Plus one!
Last Friday, the family at Hogar Amiguitos recieved a new addition; a little boy who we're guessing is six, named Janiel (HaniEL). He showed up quite sick with bronchitis, smelling of urine, and not saying much. Mi Familia, the ministry of families in Nicaragua, is trying to find his family, but we have nothing to go on right now; we're not even sure if we got his name right.
This has been my first time here taking in a new child, and it's been interesting to watch his adjustment to life at Hogar Amiguitos. Joy provides a helpful commentary to the process, since having been here for four years now, she's seen this many times. You can imagine the struggles that arise in taking a child who is completely unused to chores, responsibilities, and consequences, much less schedules, bedtimes, two-hour study times and regular showers entering into this highly structured environment. Inevitably, there's resistance.
Janiel is definitely the youngest we have here (although Xochilt and Luz, at 7 and 8, are actually not that much older - I had previously said, I believe, that they're nine, but that's not the case). This, I think, has actually been an advantage for having him adjust to life here, as he looks to the other kids for an example and is also still young enough to be fairly easily molded - he hasn't had as much time to harden.
Janiel's first day at Hogar Amiguitos was quite the kick-off. He showed up in the middle of the afternoon with the staff of Mi Familia without any warning. We spent a fair amount of the afternoon hunting down supplies and clothes for him (all of the clothes our children receive are the pick of the litter in terms of donations - everything they wear they received new with tags on). He's a pretty tiny kid, only slightly bigger than Adán, so most of his pants he's wearing gangster style. Joy says he'll grow like a weed now that he's eating meat and vegetables every day. After he had been bathed and dressed he joined into the afternoon study time with a colouring book and some crayons (hey, who knew that the Spanish word for crayons is crayola?)
We had a group visiting us that evening - an American family visiting on vacation - and they spoiled the kids rotten. All of the girls 12 and up went with them on a shopping spree - I don't think they had any idea how much money $50 American each is here... $1000 Cordobas goes a long way. That evening we had a fiesta in honour of several occasions at once; the graduation of Angelica, welcoming Janiel to the home, and, since American Thanksgiving had just passed without fanfare, the beginning of the Christmas season. That night we had the most epic piñata ever! It was the largest piñata I've ever seen in my life, and it was stuffed to the hooves (it was a pony) with candy. The thing was large enough that Adán could have ridden it (and he did, actually, but not quite like you're thinking...)
This has been my first time here taking in a new child, and it's been interesting to watch his adjustment to life at Hogar Amiguitos. Joy provides a helpful commentary to the process, since having been here for four years now, she's seen this many times. You can imagine the struggles that arise in taking a child who is completely unused to chores, responsibilities, and consequences, much less schedules, bedtimes, two-hour study times and regular showers entering into this highly structured environment. Inevitably, there's resistance.
Janiel is definitely the youngest we have here (although Xochilt and Luz, at 7 and 8, are actually not that much older - I had previously said, I believe, that they're nine, but that's not the case). This, I think, has actually been an advantage for having him adjust to life here, as he looks to the other kids for an example and is also still young enough to be fairly easily molded - he hasn't had as much time to harden.
Janiel's first day at Hogar Amiguitos was quite the kick-off. He showed up in the middle of the afternoon with the staff of Mi Familia without any warning. We spent a fair amount of the afternoon hunting down supplies and clothes for him (all of the clothes our children receive are the pick of the litter in terms of donations - everything they wear they received new with tags on). He's a pretty tiny kid, only slightly bigger than Adán, so most of his pants he's wearing gangster style. Joy says he'll grow like a weed now that he's eating meat and vegetables every day. After he had been bathed and dressed he joined into the afternoon study time with a colouring book and some crayons (hey, who knew that the Spanish word for crayons is crayola?)
We had a group visiting us that evening - an American family visiting on vacation - and they spoiled the kids rotten. All of the girls 12 and up went with them on a shopping spree - I don't think they had any idea how much money $50 American each is here... $1000 Cordobas goes a long way. That evening we had a fiesta in honour of several occasions at once; the graduation of Angelica, welcoming Janiel to the home, and, since American Thanksgiving had just passed without fanfare, the beginning of the Christmas season. That night we had the most epic piñata ever! It was the largest piñata I've ever seen in my life, and it was stuffed to the hooves (it was a pony) with candy. The thing was large enough that Adán could have ridden it (and he did, actually, but not quite like you're thinking...)
However, the evening took a nasty turn at bedtime when Janiel, hyped up on candy, discovered that we were going to keep the candy in the office for the night, each bag carefully labelled according to each child. Things only got worse when it came time to give him the several prescription medicines the Mi Familia staff had brought with them for him. It took three people holding him, one holding his nose shut to force him to swallow, before we were able to get the much-needed medication into his system. The next morning, we started hiding it in his food.
Generally, according to Joy, new kids learn quickly here as the others take him or her under their wings and show them the ropes. So it has been with Janiel, for the most part. I've been actually quite surprised at how quickly he's adjusted to the rules and consequences here, especially when I recall the first few epic battles of will. But really, I think he's too young to really feel empowered to challenge the authorities. And, he's not a bad kid.
I held my breath for a few of the "firsts"; his first visit to the cancha (he ran outside and down the hill and had to be carried back in, after which he laid down on the floor by his chair and cried), his first few mornings of participating in our daily two-hour work-time (gardening, grass-cutting, raking, etc), and his first time having to drink his milk laced with Amoxicillin. But honestly, I haven't had to have the same fight with Janiel more than once so far. I'd say he's getting along quite well.
*****
On Sunday we decorated the Christmas tree! This is one story that can be better told with photos...
Xochilt assembling a Christmas drum ornament.
Jeyson preparing to hang the stockings.
Jonathan wraps the tree with coloured lights.
Janiel carefully hanging ornaments.
Joy and the children adding the final touches to the tree.*****
In closing, I thought I'd share a few of my firsts that have occurred in the past few weeks:
- I have begun driving in Central America - a very different thing from driving back home.
- I've eaten raw sugarcane - like, one of the kids showed up with a hunk of sugarcane he'd just plucked from where it was growing nearby.
- I've learned to make tortillas! (Corn tortillas, that is.)
- I taught my first (wildly unsuccessful) swing dance lesson in Spanish.
- I read my first (and second) novel in Spanish.
- I've learned how to do a decent moonwalk (yes, we're talking Michael Jackson's moonwalk, and I said decent)
- I've taught the kids the valuable life skill of being able to say "Video Killed The Radio Star" in English.
- and, most recently, I planned and executed a completely superfluous virtual substitute holiday.
And you know, other than that, just hanging out with some pretty sweet kids.