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| The whole volunteer group at the "despedida" in Tegucigalpa |
All’s well and becoming routine here at Rancho Santa Fe.
Last week marked the end of a long transition period and the beginning of the
rest of the year. The old volunteers, whom had been here for a 13 months, left
in style this past weekend. To see them off, every single volunteer (all
20-some of us!) went into Tegucigalpa on Saturday for their “despedida” - going
away party. It was a rollercoaster. On the one hand, it was exciting to stay in
a quite luxurious hotel, eat delicious food, and go out dancing until the wee hours.
On the other, it was sad to watch the old guys go. Seeing how upset the old
volunteers were to leave the kids, the Ranch, and each other gave us newbies a
sneak-peak into the emotions of our future selves. Heck, it was hard enough for
me to watch them leave and I only knew them for a month! Nevertheless, it is
nice to be more settled now. I have since moved into an actual room with a
roommate, (shout out to my boy John!), have been assigned an hogar, and have
begun my job as Home Correspondent. Things are finally becoming normal.
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| The new volunteers. |
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| Not quite all of San Lucas, but almost |
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| Me with some of the boys on my birthday |
Last Thursday I was assigned my hogar for the next year: the
boys of San Lucas. When I first thought about working at an orphanage I had
pictured myself being surrounded by tiny humans that climb all over you and
laugh, yell and cry a lot. While this is certainly a reality if you spend time
with some of the younger hogars, it is not the case with mine. My boys are
older - (15-17 years old) - and have since calmed down a bit, (well, most of
them anyway). There are 18 of them
and they are smart and articulate, while still young enough to need supervision
and nourishment. While my responsibilities might be more as a guardian or
disciplinarian in a younger hogar, here in San Lucas, I try more to serve as a
peer who doubles as a positive role model. But will see how that goes, it’s
only been one week…
…
a good week, however. Spending
time with them in the hogar so far
has mostly included playing card games and watching them roughhouse. Soon they
will start school and the homework will begin. For now it’s more fun and games.
I was wise enough to sneak that my birthday was coming up into a conversation
with the tío (caretaker) of the hogar. This prompted an awesome b-day party. My
boys prepared the best and most food I’ve had since being in Honduras (main
course: fried chicken!) while I baked two cakes to try to satisfy their intense
sugar addiction. We finished the night off with a movie (some ridiculous James
Cameron flick about cave exploring when everything goes wrong and the
characters die off one by one). San Lucas is fun. I’m excited to get to know the boys better through work and
play. Once I told the boys I like to make movies they immediately asked if we
could make one, starring them of course. I said “yes”, as long as they write
the script.
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| San Lucas working in the fields |
On the work end of things, everything is good. It’s a little
tough adjusting to office life, especially when I have my own office, actually
my own entire building to myself. It can get a little lonely in there by myself.
I try to limit the time at my desk and be as mobile as possible by walking
around the Ranch – taking my work elsewhere when I don’t need the internet. My
work so far has mostly consisted of taking photos at Ranch events and
corresponding with the folks at NPH International. They often request
information about the Ranch or specific photos from our database for their
publications. It’s a slower part of the year in terms of my work. Looking at
the yearly schedule I can see how my responsibilities will significantly pick
up in the next few months.
Life at the volunteer house is good - much more “tranquilo”
now that we have less people living here. We play a lot of volleyball in our
courtyard which ranges from pathetically lazy to surprising competitive depending
on our mood and energy level. I got some sick “Top Gun” sunglasses that an old
volunteer left behind that really help improve my game through pure
intimidation.
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| Hangin' with Alan - the youngest child at the Ranch along with his twin brother. |
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| Smiling faces at the Ranch graduation ceremony. |
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| Día de Suyapa procession to church |
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| Some pequeños play while on a field trip to the children's museum |
