challenge because I have really been hoping for an opportunity to take on some responsibility here in order to really make a difference. I don’t mind if I work with two children closely or a hundred in a group. I just want to offer the education I have received and the experiences I’ve had as a member of a loving family and community, somehow, in some way, as gifts to the kids here. I guess this is my chance!
My Aunt Marjorie suggested that I keep a journal with positive experiences with the kids here so that I can look back on them years down the road as well as while I am here and searching, some days, for purpose. I’ll share with you one of my first entries because I think that it may be a rare one with this child. Shortly after leaving the meeting where I was assigned my new job (details to come later when I understand them myself), I saw one of the two kids I’m going to be working with outside on the playground equipment. I decided to catch him in action while he was not upset or causing any trouble, and try to make the first move. I hung around him for a little while, just talking to him and enjoying the fact that he wasn’t sticking his tongue out or making rude faces in my direction, as usual. After a few minutes, a soccer ball appeared from nowhere and somehow, magically, we played together for a solid twenty minutes or so, without interruption or any negative behavior or comments. I can’t explain to you in worlds how exciting it felt to have my first experience with him that wasn’t negative in some way. When it was time for us to all leave the playground and head in for dinner, I even got a high five. My breath stopped for a moment, I’d say. I think I walked away floating just a bit, the slap from his hand still stinging my palm, and “thank you, thank you, thank you” running through my head as I thought about how most of the days to come with him would not leave me with such a light feeling. I will most definitely look back on this day after many of my more difficult days with him, and I will be waiting for his name to be in my journal again soon as a day we shared success.
Thank you all for your prayers and continued support, and until next time, que le vaya bien. Much love, Janiene
Friday, August 29, 2008
First Week of Work... Plus some
Our first week at La Granja has come and gone. The children have started school and I learned that the kids used to be in the lowest percentile in academic achievement according to government testing and they are in the average range now. This coincides with the overall rejuvenation that La Granja is undergoing. As Janiene mentioned earlier the sisters here are uber organized and are slowly but surely making this place a top notch facility for the kids. This includes new dormitories, a new infirmary, and whole bunch of other smaller stuff. We are mostly with the children in the afternoon, after school lets out. There isn’t a common living area here so the kids go from their classroom in the morning to a shared study room after lunch. There are three different study rooms with their age group and each room has a ‘titulado’ that is in charge of that room. I help Pakko who is in charge of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. During this time the children do different activities according the day and time; there is painting, puzzles, writing, and we also help the kids with their homework. We also spend a lot of time outside either playing games that we organize or giving the kids some free time to run around. The kids are in these rooms from 2pm until dinner time, which is normally around 7-8pm, after this they are in their dormitories for the rest of the night, and me and Janiene are off for the rest of the night.
In the morning we help out to get the kids ready for school. In the later morning I spend my time at the farm. We have some rabbits and chickens and Cornish hens and sprinkling of ducks. It’s amazing how relaxing it is to feed the animals and clean their poop. We are also trying to grow some tomatoes and other crops. The person in charge of the farm, Raul, just went to Mexico to attend a conference on organic farming. We also have a nice sized compost area where we recycle the animal poop and some of the organic waste from the kitchen. Our hope is to become a lot more self sustained as most of the food and animal feed comes from donations. It’s awesome because Raul asks me for my input in what and how we do things at the farm. It’s also awesome to use my biology degree outside of academics. Well, that’s all from me now, we’ll try to keep up with this blogging thing. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes.
Luis
Last Tuesday was our first day of work. On the weekdays, I help the 6-10 year old girls get ready for school. I help the other staff member to keep them moving and to help them get their hair combed or braided. At noon I go with another staff member to help her with the youngest children here and we help them quiet down (quite challenging) and then take a little siesta. They have an hour to sleep, and typically everyone has been asleep by 12:30, which is not too bad in my opinion. Soon I am going to do this on my own with about eight 3 & 4 year olds. Wish me luck!
Luis and I both help out with the lunch fiascos, but we are still trying to learn how to help control such a large rowdy group of kids. It´s an interesting event, that´s for sure. We try to help them line up with the others who sit at their table (outside before entering the cafeteria) but we mostly are just guards to try to catch fights before they break out. I´m sure we will become more involved after we get into the swing of things. Different groups of kids are responsible for the sweeping, mopping, and cleaning dishes after each meal, so we stick around after meals to try to help them stay focused on the tasks. Again, I say ¨try.¨ We are still really so new that we are in the process of figuring out what we can do in our jobs. We are watching the staff a lot and trying to learn how they handle everything first before we come at it from our own perspectives.
In the afternoon I work with the first and second graders. We have our own room with an area for homework to be completed first, and then with three other sections of the room where arts and crafts, books, and games & puzzles can be pulled out later. Usually we play outside for about an hour and a half afterwards before dinner. Dinner is similar to lunch as far as our responsibilities go, and we usually get home between 8-8:30 each night. Sundays are different because my job then is to check in all the kids who are returning from home. Many of the children get picked up on Fridays or Saturdays by a family member or friend and then return on Sunday afternoons. This job is quite a challenge for me because I am really struggling to understand when the kids tell me their last name. I´m looking for the father´s last name because that´s how the cards are organized for check-in, but most of the kids have two last names: their father´s first and their mother´s second. It´s a lot to sort out when I have a difficult time hearing the kids and they don´t always know what letter starts their last name. Hopefully, though, it will help me to get to match faces with names more quickly! I also check their bags if they have them to make sure that they´re not bringing in candy or anything dangerous, and then I check their hair for lice (although we are currently out of the shampoo for it) and ask them to show me their hands so I can see if they have clean fingernails.
[Our director, Rick, asked us what are our current successes and challenges, as well as where we see God in our experiences here, so I´ll include what I wrote to him as well.] Overall, working with the sisters here is going really well. They are extremely organized and seem to bend over backwards for anything that we need. What´s going well for me personally is the fact that everyone is being incredibly patient with my Spanish skills. Speaking Spanish here is definitely also my current biggest obstacle, but I am finding that no matter whom I´m talking with, I experience patience from them. If I´m talking with a child and just can´t seem to understand what they´re wanting, I send them to the classroom teacher or another staff member. Hopefully, that will start to happen less and less. I still have a long way to go, though. Another challenge is trying to work with a large group of children when I do not know the consequences for misbehavior. This is a tricky idea anyway—consequences--because it´s difficult to enforce almost anything with such a low ratio of adults to children for a group of children with such an aggressive and unstable history. At night, somewhere around forty or so girls sleep in the same room without an adult. It´s the same for the other groups. That would just never fly in the States, so that´s why I´m just trying to learn how they manage here.
Right now I´m looking for and seing God in the small things. Last week there was a young girl dancing up right in front of the altar during one of the songs at mass, and the priest just watched her and smiled. I saw God in her spirit and in the contented heart of the priest as well. Here at La Granja, I see God in older siblings who leave their group of friends to hug and comfort a younger sibling who is new here and crying often during these first days and weeks. Every morning I see the sunrise, and God´s beauty in the mountains surrounding us is breathtaking. I find myself in awe. I also see God´s love clearly in the eyes of Karen, the after-school teacher that I work with. She has been here two years already, and yet she draws patience up from somewhere-I-don´t-know just when I think she should be past exhausted, and she smiles warmly at a child so quickly after she´s had to chase him around the room to make him sit down or after he´s just punched a classmate. She knows where they come from and understands why they are the way they are. She shows them love every day and her eyes clearly show it. I also see God in my husband when he sits and listens to me and offers encouragement and wisdom that I truly need as we try to find our places here. It has been a bit difficult for us (I´ll admit, maybe more difficult for me) to figure out exactly what we can offer here and how we can make a difference with only one year. The other volunteers that we met who were here and in Querétero last year said that they were frustrated as well by their limitations and lack of time, but that they were able to see the impact they made more clearly when they were looking back in retrospective. I guess we´ll see. Right now we´re just trying to do what we can and figure out the rest later.
Fridays and Saturdays are our days off, so I´m not sure what we´re going to be doing today. Something relaxing. Last week I joined a choir at our church down the road from La Granja, and so far it has been challenging and fun to learn all the music in Spanish, and the others in the choir are very welcoming and helpful. Today is our eight month anniversary, which makes me think about how when we got married not to long ago, I couldn´t have imagined where we´d be today, just a few months later. Quite a different place! Who knows what will come out of a year here?
-Janiene
In the morning we help out to get the kids ready for school. In the later morning I spend my time at the farm. We have some rabbits and chickens and Cornish hens and sprinkling of ducks. It’s amazing how relaxing it is to feed the animals and clean their poop. We are also trying to grow some tomatoes and other crops. The person in charge of the farm, Raul, just went to Mexico to attend a conference on organic farming. We also have a nice sized compost area where we recycle the animal poop and some of the organic waste from the kitchen. Our hope is to become a lot more self sustained as most of the food and animal feed comes from donations. It’s awesome because Raul asks me for my input in what and how we do things at the farm. It’s also awesome to use my biology degree outside of academics. Well, that’s all from me now, we’ll try to keep up with this blogging thing. Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes.
Luis
Last Tuesday was our first day of work. On the weekdays, I help the 6-10 year old girls get ready for school. I help the other staff member to keep them moving and to help them get their hair combed or braided. At noon I go with another staff member to help her with the youngest children here and we help them quiet down (quite challenging) and then take a little siesta. They have an hour to sleep, and typically everyone has been asleep by 12:30, which is not too bad in my opinion. Soon I am going to do this on my own with about eight 3 & 4 year olds. Wish me luck!
Luis and I both help out with the lunch fiascos, but we are still trying to learn how to help control such a large rowdy group of kids. It´s an interesting event, that´s for sure. We try to help them line up with the others who sit at their table (outside before entering the cafeteria) but we mostly are just guards to try to catch fights before they break out. I´m sure we will become more involved after we get into the swing of things. Different groups of kids are responsible for the sweeping, mopping, and cleaning dishes after each meal, so we stick around after meals to try to help them stay focused on the tasks. Again, I say ¨try.¨ We are still really so new that we are in the process of figuring out what we can do in our jobs. We are watching the staff a lot and trying to learn how they handle everything first before we come at it from our own perspectives.
In the afternoon I work with the first and second graders. We have our own room with an area for homework to be completed first, and then with three other sections of the room where arts and crafts, books, and games & puzzles can be pulled out later. Usually we play outside for about an hour and a half afterwards before dinner. Dinner is similar to lunch as far as our responsibilities go, and we usually get home between 8-8:30 each night. Sundays are different because my job then is to check in all the kids who are returning from home. Many of the children get picked up on Fridays or Saturdays by a family member or friend and then return on Sunday afternoons. This job is quite a challenge for me because I am really struggling to understand when the kids tell me their last name. I´m looking for the father´s last name because that´s how the cards are organized for check-in, but most of the kids have two last names: their father´s first and their mother´s second. It´s a lot to sort out when I have a difficult time hearing the kids and they don´t always know what letter starts their last name. Hopefully, though, it will help me to get to match faces with names more quickly! I also check their bags if they have them to make sure that they´re not bringing in candy or anything dangerous, and then I check their hair for lice (although we are currently out of the shampoo for it) and ask them to show me their hands so I can see if they have clean fingernails.
[Our director, Rick, asked us what are our current successes and challenges, as well as where we see God in our experiences here, so I´ll include what I wrote to him as well.] Overall, working with the sisters here is going really well. They are extremely organized and seem to bend over backwards for anything that we need. What´s going well for me personally is the fact that everyone is being incredibly patient with my Spanish skills. Speaking Spanish here is definitely also my current biggest obstacle, but I am finding that no matter whom I´m talking with, I experience patience from them. If I´m talking with a child and just can´t seem to understand what they´re wanting, I send them to the classroom teacher or another staff member. Hopefully, that will start to happen less and less. I still have a long way to go, though. Another challenge is trying to work with a large group of children when I do not know the consequences for misbehavior. This is a tricky idea anyway—consequences--because it´s difficult to enforce almost anything with such a low ratio of adults to children for a group of children with such an aggressive and unstable history. At night, somewhere around forty or so girls sleep in the same room without an adult. It´s the same for the other groups. That would just never fly in the States, so that´s why I´m just trying to learn how they manage here.
Right now I´m looking for and seing God in the small things. Last week there was a young girl dancing up right in front of the altar during one of the songs at mass, and the priest just watched her and smiled. I saw God in her spirit and in the contented heart of the priest as well. Here at La Granja, I see God in older siblings who leave their group of friends to hug and comfort a younger sibling who is new here and crying often during these first days and weeks. Every morning I see the sunrise, and God´s beauty in the mountains surrounding us is breathtaking. I find myself in awe. I also see God´s love clearly in the eyes of Karen, the after-school teacher that I work with. She has been here two years already, and yet she draws patience up from somewhere-I-don´t-know just when I think she should be past exhausted, and she smiles warmly at a child so quickly after she´s had to chase him around the room to make him sit down or after he´s just punched a classmate. She knows where they come from and understands why they are the way they are. She shows them love every day and her eyes clearly show it. I also see God in my husband when he sits and listens to me and offers encouragement and wisdom that I truly need as we try to find our places here. It has been a bit difficult for us (I´ll admit, maybe more difficult for me) to figure out exactly what we can offer here and how we can make a difference with only one year. The other volunteers that we met who were here and in Querétero last year said that they were frustrated as well by their limitations and lack of time, but that they were able to see the impact they made more clearly when they were looking back in retrospective. I guess we´ll see. Right now we´re just trying to do what we can and figure out the rest later.
Fridays and Saturdays are our days off, so I´m not sure what we´re going to be doing today. Something relaxing. Last week I joined a choir at our church down the road from La Granja, and so far it has been challenging and fun to learn all the music in Spanish, and the others in the choir are very welcoming and helpful. Today is our eight month anniversary, which makes me think about how when we got married not to long ago, I couldn´t have imagined where we´d be today, just a few months later. Quite a different place! Who knows what will come out of a year here?
-Janiene
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Getting started
We arrived in Chihuahua this past Friday around dinner-time after heading out from San Antonio, TX around 6:00am. We'd spent the week before in San Antonio at an orientation for new volunteers, provided to us by the Mi Casa Foundation. Volunteers from this past year came for a few days while we were there so that we could chat with them about their experiences and bombard them with questions. They were there for the week for Mi Casa's re-entry (into the States) retreat, which they attended in a separate area for the weekend. In our orientation we had workshops about experiencing culture shock, working with children of abuse, taking care of our own mental health, traveling safely, journaling & prayer & reflection, and advice and support filling every spare moment. I felt as prepared as possible by the time we packed up the van to head out of town.
Chihuahua is beautiful. The city is completely surrounded by breathtaking mountains and is currently full of lush green trees and plants. La Granja Hogar ("The Farm Home") is located at the northern part of the city, tucked away in a quiet neighborhood. Chihuahua actually has quite a bit of money coming from oil and other resources and therefore, has a section of town that with its Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Dairy Queen, Sirloin Stockade, Sonic, and other chains could fool you into thinking you'd crossed the border back up north. So where do these 150-some children come from? Well, not from that side of town, that's for sure. The children who will be arriving on Sunday are from the Tarahumara region (indigenous of this area of Mexico) and rural areas outside of the city. The reasons they are here are because they've been orphaned, abandoned, malnurished, removed from their parents due to alcohol abuse or other abuse, and/or because their parents can not provide for them due to extreme poverty. There are ten children here who had absolutely no where to go this summer, despite the best attempts of the sisters here to find a relative or family friend to care for them. So like I said, Chihuahua is beautiful, but it has its share of bruises as well. We are going to meet the sister who is in charge of helping us determine what our jobs will be for the year when she returns from vacation on Saturday. School starts on Monday, and all we really know so far is that we will be working directly with kids. Many people (both from the Foundation and from here at La Granja) have told us that one of the main gifts we can give to these children is our example of a loving marriage. We've been told that our faithfulness, respect, and love for each other will speak loudly to children who have witnessed great violence between their parents. For some of the children here, the violence they have witnessed was fatal for someone they loved. We have been encouraged to hold hands and show affection in front of the kids here so they can see what a different kind of relationship they, too, could have someday. This example of a loving marriage is one of the gifts we hope to leave with these children, and will hopefully make a lasting impression as they grow into adulthood.
On a lighter note, Luis and I are finally getting settled into our new home for the year. The director of the Mi Casa Foundation drove all six of us volunteers down to Chihuahua on Friday and was planning to drive the other volunteers to their sites in Saltillo (in the next state over east), but they ran into a bit of an obstacle. Rick took us shopping to get a few things for our new "house" and while we were in the store, someone tried to steal our 15-passenger van. They broke something in the steering wheel column and completely removed the lock on the door. Despite sitting in the parking lot for about 3-1/2 hours while we waited for police and an insurance representative (which we didn't need, turns out, in Mexico), I was a bit thankful for the incident because the other volunteers then stayed with us until the van was fixed on Monday evening. It was nice to have them here with us, but I know that they were anxious to get to their own volunteer sites and to get started themselves.
Today was our first day of an orientation for new staff members. We discussed for a long time what it takes to work here at La Granja and what type of character we need to have. The list was long. I am so thankful that we have an orientation tomorrow again because I really feel like I am starting to understand the philosophy here of how to work with these children, why we are here and what we can do. The sisters who run La Granja are incredible--supportive, energetic, organized, throrough, helpful, friendly, and very welcoming. If I were intereviewing at home to work somewhere with an administration like this, I would definitely be impressed. I know that over the course of the year I will find myself frustrated with different ways that situations are handled here due to cultural differences, but I think that we are off to a really positive start and that we are in agreement when it comes to the core of the matter. We'll see!
-Janiene
Chihuahua is beautiful. The city is completely surrounded by breathtaking mountains and is currently full of lush green trees and plants. La Granja Hogar ("The Farm Home") is located at the northern part of the city, tucked away in a quiet neighborhood. Chihuahua actually has quite a bit of money coming from oil and other resources and therefore, has a section of town that with its Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Dairy Queen, Sirloin Stockade, Sonic, and other chains could fool you into thinking you'd crossed the border back up north. So where do these 150-some children come from? Well, not from that side of town, that's for sure. The children who will be arriving on Sunday are from the Tarahumara region (indigenous of this area of Mexico) and rural areas outside of the city. The reasons they are here are because they've been orphaned, abandoned, malnurished, removed from their parents due to alcohol abuse or other abuse, and/or because their parents can not provide for them due to extreme poverty. There are ten children here who had absolutely no where to go this summer, despite the best attempts of the sisters here to find a relative or family friend to care for them. So like I said, Chihuahua is beautiful, but it has its share of bruises as well. We are going to meet the sister who is in charge of helping us determine what our jobs will be for the year when she returns from vacation on Saturday. School starts on Monday, and all we really know so far is that we will be working directly with kids. Many people (both from the Foundation and from here at La Granja) have told us that one of the main gifts we can give to these children is our example of a loving marriage. We've been told that our faithfulness, respect, and love for each other will speak loudly to children who have witnessed great violence between their parents. For some of the children here, the violence they have witnessed was fatal for someone they loved. We have been encouraged to hold hands and show affection in front of the kids here so they can see what a different kind of relationship they, too, could have someday. This example of a loving marriage is one of the gifts we hope to leave with these children, and will hopefully make a lasting impression as they grow into adulthood.
On a lighter note, Luis and I are finally getting settled into our new home for the year. The director of the Mi Casa Foundation drove all six of us volunteers down to Chihuahua on Friday and was planning to drive the other volunteers to their sites in Saltillo (in the next state over east), but they ran into a bit of an obstacle. Rick took us shopping to get a few things for our new "house" and while we were in the store, someone tried to steal our 15-passenger van. They broke something in the steering wheel column and completely removed the lock on the door. Despite sitting in the parking lot for about 3-1/2 hours while we waited for police and an insurance representative (which we didn't need, turns out, in Mexico), I was a bit thankful for the incident because the other volunteers then stayed with us until the van was fixed on Monday evening. It was nice to have them here with us, but I know that they were anxious to get to their own volunteer sites and to get started themselves.
Today was our first day of an orientation for new staff members. We discussed for a long time what it takes to work here at La Granja and what type of character we need to have. The list was long. I am so thankful that we have an orientation tomorrow again because I really feel like I am starting to understand the philosophy here of how to work with these children, why we are here and what we can do. The sisters who run La Granja are incredible--supportive, energetic, organized, throrough, helpful, friendly, and very welcoming. If I were intereviewing at home to work somewhere with an administration like this, I would definitely be impressed. I know that over the course of the year I will find myself frustrated with different ways that situations are handled here due to cultural differences, but I think that we are off to a really positive start and that we are in agreement when it comes to the core of the matter. We'll see!
-Janiene
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