Redefining Family

Luis Arturo, mi hermanito

Today I want to introduce you all to Luis Arturo. Despite being adorable and having a really lovable attitude once getting to know him, Arturo (as he is known because there is another Luis in his house) is also the child that my parents are sponsoring. Side Note: all the kids here have between 6 and 8 Padrinos, or Godparents, who pay to support them. Although the money all goes into one pot for the home, the kids get letters and photos and things from their Padrinos and are always writing back to them. It is pretty amazing the love and appreciation some of them have for people they´ve never met. Anyways, I´ve been spending a lot of time with Arturo the past few weeks as I think of him a bit like a little brother... he even answers to hermanito when I see him (spanish for little brother). He can be a bit finicky, and somethings standoffish... but when he is ready to play with you – its hours of hugging and laughing and all sorts of wonderful things. I think as he is getting more accostomed to my presence as well, the standoffishness is fading. At only 2 years old, I´m excited to see him grow up over the years J

MMMMM Cucumber! We have an abundance of cucumbers coming out of our greenhouse (we´ve passed 1000 harvested a few weeks ago), and the kids enjoy eating them whole in the afternons!

One of the boys in my house wanted hearts and the word ´familia´(family) painted on both arms when we were face painting!

A few of you may be wondering why I would title a post ´Redefining Family.´ Especially if you know how strong of a role my family plays in my life, with a pretty clearly defined definition. Well here it is, yesterday was Dia de Familia here at the home. An interesting concept for me as we are a home for orphaned and abandoned children. If they have family that exists, for me there better be a gosh darn good reason for them to be here instead of with those families. I had a few doubts throughout the day as many of the families appeared not to have insufficient money to take care of children, in fact many had numerous other children with them (be them cousins, children born after our kids were brough here, whatever). Those who I saw interacting treated the children well, and many children were so sad to see them go at the end of the day. I guess I just need to remind myself that we have trained social workers and psychologists that investigate every situation and make the decisions of who comes to the home. They must have good reason!

Danilo, one of the older boys serving up pizza made by the leadership group and sold to the families. They were making money to feed their chickens!

The day consisted of the families of about half of the children coming to visit, bringing parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, nephews – a whole slew of people – dressed in their best, with gifts and food from outside for the kids. There were events all day, kids were sitting in the shade of trees spending time with their families, the Tias were sharing information about the kids lives with them – almost like mothers bragging with report cards and all, and there was also a whole lot of dissipointed/upset/lonely children. It was so interesting to see adults walking around and instantly being able to determine who they belong to. My favorite was when one of our sets of twins were walking with their father, all looking almost identical aside from the years aging the fathers face.

I spent quite a large part of the day painting the faces of kids who didnt have family there to keep them occupied, chatting about life and things. This is where the idea of redefining family comes in. I´ve always been amazed at the ability of one of my fellow volunteers, an ex-pequeño from the home in Haiti, to talk about his NPH family. Always in the form of brothers and sisters. Though he clarifies whether he is talking about an NPH brother or a blood brother – the sentiments are the same, the feeling of family never changes. I spent a lot of my day talking to those children, especially those who are newer to the home, about the idea of an NPH family. The fact that there are so many people here within these walls who love and care for them, the fact that no matter what family exists for them outside of the walls, they will always have their family here. These are some of the ideas I feel are so important for the children to be shown and told often as to help create those sentiments.

We had a retreat for the volunteers a few weeks ago and spent a lot of time thinking about various goals we have for our time here. One of the things I thought about was the importance of family in my life and how I can help the children to redefine the word and create that same sense of family importance with their fellow pequeños, tias, and all the others here. I know this weekend was just a start but I hope that by providing an example and talking with the kids, I can help to inspire that sentiment in them.

Tia Morena and Alberto (both from my house) showing that feeling of NPH family and dancing in the park to a bit of bachata!

In other news, I´ve really starting my work in the farm! I´m spending about 10 hours there every week working lots with plant reproduction as well as helping with the classes taught there. In these classes the kids each have their own row in the garden where they can grow and care for whatever they please as well as their own fruit tree to care for. As with everything here, it doesnt always work out perfectly, but it has been really exciting to see the kids who get into it. Last week I helped one of the boys harvest pounds and pounds of peanuts!!! It was the first time I had ever seen them growing and had me really excited. I´m also learning a lot from the Hatian workers we have there. I love the Hatian people, they are so kind and ready to share their knowlege. Slowly I´m learning the processes for planting and caring for plantains, bananas, yuca, batata (similar to a sweet potato but white in color, and different in shape), and many other tropical fruits and vegetables!

I think thats about it for now, I´m feeling more settled in a routine and work here, sometimes I can´t even figure how how the weeks are passing they go so fast, I feel like I´m living my life here not just visiting some foreign place. And this weekend, it´s off to visit a little town in the mountains and do a bit of exploring!