so i'm back home. hiding out at my parents house. i've been out once in 3 days. partly fatigue, partly not really knowing what to do with myself.
i was so exhausted and ready to leave when i left, that i didn't think i'd miss the kids so soon. but i do. i really miss them. i wish i had the ability to pop in and see them over a weekend - but that's not going to happen.
the luxury that i'm surrounded with now that i'm home just emphasizes how little the kids i was working with have. it's unsettling.
that being said, i'm glad to see my family again - i'm lucky to have all this to come home to. i feel like i've won the lottery.
i was going to write a blog summarizing my trip. the pros and cons, the good and bad. right now that doesn't feel necessary. there were a lot of frustrations, and the work could be overwhelming - but i have no regrets. advice for those who might want to volunteer or donate to an organization is to thouroughly research the organization, talk to present and past volunteers before jumping into anything major. that being said, all the description and advice will not prepare you - it's definitely about going with the flow.
on a final note - if you're looking to help, and wish you could take a bite out of poverty - start by looking at the companies you support on a daily basis. try to shop locally - avoid where you can companies that exploit third world countries. do a little research.
and remember, when you're watching t.v. or reading magazines and comparing yourself to the rich and famous - wondering why you don't get to be so lucky - you are lucky. no need to feel guilty about it - just be aware.
thank you so much to everyone who has supported me on my journey - it's wonderful to have so many people out there who have my back.
happy holidays to everyone - i hope you and your friends and families are happy and healthy.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Friday, December 5, 2008
alison has left the building
i´m on my way home. i know i haven´t blogged in a while, but the final few weeks at the hogar were super busy - and to be honest, i really don´t feel like blogging right now. way too much to try to convey on a blog.
that being said, i will be sure to write on my experience in general once i get home and have time to process it all.
that being said, i will be sure to write on my experience in general once i get home and have time to process it all.
Monday, November 17, 2008
a busy week and some good news
it´s been a crazy week and a half at the hogar. the head couple (full time honduran couple) had to leave for a family emergency which left the volunteers working double time without breaks. everything has gone pretty well, and the kids have been cooperative - so although we´re tired, it´s worked out just fine (slash: i need a vacation)
to update you on santos - his operation went well, and he´s now up and about as normal. he definitely milked the situation for all it was worth for as long as he could - sleeping in the volunteer room and getting as much extra attention as possible. the night before we went to the hospital he was knocking on our door at 2am crying and saying he was afraid. so we dragged a little mattress into our room and had him sleep with us. this wasn´t enough, however, as he kept us up saying ´tia alison, i want to sleep in your bed, i´m scared´. i finally conceded to lay on the floor with him til 5am, when we had to get up. he then repeated the same routine with the other volunteers the two following nights. (but i figure that every kid should have the chance to sleep with a parent figure when they are scared, and for the most part the children here don´t have that opportunity.) it was cute when we returned from the hospital - all the children crowded around the car then ran through the halls saying ´they cured santos!´.
other great news - my childhood (and my parent´s) church in kelowna recently raised a very generous sum of $ to completely correct the plumbing at the orphanage. this is going to make a huge difference to cleanliness and hygeine at the hogar. it´s something that has been needed for a long time - but was much to costly to fix with the lack of funds the organization currently has.
so to the donors at st. david´s church in kelowna -
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
to update you on santos - his operation went well, and he´s now up and about as normal. he definitely milked the situation for all it was worth for as long as he could - sleeping in the volunteer room and getting as much extra attention as possible. the night before we went to the hospital he was knocking on our door at 2am crying and saying he was afraid. so we dragged a little mattress into our room and had him sleep with us. this wasn´t enough, however, as he kept us up saying ´tia alison, i want to sleep in your bed, i´m scared´. i finally conceded to lay on the floor with him til 5am, when we had to get up. he then repeated the same routine with the other volunteers the two following nights. (but i figure that every kid should have the chance to sleep with a parent figure when they are scared, and for the most part the children here don´t have that opportunity.) it was cute when we returned from the hospital - all the children crowded around the car then ran through the halls saying ´they cured santos!´.
other great news - my childhood (and my parent´s) church in kelowna recently raised a very generous sum of $ to completely correct the plumbing at the orphanage. this is going to make a huge difference to cleanliness and hygeine at the hogar. it´s something that has been needed for a long time - but was much to costly to fix with the lack of funds the organization currently has.
so to the donors at st. david´s church in kelowna -
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
photos
i've uploaded a few more photos onto flickr (the link is in the right column on this page). there's more pics of the kids from the hogar and from the campesino project - solares nuevos - that i work at.
all about santos
this is santos. santos is my sponsor child. he has 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters here at the orphanage. as you can see he marches to the beat of a different drummer... as do many of the kids at the hogar de amor.
sometimes when i look at him, all gangly in his flood pants and his short cropped hair, i think he could be in an 80's pop band.
the two of us have taken some time to develop a relationship, as he's kind of a solitary guy. he's also a little delayed for his age (he just turned 6) and isn't as out going as some of the other kids here.
that being said - we have had some opportunities to figure eachother out. his birthday was in october, so i brought him into town to go to pizza hut and then pick out a gift. he chose bright blue imitation crocs (shoes) and a beach set (plastic shovels, bucket etc.) unfortunately it's the rainy season, so he'll have to wait a while before he can make use of it. [the picture here is him trying on soccer socks and shoes that mary(volunteer) and her mom donated for the kids.]
on friday santos has an appointment to get minor surgery done. we went in on monday to the swiss hospital in la cieba to make the appointment, and in 2 days he'll have an embillical (sp?) hernia removed. this hospital does these procedures for free for people in need, and right now there is a team of surgeons here for a short time volunteering. i've been hoping this could get done since i first arrived here, so this is pretty exciting. i can't tell if he's nervous or not, he's been pretty mellow about the whole thing. the other kids are quite interested and excited about it - but that's the way it always is with santos... the most exciting thing could be happening to him, and he just floats around as cool as a cucumber as the other kids around him freak out and ask a million different questions.
as tyler (one of the other volunteers) always says: "santos, you're so cool..."
Thursday, October 16, 2008
i´m baaaack
i´m back at the hogar - have been for a week now.
i got home to find that i had been breeding lice for the three weeks i was away... totally disgusting. i have to do treatment #2 tonight and hope that´ll cure me. i will spare you the details of the lice... lets just say my discovery of them made me want to throw up - just a little.
the saturday after i got back a group of us went to watch the second canada vs honduras football game - where canada got trampled by honduras much to my dismay. but again, probably better for my safety being a canadian in a room full of crazy honduran football fans. me and the one other canadian with me had our little flag and cheered when canada got their one goal - woohoo!! go canada!!- we got some interesting looks.... stared down is maybe a better description. we were definitely alone on that one... awkward moment in a crowded room....
celebrating a honduran win is much more fun while in honduras than celebrating a canadian win would be. cheering and hanging out of car windows as people throw water at eachother in comradarie vs hiding from angry fans weilding machetes (this is how it is in my imagination). pick one.
anyhoo...
it´s nice to be back to a full staff of volunteers. finally!! we have 4 living at the hogar now, and 4 working at the campesino project i go to every day. teaching and being at the hogar have been reletively pleasant with actual help. i´ll be teaching english classes soon to the hogar kids in the afternoons twice a week, along with a few of the other volunteers. we´re also starting computer classes. none of us really know what we´re doing - but, as with most things here, we´ll learn as we go!
so i´m still busy - but i´m sure it will fly by as i only have less than two months left here!
it´s crazy to think i´ve been gone from canada for 4 1/2 months....
i got home to find that i had been breeding lice for the three weeks i was away... totally disgusting. i have to do treatment #2 tonight and hope that´ll cure me. i will spare you the details of the lice... lets just say my discovery of them made me want to throw up - just a little.
the saturday after i got back a group of us went to watch the second canada vs honduras football game - where canada got trampled by honduras much to my dismay. but again, probably better for my safety being a canadian in a room full of crazy honduran football fans. me and the one other canadian with me had our little flag and cheered when canada got their one goal - woohoo!! go canada!!- we got some interesting looks.... stared down is maybe a better description. we were definitely alone on that one... awkward moment in a crowded room....
celebrating a honduran win is much more fun while in honduras than celebrating a canadian win would be. cheering and hanging out of car windows as people throw water at eachother in comradarie vs hiding from angry fans weilding machetes (this is how it is in my imagination). pick one.
anyhoo...
it´s nice to be back to a full staff of volunteers. finally!! we have 4 living at the hogar now, and 4 working at the campesino project i go to every day. teaching and being at the hogar have been reletively pleasant with actual help. i´ll be teaching english classes soon to the hogar kids in the afternoons twice a week, along with a few of the other volunteers. we´re also starting computer classes. none of us really know what we´re doing - but, as with most things here, we´ll learn as we go!
so i´m still busy - but i´m sure it will fly by as i only have less than two months left here!
it´s crazy to think i´ve been gone from canada for 4 1/2 months....
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
thoughts on the road.
i´m near the end of my little ´vacation´away from the orphanage and have come down with something - possibly a flu, possibly some sort of parasite - in the last couple days.
on a bright note, i´m in a great hostel, in a great town (granada, nicaragua) with a nice little family of travelers that i´ve been lucky enough to collect along the way.
i´ve learned that when travelling through central america, one must allow for delays and obstacles of many kinds.
i had the no-money obstacle in san juan del sur, the natural disaster-weather obstacle on isla ometepe (mudslide blocking bus route 14 km out of town- had to get out and walk til some sort of transportation made it´s way to us). now i have the sick obstacle, which keeps me close to bed, hammock or bathroom.
all that being said, i´ve very much enjoyed my little adventure. i´ve met great people to travel with along the way and had the chance to surf, swim, hike to a waterfall on a volcano and do lots and lots and lots of thinking.
trying to rev myself up for another 2 months of the orphanage. i´m looking forward to seeing the kids, but i´m not looking forward to being isolated out there - or to the constant-ness of it (if that´s even a word).
i´m sure it will only take me a few days to jump right back into the swing of things. and it´s important to me to complete my time there.
i´ve also done a lot of thinking of where i´ll go when i´m done in honduras. after spending the holidays with my family. i´ve thought about so many different options, but for now i´m leaning towards heading back to toronto. my plan a. plans can change, but at least i feel like i have a plan. i also have a plan b, c and d.... there was a moment about a week ago when i was convinced i wanted to adopt a 3 yr old - even though it´s not actually allowed out of honduras - but then i remembered that i´m an actor and have no money. not a good plan. however, it may be something i would do if and when i ever have money.
anyhoo. that´s enough for now.
i think i need to lay down.
on a bright note, i´m in a great hostel, in a great town (granada, nicaragua) with a nice little family of travelers that i´ve been lucky enough to collect along the way.
i´ve learned that when travelling through central america, one must allow for delays and obstacles of many kinds.
i had the no-money obstacle in san juan del sur, the natural disaster-weather obstacle on isla ometepe (mudslide blocking bus route 14 km out of town- had to get out and walk til some sort of transportation made it´s way to us). now i have the sick obstacle, which keeps me close to bed, hammock or bathroom.
all that being said, i´ve very much enjoyed my little adventure. i´ve met great people to travel with along the way and had the chance to surf, swim, hike to a waterfall on a volcano and do lots and lots and lots of thinking.
trying to rev myself up for another 2 months of the orphanage. i´m looking forward to seeing the kids, but i´m not looking forward to being isolated out there - or to the constant-ness of it (if that´s even a word).
i´m sure it will only take me a few days to jump right back into the swing of things. and it´s important to me to complete my time there.
i´ve also done a lot of thinking of where i´ll go when i´m done in honduras. after spending the holidays with my family. i´ve thought about so many different options, but for now i´m leaning towards heading back to toronto. my plan a. plans can change, but at least i feel like i have a plan. i also have a plan b, c and d.... there was a moment about a week ago when i was convinced i wanted to adopt a 3 yr old - even though it´s not actually allowed out of honduras - but then i remembered that i´m an actor and have no money. not a good plan. however, it may be something i would do if and when i ever have money.
anyhoo. that´s enough for now.
i think i need to lay down.
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