Halloween Fun!

**this post was supposed to be published last Tuesday but I haven't had enough internet to post it till now, just a heads up! 

 Happy Tuesday!

 The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of exams, Halloween and a wonderful visit from my mom so I have not been able to keep up with my blog as normal. I But things are finally slowing down (as much as they can in a home of 220 kids!) so here is the latest on life in Nicaragua.

As many of you already know my mother came to spend the last 8 days with me to learn about my new life. For the first half of her visit we stayed here at the NPH home and she did everything with me fro teaching classes and spending afternoons with my boys to eating all our meals with them. It was amazing to be able to connect my life in the states with my new life here.  I am growing and learning everyday in ways that I could not have imagined so being able to show it to her firsthand was really important to me.

I cannot begin to thank everyone who sent games and toys and books and crayons and love for my boys and students. To say it was much appreciated would be an understatement. THANK YOU!

A few posts ago I began talking about the four pillars upon which Father Wasson built this home and today’s final pillar is Respect. Respect is something that each once of our parents tries to instill in us from a young age. Respect for your elders, respect for your teachers, respect for your parents. In the end, it just boils down to respecting everyone, right? Well here every pequeño is encouraged to show, as well as receive, that respect from the moment they enter the gates. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you are doing here, where you come from or how smart you are. Each and every person on these grounds deserves the same level of respect. I find this to be an integral part of my boy’s growth and maturation. Many boys were not given the least respect in their previous homes and are used to neither receiving nor giving it. However, here they all learn that every one of them is God’s favorite child and loved unconditionally. This unconditional love and status as a favorite child is manifested daily in the respect we all show.

A few weeks ago was Halloween, which sadly has not yet spread to Nicaragua. However, being a sucker for a good time, I decided to throw our own little Halloween party in Casa San Jose. Luckily we did not have school on Friday because of nation wide teacher conferences so the festivities were able to begin early. With the promise of a party later on, everyone did their chores and homework early on so that we could start getting ready after lunch.

Now the most important thing about Halloween is often thought to be one’s costume. Unfortunately a full body costume was not a possibility here so I settled for pumpkin masks. Armed with a sheet of orange foam, crayons, scissors and mounds of creativity my boys set to work and came up with amazing results…

One of the tias from the house helping with the masks.  

            The rest of the afternoon we spent making little decorations for the house from scraps of paper. The tia and I had quite an assembly line of spiders, bats and pumpkins coming from our table.

            However, the real fun didn’t start until after dinner. For our first activity I explained a toilet paper mummy wrap contest and the boys quickly split into teams to wrap each other up. Within a few minutes it became apparent that they were in need of a bit of help so the older boys, tios and myself joined in as “coaches” to help them finish. Afterwards we had a bit of a photo shoot and danced to the Thriller. If you can’t tell by now, my boys LOVE doing the entire Thriller dance, start to finish. I am still amazed every time I see it.

The beginning of the mummy wrap...

The tia jumped in to help finish the job

The winning team with their "coach", an older boy. 

2nd place just as proud.

Warrior mummies!

Cooking ayote en miel

A Reflection

This week I am going to take a break from discussing the pillars of the NPH home to discern a bit further my true purpose here at NPH.  This past Sunday was World Mission Sunday, a day in which Catholics world wide are encouraged to commit to the Church's missionary activity through action and prayer. During Saturday evening mass, our priest discussed mission work as a way to bring the joy of Christ to the world. Hearing this simple yet quite specific purpose led me to think once again about my own work. Although I am not on a mission with a church, I do feel my year here to be spiritually directed and was impacted by this motto.

As many of you know, I have been discerning the reason for me coming to spend a year in service since before I even applied to this program. Once I decided to come live with NPH I thought I would serve as a role model and a mentor for these children. Yet once I arrived, I realized that the kids have plenty of role models and mentors already and my short year will in no way change the course of their lives. Shortly after this realization a veteran volunteer told me she viewed her job as one of accompaniment. Of simply being present for every child in her house. Viewing my job as a madrina in that way, I began to find purpose in my year here. I would simply spend time with my boys and accompany them on the struggles with which life confronted them; not fixing the problems but rather helping them through.

Recently, I have come to view one of my primary roles as a madrina as a full time playmate. As soon as homework and chores are completed the boys look to me for a game of basketball, Frisbee or mixtape to sing along to.  Hearing the church’s mission this weekend to spread the happiness that God means for all of us showed me the purpose in all this fun. All I am here to do is to make their days a little brighter.  Whatever I find myself doing in Casa San Jose, He wants me to do with the purpose of bringing a smile to everyone’s face. I cannot fix the broken families my boys come from, repair the education system that at times fails them, fight the government to let NPH care for more children nor sponsor all 230 children here. But I can smile at everyone I pass and tickle those having a bad day. I am learning to accept the things I cannot change while working for those I can.

Not 24 hours after this mass time reflection of mine, I was shown how simply spreading happiness can be…

On Sunday morning I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. After a rushed workout, I arrived just in time for breakfast at my house. Or so I thought. Everyone was outside cleaning the yard and only after standing there for 20 minutes with my plate in hand did they tell me they had eaten early and forgoten to save my food. I tromped back down to my house and scarfed down a yogurt because I had ten minutes before running a family program (as explained in previous posts).

With an internal sulk on my face I went to pick up Nick and Mary (names changed for privacy reasons). The two of them grabbed my hands and skipped all the way to the volunteer house from the second we left their own houses. Upon hearing that just them two were going to make cookies, their faces lit up. The two siblings then proceeded to fall into fits of laughter and full-toothed grins nonstop for the next two hours. I honestly do not know how their cheeks and abs didn’t hurt from so much happiness.

      While mixing the dough Nick tried to crack the egg and managed to send yolk flying everywhere EXCEPT in the bowl .The proper reaction from Mary? Fall on the floor laughing only to be joined shortly by Nick. When playing Uno Nick could not manage to understand how to follow the rules no matter how many times I explained them. The proper reaction from Mary? Fail to show the slightest annoyance and smile even more. After only a few minutes I could not help but join in on the high spirits filling our patio. My face lit up as well and the morning was filled with joy.

      Shortly after dropping the two of them off I realized, who am I to assume that I am the only one bringing joy to this home? This very morning two pequeños pulled me out of my crankiness and brightened my day. I realized that each one of us is called to partake in the mission of the church. Every single one of us is urged by God to spread the happiness of Christ. And it really is so simple. Sometimes all it takes is a few children and perhaps a flying egg.

Here are some pictures of the cookie baking…

On another note, I know many people at home have been wondering how they can help become part of the children’s lives here. There are a million and one ways you can help from donating money to the organization, sponsoring a child or even visiting us. (Check them all out here ….WEBSITE)

However, at this time I have an even easier way you can help! My mom is coming to visit me in the first week in November and will be bring an extra suitcase for donations. All of the boys in my house love board games (especially puzzles!), drawing and reading. So if you have any lightly used items around your house or a few dollars to spare she would love help in filling that suitcase. Examples include games, cards, coloring books, crayons, markers, books, comics…My boys are all about 10 years old but in grades 1-5 so a wide range of books and games are appropriate. I am currently working on translating some comics for them into Spanish so if you only have English items I can translate them as well-although Spanish is a bit less work. If you don’t have my mom’s number feel free to email me or leave a comment below for more details about helping!

Thanks in advance,

Eliza

P.S. Here are some pictures of this weekend with my boys. They decided to wash the dog that lives at our home and ended up dressing him up and having a blast. We also threw the disc around all day Sunday. 

 

Love, a Baby and a Volcano

Happy Friday!

I have recently been reading the book Father Wasson wrote in 1975 which explains the philosophy of the NPH family (Quien Vera por los Ninos –Who will care for the children?) in order to best understand the four founding pillars of this home.  I am happy to be sharing the third (and my favorite) pillar of the NPH family with everyone today: love. Let’s be honest, “All you need is love”, anyway, right?

 I’m sure many of you have noted the underlying love in all that I have described about my new home. It’s hard to miss the love that my family of 300 siblings and countless tias and tias are constantly showing towards each other. Whether it is a warm hug every morning before breakfast, a kind kiss on the cheek between classes or a smelly embrace after a long game of soccer, even I feel the love.

As told by Father Wasson this love comes from the security felt by every child who enters the home. They enter into a home where they will never again have to fear hunger, abuse or neglect. They will be protected from whatever led them here, slowly learning how to just be kids. In all of this security, they find love. Love not only grows, but also flourishes in a home as secure as ours.

For example, the price of beans is extremely high because of a current drought throughout the country. Although beans are a staple, if not THE, staple food here, all of our children will still be fed. Three times a day, and with snacks in between; they will receive enough food and nutrition to grow. They will never have to worry about getting their next meal. Isn’t it a bit easier to love with a full stomach?

As for other happenings in the home, I was lucky to co-host a baby shower this week! About a week ago the topic of baby showers came up in conversation with the tias of my house and they told me that they don’t normally happen here because they can be expensive. However, we soon realized that Tia Divina, the tia in the house next to ours (of the youngest boys) was about 8 months pregnant. The logical next step? Plan a baby shower for her. To avoid the issue of money, we decided to all bring a little something and make gifts optional. All we wanted to do was surprise her with love and good luck on the birth. The shower was planned for Thursday morning at 9 am.

          Well at Thursday morning at 7 am we realized that Tia Divina had already had her baby boy on Monday morning. Rather than scratch the party, the tias from my house managed to get the home’s van to bring the party to her. All in good spirits 12 tias, tios and myself piled in, bringing a cake, a piñata, sodas, and snacks. We were only able to stay at the house for about half an hour due to the terrible weather and fear of getting caught but it was wonderful all the same. Take a look at some of the pictures!

Four days of rain really flooded the city. 

The cross streets looked like mini-rivers but people -even motorcycles-used them anyway.

Here is the piñata that we brought and ended up leaving for the kids to play with later on.

Most all of the baby shower attendees with the baby. 

Tia Divina cutting the cake (we forgot candles, whoops!)

The star of the day (yet to be named) was impressively peaceful all morning. 

Today I also had another totally different and fun adventure….Since it’s my weekend off, I decided to finally climb the volcano that I can see from my front door. It has been calling and calling and finally taunting me since I arrived so I ignored the terrible past 4 days of rain and set off this morning. Stocked with a full camel back, some protein bars and a raincoat I set off with naïve hopes. After a short trip and some friendly help along the way I arrived at the base of the volcano. Being stubborn, cheap and a bit arrogant I refused to pay transport to the top and instead decided to hike it. Well, 2 hours of 90 degree inclines covered in slippery moss later, I finally reached the top of the volcano!

My plan was to set out on a 4 hour loop to see the craters and overlooks from this point. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. The final transport down to the entrance was leaving about ten minutes after I reached the top due to so few visitors that day. My self-preservation overcame my arrogance as I imagined the broken wrist that I would no doubt suffer from slipping on the way down. So I gave in and rode the bus down. Without setting foot on the path for the craters. Oh well! I guess ill just have to go back soon! Thank goodness it’s so close.

Before I saw the treacherous inclines...

After I saw the inclines.

Here's a mini-volcano to show how high I hiked. It is about 1300 meters, pretty high!

This is just one view of the gorgeous trails I passed.

Food for the week…

Yesterday was a boy from my house’s birthday and I decided to make him the BEST cake ever. I bought real cocoa powder and followed the Hershey’s recipe to make a “Delicious Moist Chocolate Cake”. Unfortunately my cake refused to rise and  was a bit TOO moist. But I brought it and everyone enjoyed it anyway! I’ll have to figure out how to make it soon because I have another birthday coming in 2 weeks!

Casa San Jose celebrating a birthday

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in the comments section below.

Pillars of NPH #2

Hello Everyone!

I just had my two-month anniversary in Nicaragua this past Saturday and cannot believe it has already been two full months!

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I will continue describing each of the 4 pillars of the NPH philosophy. Today I will talk about the topic most relevant to my work: education. Many of us have been taught in the US that there is no better key to a good future than a good education and Father Wasson was in complete agreement. Yes, all of these kids have been dealt a rough hand in life, but they have also been given the secret to turning it into a winning hand: a mind of their own.

In order to secure each of the children a solid education and chance at a bright future, NPH runs its own school in each one of the international homes. They are technically private but other local children can attend at a small (merely symbolic) cost, which means that NPH serves  many more than just the children who live here. Although our school is one of the best in the country, compared to a school in the States, it is still quite a shock (as I have already mentioned). What is really great about NPH is that rather than come in and try to change the system here and input all of our ideas about education, they work with the local system. It would be easy for me to say that the current education system is broken and ineffective but that would be a lie. Before I can judge how classes are here, I must first understand the system in the country and how teachers are trained, the local pedagogy and the manner in which students are taught to learn. NPH hires mostly local teachers (I am the only foreigner) and is beginning to train them in different teaching styles in order to help them with finding success in the classroom. However, education does not only occur in the classroom and everyone here supports the students outside of class with homework, projects or finding books to read in our library (can you believe we have a library??!?!?).

Along the lines of education, I am pleased to announce my classes have definitely been improving in the past few weeks.  I decided to alter my approach to teaching and focus on more student involvement, more games, more activities and more speaking. In the end, more fun. Because in the end of the day, you learn when you’re having fun, right? So whether it means making giant flashcards for every new word and racing through them as a class, pulling out a ball and playing catch or singing “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes” when we get bored, I’m trying it! I have had less disciplinary problems and feel less exhausted after teaching all morning so I think it’s working!

As for what is going on in the house…I finally introduced Ultimate to the home! On Independence Day the volunteers organized a massive scavenger hunt for all of the kids. Each volunteer was responsible for running one “prueba” or challenge that each team had to complete in order to get another clue. Obviously, I pulled out my discs and designed mine around passing down a field. I had to teach quite a few frustrated kids but at the end most of them managed more or less. One of the girls even came back to play with me later! Here are some pictures of her throwing the disc (check out her form!). 

I will shamelessly admit that I am trying to spread the Ultimate bug and hope they all catch it so I can share the wonderful game. (And-selfishly-so that I have someone to throw with.)

Last but not least, the food of the week…. “Vigoron”

Vigoron is a dish that has yucca, beef and a salad (shredded cabbage, carrots, chili peppers and other vegetables) wrapped in a plantain leaf. It is a very common street food that you can find in almost any park, especially around dinnertime. Well as I was waiting for a bus back to the home this weekend, I happened to sit down next to a vigoron vendor. I was not planning on eating but couldn’t resist the alluring smells. So I bought one and enjoyed every last bite of it. I still haven’t gotten used to the culture of eating by hand so the “Handi” tool I got for my birthday came in handy!! Check out for yourself…

And here I am at the beach relaxing a bit and climbing the surrounding hills on my weekend off...

Philosophy 101 (1/4)

Buenos dias!

In the past month I have (hopefully) answered your questions about where in the world I went (NOT the middle of the jungle), what I am doing (NOT running from the real world) and what kids have stolen my heart (all of them). However, many of you are probably still wondering how this “orphanage” works, the values the kids are taught and the general philosophy by which NPH is run. So for the next few blog entries I will be talking about the philosophy behind NPH international, which includes all of the homes (9 in total).

[Also, a side note, just like orphanage has been phased out of English it is also no longer used here. The more loving term is  “casa hogar” which roughly translates to “group home”.]

When Father William Wasson founded the first NPH home in Mexico in 1954 founded it on 4 pillars: Education, Love, Respect and Work. Each one of these aspects has a scriptural basis and is founded in the Catholic character of the home. Everyone here at NPH knows these pillars by heart and it is easy to seem them reflected in the everyday life here.

This week I want to focus on work and how all of the children here are taught the value of hard work from a young age. Why don’t you take a look at their typical weekday for yourself…

5:00 am-Wake up. Do chores and wash pajamas and clothes from yesterday.

6:30 am-Breakfast then off to school.

7:00-12:30 School.

1:00 pm- Lunch

1:30-4:00 pm- Homework, chores, wash uniforms and possible work in the fields.

4:00-6:00 pm- Free time, usually spent going on leisurely walks to pick fruit or playing soccer in one of the many fields. 

6:30-7:00 pm- Dinner, chores, iron uniforms for the next day and relax with the rest of the time.

8:00 pm- Bedtime. “A dormir y soñar con los angeles”

Even the littlest boys (as young as 5 years old) have daily chores, which they must complete three times a day. The most common chore is “trapear 5 veces” or mop the floors of the common area five times. Although I originally thought mopping the floors a total of 15 times a day was crazy, I have learned that in a house with 15 boys running all around it does make sense. About 2 days a week everyone is also called to work in the fields after lunch for an hour or two, helping collect the food that we eat. These jobs range from collecting rice, weeding onion gardens, tilling the soil and “macheteando” (macheteing)- the Nica way to mow the lawn. I am learning now that my childhood chore of vacuuming the house was nothing in comparison to what these kids know.

The children also get rewarded for all of this hard work. Each child is given enough clothing and shoes but if they want a new or special pair of shoes they also have the option of working extra. For example, the boys of my house wanted new sneakers so they worked in cleaning up a garden for a few days and were then given colorful new sneakers. For a sneaker fanatic, I could understand their overwhelming excitement to try them on!

All the children here have faced tough situations, one way or another. But with this commitment to work, they learn that they have the power and capacity to change their situation (to a certain degree). They learn to take responsibility for the cleanliness of their own home. They learn that even though they may be small, they can work just as hard and make as much of a difference as an older kid. For me, this is crucial for any child’s self-confidence and self-worth, and I am proud to be a part of it.

So that’s our lesson for the day!

Here are a few pictures of them enjoying powdered milk…

Now for a bit on my recent travels…

On my weekend off last week I ventured to the nearby city of Granada with Beatriz, another new volunteer. Monday was Independence Day for all of Central America from Spain so on Sunday we were able to watch a parade march through the town square. Every school in the city marched in the parade and many of them had their own bands. A few of the bands were truly amazing and a pleasure to watch. Not only did they have an awesome beat but the kids had the perfect attitude to go with it…

And I couldn’t help but record the only hipster glasses I have seen since I got here. I LOVED them…

I ended up hiding in the shade to avoid another sunburn and came across this man who had taken his grandson to watch the parade. I couldn’t help to take a few candid pictures after they asked for a picture…

And last but not least, my weekly food update...

After wandering around Granada all weekend, Beatriz and I found a great Canadian bakery for breakfast on Monday. I indulged in an apple cinnamon crumb cake and LOVED it. I know its not Nica food but I was feeling a bit homesick and this just hit the spot!

Sibling love!

Happy Hump Day!

Thanks so much for checking out my blog! A few people have told me how much they enjoy reading and checking up on me so I’m happy to report that I am still doing great and have even more fun stories for this week.

This past weekend was the first time I took part in the “Programa Familiar” in the home. Although two siblings may both be living here at NPH, when they are in different grades, live in different houses and rarely have the same free time it can be hard to maintain a strong relationship. The point of this family program is to bring each set of siblings together for some special activity, allowing them to cherish that special sibling love. Each families within NPH loves when it is their turn to participate, especially since each set of siblings gets to participate about twice a year. Running these family activities is another one of the volunteer’s responsibilities here so every weekend that I work I must spend either a morning or an afternoon with one set of siblings.

This weekend I had a boy from my house and his younger brother. Since I am not allowed to use names we will call them Bob and Carl (very Nicaraguan, right?). Bob is ten and extremely well behaved, only two years older than Carl but Carl has a small developmental disability and behavioral problems so the two don’t seem close in age at all. I was free to pick whatever activity I wanted to do with them so I chose to help them bake sugar cookies. What kid doesn’t love sweets, right? I managed to find cookie cutters in my house so they had a blast making hearts and letters and even a turkey.

While I watched Bob teach Carl how to crack an egg and later how to roll out the dough I was reminded so much of my “motherly” older sister. When the two started sneaking bites of raw dough and licking the bowls, I couldn’t help but see myself fighting with my two sisters over who got to lick the spatula. Whether it’s three girls in the states or two boys in Nicaragua, we’re all the same when it comes to cookie dough!

Although I’m not sure how much batter went into the cookies versus their stomachs, by the end they had a bunch of cookies to take back to their houses!   I can’t wait to work with another family in two weeks! Here are a few pictures of them...

As far as school, this past week was surprisingly nice. On both Tuesday and Friday several students were missing so we were down to less than ten students in every class. This ended up being a blessing because I was finally able to give the individual attention I wanted to! Without such a large group, the students behaved better and listened while I explained new material. I got all the way through a lesson plan and we had time for games! In one class there were only 4 students so my co teacher bought them all cookies and we ate and played and had a great day. Although the other kids missed the lesson, those that were there truly benefited from the class. At the end of the day I could say that I had showed love and attention to every student in my classes. What more can I ask?

Since a post of mine wouldn’t be complete without mentioning some great food I ate…this past Friday I tried my first Nacatamale! No, this is not a typo. It is a Nicaraguan tamale (get it?), which is what every guidebook tells you is the typical food here-besides rice and beans. Like any other tamale it is wrapped in a plantain leaf with a corn based filling but these have meat, peppers, chili peppers, potatoes and, of course, rice. My co-teacher brought it to me as a “snack” during our mid-morning break on Friday. When she brought out a cup of coffee and two pieces of bread “to help with digestion” I realized snack may have a different meaning here…Nonetheless, I finished it all and loved every bite. Tamales can be pretty tasteless but the Nacatamale has so many flavors! Since we are entering the corn harvest now I am crossing my fingers that we start eating Nacatamales for lunch or dinner. I will keep you all posted. As for the recipe, everyone here knows how to make them so I am also planning on learning how. We’ll see how that goes…

Until next time!