Thursday 13 December 2012

Water, how I love thee.

Ok, so I am just going to warn you right off the bat that this post has a lot to do with water. So if you have to go pee, go now!

One day last week I was rudely awakened by my then roomate Gala yelling at the top of her lungs (or it seemed like the top of her lungs in my sleepy haze) WAKE UP, OH MY GOD KATE GET UP RIGHT NOW AHHH". I woke up, sure that there was a robber or a monkey or something in our room. "WHAT!" I yelled back, but before she had time to answer I heard the splashes on the ground as she ran to the bathroom. hahah no that is not what it sounds like. Basically what had happened was this: where we live, the water turns off at night in the whole city, for what reason I do not know. So Gala had gotten home late that night and had turned on the tap in the bathroom, but of course nothing came out. SO because there was no water coming out, she had forgotten to turn the tap back OFF. So when the water came back on randomly at like 4am, the sink had overflowed, flooded the bathroom, and half our bedroom. Luckily all the floors in the house are stone, and there is a drain on the bathroom floor, so it wasnt a huge deal. We just got our towels and mopped it up, and about 45 minutes later I was back in bed. But man, what a way to wake up!

One thing I will definitely never take for granted again is HOT SHOWERS! Most of my showers here have been either freezing cold, or that awful almost-warm temperature that reminds you how good warm feels but doesn't quite let you have it.

The water and power sometimes randomly go off, which is kind of annoying but in a way I really like it. It makes life more of an adventure! For example, right now the water is off. Meaning there is no water in the whole city. I don't know why, it just is. And that's ok, you just kind of learn to roll with it.


Ok now enough about water and on to my volunteer placement. Sophie and i have been spending a lot more time with the babies lately. I think the nurses and nuns have been letting us hold them more because we are around so often now that its ok to cuddle them sometimes.

Theses babies are the sweetest things I have ever encountered. They are so happy with even just the tiniest bit of attention. Today I was washing the floor outside the babies room and I could see my favorite little guy, Erick, looking at me from his crib. And every time I would wave at him through thw window he would burst into laughter just from that one look.

One thing I am learning from the kids in Guatemala is that children are way tougher than we think. If a kid in Canada fell on grass and hit their head, they would probably start crying no doubt. A kid here will fall and hit their head on cement, and you just put them back on their feet and tell them they're fine and they dont even shed a tear. You would think that an orphange for children with HIV and Aids would be a pretty sad place, but it's actually quite the opposite. Yesterday the nurses in la enfermeria were climbing on top of the crips and out the high windows to collect braches from a pine-type tree to put around for christmas decorations! You rarely hear crying or see sad faces around the orphanage, and if you do its almost always something  a quick hug or tickle can fix.

Anyways I should probably get going, but I will leave you with a few more pictures of some of the kids I've been working with since I've been here! The older kids or the ones from Mi Escualita, my old placement, and the younger ones are at the orphanage.

The two pictures above are a little boy named Angel. That is the perfect name for him because he is honestly the worlds best baby. He NEVER cries or yells, and he is always trying to give everyone his toys. His favorite thing is being upside down, and soemtimes when I am trying to change him he will flip his head backwards off the table and then laugh like he's done something really hilarious. His legs are weirdly flexible, he can do a full split and put his feet in his mouth. Only problem is they aren't very strong and he isn't able to stand up on his own or crawl.


The is Evalyn. She is 5 years old and such a cutie.


Me and Maria looking tough. She's doing a way better job than me as you can see. 


Doris! She was the only girl a lot of days at mi Escualita. Such a funny kid, and really good at singing!


Sophie and her favorite little man Josue. This is the hairy little monkey boy I wrote about last time :)

Me trying to get Erick to walk. He's getting really close these days!


xoxo,
Miss and love you all

Kate

Tuesday 11 December 2012

Pictures

Hi Everyone! I have a lot of things to write about but I can only be on the internet for a few minutes so I am just going to dump a whole bunch of pictures on you and I will write sometime later this week :)

xxxoo












Tuesday 4 December 2012

Week 3

Hola amigos,

Como estan?

So today was my second day at my new placement. They moved me from la Escualita because it wasn't the best fit due to the age of the children and my lack of spanish abilites. The new place is an orphanage with 60 children between the ages of 3 weeks and 16 years, all of whom have HIV or AIDS. It is run by nuns, or "hermanas", so I feel like I am in the sound of music most of the time, but in the best way possible. The orphanage is so peaceful and everyone always seems to be happy and content, which is such a great atmosphere to be around.

The babys are SO FRIGGIN CUTE it's unbelievable. You walk through la enfermaria and there are just rooms and rooms of tiny cribs and beds, some empty, some with sick children, and some little tiny itty bitty babies. Today me and the other volunteer Sophia took two of the babies out onto the playground. One of them is this shy little girl named Alisa who just stares at you with her giant brown eyes when you talk to her or try to play peek a boo. She is just learning how to walk and it is really funny. The other one is a little boy named Jouse. He is such a monkey boy. He is too little to walk, so he just hangs onto us when we carry him and squeezes us so tight like a monkey. He is also really hairy for some reason and has such a pouty little face, just like a baby monkey. You can tell he is pretty sick because of his swollen belly and laboured breathing, but that doesn't stop him from being one of the most adorable kids I've ever met. There was also this teeny tiny little 3 week old girl who's name I can't remember and about 5 or 6 other babies. The saddest part about the babies is that you can't coddle them or hold them when they cry, because if they get used to that then they will just cry all the time in their cribs, wanting to be held. It is amazing how calm and silent the babies are in their cribs, just sitting and watching you, but they get so excited when you reach out your arms to pick them up and take them somewhere. Then when we put them back in the cribs they immediately start crying and I just want to get them back out and hold them, but the hermanas tell us not to do that because there aren't enough staff for the babies to get held all the time.

Then there are the elusive toddlers. Every time we try to see them they are either no where to be found, or we are not allowed in the room where they are. We're not sure why they're so mysterious, but we've caught glimpses of them and theyre so sweet, I hope we get to play with them tomorrow!

I spent quite a bit of time today hanging up laundry to dry outside (this is mostly when I felt like I was in the sound of music). I also helped feed some of the kids and did arts and crafts with the older ones. A few of the kids are deaf and or mute, and some have big scars on their faces. I assume this has to do with the HIV/AIDS, but I'm not totally sure.

I love this new placement so much more than the other one. Oh ps, the girl who has the pictures of our other placement said she will send them to my this weekend, so you can look forward to those NEXT week. In the mean time I will try to bring my camera to my current placement so you can see what an amazing place it is.

I love reading your comments, so please keep commenting if you so desire!

I thought I had more to say but I can't think of  it right now. If I do I will make another post!

Love and miss you all!

xoxo Katy