Memories of Saturday at El Hogar

Dear family and friends,

Though we have safely returned to the US and have begun to re-enter our normal routines, I promised to share with you our last beautiful day at El Hogar.

On Saturday, we arose to the normal cacophony of roosters and car horns though the boys must get to sleep later on Saturdays so there was no sweeping to add to the morning wake up noise. Our first activity started at 7:30 so we had a little more time ourselves to ease into our last day. We began the unpleasant process of packing and tidying up the volunteer house and drank our many pots of coffee. In an effort to not be late, we headed up to the new dorm a few minutes before 7:30. All of the children were streaming out onto the wide front steps and sitting down. We were thrilled to see the 28 boys that had moved into their new room (that we had completed) the day before! Once everyone was gathered, we began the blessing of the new garden that we had planted with the help and strength of the 7th grade boys from El Hogar. Claudia Castro, the director of El Hogar, and Claudia Bell, WE translator extraordinaire, each said some words about the garden and the love and friendship that built it and that it represents. We sang in English, the children sang in Spanish. Claudia, the 7th grade boys and the WE team sprinkled water on the garden with a palm branch. We said the Lord’s Prayer together in both languages and one of the older boys played a song on his guitar and sang. I honestly don’t remember the actual order of events as you can now imagine, I was trying not to cry AGAIN! We all wore our “powered by love” t-shirts that Barbara F. and her daughter Elizabeth had made. It was a beautiful event on a beautiful day in the sanctuary that is El Hogar. From there, we had ½ an hour to pull ourselves together and have breakfast. We were to meet at 8:30 under the basketball hoop near the kitchen for the “Despedida”, the goodbye ceremony. You know where this is going, right?!

We arrived to find several boys playing the Marimba and drums. The music was upbeat and joyful. Once gathered, Claudia and Claudia, said goodbyes in English and in Spanish. A few children volunteered to speak to us, many in English. They thanked us for coming to El Hogar, for playing with them and for our love. Alejandro, the guitar player, again sang to us and then 15 children came forward with cards and huge hugs for each of us. If we had somehow made it through the students thanking us without crying, it was all over now! Thankfully, the marimba music started up again and the dancing began. We danced around the property in a conga line and when that fell apart we danced with groups of children. The ceremony ended with all of the children hugging us and saying goodbye.

As we headed back to the volunteer house to finish packing, Claudia invited us into her office to buy t-shirts and/or CDs of El Hogar marimba music. A former student, Carlos, was also there selling some of his paintings. El Hogar prospered from 15 women buying up most of what they had to offer! We loaded up our luggage and headed to the airport at about 10:15 am- what a morning! An incredible trip, a remarkable place, a fantastic group of deeply caring women, a life changing experience.

I am so blessed to have been on this journey. I know that it is not over yet- there is more work to be done.
With love and gratitude,
Betsy