Solomon Klein.-Hogar de Niños

Two days a week I go to the orphanage to volunteer with the children there. The name of the orphanage is Solomon Klein and it is run by the Sisters of Charity. It is one of the largest orphanages in the city and has four different homes. One is for boys and girls from birth to 5 years old. When the children are of school age they are separated and the boys go to one home, the girls to another. They can stay there until they are about 8 years old. Then there is home for the boys age 8-12 but there is no place for the girls. I asked why not and they simply told me that it was a good question but they did not have an answer. As in other developing countries, the children in the orphanage are not necessarily without parents. Some are abandoned but others are put into the ‘hogar’ or home because the parents are unable to take care of them. Sometimes the children will be returned to the parents if their situation improves.

I requested to work with the smallest children, those from birth to crawling. I stay for 2 hours a day. First there is the bottle feeding. With 25 children and 2 employees it is not possible that each child gets held and cuddled while they are fed. It took a change of perspective to realize that the only way to feed them is to prop a bottle up, even for those as young as a month. And, of course, with so many babies there are lots of diapers to change and lots of bottoms to clean. The diapers are folded in a way I have not seen and have not been able to learn. I cannot even explain it so all I can say is that they are extremely bulky and I feel for the legs being spread apart so far all the time. No pins are used so the child is simply wrapped in the diaper and the diaper is kept in place by the rubber pants.

Usually there is about a half an hour after bottle feeding that I can cuddle and pay attention to the children. It hit me last time that many of these children were over 6 months but had no idea how to sit. I did question the size of the diaper! However, I started to sit up a few of them for a few minutes and maybe it will help. I also sing to them – thank goodness they don’t care if I sing on tune or if I sing in English! I found a rocking chair in the storage area so at the beginning of my shift I pull it out and rock the kids. At the end, I put it back in storage. That is one of the ‘North American’ things that they do not understand so do not use. They do laugh at me (nicely) when I sit and rock a couple of kids at a time. It takes the kids about 10 minutes to relax enough to lean into me rather than bend away.

At 4 o’clock the supper comes. It is a soup made with pureed veggies. They start feeding them this quite young since the formula is very expensive. We spoon feed the older ones and that is quite the experience. Children at home sit up to eat but these are used to lying prone on your lap and having the food put into their mouths. They seem to lack the swallowing reflex but maybe babies don’t develop that by 6 months. They seem to swallow just when there is so much in their mouths that they have no choice but to swallow.

After supper I have another half hour or so to cuddle so I try to choose different children each time to hold and to rock. Of course, there are always those that seem a bit fussy so they get a bit of extra attention.

Although this may sound rather futile and depressing, I do enjoy it. It is wonderful to see these children smile, to get them to react to a song. Regardless of where children are, they are creatures of God and all have the same qualities. As I get to recognize some of them, and some of them recognize me, it is a real blessing.

La escuela in Cochabamba- The school in Cochabamba

Being students after thirty or more years is a real change, not exactly what I would recommend for a mid life crisis! The school which we attend has no name but is known by the gringos as Daniel’s school. It is the only one that teaches both Spanish and Quechua. There are three people who own the school. All of them are former employees of a larger language school, Mary Knoll, operated by the Catholic church. Daniel is the oldest and I would not want to guess his age. He is a school teacher but now is working for a radio station, writing and reading stories in Quechua. He also wrote the textbook that the students use while learning that language. Gladys is the business administrator, secretary, time table keeper as well as a teacher. She also teaches in a public school (junior-senior high) three evenings a week. Alehandro is the other partner in the business. When there are more students they call in extra teachers. José teaches at the primary level and I don’t know what Nora does when she does not teach. Each one of them has their own style and own method of teaching so it goes well. I check who I am getting the next day so that I can prepare for that teacher. Some do conversation while others are great at teaching the grammar. We have learned to appreciate each one for who they are and what they provide.

And the students. Most of them are missionaries who plan to go out to a community and need more language study. Right now most are studying Quechua. Some stay for a year, others stay for about six months. They say that you need at least four months of intense studying before you are ready to go into a community. Some of the other students are Norwegians who have come to Bolivia while taking internet courses in Spanish. They are taking some conversational Spanish so that they can pass their tests. From that I understand the government pays them to go to school and living in Bolivia in much cheaper than living in Norway. Then there are some people who are literally just passing through and decided to take a month or so of language study while they are here.

I am taking four hours a day of tutorial while Jake is taking three hours. This means that we each get a teacher for one-on-one for 45 minutes and then we get a new teacher for the next section. We get a good variety and the time flies. I can’t say that we get bored or that we wish that a session was over because we don’t like the teacher. Sometimes we are too tired, but that is another story. There is no chance to lose concentration so the work is very intense.

When we are not in class we spend a lot of time studying. I have made flash cards with all the vocabulary, both from the book and from conversation. Then Jake and I go through those cards and try to memorize the material. We do much better on the nouns than the verbs! That we have different ways of studying is very evident. I work ahead so that I know what I am doing while Jake reviews and learns the new things in class. He is concentrating on vocabulary while I am concerned about the grammar and sentence structure. Both ways work and we are glad that the school allows us each to work in our own way.

This is not easy work and I never imagined that I would have to put in so many hours studying. It certainly is different that taking French in high school. I think I learned by osmosis then. We ask for your prayers – that we can concentrate, that we will not be bored or frustrated, and that we will be able to talk to people.