Some of you may wonder how does my life and ministry in Chile look like?
On Wednesday the 8thwe arrived safe and tired as a team in Santiago. It was cold. After a 30 minutes car drive, we got to our home called Casa Esperanza which means House of Hope. We are staying here till the end of the month of August and have to get used to the chilly weather. We are really privileged to stay at this place: We do have a kitchen, beds (8 together in one room), a flushing toilet, a washing machine and a shower (which runs with cold water, so we prefer boiling the water in the kitchen and taking hot bucket showers). Of course these are minimal to the usual Swiss and Western standards, but not so for the whole 11 months of the ongoing race!
Our team has a schedule full of variety. From Tuesday till Friday we serve in the mornings at a special needs school called “Las Rosas” by assisting teachers. This is really interesting because the school is totally different from what I do know from Switzerland. In fact, I guess you can’t even compare this school with a normal Chilean school. Because they don’t know how to treat children with disabilities, they send them all together to “Las Rosas” so that they have a place to stay during the day. The age and the disability changes from student to student. In my classroom there is a 26 year old girl in a wheelchair who can’t speak but only makes noises, a 14 year old girl who is blind, a 17 year old boy who is cognitively behind, another teenage boy who has a crippled hand plus a mental disorder and a 19 year old boy who is diagnosed with autism. A Swiss teacher would totally be challenged by facing this but a Chilean one does a minimal amount of educating (approximately 15-30 minutes) and is content with spending the rest of the day with the children. Enjoying being with them and playing loud Chilean music in the background.
In the afternoons, and on Saturday mornings, we help at Casa Esperanza. The name of the house refers to the ministry. It’s a place of hope for young women who can’t stay in an orphanage for children anymore. At this house they learn how life as an adult looks like (i.e. how to care for a house, cook, clean, etc.) and take ownership over their life. During the day the girls go to school. Our service here is to help wherever they need help (i.e. cooking, cleaning) and building relationships with the girls. We want them to know that they are worthy and loved.
Sunday and Monday are our days-off where we can spend time together as a team and doing whatever adventure we feel like (i.e. going to the downtown city, the beach, the mountains,…).
Saturday, August 11th, was Children’s Day where a lot of kids from the orphanage joined us. It was a party with good food, music, games and a lot of people dressed up. Our team decided to be on the sweet side of life and dressed up as M&M’s!
So far some insights from what I am doing here in Chile. I am thankful to be here with a really good and funny team. I am thankful for the safe travel. I am thankful for the good accommodation. I am thankful for knowing that I’ve a lot of support from precious friends and family back home (This made the goodbye somehow easier because I know when I’ll come back I will have wonderful people there). I am thankful for God’s presence here at this place. In my heart it feels good and right being here. But I still need time to fully set my feet on this ground and feel fully at ease and connected with my team. This is my prayer request: That I can joyfully enjoy the company.
Saludos,
Fabienne
