So, I haven’t written a blog in a while….but in my defense I have been sooo crazy busy. My new schedule keeps me occupied. Up by 6:30 am to run/work-out, then I take a bucket-bath and make myself a strong cup of Nescafé and am out the door by 8am to make my morning commute to La Victoria. The commute can take anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, depending on how lucky I am in catching a gua-gua (translation: bus, the best option because I only have to take one bus for 17 pesos but does not come very frequently) or my other option which is to take two carro publicos (translation: public taxis, 12 pesos for the first one and 17 for the second, carros publicos are much more frequent). My days at the orphanage go by fast with mornings usually spent doing office work, planning with Maria Elena, meeting with Lawyers to discuss our contracts for purchasing the new home, going to parent-teacher conferences (note: I am the parent in these meetings!) and generally taking care of business and taking advantage of the fact that the girls are away at school. Then at around 12:45 the girls arrive and chaos generally ensues. I help serve la comida which is usually la bandera (translation: the flag), aptly named so because it is the traditional Dominican meal of rice, beans, meat and sometimes salad. Then I have a descanso (nap) and I usually really need this nap and pretty much pass out. The afternoons are spent tutoring, doing homework, teaching English, arts and crafts projects and taking the girls out to play. Then at around 5 or 6 pm I usually make a break for it and take care of some errands (grocery shopping, other random tasks) before returning to my house. In the evenings I like to just relax, but usually I’m writing emails on behalf of the orphanage, working on my projects, writing grants, etc, there is always so much work to do! I am usually so exhausted that I have a hard time keeping my eyes open until my bedtime which is generally 9:30/10:00.
So I think I have a good excuse for not keeping my blog as regularly as I would wish. But, I am going to try and be better about it because I like blogging and I want you, my wonderful readers, to read my blog.
So, recently I hosted a sleep-over at my new place to celebrate the birthdays of 3 of the olders girls whose birthdays are close together, Evelin, Jessica and Gaby. The girls were really excited about the sleep-over. I prepared for the event by gathering girly teen magazines, nail polish, arts and crafts supplies (plenty of glitter!), chick flicks, preparing a merengue and bachata, heavy on the Aventura, playlist on my iPod, and filling the pantry with yummy munchies like chips and dip, popcorn, I made a cake, and pancakes for breakfast. Then I decorated the house. Since I am a poor Peace Corps volunteer I could only afford to buy 2 colors of balloons and streamers, pink and green. My host-bro helped me decorate and he blew up so many balloons! I kept telling him I thought we had enough but he didn’t want to stop. The finished product, thanks to the sorority-ish pink and green, officially looked like a collegiate-rush event.
I think that the event was officially a success. The girls loved being away from the orphanage for a night. The night went pretty much as I thought it would. We read magazines, listened to music, danced, took a tour of my neighborhood, flirted with boys at the colmado (colmados are like convenience stores/hang-outs), well they flirted shamelessly while I tried to make sure that none of the girls ended running off with the boys. It was all-in-all a success. I know this because the next day none of them wanted to leave and they were all asking when the next pijamada (sleep-over) would be.
martes, 27 de mayo de 2008
visiting the campo.....
So I wish I had been keeping a blog early, I think it is a really good way to keep in touch and give people a glimpse into my life here. It is also a good way for me to reflect. So anyways, now I want to share a little bit about the situations that some of the girls who live in the home come from.
One of the projects that Maria Elena wants me to work on is connecting the families of the girls to the home more. Some of the girls are orphans, but most have some sort of a family. The reason that they are living in the home is that for some reason or another they cannot live at home or their home is unsafe. All of the girls come from situations of poverty, some more extreme than others. Many of the girls were born to young mothers who were unable to care for them. I will share a few stories and pictures with you from recent visits to some of the girls’ families.
Jerdalin, 5, and Yomaira, 12, are two sisters who live at the home. They both have very sweet dispositions and I love to be around them. We went to visit their family in the campo (country). The reason that Jerdalin and Yomaira are in the home is that there family lives in a situation of poverty and because they are way out in the campo the girls cannot attend school if they live at home. It was obvious during our visit that the family was very loving and that were it not for the their situation that the girls should live at home with their family. Jerdalin’s feet never even touched the ground when we were there, her dad and brothers took turns carrying her around like a little princess.
While we were in the campo we visited another family that has 2 daughters and wants help from the home. Like Jerdalin and Yomaira’s family the family was living in poverty and the girls were unable to attend school. The sisters were 7 and 5 years old and were very sweet. I sat down and began to Nayeli, the 7 year-old. Before I knew it a small group of children from the campo had gathered around to listen. They were eager to listen and I though what a waste, all these young minds yearning to be nurtured that are wasted because they can’t go to school…. Maria Elena wanted to accept the girls into the home but we were faced with a problem. The girls’ parents were Haitian and neither or them had birth certificates. Maria Elena does not like to take children without birth certificates because declaring children later on can be difficult. Without a birth certificate a child cannot go to school past the 8th grade. Additionally, being Haitian was going to make getting the birth certificate even more difficult if not impossible (talking about being Haitian in the Dominican Republic is enough for a whole other blog entry)
One of the projects that Maria Elena wants me to work on is connecting the families of the girls to the home more. Some of the girls are orphans, but most have some sort of a family. The reason that they are living in the home is that for some reason or another they cannot live at home or their home is unsafe. All of the girls come from situations of poverty, some more extreme than others. Many of the girls were born to young mothers who were unable to care for them. I will share a few stories and pictures with you from recent visits to some of the girls’ families.
Jerdalin, 5, and Yomaira, 12, are two sisters who live at the home. They both have very sweet dispositions and I love to be around them. We went to visit their family in the campo (country). The reason that Jerdalin and Yomaira are in the home is that there family lives in a situation of poverty and because they are way out in the campo the girls cannot attend school if they live at home. It was obvious during our visit that the family was very loving and that were it not for the their situation that the girls should live at home with their family. Jerdalin’s feet never even touched the ground when we were there, her dad and brothers took turns carrying her around like a little princess.
While we were in the campo we visited another family that has 2 daughters and wants help from the home. Like Jerdalin and Yomaira’s family the family was living in poverty and the girls were unable to attend school. The sisters were 7 and 5 years old and were very sweet. I sat down and began to Nayeli, the 7 year-old. Before I knew it a small group of children from the campo had gathered around to listen. They were eager to listen and I though what a waste, all these young minds yearning to be nurtured that are wasted because they can’t go to school…. Maria Elena wanted to accept the girls into the home but we were faced with a problem. The girls’ parents were Haitian and neither or them had birth certificates. Maria Elena does not like to take children without birth certificates because declaring children later on can be difficult. Without a birth certificate a child cannot go to school past the 8th grade. Additionally, being Haitian was going to make getting the birth certificate even more difficult if not impossible (talking about being Haitian in the Dominican Republic is enough for a whole other blog entry)
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