So we had ministry sites again this week. This week was challenging in the sense that I was exhausted from Tikal and was running on a little amount of sleep. But in general, it was a good way to end the week and our last week of ministry sites. In the beginning of the week there was a group of students who came over from Guatemala City and had a pinata for the patients to hit and get candy from. A lot of the patients really enjoyed this. There was one lady who really got into it. They gave her the bat to hit the pinata with and then she gave it back and took off her sweater so she could hit it better. That was hilarious. It was fun to see some of the patients really get into it because some of them never seem to smile or enjoy anything that they have to do. So generally we worked with the special education school in the morning like usual and then at noon we would go to the cerebal palsay unit and feed the children their food. After that we would take a lunch break and then go back and play with the same kids until it was time for them to take a nap.
One morning this week we went and worked with the malnutritioned babies. A lot of these babies are super tiny and have some sort of other problem. However, they aren't able to get surgery until they weigh enough, so they are waiting in the room. A lot of these babies are also neglected, so they just need to be held. So that was a lot of what we did. I held a baby who was one year old, but it really looked about 2 months old. She was super tiny and very fragile and all she wanted was to be held and walked around. So I did that with her for a very long time. Ramon, our site leader told us that a lot of the parents that bring their children to the hospital are superstitious and think that their children have a curse or something along those lines. So there are various reasons as to why the children are at Hermano Pedro. But every once in a while, the parents do come to visit the kids. For example, the little baby that I was holding, the mother and her other children came to visit. That gave me some hope for some of the kids that are there.
And then yesterday, Friday, was another exciting week for the patients. Many of the patients from the special education school were able to attend a "velacion," which is a little difficult to define this. It's one of those words that doesn't really translate into english, so I'll do my best to describe it. Every Friday a different church has one and it's when they make a huge rug out of colored saw dust in the church and there's a whole bunch of fruit is surrounding it and there's a scene depicted in back from the Bible.
Anyway, we took the patients, about 25 of them, in their wheelchairs on the uneven cobblestone about 10 or more blocks. It was an interesting time and thank God that we made it to and from the velacion safely. The patients all enjoyed themselves and they even were able to eat things like churros and cotton candy. So it was a special day for them but a tiring day for all of us as well as the nurses who came with. Overall, it was a fun time and I'm glad that I was able to take part in this.Then last night, Friday night, I went over to the director of the program, Fernando, house and we were able to just relax with his children who are all girls more or less in their teens. So it was fun, we got to watch movies, eat popcorn, ice cream, and cinnamon roles. Some of these things I haven't done in over 2 months. So what may seem to you as boring was relaxing and fun for me. =)
We went to bed around 12, which is late here and then I woke up at 6:30 in the morning, I'm not sure why, but it was annoying. Plus I didn't sleep decent in the first place because I was on a couch. So overall, I didn't get much sleep, but that's ok, cause it was fun. And then this morning we made pancakes and then were brought back to our houses. So today we're just relaxing and I think that it's going to be the same way for tomorrow.
So that's kind of my week in a nut-shell. And on Monday...Language School....we have 4 weeks of that. But it's being broken up by one week of Spring Break, which is during holy week, or here "Semana Santa" And well, I never thought I'd have the opportunity to say this, but....I'm going to the Caribbean for Spring Break. Yep =) We're going to Rio Dulce and Livingstone for 3 days and 2 nights. So that should be amazing and awesome. I'm really looking forward to that and I'm pretty sure that's what is going to get me through this first week of language school. Rio Dulce and Livingstone are located on this map on the right side where the water from the Carribean starts to come in. Antigua is located more or less in the middle of the map. It shows it better on the second map. So we're going to have about a 5 hour drive, but that should be fun to see all the landscape and stuff.
So that's kind of been happening lately. Let me know how all of you are doing!
Miss you and love you all!!!
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