Cross Cultural Solutions - Our Week

CCS Logistics-
It has been so hard for me to write about our time volunteering with Cross Cultural Solutions and I think the reason it’s hard is I know I will never be able to do it justice. So, I decided to start with logistics and see where it goes from there.

Sunday 8-3-2008
We and another family were picked up from the hotel at about 8:30 by the house director, Enrique – “Kique”. We were really lucky at the house – we were assigned one room for the four of us and had our own bathroom. Some rooms were assigned up to 6 people and had to share a bath with up to 10! (There were a total of around 40 in the house). Kique gave a quick orientation at the house, and then we all loaded up in vans and cars and were driven to our neighborhood of work – Villa El Salvador. Click here for photos. It was really shocking driving through VES for the first time. It looks more run down then the worst Chicago South Side neighborhoods I used to drive through as a short cut to work. We were taken to Martinsitos, a daily center for adults. There we were given a history of VES – it lasted around 1 ½ hours and was fascinating. Afterwards we went back to the house and started meeting up with our new family for the week. It was so fun! I’m sure I won’t remember everyone but, my favorites were the family groups and more “mature” single people – Shannon & Parker; Romi; Peggy & Katie; Pam & Casey; Elizabeth, Jim & Jane; Noah, Roberta, Shanna & Isaiah; Gwyn; Mary; Liota; Rudy, Mateo & Sydney; Mike; Alex; Katia; Simone; Janice; Sanna; Conor; and a few more singles. Alex and Rachel immediately started having fun playing cards with the kids and the young college or just post-college kids. In fact that is what they did almost every minute that we weren’t working, eating, touring or walking to the Circle of Death! They have tons of new games to play.
We wrapped up Sunday, by heading to bed, excited and a little scared for our first day of work to begin.

Monday, 8-4-2008
Today was our first day of work. We were assigned to INABIF – Villa Hermosa. It is a daycare center. Our partners were Peggy, Shannon, Parker and Conor – 8 of us total. When we first got there, we discovered that our CCS helper, Juan Carlos was the only English speaker and very limited at that. Only Peggy could speak Spanish, so she became our main interpreter. Since this was the first time that our INABIF section had any volunteers, they were very unsure what to do with us! Peggy was able to figure out that they wanted new lines painted for futbol and volleyball courts. They wanted the basketball and futbol nets painted, and they wanted a mural on the wall. After we got that figured out, we thought we would start working when about 40 kids came running out to play! They crowded around us and started asking “Como se llama?” y “Cuantos anos?” – to Rachel. It was overwhelming at first and then FUN!!!! The boys all headed over to the futbol area, and entrenched Alex, Pat and Conor in a game. The younger girls took Rachel off to play Salta Suca – jumprope, hopscotch, hand clapping games. Parker had his own contingent of girls. Peggy played volleyball and Shannon and I followed Rachel and Parker and their girls, joining in the fun as well. We ended the first day too soon.

Tuesday and Wednesday, 8/5 & 8/6/2008
The girls at INABIF had told us that they wanted a Volleyball mural, so that’s what Peggy, Shannon and I began painting on Tuesday, when we arrived at 9AM. Rachel helped a bit too. It was a true collaboration, esp for 3 adult women who do not call themselves artists! I had asked Juan Carlos if we could have the INABIF kids paint but he said no, too messy. I really would have liked to see their joy at having been able to create something on their own. But, they seemed to like it nonetheless. We had to paint quickly, as everyday we had to be done by 11AM, when the kids ran out to play with us until we had to leave at 12:30 PM. Everyday, Pat and the CCS “boys” would just barely get the paint put away when the INABIF boys would run out to play futbol, nevermind wet paint! On Tuesday, we asked the girls if we could take pictures of them. Click here to see them. They loved it! We had 2 girls in particular who wanted to be in all of them – Luz and Demy! I told them I would bring them copies for themselves at the end of the week. On Wednesday, both Luz and Demy brought me pictures of themselves – they were happy to share with me and I was very touched.
Everyday when we arrived the kids greeted us – running up and hugging us and grabbing Rachel by the hand. I thought I would be worried about Rachel disappearing with 30 little girls who speak no English, inside a daycare located in a housing project, but I really did not think twice about it. When we left the girls would escort us to the front door waving and saying “Hasta manana”, until tomorrow!

Thursday, 8/7/2008
While we were helping serve breakfast this morning (a hard roll and cup of warm chocolate milk), the daycare director told us that we would be throwing a Kinkana on Friday. Wow! Peggy was able to interpret that a Kinkana was a party, with competitive games. We asked if we should bring snacks and they said sure! The director said it was totally up to us to plan. That was a little scary. So, most of our time before the kids came out to play was a planning session – well Peggy, Shannon and I. The CCS boys finished up the court painting with help from Rachel. We came up with a list of games and needed supplies. We also decided that we wanted to be able to bring them more jumpropes (they only had 3 for all the girls), a volleyball net (they played without) and some basketball nets, a basketball (they had none) and another soccer ball (they had one flat). Seeing how little these kids have, we were totally willing to spend our own money for this. Peggy also offered to get little treats for the kids at Chinatown on Thursday afternoon. When we got back to CCS and told Kique that we needed all kinds of supplies he was a little surprised. He said the director had talked to him and that our ”party” was just supposed to be games. So, maybe we misinterpreted, or maybe Kique did not get the same story as us. Nevertheless, he went with it – getting cookies, candy, juice, balloons and many more supplies for us. He gave Pat the okay to buy the jumpropes and nets, so we headed to Sporting goods store on the Circle of Death. Pat also bought some CD’s to burn some music to play at our party. (When we told the director’s helper he could keep them on Friday he was SO happy!) By the end of Thursday night we were ready and excited!

Friday 8/8/2008 The Kinkana!
When we arrived with bags and bags of stuff, the kids all greeted us at the door, especially Rachel and Parker’s girl possees. We knew we had only a little time to set up so we got to work right away. The INABIF center also has Abuelos come each day, and many of the women offered their help. It was so nice! We decorated with balloons and streamers and set up for the games. The favorite was the Cuchara – a lemon and spoon race. We were able to play jump rope games and participate in a traditional circle dance. The boys had basketball contests and of course played futbol. The day was amazing, but in the back of my mind very sad too. This was our last day with our little girls. At the end, the director lined up all the kids to say good-bye and thank you. I looked at them lined up, and most of them (Girls, not the tough boys) were crying. I cried too. I’m even crying now remembering it. I miss those little, precious girls. They are so nice and so loving and so happy the whole week! And they literally have nothing! They live in homes with dirt floors. They do not get enough to eat, especially nutritious food, as evidenced by their red-tipped hair and white-spotted cheeks. Their daycare has no books, no toys, no paper, no crayons, no markers – nada! And they are happy. They play handclapping games and jump rope. Soccer and volleyball. They help each other and love each other. I hope that our being with them for 1 week was a positive experience for them, because for all of us, it was the experience of a lifetime.

For pictures of our time in the CCS house and with friends, click here: CCS