Well, we lost one.

As of yesterday, the ward population of Hogar Amiguitos has gone from 18 to 17. An 18-year-old girl named Neris (pronounced Nery, she's one of the muchachas, or teenage girls) decided that she was done with the place. Being that she's 18 years old and no longer a legal ward of the state, there was nothing we could do.

Neris is a tough girl with a very hard exterior. She's actually very pretty when she smiles, but she usually wears an uninviting scowl and speaks in an off-putting snarl - at least, that's how she is here. She has a boyfriend, with whom I assume she's much more amable.

Although Neris was no longer our responsibility as of the day of her 18th birthday this past May, the staff here at Hogar Amiguitos, and especially Joy, have been urging her to stay here, where she is well-fed, well cared-for, has a tutor to assist her with homework every day and is bussed to and from school each day, until her completion of grade six. High school educations are not the universal standard in Nicaragua that they are back home, but finishing primary school, or grade 6, is a significant milestone for those who reach it.

Neris was to graduate from grade 6 in about 15 days' time. It seems that she won't be, however, as she has informed her teachers that she refuses to write her final exams.

Neris has not kept it a secret that she has had no interest in life at Hogar Amiguitos, showing up late to study time, doing her weekly chores poorly and with obvious displeasure, and fighting with the younger kids where most of the teenagers are helping to care for them. What does interest Neris, apparently, is her boyfriend. She's expecting that they'll get married soon, although he's also in school, similarly quite far behind, and hasn't expressed anything similar to a proposal. She often leaves to visit her mother (who lives very near here), but we usually see her out walking with her boyfriend when she's supposedly with her mom.

It's been a difficult balance with Neris, because technically, as an adult, she legally has the right to choose what she wants to do or not do, but at the same time, if she's going to live here, she needs to live according to our rules. Last weekend, Neris wanted to spend the night at her mom's, but we have a rule that none of the kids are allowed to spend the night away from the orphanage, a rule for which we make no exceptions. This rule, by the way, was developed as a response to a situation that once occurred where one of the girls was nearly raped while staying over at a friend's house, if it sounds a bit extreme. When our final answer was no, Neris wasn't very happy. Three days later, she announced that she was leaving, going back to live with her mom. And with that, she packed and left.

So Neris is back living with her mom in Jinotega. I have no idea if she'll continue to attend school. I have no idea if she'll end up back here or not. There's always the chance that she will come back, that is if she doesn't end up pregnant first. I'll admit that I have very little experience with this type of teenage girl - she has no interest in any of the things we are offering her to better her life. I think she believes she'll find work harvesting coffee in the fields. She may and she may not, but she's closing a lot of doors right now in her choice to give up her education.

Since I came, the staff have made clear to me that with Neris, we're just trying to get her to hold on for a month more, to finish grade 6, and to not get pregant. Now, all of these things are no longer within our circle of influence. The only thing left that we can do for Neris now is to pray.

If you think of her, please pray for Neris. The choices she will make over the next few weeks will likely play a large part in determining the course of her adult life.

Labels: Nicaragua, teenagers

¡Hola amigos!

Getting out of the country for a few months seemed like more than enough reason to resurrect my poor neglected blog here, so I hope there are still one or two of you out there who get this in a feed or stumble by this page occasionally or click their desktop bookmark daily in fond remembrance... or perhaps have come across my blog by a less pathetic means; that´s fine too!

Here are a few snippets of my adventures thus far.


My American-side travels included as a highlight the Regina Spektor concert at the State Theatre in Minneapolis - a beautiful venue for a brilliant songwriter with the voice of an an angel. For those who haven´t yet heard her new single, ¨Laughing With,¨ remedy that immediately. I will say, however, that her live rendition far surpassed the record.

Fast forward to my eight-hour layover in Chicago... bored, I approached a harmless-looking fellow who seemed also to be in no rush to catch his flight, and asked if he would mind some company and conversation. Turns out my airport intuition is strong, as the guy, Alex, was a French-Canadian from Quebec whose Spanish was better than his English, en route to Mexico with a similarly lengthy layover, departing only an hour before me. Oh, did I mention a French Canadian actor, who had learned spanish the summer previously for a role in a play translated from its original French, and who was heading to Mexico to reprise his role in the play for a theatre festival? Yeah, that´s right kids, it pays to talk to strangers. The highlight of my night was reading through his script with him in Spanish, although I´m still waiting until the exciting conclusion arrives in my inbox, as his flight boarded somewhere in the middle of act 1. But we passed a good five hours, I believe, in our spanish-english conversation (no, I didn´t shame myself by digging out my high school French), and while waiting for my flight after Alex´s departure, I felt very glad that I had decided to introduce myself to that random guy in the airport food court.

About 5 hours later, I arrived in the airport in Managua, Nicaragua, where I was to be met by my dear friends Karel and Myra. But alas, not a familiar face was to be seen...


...


(to be continued....



ahh, the suspense.)

Labels: concerts, Nicaragua, travel