María Ayuda!

On Saturday, I woke up at 7:30 and got packed up. I left with a backpack, sleeping bag, and a tent. We picked up Vivian (exchange student from Germany) We drove for half an hour and ended up getting lost. We passed the place and ended up in a different town. So we stopped at a grocery store and bought snack food and asked the police. When we got there, I realized I hadn't brought sun screen.. And so it was lucky that my dad found a little spray bottle in the car. I'll have to admit, I was a bit skeptical when I saw the entrance. They had a big old gate and it looked more like a prison. But my parents dropped us off and drove away.

María Ayuda is a home or shelter for girls who have been taken from their families by the police. For various reasons like drugs, violence, and improper raising on the parent's part. So that's a sad situation. 

My Rotary officer told me that there would be other exchange students but that was not the case. There was a group of about 15 Roteract members. Roteract is a group within Rotary that does different projects to improve the community and quality of life. They were all in their 20's. One guy showed us where to put our bags and got us to work. Another thing that my officer didn't really tell us is that we'd be taking out a bunch of grass. I came in bermuda shorts and a t-shirt and felt silly when all the other workers had running shorts and a t shirt. I changed quick. haha. I got started working with gloves and a shovel. Our job was to clear the field of all the weeds and high grass so the girls can have somewhere safer to go when there is an earthquake.

This is a third of one of the fields. There was another one in a different area.

Holy man it was hot. A bright sun and not a single cloud in the sky. We took frequent breaks to hydrate and I drank so much water. We worked a couple of hours and then had spaghetti for lunch. During lunch we got to know some of the other people. Then were back to work. We took another break for bread and jam.

During a break Vivien and I decided we should set up our tent. So we opened up the bag and spread out one of the tarps. An adult leader saw us and sent two guys out to help us. As I looked for the poles to give to them, I realized there weren't any. But it wasn't my fault! My dad gave it to me like that! oooohh I felt like such a girl. hahahha. They asked where the poles were and I said uhhhhh what poles? Luckily another tent had extra spaces.

Then we worked the rest of the afternoon until 6 or 7. We finally got to take showers! I took one of the coldest showers of my life. But another person said that their's was really hot. But everyday with uncertain water temperature? :( And no toilet paper in the bathrooms.

With everyone fresh and clean it was dinner time. After, everyone relaxed and sat around and talked. Vivien and I went and played with the kids. It makes me sad that these little girls (from the ages 4 to 14ish) are in these situations. But it was great to play with them and see them have fun and laugh. They liked playing with my camera and I have a hundred pictures or so of random things.

We played with a basketball and went on the teeter-totter.

I loved this girl. She was so sweet.

 I played with them until bedtime at 10. Then I went and talked with the group. I went to bed at 1:30, which was earlier than a lot of others. I hadn't broughten a pillow and the ground was pretty hard, but I was so tired that it didn't matter.

Waking up in the morning was rough. We slept until 8. My back and hands hurt a lot.

We ate breakfast and they announced that there was a little bit more work to do with the grass. So they sent the guys off to finish that while the girls were in charge of painting a mural. Of the Roteract and María Ayuda symbols.

We got shirts out of the deal! Vivien and I:

 Brainstorming:

 When we were working in the morning, this little girl came up to me and we had the following conversation.

Her: Tia! Come play with me!
Me: I can't!
Her: Come on!
Me: I'm sorry but I have to work. But we'll play later okay? I promise.
Her: ok tia... but we won't play. Because you're leaving today. And once you leave, you'll never come back and I'll never see you again.

My heart broke. It was so sad. Because that must happen so much to them. Volunteers come for a few days but then they leave and are never seen again. I am really going to try to go back. 

 How adorable is this!?

 Vivien drew the cross and I did a few of the letters.

Before: 

During:

After:

I also helped paint this one:

We spent a good hour and a half tracing and painting these. And then of course one of the guys came along and did this one in 20 minutes.

"Trabajos de Verano Lontué 2014"

When we were all done, we ate lunch and then had all the kids come and put their hand prints on the wall. We put ours on there too. I put mine and then the guy with the marker started writing another guy's name. And when I told him the hand print was mine, he crossed it out and it just wasn't pretty... It's fine. I'll just have my name written terribly on that wall for ummm FOREVER. hahahha. 

By that time, it was 3 and everyone packed up their things. Advantage of not having a tent!

I called my mom and my dad ended up getting there at 5:30. We spent the time waiting by sitting at the picnic table and talking to the girls.

My dad came, and it was heartbreaking to leave. Saying good bye for what was probably forever. Hugging those little girls and feeling their little arms wrapped around you and looking into their sad eyes. Only hoping that things would brighten up. And their situations would improve. Ahhhhh.

We left and found out that Vivien's parents had gone out of town. And they wouldn't be back until late. So we drove to Curicó, stopped at a gas station for pop, and went to the camp. There's not much to do at my house and so I guess that's why we went there. One of my dad's friends was renting it out for a 5 year old's birthday party so there were a few people there. But Vivien and I changed into tank tops and shorts and went swimming. It was soooo nice. My muscles were so tired and the water was so refreshing. While we were swimming, four or five little girls came to swim. And they talked to us and I did some races with them for an hour. Have I mentioned how much I love being with little kids? When we got out, Vivien and I went to play fútbol with my dad and another guy. Not really playing, but standing in a big circle and kicking it back and forth. I wish I was good at fútbol... 

Vivien and I hung around and played and talked. And at some point we had choripan. And at 10 we left there and went to the house to wait for her parents. They came at 11, and I was going to go to bed because I was exhausted, but then I watched Mamma Mia with my host parents. :) hahahaha. You know what stinks about translated movies?? They don't translate the songs!!! And in Mamma Mia songs are pretty important. So I tried to sum up the song and translate it. haha. So at 12 I finally got up to bed. :) ahhh.