Today was a day of emotion on both ends of the spectrum. Starting this entry off, I´m not sure how it will come out.
To begin the day I had no appetite and could barely eat breakfast. I had no idea why and didn´t think too much of it - its happened many times before. But, as soon as I took my first swing of the pick axe, I busted my toe open. I already felt like the day wasn´t going to go my way so Chris and I decided that maybe we should focus on other things for the day. We decided to try and fix up the covered parking and realized that the material we used was tearing and that it was not going to work due to the wind. Bummer. After taking it all inside we rode around with Ephrian to pick up the few girls that were still in school and then headed back to find that a couple of families from Michigan had arrived.
At first I was a little taken back by how many of them there were and was worried about how everything was going to work with them being here. But, after a short time, I realized that they were awesome people and would be a lot of fun to hang out with. After a lot of conversation we decided to work on getting my car out of the mudhole it had been in since Sunday. It seemed as though it would be a fairly easy project, especially with all of the willing hands to help. I was wrong. It turned out that the reason my car sunk at that spot was because a water pipe had busted and was continuously feeding water into the area. I had been wondering why that was the only spot not drying up! After hours of Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, etc. etc., I finally convinced everyone to give in and we called a tow truck. At this point I am mentally and emotionally exhausted - and watching 4 nuns, a bunch of girls, and 3 families in the mud doing everything they can to get my car out of a sinkhole was no help.
The tow truck came and it looked as though the operator was maybe 16 or 17 years old. Let me tell ya, I felt comfortable. He ended up spending a good amount of time figuring out the best way to do the job and did a lot better than I probably would have. But, although it was the best way, it did do some damage to the plastic on my car. It is out though, and for that I am very thankful. Watching my car slowly sink into the mud was seriously wearing on me.
Afterwards I was finally able to eat and relax somewhat. For the first time on the trip I didn´t feel too good and was missing the ease of life in the US. Shortly thereafter though, I was reminded of what brought me here.
I have been wanting to get Mariana something for her birthday for a couple of days now and finally had a chance to do so. Ephrian and I decided to go to the Pasteleria (bakery) to get a cake for all the girls and to have a fiesta for Mariana. Afterwards the plan was to go to AutoZone to get carwash and other things needed to clean my car. The drive to get anywhere takes some time due to the inconvenient road system in place here. This turned out to be a great thing this time. I had time to get into a conversation with Ephriam about his life, where he had come from, why he was here, and what his goals in life are. The conversation became very deep and I learned a great deal about him. I found out that Ephrian does not get paid for the work he does here. He is reimbursed the equivalent of $90 a week by the schools that the girls go to for picking them up and dropping them off everyday. Keep in mind, Ephrian spends almost his entire day doing things for this place and works harder than almost any man I have ever met. I found out that he has been working here since he was 14, he is now 32. In the middle of the day while the girls are at school he works as a mechanic down the street to be able to make ends meet. He does not have to work at the Casa Hogar, he does not get paid for it. When I asked him why, he told me that ¨he loves the girls with all his heart and that he feels like they are all his sisters.¨ He has had many opportunities to take much higher paying jobs, but he stays here and gives his life to make these girl´s lives better. Without his help this place could not exist and these girls could not have half of what they have. Needless to say, by the end of the conversation I was very touched and I had been changed forever. His sacrifice is like none I have ever seen before.
After a fairly rotten day and being discouraged by a series of events, I saw again what makes this place so special to me.
