Two emails from Stanley! September 4, 2008

I’m so humbled and thrilled to share that I’ve received 2 emails from Stanley down in Nicaragua.  They are short, but oh-so-sweet -

August 14, 2008:    HELLO!  Hello, how are you doing?  I hope good.  Thank you for all of your loving care.  I love you so much.  I care for you too.  I think of you.  Thank you for everything.

September 3, 2008:  Hello, how are you.  I hope you are good.  I am happy that now that we can be in contact.  I love you much.  And I have one bit of good news…that I passed all of my classes.  It cost me, but I did it!  I hope you get to come back to casa Bernabe.  I love you. Bye

I’m just very honored and happy to hear from him.  I cannot WAIT to get down there and give him a huge hug!

- L

 

An email from my “song”, Stanley August 23, 2008

Stan-the-Man sent me an email!  I needed some help with translation because:

1.) I don’t speak Spanish ….. yet!

2.) Yahoo Babelfish can only do so much, so I got some help from a terrific mission team member, Eren.

Here’s what Stanley wrote:

“HELLO!

Hello, how are you doing?  I hope good.  Thank you for all of your loving care.  I love you so much.  I care for you too.  I think of you.  Thank you for everything.”

Yep … short but SWEET with a capital “S”.  Stan and his brother Angelo were either taken from their mom (who still has 3 other kids who live with her), or she gave up Stan and Angelo to the orphanage.  As you can imagine, this must have left some scars in Stanley’s heart.  I wonder if HE is wondering when I too will give up on him, lose interest in him. I’m sure he’s always going to be the kind of young man who holds back some of his heart, for fear it will be squashed or trampled or mutilated again.  Which is why I have to keep in touch with Stanley.  He needs someone to know that he IS valuable and loveable and worthy. 

I write Stan via email often.  I sent down (through an ONet staffer) a ‘care package’ of books (including Spanish “Captain Underpants” books and other spanish books), plus some Reeses Pieces because that boy does love candy with peanut butter in it.  I’m  sending another letter down via a friend’s Managua friend who is traveling down there this week.  And I am trying to figure out a way to get back down there sooner than July 2009. 

I’m thinking about Christmas.  Gifts for Stan and Angelo, and others down there.  If you are interested in sending something special down for Christmas, send me an email and I’ll keep you in the loop as my plan solidifies.

Love,

 L

 

 

What did you DO when you were down there? August 12, 2008

I’ve heard from many others, that some have difficulty understanding why we would travel all the way to Nicaragua, and not really DO anything?  What did you build?  What did you repair?  What did you DO when you were down there.

This was a relational trip.  There are several churches who come to Casa Bernabe orphanage and DO.  Our trip was not about doing, but about being.  Being a friend, a smile, a hug, a laugh to the children who live there 24/7. 

Here’s some of what we “did”:

hands to hold

braiding hair

Being a pillow on the bus

bunny ears make smiles

someone to hold onto

a back to "piggy back" on

a guinea pig to "pin"

a buddy on the bus

haircuts to give

hands to hold

and more hands to hold

What did we do?  That’s what we did.  In the end, it’s our prayer, that maybe these kids will remember us more for this, than for the line we painted on the orphanage, or the shower curtains we hung, or the floors we mopped.  That’s my prayer anyway.

You’re right August 12, 2008

Thank you, Roz, LG, others … for nagging me to post more.  I do have more to “unload” from my brain.  While I think about this trip, these kids, daily, I should write more. 

I recently changed the ‘wallpaper’ on my computer, so that when I turn it on, I see this:

Where the little ones sleep

This is the room where the youngest kids sleep at Casa Bernabe orphanage.  I had mixed feelings when I was in there.  It was dim and somewhat cavernous.  It’s not the kind of ‘bedroom’ we create for our little ones.  Yes there were some “Winnie-The-Pooh’s” on the wall, but there was an emptiness too.  These littles ones didn’t have a mom or dad to tuck them into bed, to read them stories.  There was not “nets” of stuffed animals, or comforters with Buz Lightyear or Wall-E, or whatever is the new, cool thing to put in your kids’ room.  No shelves full of books. No dressers filled to the brim with outfits to choose. 

Yet, there was love.  Love from the beautiful staff members who dedicated themselves to caring (not just taking care OF, but CARING) for these kids.  Love of the kids for each other.  Smiles about their beds and their bunkmates. 

Then, there was this  little boy,  Leonard, who was new to the orphanage .

Leonard, plays

Leonard was still figuring out his place here at the orphanage.  He was very quiet.  Very slow to warm to others.  While the other young ones often ran up and put their hand in your hand, Leonard would very quietly come up behind you, and sit down quietly, seeming just wanting to be in the company of another human.  Leonard sat beside me as I painted the blue line along the bottom of the orphanage’s front wall.  (The big kids were in school when we did work projects.)  Leonard said nothing, just played with a little stuffed cow, something like you’d get in a Happy Meal at McDonalds.  Eventually, he became comfortable enough to talk out loud, to himself, about his cow-adventures.  At one point, I took of the kerchief I had tied to my head, tied it around the neck of his cow, and said, “Superman!” while flying the cow through the air.  Leonard gave a meek smile:

eventually, a smile

Leonard stayed by my side for a long while. Flying his cow through the air, saying quietly, “Superman!” He got comfortable with me snapping a photo or two, and then I turned the camera over to him.  He was intrigued by a pattern on my leg, caused by sitting on the ground for a lengthy period of time, apparently my sneaker pressed to my calf.  And he took this photo:

intriguing, to Leonard

 

He showed me the photo and we managed to somehow communicate about where this weird pattern had come from.  Soon, Leonard picked up a paint brush and painted beside me, painting a simple blue line along the wall bottom.  He would smile as he painted a bit and I said, “Bueno, Leonard, bueno!!” 

It’s difficult to comprehend that this kind of interaction is significant.  In our own children’s minds, would they ever remember a time when they painted and some said, “Good!” ??  Yet God had put us in this place, at this particular time, with this particular child  We don’t know what Leonard’s daily life was like, nor whether he felt pride or ??? in the few moments we spent together, playing “Superman” and taking photos and painting. 

I don’t want to overthink it, but just ask that little Leonard had a moment where he felt no fear …. just peace, quiet, acceptance, and maybe even a little love.  This little boy, for one reason or another, was now separated from his parents, his family, and just searched for a quiet place where he was safe and accepted. 

How many years will Leonard be at CB?  Ten? 

When I see the young men and women who had spent most of their lives at CB, these kids were OPEN, and joyous, and confident, and had a bond with the other kids as well as the staff at CB.  I hope when I return to CB, hopefully next year, I’ll see a Leonard who IS one of those kids who puts his hand in yours, who proudly shows you his bunk bed and tells you who sleeps above him.  I hope to see HOPE in Leonard’s eyes.

- Laura

Shake it Off, and Step Up. August 10, 2008

Today I’m led to write about something I heard in church today.  This past Thursday, there was a Leadership Summit, broadcase from Willowcreek Church outside of Chicago.  I did get to hear a few of the speakers, but not this one:  Craig Groeschel.  Today, our pastor showed some of Craig’s lecture, and re-told one of Craig’s stories.  It struck me pretty strongly, and would like to share.

The Farmer’s Donkey

One day a farmer’s donkey fell into a well. The farmer frantically thought what to do as the stricken animal cried out to be rescued. With no obvious solution, the farmer regretfully concluded that as the donkey was old, and as the well needed to be filled in anyway, he should give up the idea of rescuing the beast, and simply fill in the well. Hopefully the poor animal would not suffer too much, he tried to persuade himself, and he began shoveling dirt into the well. As the dirt landed on the donkey’s back, and it realized what was happening, the donkey wailed. But then, the noise stopped. After a while the farmer looked down into the well and was astonished by what he saw. The donkey was still alive, and with each load of dirt that landed on it’s back, the donkey would shake it off, and step up, and it was progressing towards the top of the well. The donkey had discovered that by shaking off the dirt instead of letting it cover him, he could keep stepping on top of the earth as the level rose. Soon the donkey was able to step up over the edge of the well, and happily trotted off.

Life tends to shovel dirt on top of us from time to time.

The trick is to shake it off and take a step up.

 That’

I like that.  That’s life.  If we face our problems and respond to them positively and refuse to give into the panic, bitterness or self-pity, the adversities that come along to bury us usually have within them the potential to benefit and BLESS US.  Remember that forgiveness, faith, prayer, praise and hope are all excellent ways to “SHAKE IT OFF, and STEP UP” out of the wells in which we find ourselves.

(While this may not directly pertain to the mission trip to Nicaragua, I’m glad I heard that story, and will certainly tell it to the kids of Casa Bernabe Orphanage when I return.  We all have something dumped on our backs.  Each and every one of us.  We all just need to learn to shake it off, and step up.)

Love,

 L

Sharing July 31, 2008

On Wednesday night, I had the pleasure of meeting up with two awesome mission team members to chat and share photos.  Jan is SOOoooo lucky to be receiving emails from her bud Rebecca down at CB, and I am envious.  (Jan, maybe we can get word through Rebecca to tell Tony and maybe even Stanley to write!!!)  And our quietest member of the team, Glenn, made it!  (Mega bonus points for that Glenn!)  Glenn is a.lm.o.s.t.  back to health.  It was so enjoyable to share about our trip and our feelings afterwards.  I think we all agreed that it’s the kids at La Chureca that is eating at our hearts the most.  We were so blessed to be able to have so many opportunities to hang out  with and get to know the kids of CB (and it just kills me to pull up various websites when you google “Casa Bernabe” and see all those faces of kids we now know!!).  The funding from ORPHANetwork and Spring Branch Community Church and other resources is SO well spent.  While by American standards there is so much that we see needs work and more resources, these kids are very well loved, well cared for, and are being raised in a safe and faith-guided atmosphere.  The staff that accomplishes this are true heroes.

Today I also volunteered in the ORPHANetwork office here in V.B., and I’m so glad to say that they want me to come back.  I hope to establish a regular schedule of time spent there.  Today I spent the morning chatting with Anne and talking about where they could use some help.  Then wrote out some thank-you cards that are sent to donors … who ARE ORPHANetwork.  I can tell I’m going to love this.

I have so many more photos and stories to share with you that I don’t even know how to get it all down.  But, here’s some of the fun we had with the kids at Nueve Vida refugee camp.

When we entered, the kids were all waiting for us under a covered patio, and through loud speakers and with terrific singers up front, they greeted us with songs.  Joe instructed us as we approached, “Just grab a kid, put them on your lap, and sit in their chair.”  And so, we did.  We were serenaded with many lively, happy songs, that we couldn’t understand, but we could clap along and enjoy.

Nueve Vida: grab a kid, sit in their chair and put them on your lap!

We played a few games with the kids including sac races and a balloon game (rules unknown to me) but several of the kids in the chairs already had various  color balloons tied to their waists. 

Ready for balloon battles!

The game had something to do with being the last balloon ‘standing’ and the battle began.  John, who is about 6 foot 7 inches or something crazy like that, taunted everyone with his extreme advantage.  But some talented soul managed to get him out.

Is this fair??? Picking on poor Lee.

Soon, it was down to Stephen, our terrific 19 yr old team member and a brave young man from Nueve Vida. 

Oh ... and Stephen uses his height advantage too

But then the red balloon is within reach

One big effort and ...

As the kids cheered like mad for their friend, it came to an exciting end … and while Stephen was not the victor, he was our hero …. (you guessed it …. he was not going to let that boy lose …. way to go Stephen).

The Nueve Vida team wins!!!!

We then went on to split the kids up … girls in one patio and boys in the other and out came the pinatas! 

That's right, a Strawberry Shortcake pinata

Just like back home, all us Moms had our eyes half covered, waiting for someone to be clobbered with the stick. 

Not sure what the boys' was ??

 And just like back home, when the pinata was split open, it was pure mayhem!

No broken skulls, thank God!

I have so many photos of the gorgeous kids here, and apologize that it’s taking me so long to tell all there is to tell and upload more photos.  Let’s leave it here tonight, thinking of these kids enjoying what many of our own have enjoyed at countless kid parties. 

God Bless the kids and families and PASTOR and staff of Nueve Vida!!!

Girls’ night July 29, 2008

On Wednesday evening, Joe and the men took the boys out to the Managua soccer field and “let” the CB boys whup their butts. Then they went out for pizza, which is a BIG DEAL with the CB kids.  We’ve heard that each of the CB boys downed about 5 pieces of pizza each … many adding ketchup to their slices.  ????

Us “girls” had “Girls’ Night”  … we fed them dinner (it was a fish and potatoes concoction over pasta … that didn’t go so well but we appreciated the kitchen staff’s efforts anyway).  I am sorry to say that I had this “bright” idea to introduce the girls to FLOATS .. vanilla ice cream with various soda options poured over it.  Most of them cringed as we poured the coke or orange soda over their ice cream, and didn’t ask for seconds, but many came back for ice cream, and coke … separate please.  Thankfully, Jody pushed for cake too, and we had enough money to buy some cakes as well.

At dinner, We introduced ourselves, and the CB girls and staff  introduced themselves and the girls told us their career aspirations.  We played a few very ridiculous games, including blindfolding a girl and having her apply makeup to us gringos.  (Who the heck thought of this????)

Ambre and Eren ... America's Next Top Models (not)

Kira's enhanced lips

We played a “knot game” … not worth explaining but such fun to watch:

the beautiful beginnings of the "knot"

Gillian performed her magic braiding hair, and Biritt and others gave amazing foot massages and pedicures.  Others painted nails. 

braids are beautiful, and in high demand

Biritt and Peggy work their magic on tired feet.

Eren and I taught Marta (a gal who watches over the older girls) as well as her daughter and some other crafty-minded girls how to crochet rag rugs using torn up sheets or ANY fabric.  For those of us without daughters, it was especially endearing to pass on a craft from previous women in our lives.  (Mucho gracias to all those who donated sheets and those on our team who spent some time cutting and tearing the sheets to make “yarn-balls”, all ready for the CB gals to work with.)

I did manage to also squeeze in, at the last moment, a manicure … well, to paint the nails of one of the CB girls.  Later, as we walked the girls back to their dorm in the dark, that young lady came up to me and walked with her arm tightly wrapped around my waist.  I hung on to her too, hoping she new how much I cared about her.

As one without daughters, it was a beautiful girls’ evening.  I hope these girls and women felt special and adored and pampered.  We honor them and love them, and hope that these emotions and caring thoughts stay with them for a long time.

After affects July 29, 2008

I worried in advance about how I’d be AFTER the trip.  Once I was there, and even shortly after I returned home, I worried less.  I received so much joy from these kids.   And more than anything, I prayed that I’d brought something, ANYTHING, positive to their lives.

Each day, as time progresses post-trip, it’s a bit harder.  I now count the days since I last was able to hug one of the kids at CB.  The days add up since I felt like I had any impact on little Santiago or Stanley or Tony or any of the kids, and that is tough.

How do you let these kids know, really know, that they are so important, that they mean so much to you.

It kind of freaks me out .. I KNOW SOME ORPHANS.  I can name them.  I can tell you things they like and dislike.  Stanley loves Christian reggae and say he wants to be a veterinatian someday and thinks Reeses peanut butter cups are the bomb.  Eveling wants to be a Plastic Surgeon. Tony loves Hip-hop.  Miguel wants to be a pastor.  Jorlene just wants to meet Orlando Bloom, Angelo is a gum freak and loves to make you laugh.  (c:

It’s been 12 days since I could tell any of these kids how wonderful they are, how much they matter to the world, how proud I am of them and their strong faith.

Today, I was driving by the park in my neighborhood, and swore, for a split second, that I saw Stanley.

Today, I found a website about LaChureca, and prayed I didn’t see a photo of Santiago digging through the trash for his next meal … yet I knew, whether he was in a photo or not, that was probably the reality of his day today.  I think about the little boy at Nueve Vida, the refugee camp … the one with the barefeet and no shirt and face of acceptance of his poverty. 

this child made me worry, pray, think ... at the Refugree camp at Nueve Vida

(at this moment, can’t figure out how to rotate that photo)

This is defintitely the hard part.  I want … I NEED to know what to do.

I feel positive about one thing.  I know I will do something about children who live in poverty.  I know it.  I may not have tons of money to share with these kids (which would only temporarily solve their problems), but I do have love and caring and a true desire to let them know that they matter.

Meltdowns … July 28, 2008

I expected to have some struggles after the trip was over.  To be honest, I think I’m not in as bad shape emotionally as I thought I may be, but do have an occasional meltdown.  Yesterday, after church (in which I didn’t see any of my mission team members so didn’t have anyone to skwunch), I took the boys out for breakfast.  Sitting at the table, waiting for the waitress to bring my water, Santiago was on my mind (the little boy who I met who lives at La Chureca, the dump at Managua).

The kids from La Chureca return to their homes after an afternoon at Tip Top

Nate asked me what was on my mind, and I replied, “I’m thinking about Santiago.”  Ryan responded, “Are you gonna cry?”  which then tipped me over the edge, and tears did spill down my cheeks. 

It’s hard when you want to make a difference every day, not just one day.  You want to be able to pick up the phone or pull out the credit card or hop in the car and DO something, right then and there.

This little girl will surely be forced into a life of prostitution at around 13 yrs of age, to help her family financially. How can we alter her future?

I know we had a wonderful day together, Santiago and I.  I know that his family was able to eat some decent food that night (although not much) and had a few protein bars and a little bit of money to take home.  But how much of an impact would that have on Santiago and his family?  Not nearly enough.

Some child(ren) will sleep here tonight.

I know that God is going to help me figure out how to make a bigger difference in the lives of kids like Santiago and the some 500+ other children who live at La Chureca, but it is somewhat of a burden to carry for the moment, knowing that really it’s going to take much more than just me, much more than just the missions folks from my church, much more than what’s already going on in Managua to help out these families who live in La Chureca.  And then, beyond them, there’s still thousands upon thousands more needy families.

I’m trying to be satisfied with my baby steps.  This weekend, we did some cleaning out of our “stuff” … a lot is being given away or donated to thrift stores, but I will sell what I can.  Yesterday I sold a couple of things, and that money went into my new “Nicaragua” jar.  I expect to sell one of my kayaks in the next couple days, and will continue to purge and clean out and raise money.  Some I will be finding a way to give directly to whatever is the best way to help the families in La Chureca.  Some will go towards another missions trip there.  (This time, Nate and Ry have permission to go … so we’ll be raising over $4,000 to cover the trip for the three of us next time.)

I start volunteering with ORPHANetwork this week, and so will learn more about how to help not only the kids at Casa Bernabe, but also other areas that they are involved with in Nicaragua.

In the meantime, I guess a few meltdowns are going to occur. 

I do need to hear from any of you who want to be on my “call/email” list … when I get better organized about helping the kids down there.  I expect to occasionally be mailing care packages, sometimes to some of the kids at Casa Bernabe, and hopefully can figure out how to help out the families at La Chureca too.   We’ll come up with a name for our team and our efforts. 

Also, this is a bit “out there”, but it is possible to form our own trip down to Casa Bernabe, and the other places around Managua.  Just need a group of maybe a dozen or more people, and we can coordinate it through ORPHANetwork.  We could all fly/meet in Miami, and then fly together to Managua.  So if any of you read this blog and have it in your heart to go meet these amazing kids, let me know.  I’m very open to heading down there again ANYTIME! 

God Bless You All (and know that you really ARE very blessed).

Much love,

 Laura

Back to Day 1 and meeting the kids … July 25, 2008

So I thought I’d just briefly go back to the day we arrived, and when we first met the kids of CB (Casa Bernabe).

When we flew in, we were picked up by Ervin, our astounding bus driver and his beautiful, cheerful bus:

Ervin's magic bus

 

We board Ervin's bus

 

No A/C, windows did open though and we got plenty of opportunities to see the extensive poverty of Managua through these windows.  As we began our drive from the airport to CB, Ervin did blast a great ’70′s song … “Eye of the Tiger!”  (Coincidentally … which means not a coincidence but just a little smile/joke from God … that’s the first song I ever HEARD at Spring Branch Community Church.  We walked in our first time, sat in the balcony, and the lights came up and there were silouettes of men with mega-long frizzy/curly hair (wigs), banging out “Eye of the Tiger.”  Ryan turned to me and said, “Ma … are you sure we’re in the right place?  I don’t think this is church.” It turns out, they were doing theme weeks in the music at church and we arrived in the 70′s.)

Now, whenever I hear “Eye of the Tiger” I start looking around for evidence of God’s hand.

So, we bump along the diesel (or other fuel?) smelling, trash-filled, beeping, honking, hectic streets of Managua and finally arrive at the gates (with guards) of Casa Bernabe orphanage.  Before we get off, our trip leader John gives us some last minute critical info:  “The toilet paper is NEVER to be flushed down the toilet.  It goes in the waste basket next to the toilet.  If you want to have use of your toilet during the next week, you will not put toilet paper into your toilet. In fact, we want you to do whatever you can to conserve water.  We guys have a saying, ‘If it’s yellow, let it mellow.  If it’s brown, flush it down.’”

(Oh Lord … what have we gotten ourselves into.)

Oh yeah … no one gave us the memo about there only being COLD water too … no hot showers for a week.

 I guess we’re kinda lucky that this mission team isn’t any bigger, because each “dorm room” has four bunk beds … that’s eight women per room and ONE bathroom.  Great.  Thankfully, our team isn’t so big and our room has just four women in the one room.

My room, shared with Gillian, Tara and Leigh!

To be honest, our accomodations are terrific.  We have comfortable (bunk) beds, and double sinks in the bathroom and at least we DO have a shower, and A/C !!!!  (I’m fairly certain there’s only about a dozen air conditioning units in the entire city of Managua and 8 of them are right here in the mission teams’ dorm building.

There’s two long, thin buildings which contain four dorm rooms (each can hold eight people in four bunkbeds), and the coolest thing is that they are connected by this HUGE “porch” … a covered patio with (Rubbermaid-style) outdoor tables and chairs for eating all our meals, four great rocking chairs, and a sofa and two chairs that were sunroom-looking type furniture.  No walls, no windows, no screens .. but lots of fresh air, occasionally a visiting hungry dog or kitten, and the ever-present flies which became less and less noticeable as the week went on.  (Oh, the bugs did decided to have a grand finale day and were really ‘in our faces’ on the last day before we left.)

To be honest, the porch area is where you wanted to be.  There’s was almost always a half dozen folks (or more) from the team out there, and if you sat down and joined their conversation you were sure to be laughing within 10 minutes.  (I think Joe prescreened this team to have folks with terrific senses of humor and insight … what a great bunch of folks, and how the heck did *I* get in????)

Often, one or a couple of us grabbed our bibles and headed off to the end of one table to read quietly, look for guidance, take notes, write in journals. 

Occasionally, you’d see one of our team members standing off to the edge of the patio, looking out onto the CB property, and nearly every time, within a few moments, another member of the team walked over, threw their arm around their shoulder, and asked, “How ya doin’??  Everything okay?”  (Don’t you wish everyday life was like that … you showed the slightest sign of stress or concern, and within minutes someone is checking on you, asking if you are okay?)

Here’s some photos of the mission team buildings, porch area, view of the building where the CB pig lived across from us, etc. -

the great new bldgs where the team stayed

The Gals' side. Rm #1 was mine along w/ 3 other gals

So, we settle our stuff into our dorm rooms, have dinner (rice w/ corn, chicken, salad, and deep fried platains [sp?] I think … good!).  Then we gather and prepare for the kids to come over for our first meet and greet.  Joe gives us the low down on the upcoming insanity, and we plan for some games such as “Cowboy, Gorilla, Kung Fu” which is a more physical, insane version of “Paper, Scissors, Rocks” and NO … Joe had no idea who beat what … does a Cowboy beat a Gorilla? or does the Kung Fu beat a Cowboy?”  Yeah … it’s called “fly by the seat of Joe’s pants.”

(In the end, we just went alphabetical … Cowboy beats Gorilla which beats Kung Fu which beats Cowboy.  The end.  If we talk about it too much, try to find some logic in this goofy game, we’ll be arguing all night.)

I forgot the other games we played … but believe me, they were just as screwy.  Oh yeah … one was ‘how man clothespins can you pinch on a gringo’s face’.  Thanks for the nice NEW clothespins, Joe … with nice new (tight) springs and a good strong grip.  Those were great. (uber-ouch)

So, we wait and wait for the kids to arrive.

Then finally, two boys show up … one walks by and pats me on the shoulder in a greeting.  I’m kind of numb at this moment.  Another younger boy hides behind a bush, but slowly emerges when we smile and tease and joke and wave enough.  (Either that, or he spotted Joe, whom they all adore … a/k/a “Pepe”.)

Then more come and more come, and I feel like, what do I do??  Joe says just jump right in, talk, “high five”, do anything … just engage.  And that’s what Joe does .. he charges kids, tackles them, makes faces and crazy sounds.  The rest of us seem to slowly try to say “Hola” and see if we can remember how to say “My name is ….” and “What’s your name …”

The games begin, with the help of our translators who somehow seem to make “Cowboy, Gorilla, Kung Fu” sound like something normal and the kids willingly cooperate.

(I got shy.)

So, I walked over to a table of some older girls who were not playing and decided that this must be the wall-flower section … just where I belong.  (I was wrong.)  I asked the one girl why she wasn’t playing and she said, in English, that she was sick.  My hand immediately flew to her forehead.  (Later thought … Wow … what a “momma” thing to do.”)  The other young lady had crutches, and I later found out had a broken foot … from playing soccer (YOU GO GIRL!).

I decided to go ahead and make a fool of myself.  I sat down with them, and talked to them in my enchanting combo language of English-German-French-Spanglish.  (Lovely.)  I brought out my journal and drew pictures where words got stuck.  Thankfully, I also had my camera which is the secret connection between the gringos and the kids.  All the kids love to look through your photos and take pictures of themselves and their friends.  My two new “friends”, Jorlene and Eveling, were 18 and 17 respectively.  (I later realized, they really were far too cool for our goofy games.)  Jorlene took dozens of photos of not only herself, but her many friends, and wrote down her friends’ names in my journal.  I tried to keep up the conversation, and like a complete idiot, asked her over and over (in Spanish) “How do you say (that) in SPAIN?” (Duh.)  She’s correct me.  “In Espanol! (Spanish!) Not in Espana (Spain)!”  Yeah .. she laughed at my lack of brains a few times, but conversation is conversation.  It turns out that both Eveling and Jorlene spoke pretty decent English, but I think they rather enjoyed watching me struggle with Spanish, so I hope I didn’t mutter anything that I didn’t want them to really understand … because I’m sure they did!

Jorlene (17)

 

Eveling (18)

When the team broke out the ice cream, I offered to bring the girls some (Eveling “no”, Jorlene “Yes, chocolate”) some ice cream.  This became the first of many times I tried to bring Jorlene chocolate ice cream and came back a failure … bringing something else instead, because the chocolate was gone.  (Very popular amongst the kids, chocolate is … and it’s gone fast!)

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what the girls thought of me, this redheaded 100 year old gringo with NO Spanish skills.  But I hung in there, hoping God had sent me to the right table.

Let me jump to the next day, because later, I felt okay about all this.  The next day we took all the kids to the beach.  After some time in the water, playing with some of the younger boys, I retreated to the covered patio area because I was petrified of the close-to-the-equator sun of Nicaragua and of a painful sunburn (despite my repeated application of sunscreen).  At one point, I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I sat on a bench and broke out my knitting.  About 5 minutes  later, I see Jorlene hobble over on her crutches asking, “Can I help you?”  Jorlene knew how to knit!  So, I turned over my knitting, and sat with her, mostly quietly, sometimes with a question or two, enjoying her company and feeling thankful that she had engaged me (when the night before, I wondered if maybe she was really wishing I’d go away.) 

Jorlene knits with me

After a while, some little kids jumped into the nearby hammocks, and I was soon employed as ‘official-hammock-swinger.’ Eventually, I managed to coax Jorleneto get into one so I could swing her;  then Eveling into the other, and spent a good 45 minutes swinging then back and forth, calling them “Queen Jorlene” and “Queen Eveling” in Spanish.  We talked and joked about boys and I found out that Jorlene has an ”American boyfriend” whom I quickly figured out was really a “computer boyfriend” (Facebook) who lives in Virginia, and teased her mercilessly about this. Also found out she adores Orlando Bloom (and then called her “Mrs. Bloom”). After lots of giggles and laughs, Jorlene eventually relaxed, closed her eyes, and began to quietly sing a song. 

(Thank you, God.)

Had anyone ever rocked these girls as a child?  When was the last time that anyone had just pampered them?  Eveling, I knew, had been at the orphanage for 10 years.  I forget how long Jorlene had been there but it was 6 or 8 years too.  It felt good to connect with them, to smile and tease about boys, to swing them in their hammocks until they relaxed.  I won’t forget this day either.