Monday, October 6, 2014

Un Dia en La Vida

Well I have officially been living in Montero for over a month now, which is crazy! And now that I have been back from La Paz for a couple of weeks, I have settled into a (sort of) regular routine, which I will do my best to describe in a minute. But first, I am going to present to you the next episode of “The Weird Medical Happenings of Cara in Bolivia!” So as I was going to bed one night, I realized that my face looked darker than normal and felt kind of weird. I asked one of the other volunteers about it, and she said it looked okay and that it was probably just tan or a little sunburnt. Well I wake up at 5 am and realize that my face is itching like crazy, so I look in the mirror, and my whole face (and part of my neck) is red, hot, and swollen. The one dermatologist in Montero (who apparently isn’t actually a dermatologist, but the brother of dermatologist) prescribed me a bunch of pills, which I supplemented with Benadryl. Over the course of that day, Madre Paulita came first to bring me ice to put on my face, then covered my whole face with cucumbers, and then after that some sort of white milky substance. By some combination of all of these forms of treatments (or the allergic reaction to whatever it was wearing off), my face and neck gradually returned to normal over the next couple of days, and I was able to resume my normal routine.
Medical anomaly numero 2, Hitch-style
                For anyone wondering the specifics of my “normal” routine, here they are as best as I can give them. During the weekdays, I wake up at 6:30 am just in time to make it to 6:45 am breakfast with the girls. I lead prayer before breakfast, and then help serve the girls. Each of us five volunteers are in charge of a table of 10 girls for meals, so we distribute food for our table (this is more of an actual job during lunch, which is the biggest meal of the day, than during breakfast or dinner, which usually consists of 1-2 pieces of bread and some type of drink). After breakfast, my mornings are pretty free, and this is when I take care of any responsibilities for the madrina, or godmother, program. This is a program that was started by one of the first SLMs at the hogar that gives each girl here a madrina to support them. The madrinas pay annual dues to cover birthday gifts for each girl, in addition to medicines and supplies used by all of the girls. They also correspond with their ahijadas, or godchildren, by sending them letters or packages, and can send them money through an American account for any specific needs of the girl. So my responsibilities involve going to the post office once a week to pick up any letters or packages for the girls, translating these from English to Spanish so that the girls can read them, keeping track of the finances of the program as a whole and each individual girl, putting together birthday packages for the girls, and making sure that the girls correspond at least a couple times a year with their madrinas. I also use the mornings to do my laundry, which is about an hour-long process for a couple of days’ worth of clothes.
                I eat lunch, which is the biggest meal of the day, at 1 pm with my table of girls, and then in the afternoon I open the library from 3-6 pm for the girls. Depending on the day, I open up the library for various activities including games, puzzles, and coloring books, in addition to the obvious activity of reading. Then we eat dinner between 6:30 and 7 pm. On Mondays and Wednesdays, the girls have music and dance lessons during the afternoons and evenings, but on other days soccer is a popular nighttime activity in the concha, or blacktop, of the hogar. I usually go to bed around 10:30 pm during the weekdays (anyone who knows my typical sleep schedule knows this is ridiculously early for me, but you gotta do what you gotta do). Then on Friday nights we go to mass with the girls, and Saturday is our free day for the week! The five of us volunteers usually go out into the town for a meal (my favorite is salteƱas, which are pieces of fried dough filled with all kinds of deliciousness like meat, egg, onion, potatoes, etc). They also make delicious fruit juices with milk here, which taste kind of like a milkshake, but lighter. Sundays are also pretty relaxed after mass in the morning.

                So that’s basically my life here in a nutshell. But even though I have these responsibilities, such as those in the library and with the madrina program, this is not why I came to the hogar. I came here to be with the girls and share Christ with them, and so my main “job description” is just to be present with them. There have been times when I forget this and find myself stressing out about the finances of the madrina program or the organization of the library. However, when I remember my true purpose for being here, I am happiest because I know that as cheesy as it sounds, I can make a difference one conversation at a time.      


Coconut-peeling party!

Does this skirt make me look fat?
Using my mad climbing skillz to retrieve my clothing




2 comments:

  1. Awesome post! The girls are precious, and you and Kelsey look fab in that skirt. Praying for you always :)

    Love,
    Anna

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  2. God keep you well from here on, Cara! That skin biz must have been a fright. Thanks for the details about your daily life, and the pix--and for remembering why you're there. God bless you, Kelsey, and all the other volunteers, the girls, and the sisters.

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