First Day as a Volunteer...Hogar Comunitario

My first full day in Xela was incredibly unbelievably exhaustingly fantastically amazing.  Just to be honest.  I got up at 7:30 to eat breakfast with my roomie and then unpacked.  Petra and I then trekked to where I will meet the bus each day for a 45min ride out of town into La Cuchilla de Pinal a Sector 12.  This is the location of Hogar Comunitario and it is literally the last bus stop because if you crane your neck, you are standing at the base of and staring up at a volcano...that has never erupted.  It it a perfect triangular point.  All around you in every direction are volcanoes and the streets are made of grey ash.  Wow.

A little bit about Hogar Comunitario (HC): it was found 10 years ago by a woman now known as Doña Felipa, but she just prefers Felipa.  To the people of this area she is as revered like Mother Teresa.  She decided to open a place for Mayan mothers to leave their young children so that they could get much-needed jobs to support their families.  From there it grew into what it is today: a staple of La Cuchilla.  There are currently 31 children at HC and they are all from extremely impoverished families.  They are provided two meals and two snacks a day.  Each morning after breakfast, classes and activities are held, and in the afternoon before lunch (while lunch is being prepared from scratch) the children spend their time in the main area of the concrete facility playing.  It is quite a scene to watch so many creative minds being employed all at once to build towers, pyramids, and trains that carry those towers and pyramids.  The kids even opened a few restaurants where I was served plastic bottle caps for every dish I ordered and I happily pretended to devour each one :)  While I toted around a precious infant.

At lunch we had a true Mayan meal.  I’ll blog about food sometime, so I’ll save that for then.  Just remember you have something AWESOME to look forward to then…and Rarer?...we might need to open a Mayan restaurant. For reals.

I quickly became a human jungle-gym and I was asked by a 3 year-old if I was a señor o señora because of my relatively short hair.  So adorable.  By the end of the day I was singing Guatemalan songs I don’t know by making up ladino-sounding tunes for the songs about butterflies and flowers and God Bless Guatemala and such.  It was really fun and I had the kids all around me giggling like crazy asking for just one more!!!  Hahaha, oh the joy of kids.

I also got to feed a chubby little baby and by the end of the day was assigned to THE hand washing station (which is an INTENSE and INTRICATE process) where I was scolded by Doña Felipa about the right amount of soap and how much water to pour over the children’s hands! Phew!  They are great.  I will work at Hogar Comunitario for the next 6 weeks from 9-4, then work only mornings at HC and come back to Xela Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to Caras Alegres for the remaining 6 weeks.

What amazing journeys lie ahead!

Today I am taking Felipa y Noelia shopping for things for the children!  They were SO surprised by YOUR generosity.  Muchas gracias a todos.

First day with the kids and Noelia!