I have a feeling I’m going to have a hard time leaving this place.. and we leave tomorrow!! My team and I have been living at an orphanage called Mi Casa in Santa Tecla, El Salvador. I don’t even like calling it an orphanage because it’s more like a big family. Everyday we get goodmorning and goodnight hugs from all the girls and it melts my heart! I look forward to those hugs every day! During the day we don’t always have something scheduled for us to do so we just hang out with them. We color, play games, go to the park, and watch Spanish movies with English subtitles. They are all working on their English and I’ve taken a few classes here to learn some Spanish, but I’ve learned the majority of my Spanish from them.
They celebrate Christmas on the 24th here. So, on the 24th, we ate a big dinner and then opened presents.
Watching them open their presents has probably been the best part of this month so far! One of my teammates parents gave us some money so we could buy all the kids a gift. They all took turns sitting in the middle of the floor opening their presents. As soon as they unwrapped it, they would hold it up in the air and EVERYONE started SCREAMING at the top of their lungs! No one lost excitement the entire time. Every gift that was opened was as if they opened it and found gold!! It was the most exciting thing to watch and it made me love the girls even more!
New Years is a BIG deal here. It wasn’t like the 4th of July. It was more like WWIII was taking place! At midnight, we walked out the front door into a smoke filled street and firework droppings covering the entire street. The fireworks were so loud I’m pretty sure they would be illegal in the US…
This was my first Christmas and New Years being away from all my family. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel, but looking back, it was probably the best Christmas and New Year I’ve celebrated and it was spent with the sweetest people! Instead of being sad that I wasn’t with my family this year, I decided to cherish this holiday time and be thankful for the people I was with. I will be home next year for Christmas and many more after that. I only get ONE Christmas on the World Race in El Salvador with the most responsible, respectful, and hardworking kids I have ever met. They really are! The age ranges from 4-22 at the orphanage. After every meal, the 4 year old, Claudia dragges a chair over to the sink so she can reach and does her dishes.. I’m like WOW. Definitely the coolest four year old I’ve ever met!
These kids have probably taught me more things than I’ve taught them. They have taught me the importance of generosity and the impact it has on others and they have shown so much love to us I just don’t even know how to handle all of it!
My team and I got a chance to hear some of the stories from their pasts from our host, Bob (the man in charge of Mi Casa and also their father figure). All of their stories were so hard to hear. All the abuse, neglect, and traumatic events they all went through. But if I hadn’t heard those stories from Bob I would have never known that they each had such a difficult past because they are all so filled with love, kindness, and happiness.
Here in El Salvador, the public schools are run by gangs. (The majority of the country is run by gangs). During school the students could be raped by a gang member at any time and nothing is done about it because the teachers are threatened to be killed if they try to help. They even go as far as threatening their teachers life to get passing grades. The public transportation and busses are run by them as well. It is very dangerous for kids to go to school here unless they go to a private school.
I’m not allowed to post pictures of the kids faces that live here at Mi Casa because some of the kids are here secretly and their parents are very dangerous and could harm them if they were found.
We have been hugged, kissed, loved, and impacted in big ways by these kids! They even gave us lice as a going away gift! Good times 😉 I will always remember all the great memories I’ve made with the kids this month. If you would like to help them go to a safe private school here is the link to do so:
https://secure.qgiv.com/for/givtueedu
Next stop… Vietnam!
