Hospitales de Esperanza

El Cristo

This past weekend flew by. Saturday we hiked up to El Cristo, a giant statue of Jesus way up on a hill. I heard rumor that it was the highest statue of Jesus in the world due to our high elevation but I don’t know how accurate that is. We did a scavenger hunt in La Cancha the open-air market later that afternoon. La Cancha was absolutely crazy. They had everything you could ever imagine, including hundreds upon hundreds of llama fetuses. It is Bolivian tradition to bring new homeowners a fetus and bury it in their yard for good luck. Mostly I just found them terrifying. The most shocking part of the markets wasn’t the fetuses though it was the raw meat being sold. It was literally everywhere- on the ground, covering tables, in wheelbarrows, just everywhere. The women selling it were just casually leaning on piles of it and eating their lunch over it as though there was nothing unhygienic about raw beef. It was outrageous; I have never been so shocked by lack of awareness of bacteria in my entire life. That afternoon we did kid washing in the plaza for the people of the city who don’t have the resources to properly bathe. After the kids were cleaned we would play with them and all they wanted was to be spun. We would pick them up and spin them and they would squeal with laughter. The joy in the kids and the people here never stops surprising me.

La Cancha...

Sunday we went to a morning church service that lasted almost 3 hours. This long of a service is completely normal for these people because they honestly can’t stop worshiping the Lord. That is just so different from our “get in, get out” worship habits. For these people, Sunday is truly a Sabbath and all they do that day is go to church so they see no reason why it should be cut short. I am also just so amazed by the community aspect of the churches here. After church we all cooked lunch and cleaned together and sang along to country music for hours. The happiness and willingness of the other volunteers is awesome to witness and the complete selflessness of each person is inspiring. That night we built a fire in the yard and all sat around singing worship songs for over three hours.

Playing in the plaza

Monday I spent the morning cooking lunch and then the afternoon at Casas de Amor 2 which is an orphanage for children over the age of 4. Another volunteer and I helped a little girl named Abby wash a car and then I helped her clean her room. Tuesday I went to Casas de Amor 1 which is for infants through age 3 or 4. I spent all morning rocking babies and feeding small children. All of the kids at CDA 1 are sick right which is pretty heartbreaking to see. They call the caretakers at the orphanage Tia and I can’t imagine a more exhausting job than being one of the Tias at Casas de Amor 1. There are 15 toddlers and babies living there and at all times at least 4 are crying. Those women are truly impressive to me that they can spend all day and night caring for children, I can’t think of a more selfless profession. That night we went into town to buy hamburguesas and since I wasn’t eating one I spent that time talking to about 7 kids around the age of 8. Kids are the best for learning Spanish (or Castillo as it is called here) because when you make a mistake they aren’t afraid to correct you. With these kids, every time I would make a mistake they would all just laugh and laugh at me until one of them would correct me. But what better way to learn a language than to be laughed at by a bunch of 8 year olds.

It has been such a blessing to be out of my comfort zone and being forced to rely on the Lord. I have been having a ton of quiet time, which is really good for me because it doesn’t exactly come naturally to me by any means. I am still not really sure what my purpose is here but I have faith that the Lord is using me exactly how he needs to. Please keep the babies at CDA 1 in your prayers! Love you guys!