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Published: November 25th 2011
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Manos Amigos
The main center I volunteer at. Most everyone in my life has told me that I either need to be a super mom, a super model or both -I know, quite the opposite from each other, right?? Well it dawned on me the other day that at least half, if not more of you, are getting what you wanted! Sorry super model voters, but at least you haven’t gone home empty handed! Don’t forget I've got a few gigs and a body lotion commercial under my belt for ya! ;0)
I already love the kids so much and have become a mother-like figure to them by default. I have to feed them, clean up after them, play with them, and give them my love, and undivided attention. But on Wednesday, this 'dream' of the masses has been realized. We walked over to another center to watch a play performed by another group of children. On the way there, six girls were fighting over holding my hands, which hand holding is not mandatory or even suggested. Since I don’t have enough hands, the girls that lost the war had to settle for holding my arms. About half way there, they all declared that they were my "daughters"
(in Spanish of course), as they looked at me with excited smiles and hopeful eyes that I would accept. Claro que si! I would take them all home if I could! They started jumping and cheering with glee when I would reply affirmatively to each one as they separately declared this to me. Once we got to the center, we had to wait outside for a while as the actors weren’t quite ready yet. The girls began to fight over holding each of my hands even more, pushing the other away in order to gain a full grasp of my hand. At one point, two of them tried sharing my hand but couldn’t split it to their content. If I needed my hand to fix my hair, scratch an itch, or fix my shirt, they would practically lose it. They would put their hands up and kept jumping for my hand if I tried to use it for myself. They weren’t going to take any chances of my hand falling back down into the hands of the enemy. One decided to give up fighting to get to hold my hand or arm, and stood between my legs, holding on to
my thighs. Later, we started playing this game with some more kids where everyone stands in a circle and one shouts to either jump forward or backward, making the circle smaller or larger. As you can imagine, it was difficult for me to play with all the clinger-ons. Using my legs to jump was especially difficult as they were still claimed by one of my favorites, Mariana. I had to try jumping in or out with her hanging on between them.
Mariana is one of the cutest girls ever. Everyday at lunch, which is when I start, she greets me with a giant hug and makes me pick her up. Almost everyday, while I’m racing back and forth serving and clearing all of the tables, she constantly begs for me to pick her up. I simply can’t resist this one. Sometimes I’ll even try serving and/or clearing some tables with her in my arms, which doesn’t last long of course! Or in the afternoon, she’ll randomly drop whatever she’s doing to come hug me and make me hold her. One of my other “daughters”/favorites does this to me too (ha, I have no idea what her name is. Surprise,
Hamburger
Apparently I'm a hamburger! I was helping two girls with their English one day, and when I checked to see if their writing was correct, I found my name next to "hamburguesa"! lol! It took almost ten minutes of my trying to explain to her how I'm not a hamburger, as she seriously didn't get it! I guess you can call me "hamburgesa" from now on! lol! surprise!). She’s absolutely adorable as well, and looks like the main actress in Slumdog Millionaire (when she was little). In Colombia, they greet one another with a kiss on the cheek, and every time I pass her, no matter if I’ve already seen her or not, she grabs my attention to kiss me on the cheek and give me a big hug. Her smile is absolutely adorable.
Then there’s Samuel, aka the Little Devil. He’s super tiny and super cute. But when I first arrived, the volunteers warned me he was trouble, hence the nickname. He’s typically quiet, keeps to himself, looks really sad, and kicks or punches you if you try to come near him. Somehow, I’ve managed to be let into his world last week. He’s such a different person now. He usually hangs out with me instead of doing what he’s supposed to. He always literally climbs me like some sort of jungle jim or tree –which him even playing with another is amazing in itself! After the play, we went to the park. He wanted to go home and was shouting for his mother outside his apartment to let him in. It turns out she wasn’t home and I didn’t want him waiting by himself, even though it’s on the same street located between the park and the center, totally to just a few blocks in all. Earlier, while we were sitting out front of the center, this creepy guy kept coming and watching all of the kids from a short distance. He repeated in doing this a few times for a while at a time, so there was no way I was going to leave tiny Samuel by himself with! I begged him to come to the park and wait for his mother where it was safe. I even tried to tickle him into it which normally he loves, but he swatted me away. After a little while, I decided to go the half block to get Liliana, the teacher, so she can order him into the park with her fluent Spanish. She got him in within minutes, and he came running towards me screaming with a big smile that he had come. I picked him way up into the air while thanking him a great deal. I was also relieved that he didn’t put me on his black list, which is pretty easy to get on! Samuel normally looks pretty sad and won’t talk much nor participate with the other kids. I’m just so excited that he has let me into his world so quickly. I can’t help but feel that he acts this way to others as a result of something terrible going on at home. I hope I’m wrong and am just over reacting. I just want him to smile, have fun and be a kid. He’s actually really great, unlike his reputation.
Though I guess being a “mom” entails knowing names of your children, which I royally suck at names in general. I seriously don’t even know my name half the time! Is it Kate or Katie?! I’m actually quite proud of myself for knowing the amount of names that I already do so far! Though I suppose I shouldn’t feel too bad, since they all can’t seem to get my name down either! I’ve chosen to go by Kate here. Not only because I actually go by Kate quite often, but because I don’t like the way they pronounce “Katie” in Spanish. But "Kate" is not in their vocabulary, so it’s near impossible for them to say. They are dying to pronounce every single letter, including the silent “e”. And pronouncing the “t” is like murder. It comes out more like a “ch” sound. I wonder how the name “Kate” sounds like that to them. I try saying it to them over and over when they get me to remind them my name, but I think it only makes things worse! I’m glad they mainly shout “profe” and use it for all of the adults! This means I don’t have to hear my name being butchered very often! Plus, I can get a way with calling them nino(s) or nina(s)! Saved!
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Alexandria Diaz
non-member comment
Hey there profe hamburgesa! Love your blog! I can't imagine the feeling of being there and knowing that your making such a huge difference in these children's lives! You go girl