Teaching, Out of the City, and Some Illness

Hello world! 3 part post today

1) So this last week I have been focusing on getting the boys in a rhythm with my classes at the correctional center. As you can imagine trying to get teenagers not only from troubled backgrounds, mostly from the streets, to cooperate is not an easy task. Also with conflicting groups within the center and there own leadership struggling to stay afloat, and I with generally no knowledge of whose on what team and who did what to get there I’m at a constant battle there. This past week another group tried to escape, a boy had a broken leg from fighting and another had a huge black eye come Monday morning. I don’t know if I mentioned before but I am teaching alphabetization, English and Catechism to different groups. Teaching a group from 14 to 16 to read is always interesting. As anyone who knows me well knows, I love to read. I will most of the time read anything you give me and have so many books, that since I haven’t had my own place now for over a year, I have secretly divided them up between my friends and families houses (guess the secret is out :)) and my mom bought me an e-reader for my birthday last year to stop the madness. Anyways, something that has been lacking for them is reading comprehension so every time they read a short story I make them re-read it till the can tell me what it means, what it tells. I live for the moment that there face lights up and they get it. I want them to find joy in knowing what is around them not just where the drug spot is in there neighborhood but in the world around them and how it affects them. If the only thing I can give them is the ability to read and write before they get out it’s a tool they didn’t have when they got there. I hope to God that he’s with them on there way.

2) This past weekend I had a chance to meet with all the SLMs in our province here in Bolivia. On Saturday after my classes I head out to Okinawa. I was in love; it was exactly how I pictured it and just raised my spirits in general. It was great seeing the volunteers there because I hadn’t seen some of them since orientation or since I first got here to Bolivia. We had lunch and then headed to the pool for an afternoon of fun. Sadly though the time there was short and we said our goodbyes and I was back on the road to Montero to that mission site. Saturday night I went to dinner with the SLMs from the hogar there and had time to catch up with them. On Sunday we all went to mass with all the girls from the hogar on Mission Sunday. It was a lovely service and I loved the presentation of gifts that was especially done for that day. The songs sung where all songs I knew from my time in DR and it just made the experience that much better. I spent the rest of that day with the SLMs from the institute, had lunch with them at home and caught up on how they where doing before my journey back to Santa Cruz. I had a great time and let down my guard and was so blessed to be surrounded by my wonderful friends there.

3) This week I have had something, although I didn’t know what it was exactly. The name they keep calling in must be indigenous I am not sure. It consisted of headaches, body aches and chills, lost of appetite and fevers. I really didn’t get to see my babies this week but the sisters told me to stay in bed and sent all there prayers. But today the fever has finally broken, I am eating to get my strength up and will be back to work hopefully in the morning. My life is full of blessings everyday. As miserable as I was in bed these days I knew that at some point it would come and I am excited to get back into my routine. :)

God Bless and Peace

Happenings

So I have fallen behind in my writing. It’s been an interesting time. About two weeks ago the boys had visitation and one of there brothers smuggled in weed to them. About half of them got high and they also got some of the younger boys that never had any drugs before, which is what gave them away. Also, we were having a change in the night staffs so 14 of the boys planned there escape on the guy’s first shift. One of them was going to grab the guy’s keys and gun when he fell asleep steal his jeep, hold him at gun point and escape this way. First of all clearly planned by teenagers because they had these things written in a notebook (never leave evidence CSI :)), and there is no way a Vitarra was going to hold 14 boys. So obviously this was a fail but brought about many repercussions. The leader has been in solitary confinement since and life is moving on. But it really makes me think what am I doing with these boys and what else can be done to prevent them from reentering the system. I’m really trying with my catechism class. We have conversations and discussions. They even asked me for a list of bible citations which I am working on for them. It’s really good to know that only one of the kids in my class was involved. I know I can’t change the whole population but I can change a few and that makes my time worthwhile.

At the hogar I am now taking away cell phones because the workers are requested to keep them in there lockers but as soon as the sisters are gone they are back on them and texting constantly. So if I take a cell phone away they will be either paying or deducting from there pay 50bs to have it returned. Not fun a lot of upset people but no one wants to follow the rules so it has come to this. This week I’m supervising teeth brushing for the kids and on go my battle. At some point this year I will get to see the rewards of this all.

 At home, I got to go to meet Julio’s teachers. The kids here have about a month left of school. He has progressed from bad grades to bad attitude with the teachers unfortunately. Slamming down things and straight out refusal to do work they give him. So we are back to the drawing board with him and trying to get him through his tests.

Everyone here is really excited though because one of the girls that went through the program in getting married in a week so the prep is underway. Imagine a house full of twenty year olds prepping for a big event. They are in a flurry. It should be fun to see them all done up and help them with all there prep.

As you can see it has been hectic with a couple of other things going on as well. But the Holy Spirit accompanies me through these days and I know the big guy isn’t going to leave me alone at any point of this journey.

 

Lots of Love!

Eli

Festives at the Convent (w/ pics)

Tuesday was an interesting day. As I reached the hogar, feeling quite overwhelmed with everything going on this week, I wasn’t sure what to get to first. Since it was Giacomo’s last day here we took some pictures with the boys which you will see below. At 1130 I went to the convent for rosary and liturgy of the hours with the sisters and I find a very different scene. Giacomo is working with some wood and coals trying to get a fire going and the house was decorated, the chapel as well and a large table was pulled out to the general living space. It was Hermana Angelina’s Birthday! I felt so bad I didn’t know about this before and could have brought something but soon I was BBQ while Giacomo tried to keep the fire going and the rain started and stopped! Angelina enjoyed all this taking many pictures of us. Two sisters came to visit from another house and we sat down for lunch with many Brazilian dishes and the pork and beef and sausages from the grill. The sisters also pulled out a bottle of wine which gave lots of laughs throughout the meal. The visiting sisters took us to the center where they work at for a tour of the grounds. It is an adolescent mothers house where they live with there children or just before birth. They are all minors and most are rape victims. I didn’t take pictures here for the protection but it was a moving experience. Girls young as thirteen, that didn’t have to resort to other methods and are getting educated and professional help there, they have a sewing machine filled room and a bakery that they send bread out of every week.  It is a blessing. We later went shopping for Giacomo’s souvenirs and Sister’s birthday present. All in all it was a great day and lifted my spirits considerably. It seems as the sisters are soon becoming great friends of mine. I can speak freely with them and they are so funny and welcoming. They’re my girlfriends that just happen to have to fight the constant Santa Cruz winds that won’t leave their habits alone :). My constant blessing. Enjoy the pics!

 

 

Giacomo aka Santiago with Rolando, Jandre and I

 

Decorated Chapel

 

 

 

Hna Maria at the table Hna Angelina laughing and Hna Claudia on the right

 

The Feast

 

 

Us Hard at work

 

 

At our celebration meal

Blessings from Overseas

This week went very well and I think it has to do with the conviction I ended with on my last post. Since I have been here, with respect to the hogar, I have had to spend a lot of time concentrating on my administrative duties and although I was watching over the kids, returning a stray wonderer or dealing with some issue or another I really hadn’t put time into any group enough to enjoy them and get to know them. So with most of my projects settling in and no major dilemmas I was in charge of working with Santiago and to some extent translating for him. Santiago, which who’s name is Jacomo but the sisters claim means Santiago in Italian (and I personally doubt this but have kept that to myself), is an Italian missionary here for ten day in Santa Cruz working with mission San Lorenzo. His uncle is a bishop in Tuscany and his father is on the board for our mission in Italy. Thus, they have sent him to get to know what they are all working so hard for back home. He speaks Italian, some broken English, and almost no Spanish. The kids think it is funny but have taken to him very well. With no male role models or employees, men become a novelty and they can’t get enough of his attention. How do I fit into this you may ask? Well I had the opportunity to play for hours with the kids! He took one group and me another and we just had so much fun with all of them! I was so happy and enjoyed it and have promised myself to take at least one of the three days to just play with the kids and leave administrative tasks aside. I don’t want to spend a year with them and not have had those opportunities and not have enjoyed there company. It also helped with the things I was doing in the office because the caretakers joined us instead of sitting and watching without me having to pull them aside and request it! They pulled out a soccer ball and had a game going. The shouts were so loud that the sisters came out of the convent to see what was going in and were overjoyed to see things working out. I went to pick up Jacomo from the hogar on Friday morning and as I walked through the rooms the kids were calling out my name. They finally learned it and can’t wait to get on the playground with me again. So when before I only got surrounded by all the little ones, the older children have taken to me too. This just puts a huge smile on my face.    

 

Final Thought

 

Jacomo will be going home on Wednesday with his first experience out of his country alone, the joy and love of the children of Mission San Lorenzo and great memories to share with our board members there. I am sure he has no idea what he has done for me and my ministry at the hogar. Even though my approach was different then the previously used ones for the workers of our mission, it wasn’t enough. Now I have another tool to work with and it is the most enjoyable one yet! It was also the missing piece I was still searching for here. So I give thanks that we could experience these things together. Even though everyone thought I was his blessing (being the only person he communicated with here), he was also mine.

My Thoughts on the Gospel

This Sunday I went to mass at the cathedral of Santa Cruz. I tend to forget how long masses can go for in Bolivia. I didn’t mind it though. I arrived a bit early and took some time to meditate. When I began to pay attention again to my surroundings I realized how full the church was. All the seats where taken (it’s a cathedral so there is a lot of seats) and there was people standing on every side of the church. Something else I noticed was that a person was placed at the front of the church announcing what went next and when to sit down and when to get up. I don’t know if this is everyone’s experience but in the states people that go to church are catholic and know what is practiced during a mass. She even told them what to say when they went up to communion (that anyone who did there first communion should know and anyone how hasn’t shouldn’t go up at all). I also have notice that parents don’t keep up with there children’s sacraments. In my prep for first communion class either they are getting baptized when they have there first communion or there baptism was a one or two years ago and they are now teenagers. It just seemed to stand out to me since this a catholic country. Yet the church was full and the mass was joyous and heartfelt. I think today’s gospel Mark 9 38-43, 45, 47-48 and homily went right along with what I was thinking. This gospel says Whoever Is Not against Us Is for Us and how Jesus explains this to John who has questioned it. As Catholic Christians it is our duty to except all and all of us SLMs as well as the church as a whole. On mission as we all work with people of all nationalities and creeds we need to remember that all that are willing need our love and understanding and for us to pave the road for them to God.

 

Catedral San Lorenzo

Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

 

The end of the journey to the Journey

So since we haven’t had internet for a week here at the house this is an update of last week while tom you will probably get one for this one.
Tuesday of last week I worked with the hogar and it was HOT and it was uncommon for this time of year which is good and bad to here. I was so fed up that I was verbally wishing the rain would already come. A good amount of sweat and none stop winds raising the dirt and sand sticking to you is not fun. So around 4am when I heard the rain coming down in sheets I was fairly excited and went back to sleep. The next time I awoke I was startled by the amount of water in our interior yard. The water had gotten itself into the girl’s room and the kitchen as well. I get ready to go out a light sweater my umbrella and my galoshes and leave the house. When I reach our outer gate I am once again startled by the amount of stopped honking traffic. I reach the corner and on the sidewalk the rain was up my galoshes, I couldn’t even step into the street much less. There were deserted cars everywhere and no buses. The ones that were out were practically floating down the road. It was crazy. I returned home, tried again later, and then found out two people died trying to get where they were headed and just chose to not work that day and called it in. Everyone thought that the freak storm was sort of funny and became the topic of conversation in the city for a couple of days.

 On Friday was the first day of spring, the day of love and friendship (Valentines Day), day of the doctors and day of the students. Most schools were closed and parades and dances were visible all over the city. I had to go the center but was at the cathedral in the morning and enjoyed some of the festive. That night we had a sort of party here at the Casa to acknowledge all of this so the cook went all out and made four awesome deserts for us all. We all decorated the dinning room with balloons and signs and had a great time. The kids danced traditional and not so traditional dances. I was asked to dance to some Dominican music that they love to hear and we all participate in some pretty funny karaoke most of the night. It was a great bonding time for the house and everyone enjoyed there day.

Well everyone told me I would get sick and I thought not but sure enough Sat I went to bed and tossed and turned with stomach aches all night and was really sick till about noon on Sunday. It was not fun and the worse part is that I don’t know what did it to me. Feeling slightly better I headed out to Montero around two that afternoon to meet up with my fellow SLMs there. I was really excited to be out of the center of the city and to see other areas. I arrived to the marketplace and first I noticed that I wasn’t very comfortable there and second how much more attention I got there then I did in Santa Cruz. I searched with no luck for street names and finally gave up and called to be picked up. After I arrived at the compound it was a lot easier to locate everything and figure out the town layout. Montero is poorer than the city with many dirt streets and just a more rural, smaller feel. I liked it though with its large market, many mototaxis and the lovely community at the compound. So it consists of a compound, an institute, a hogar and the area where the volunteers live. There is also a daycare and kindergarten and pre-k. The institute is pretty impressive and the hogar is one of the better run ones I have seen. I really enjoyed my time with the volunteers there (there is SLMS, VIDAS, and a British Salesian living there). I got to spend sometime with the girls at the hogar doing arts and crafts and at there dinner time. Later that night we had dinner together really enjoying the company and talking about everything. Still a little light and exhausted from my ordeal that morning I took it easy with all the great dinner options and the desert (brownies a la mode!) but still was really happy to be with them. I tried to get a feel for how everyone was doing although the roles there are still not set in stone since two more volunteers are coming in. I also had a chance to talk to someone here (in Bolivia) about the sort of things going on which was really great for me. Bouncing off someone makes things a little better.

Final Thought
 I don’t know why but this weekend makes me feel like things are just beginning for me here like I’m officially settled in and I am not the only one that still doesn’t know what is supposed to be going on and doing in there roles or location some of the time. I know fairly how to get along and people are getting used to having me around. My year is just starting and I have so much to experience and enjoy still! This time next year I may be headed to New York or already there and getting used to ‘my life’ all over again but on the route to that God has plenty to do through me and I’m just letting him in and letting him shine through me to what he wants in Santa Cruz and why he put me here.

Don Bosco's Kids in Santa Cruz- Week 1

I really need to have better blogging habits. J My first ‘normal’ week in Bolivia has passed. The boys at the center are easier to deal with although it is still a lot of work. There are about 35 boys serving right now. I am in charge of catechism for 1^st communion on Fridays and apparently basketball Friday afternoons which should be fun or funny not sure yet. On Mondays I work with the kids that are talking the radio classes. I have from 3^rd to 6^th grade and they are taking the four major subjects. I prefer not to find out what they are in for it preserves my image of them as just boys I work with. The director of the mission said something to me that warmed me. We were talking about his mission and he said you are in the right place because these are the exact kids Don Bosco would be working with if he were in Bolivia. He was of course absolutely right and it brings me peace and joy to follow St. John Bosco’s ways at Fortaleza even if t isn’t a Salesian entity.

 I assisted the hogar three days helping out a lot with all the beautiful children that call me mama everyday and run for hugs when I get there. They are awesome. Baby Javier has stolen my heart for example. He is 2 months old and has been slowly returned to health in the last couple of days. It was daily trips to the hospital with him for a while but he is happily drinking milk and snoozing away. I sneak off to see him as much as I can and try to catch him at intervals he is up. I have also been helping the older girls with basic arithmetic and arts and crafts for there homework assignment. My role there is complicated as I am working with the administration to keep the educators in line. It’s not fun or easy but people are starting to talk to me little by little.

At home everything is good. I gave my English classes on Saturday morning and went to a quinceanera at night. I was very glam (even though the place was off a dirt road) with zebra and lots and lots of pink. I assisted a Kermesse on Sunday, which is like a fair, and had a lovely time. There was a lot of folklore dancing and good food and people. The only rain on my parade was brought on by myself when i was ordering lunch. I saw a sign that said escabeche de chancho. My literate translation to Dominican was pork with pickled onions on top which sounded perfect to me. I order it and she hands it to me and I almost dropped it. It was basically the gizzards, bones and skin of the pork not sure if cooked or soaked in vinegar served cold. As appetizing as it sounds it looked. It seemed to be a specialty that they all enjoyed but a) cold meat is never a go and b) grey meat isn't either. But I definitely learned my lesson and had some laughs about it later. All the other food looked and tasted amazing. It was a great introduction to Bolivian, or Santa Cruz, culture. Small achievement of the week: haven’t gotten lost in 5 days, I know how to get to and from my sites (even though I get of a stop to early or to late every time I come home and have to walk a bit), I have a better understanding of the food here, and I can follow the conversations at home more and more often everyday! God Bless!

 

 

Family Casa Nueva Horizonte

 

Folklore dancing for Santa Cruz

 

Bolivian traditional dance at Kermesse La Merced

Affirmation

So after Stephanie left yesterday things finally started settling in to my reality. I cleaned the room and washed my clothes (first time by hand). I sat and decided it was finally time to read my affirmations. They had been stashed away until I needed them and I am not sure why I thought this was it. These were all letters from my fellow SLMs that we wrote to each other and I had decided to stash for later date. I had also added to them things people had written to me back home. It was really moving. I loved them and was so interesting to see how other perceives me. They also said a lot of things that I would never say about myself. Somehow they brought me back to the place I had been at the time when I said bye to them all. There assurance that I can not only do this but do it well made me happy and at peace and with new added strength to my purpose that only god knows is. It also reassured the fact that I not only have my family but I am part of a way bigger family that is the SLMs immediately and extends to the salesians as a whole. I keep this in mind as I connect to everyone in my household little by little...

Fortaleza

Sept 6

Stephanie is on her way out and I’m on my way to site one Fortaleza. So I have a better picture today of the city. Those ripple rings are actually 4 huge avenues that ring around the city dividing it into 1, 2, 3 and 4. I live on the second ring and Fortaleza is way out of the 4^th ring. It is quite far but also showed me how huge this city really is. On our way there we passed the factory sector and the oil distribution center or something like that (all I know is they deal with oil there) and hit the dirt roads. Just for reference dirt roads where it hasn’t rained and heavy winds don’t mix. I felt like I was in the wrong continent for a while. The good thing about Santa Cruz is that nothing last forever and there is many seasons or times of year with different climates. The wind dies down we will be fine and when it turns to mud for raining season as wellJ. The boys at the house were all different and interesting. I finally got a good picture of what it provides. Fortaleza is actually a place where they serve there sentence in community. They are forced to be there and they are gated in but it has a home affect with a large yard for games and basketball. Some are learning to make hammocks others to color and paint. Some have adapted well to there circumstance and others are still rebelling. I hope to help as many as possible. They already were gathering for help with math and social studies. They all want to learn English so I might be teaching soon! The children that live at Casa Nuevo Horizonte are great and are always asking questions and have the best pets. Luna the cat appears on occasion and Solo Vino is the dog. He’s always around and barking at the gate. His name means came alone :).

Day 1 Bolivia

Sept 5

Today was my first day in Bolivia. I arrived at our house about 330am and slept till 9. I tried to get everything unpacked all morning and they had this big lunch to welcome me here. It was lovely they had a huge poster and all made cards and a picture with everyone who currently lived here and what they did. Very helpful and so excited to see me! I enjoyed them all and trying to get the rhythm of things down at some point since they all have different schools and schedules. They made me a packet with all the mission statement, slogan and prayers of the house and a map of the city. My initial reaction was I’m never going to figure this out. The map looks like some kind of ripple and then within the rings every street and every neighborhood of the city. Then I take the bus and it is zooming by barely allowing people to get on and off before it guns of into traffic. Stephanie and I just glanced at each other every now and then as we saw burger king and subway on our way down. We went to this huge shopping center slash flea market thing that was HUGE. Crisscrossing isles of just about everything, it was great. Stephanie and I bought some stuff we didn’t bring and Carmen, my coordinator, picked up things for the girls before we returned to the house. To say the least my first day was exciting with welcomes, native foods, public transportation and some shopping. It gave us a good view of the city and the people and how certain things work. It was also great to be able to do it with Stephanie before she goes to her site.

The Journey

September 4

So it has been a couple days since I had a chance to have internet access for various reasons, Last night I had to say bye to everyone and for about half an hour a had almost all my favorite people in one room it was bittersweet. My closest friends are such an important part of my support system and they prove it time and again. Although my journey may put strain on our relationships everything I will do is well worth it. This morning I had to say bye to my mother and it was so hard to leave her again but she was such a better sport about it this time. To say the least it was a hard day in different ways but as I took my seat at the first plane of the day I realized that the peacefulness I had felt following orientation and all that process had returned and although if I think to hard about tears will fill my eyes I can not wait to see the girls and get to my destination. So as I sit here waiting for my fellow SLM and our next flight I am ready to get to my new definition of home. I will tell you all about it pretty soon. Till then, Bolivia bound…