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Tuesday Jul 28, 2009

Adios ninos

Well today has been heart wrenching! My last day working in the refugio, and I am of course really sad to be leaving the kids. It is impossible to stop yourself from getting attached to them, so saying goodbye today was really hard, especially when with an eclectic mix of Spanish words, and miming an aeroplane they understood what I was trying to say, and their faces fell!

I will never forget my times at the refugio, or any of the children there, its hard to think that I might not be able to come back again - but who knows what the future holds! Though I was very careful not to make any promises. Especially as for the last few days, one of the youngest girls - Lucy - has taken to calling me Mama, no matter how many times I told her "no!", it simultaneously hurts and is comforting to think that they will most likely forget about me within a couple of weeks when it comes to situations like that! I know that I couldn’t help becoming attached, but I am still angry at myself for letting her become too attached as well, with a turbulent past already behind her at such a young age, she doesn’t need me to add to the confusion.

I have to admit that this placement has been really hard! We have received a lot of time off, but working 4-5 hour shifts in this heat has always been trying, and facing temper tantrums was always a bit daunting! Especially as some of the kids had conditions such as ADHD, and also just with the language barrier meaning that I often found it hard to figure out what was wrong in the first place, or to explain to a child why I was stopping them from doing something! Also the staff have not been altogether supportive or appreciative of any of the volunteers, which has been quite hurtful! Never mind the fact that they would often use the volunteers by making us do the tasks they didn’t want to do... one volunteer was even made to clean the bathrooms and unblock the toilets when they broke, staying 2 hours after her shift was meant to end! However, cheesy as it is I have to admit it is true, that anything I had to endure during my stay here has been totally made worth it, purely by the way the kids faces would light up and they would shout "Fiioooonaaa!" each day when they first saw me, and how they would come and cuddle me while watching tv before bedtime.

I will miss the kids so much, and I doubt they will be far from my thoughts for a long time, they have a good chance at life thanks to the refugio, which offers many of them the chance to attend private schools, and they are never short of food or toys there. Many of these children have come from terrible backgrounds so it is a great job that the refugio and those who work there do, and I am so glad to have been a part of it and contributed at least a little bit to their lives.

So now I am about to set off on the second part of my adventure, and travel east towards firstly Chichen Itza, and then Cancun before hitting New York on my way home...hopefully I will get a chance to update on that part of my trip soon, until then...Adios! Fi.

Posted by Fiona ( 10:39 AM )
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