Taking a Break From Playing to Take a Picture
Apparently I Broke a Rule
The Girls in Their Church Attire
When the children saw the ice cream, they were so excited and instead of pushing each other to be first like most children would do, they lined up from youngest to oldest. After the children finished their ice cream sandwiches, we got to play with the children. While the older children played sports on the basketball court, the younger kids played games. Many of the little children played the role of police while the teens in my group were the bad guys. I was one of the bad guys and the boy in charge of making sure I didn't "escape" was named Jaime. Apparently, I was attached to the goal post with invisible handcuffs and if I even moved a muscle, he would say stuff to me in Spanish which I couldn't understand. These children are very creative and imaginative despite growing up in a tough environment. Another thing I noticed is that if one of the little children needed help or was crying, one of the older kids would rush over to help and calm the little one down. Although not all of them are related, they take care of and watch out for each other as if they were siblings. Also, I never noticed any fighting between them during our stay. I think that because they are basically on their own to some extent, they have matured faster than most children their age who live with their family. After playing with the children, we had to go out to dinner and then we would meet them again at the church. The man who is in charge of the orphanage is the pastor at the church and he and his family help out with the children and all of the kids look up to them as role models. Our dinner ran a little late so we arrived during the service and all the kids were thrilled to see us. We enjoyed the singing and clapping and everyone was really into it. At one point, there was some kind of meditation and the older children were really into it. They were bowing, closing their eyes, crying, and even kneeling on the floor. This just goes to show how much their faith means to them and how thankful they are for everything they have. When you have so little, your faith is something you can always fall back on and that is something I saw in the children during that service. Seeing them pray made me realize that I have so much, yet I take it for granted. These children go to church twice a week, and if ordinary people could see how much their faith means to them, I guarantee that people would learn a lot about what it really means to worship from these children. About half way through the two hour service, the pastor called our group of volunteers up to the front and told the people what we were doing and thanked us. Then, the children came up and thanked us as well. They were so thankful and when they went to hug us, they said "Thank you" instead of "Gracias". Many of them were crying as they gave us hugs, and you just didn't want to let go of them knowing what their future entailed. After mass, we said good bye to the kids and watched as they piled into the little van and made our way back to the hotel to get some sleep for our last day at the orphanage.
Taking a Break From Playing to Take a Picture
Apparently I Broke a Rule
The Girls in Their Church Attire
When the children saw the ice cream, they were so excited and instead of pushing each other to be first like most children would do, they lined up from youngest to oldest. After the children finished their ice cream sandwiches, we got to play with the children. While the older children played sports on the basketball court, the younger kids played games. Many of the little children played the role of police while the teens in my group were the bad guys. I was one of the bad guys and the boy in charge of making sure I didn't "escape" was named Jaime. Apparently, I was attached to the goal post with invisible handcuffs and if I even moved a muscle, he would say stuff to me in Spanish which I couldn't understand. These children are very creative and imaginative despite growing up in a tough environment. Another thing I noticed is that if one of the little children needed help or was crying, one of the older kids would rush over to help and calm the little one down. Although not all of them are related, they take care of and watch out for each other as if they were siblings. Also, I never noticed any fighting between them during our stay. I think that because they are basically on their own to some extent, they have matured faster than most children their age who live with their family. After playing with the children, we had to go out to dinner and then we would meet them again at the church. The man who is in charge of the orphanage is the pastor at the church and he and his family help out with the children and all of the kids look up to them as role models. Our dinner ran a little late so we arrived during the service and all the kids were thrilled to see us. We enjoyed the singing and clapping and everyone was really into it. At one point, there was some kind of meditation and the older children were really into it. They were bowing, closing their eyes, crying, and even kneeling on the floor. This just goes to show how much their faith means to them and how thankful they are for everything they have. When you have so little, your faith is something you can always fall back on and that is something I saw in the children during that service. Seeing them pray made me realize that I have so much, yet I take it for granted. These children go to church twice a week, and if ordinary people could see how much their faith means to them, I guarantee that people would learn a lot about what it really means to worship from these children. About half way through the two hour service, the pastor called our group of volunteers up to the front and told the people what we were doing and thanked us. Then, the children came up and thanked us as well. They were so thankful and when they went to hug us, they said "Thank you" instead of "Gracias". Many of them were crying as they gave us hugs, and you just didn't want to let go of them knowing what their future entailed. After mass, we said good bye to the kids and watched as they piled into the little van and made our way back to the hotel to get some sleep for our last day at the orphanage.
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