Ok, I am finally getting this blog started. I have tried and failed once already but I am determined to get it started this time so everybody can stay updated on what I am doing (and so I don't have to tell the same story over and over). This blog will most likely not be well written but it is just meant to give an account of my experiences during my 10 weeks in Chile.
First, a bit about where I am working. I am volunteering at a Children's Home, Koinomadelfia, in Malloco, Chile (about 25 minutes from Santiago). So what exactly is a Children's Home...it is somewhat like an orphanage, but it houses children that have been abused or abandoned. The goal of Koinomadelfia is to provide a stable living environment for children with the hope of having them return to their families (if they are fit to take care of the kids).
Since the emphasis is on the family unit, Koinomadelfia is a different than most Hogares de Menores (Children's Homes) in Chile. The Hogar (which is what they call it down here) is set up to replicate the family unit. There are 10 houses here and 10 house moms (or Tias) and 4 auxiliary Tias. There are 8 kids in each house (ages 1 to 17). The Tias are pretty strong women. They spend 14 days taking care of 8 kids (who were abused or abandoned) and then get 3 or 4 days off. However, because there is a shortage of tias right now they can work for more than 14 days at a time.
Luckily, the way the hogar is set up there are about 25 full time staff who help the tias. There is an office staff, the maintenance man, drivers (for the kids to go to school), the kitchen staff, a psychologist, a social worker and the library staff among others. The kitchen staff cooks the food for the entire hogar every day and the tias come and pick it up and bring it to their houses. So cooking is one less thing they have to worry about. Although we have to eat the same food every week.... Also, they offer yoga and a fitness class for the tias once a week (for stress relief). It was definitely a pleasant surprise to see that they care so much about their tias' sanity.
Now a little bit about the kids. After working in Honduras and seeing orphanages there I was not quite as surprised as I could have been when I arrived in Chile. On the surface many of these kids (not all) come across as any other kid. However, after working with them a bit and observing them it is much easier to see their psychological state and behavioral problems. One day they are well behaved and the next day can be a disaster. They can scream, cry, hit and kick for almost no reason at all. That being said the weeks tend to be very unpredictable. Just the other day one of the girls tried to hit the priest here (who founded the hogar and is in his 80s). But, most of them are sweet and loving kids; it is just that they have been through traumatic experiences. The effects of the abuse are more noticable in the younger children because they tend to have cognitive and developmental delays or they misbehave.
Finally, a bit about what I am doing here. I am working (along with 3 other volunteers) with Tia Sole, the head of the library and all school realted things at the hogar. The other volunteers and I tutor a kid every hour throughout the day. Right now I am working with five different kids (from ages 4 to 13). If the kids have homework we help them with that and if not they have notebooks prepared with work for them to help reinforce what they are learning in school. Most of the time we end up being the first ones to teach them the material though. When we are not tutoring we are preparing the kids' notebooks, preparing a catolog of the books in the library, helping the kids with computer games or attending parent teacher meetings.
This is just an overview of where I am volunteering right now and what I am doing. As I said before I am late at starting this blog but I plan to catch up in the next couple days and give more detailed descriptions of my experiences. Also, I apologize for any typos I miss...the auto correct and spell check are for spanish.
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