Photo Shoot, Part 4

Casa de Amor II

everyone!

May!

Even though May has passed, it was a month of many new experiences that I will process the rest of my life. Here are seven of the most memorable!


#1: Baby Birth!

Ever since “G” told me she was pregnant with number 2 (at age 14), I picked up the slack in her post-natal care. Thanks to my OBGYN friend from Cochabamba International Church, also owner with her husband of a recently refurbished clinic, we got excellent care at half the price. I was asked to choose the date of the cesarean within a certain time frame. That's how on May 3, I was called out of the room where I was going to wait, told to suit up in full surgical gear, walked into the surgical suite and Dra. Aida made the first cut. It was a beautiful experience to watch the baby being born, healthy and large! When they weighed her, they told me the weight. I am sorry the father didn’t want to be there and experience what I did, but honored that I was able to be there for G.

(Those who know Cochabamba will get a kick out of this: my first time watching a human baby being born, and I was in La Cancha. You got it - La Cancha!!)

My camera refused to work on this day - thankfully I had my cell phone camera to snap this picture of G's baby being lifted into the world!


With baby K (during her sister's first birthday)

#2: Becoming Soccer Mom
The months of May and June, guys from "my bridge" are playing in a soccer tournament at the field of a boy’s home in Tiquipaya. In this post I explain a bit of what it's like to be a street kid soccer mom!

Our team!

#3: Burying a Friend
May 11 was the first time I really sat down, there on the curb by passing cars, to chat with “C”, new to the bridge. I had no clue that only 15 days later I would get the phone call that he was dead, alcohol overdose. He would’ve turned 31 in June, one month after I turned 28, and yet there is no comparison. His body and mind bore the marks of a hard life on the streets, and by street terms he was elderly, using a stick to get around when he got around at all.

It was horrible to get back from Wednesday soccer, and see his body right there, a foot from the street. What would you do, with 15 or more street kids looking to you for direction? After a stunned few minutes where I just wanted to cry at the awfulness of it all but made my brain keep working, we flagged down passing police, the guys helped load the body while the rest of us answered questions, and everything kicked in from there. We followed his body to the morgue. I took in the orphan brothers who found him to the main police station, as witnesses. I found out his real name from another street worker, so the original death certificate had to be changed. The second night of the wake, I stayed with everyone till midnight, keeping them distracted from the dead body at the foot of their mattresses.

This was not the first time I needed to bury someone from the street, but was the first time I was so involved with everyone and all the details. Due to the name complication, it took three days to finally be able to bury, whereas it usually happens the same day in Bolivia. At one point, a whole group of police flooded the bridge and I had to explain that we were following proper procedure, and to please not burn the body! Those were some crazy days that bonded our group.

The wake under the bridge, with visitors from other street communities

#4: Traumatic First Aid
I have had many many ER experiences in Bolivia by this point, between our children, volunteers, and the bridge kids, but the one with C completely triumphs all injuries. One Saturday night a friend of mine from the bridge shoved C’s hand into my face and said “Senorita, fix her up!” I could tell from the dirty bandages that it was going to be bad, but it was worse than I expected. After a weekend without improvement, I started to get really worried and took her to the doctor, first time I’ve had to do so as I give constant first aid on the street. There her tendon was declared severed, immediate (expensive) surgery needed, and, as if that wasn’t enough to make us pass out, she needed to have the two fingers cleaned out and stitched closed to give us time to inform her family members and make decisions about the surgery.

The next hour in the emergency room was beyond words AWFUL!!!!!!!! C practically bruised my arm and washed my hair with her tears as she clung to me during the torturous wound opening and cleaning…and something like a dozen stitches, as far as I could count. The doctor was so rough and brusque, and the wounds so bad, that the lidocaine was only partial help. (At least she got lidocaine, unlike another friend after he was stabbed.)

I barely ate the rest of the day, my stomach was so churned. ( I do have a picture pre-ER, but I'll spare you!)

I also took out stitches for the first time in May. And of course it had to be 3 stabbing wounds - nine stitches! Glad to report that C is still my friend, ha! He was just grateful I kept the wounds clean and could take out the stitches so that he didn’t have to face an abusive doctor again.


#5: Being Part of a Catholic Baptism
In six years living in a Catholic country, I had never witnessed infant baptism. My friend M at the bridge chose her son’s 3rd birthday for the momentous occasion, with a mutual Norwegian friend as the godmother, and we had a very nice afternoon together. There were quite a number of babies being baptized at once, at least 20 I'd say, not exactly the private ceremony I was envisioning! It was dramatic, for sure.

My friend with her new godson (my part in the special day? photographer and chauffeur!)

#6: Big Bridge Outing

(and two flat tires within four days)
In our first big bridge outing apart from soccer games, the day before my birthday I loaded up a group for a trip to a lake outside of town. We had a wonderful time, even with nearly running out of gas and a flat tire! ...Which were actually some of the happiest highlights of the trip, as everyone worked together as a team towards a solution.

This was the first time I actually went out on Lago Angostura. C knew how to rent a boat, and so for a mere 70 cents per person, we took a wet spin on the lake at sunset. Later, we were planning to eat fish but a favorite Bolivian meat dish was cheaper, so they stuffed themselves on Pique Macho (not I, I’m vegetarian!) and then we started the long dark hike back to the truck while some told ghost stories—with definite Bolivian twists, another new experience!

With little J after the boat ride - his first!

And did I mention I had not one but TWO flat tires in May, on two different vehicles, both packed with street kids? (At least they know how to change tires!) In 13 years of driving I’ve had not one. Very strange, I say.

#7: Double Adoptions
In several years of adoptions, we’ve normally had several months in between each one. Well in May, we had a week where two families, Norwegian and US (but adopting as locals), actually crossed in the Baby Home! It was a three ring circus, to check on Jose with his family (parents and brother), then Alejandrina with her family (parents and 4 siblings)! Very exciting though for all involved, and the children are adapting beautifully.

Farewell meal with the oldest from the Baby Home

Other firsts included a street kid putting my car in reverse and crashing it at the bridge, although amazingly it did almost nothing to my car (yep, I’m much more strict now), being begged to drink chicha, which is a homemade alcoholic brew (nope, I didn’t!), and taking multiple from the bridge for dental work (interesting aside: they brush their teeth by the river before I take them, which I find impressive considering the lack of mothers in their lives).

I've loved almost every minute of all of it!! I have the most amazing "jobs" ever. :)

Photo Shoot, Part 3

Everyone wanted a picture with the famous trio!


With "our" babies: Savannah with Nataly (#3), Jen with Valentina (#1), Elena with Victoria (#2)



....which I can't resist comparing with this picture just 6 weeks earlier, a wee bit smaller!




The Baby Home oldest with the Baby Home youngest

New volunteer Hannah, learning the ropes quickly!

Jen with Valentina

Elena stealing a kiss from Victoria

I love Sav's face (she wasn't pinching Victoria folks, she's just the most, ah-hem, verbal of the three!)

Elena with the trio

A quick picture after their photo shoot, before re-dressing. Tia Rosa pointed out that they're in the shape of a heart. :)

My, how they've grown!

The triplets are all super great eaters - we couldn't have hoped for better growth! The proof is obvious:

May 31, 3 1/2 months

March 21, 1 month

Photo Shoot, Part 2

The triplets!

Sleeping beauty.... (Valentina, usually the calmest)


Someone's feetsies!

As for the next three, it's anyone's quess as to who is who... I'm assuming it's one picture of each...maybe Savannah can tell! Or my guess is that they're in order:

If I was pressed to choose a favorite, I think this is it, and I think it's Nataly (#3)...

Even Katrina might have to admit that these are some CUTE FEET!! (The hands? Melissa's lovely assistants: Hannah, Savannah, Jennifer)

Preciousness!


Chubby arms!

A little peek "behind the scenes"!

Photo Shoot, Part 1

Enjoy these pictures of Casa de Amor II kids and their house mother extraordinaire, Elena!

Coming Soon!

This great lady....

just spent a week in Bolivia...

blessing our socks off!

(See?)

Want a peek into the fun?

Are you SUREEE??

Okay, okay, don't get pouty or anything...

Way too much cuteness to handle coming SOON!

Soccer Mom

The honest truth: before moving to Bolivia I had never been to a soccer game. Then living here, I went to an average of one or two games a year as a cultural experience, 95% of the reason being to have fun with friends or visitors or kids I was going with, and to enjoy the scenery of majestic mountains and El Cristo statue visible from above the stadium.

Then comes 2010 and street work, and once or twice a MONTH I now go to the stadium with anywhere from 6 to 20 of the street population to help them cheer on their favorite team, Wilstermann!

Then comes May 2010! We get news of this year’s street kid soccer championship being put on by another non-profit here. I immediately recognized the potential of the kids pulling together to focus on something besides the next fight or girlfriend/boyfriend problems. So all of a sudden, I am thrust into the world of FUTBOL!!

I’m the delegate for the Huana Kapac bridge team. Definitely my Spanish vocabularly of sports terms has increased dramatically. I’m also coming up to speed on strategy, of which I knew about exactly ZERO before May.

My first taks was filling out the forms for each of our players (10), complete with photos that I took.

And now every Wednesday morning, I start my rounds early of picking up the guys (and sometimes their young families) who have left the bridge over the course of this year to start new lives. It takes at least 1 ½ hours to hook up with everyone, from their houses and two street locations—always an interesting challenge when no one but me has a cell phone, although everyone has my number memorized and I get plenty of calls on Wednesdays!


On game day, I run back and forth between our team, those running the games, and other kids wanting to talk to me from other parts of town, plus of course watching our team play.

I collect 1.5 Bolivianos (approximately 21 cents) from each one before the game starts to pay the referee, plus 3 Bolivianos each for any yellow cards from previous games, or else that player has to sit out.

I count how many came with us (players + family + friends) for refreshment time.


I give the officials a list of player names, who will start and who will sub, and who is wearing which number.

And I definitely yell and shout to encourage “my team”!


Another ongoing task is helping them with the uniforms—loaning missing pieces as needed, overseeing the swapping that goes on depending on who is playing first (not all have complete uniforms), marking the number on with a marker in case of new players or new shirts.

One recent Wednesday on our way to the game location outside the city, I not only had 15 people in my car (a CAR folks, not van or truck), I had a freshly washed jersey hanging out my window to dry out—I think we were getting lots of stares, but I was too busy to pay much attention to anything besides my clown car, ha!



And then one of the trickier parts of being soccer mom to this bunch: the hand over of glue bottles before game time. We were doing a pretty good job of controlling glue sniffing of the players, but it’s been decided that we need to up our control of the girlfriends and by standers to be more true to this year’s championship motto “no vuelos, no violencia” (no getting high, no violence). The first week, most of the bottles were left at the street. The second week, I had a large store keep back in my car but upon giving them back one guy was left without his. If they can’t trust me to give them back, they might not hand them over at all—not good. So by the third week I remembered to take a permanent marker and a Ziploc and that worked nicely.




Last Thursday was a holiday in Bolivia, and about 8 of us went to watch a big game at the stadium. I have to say that’s the first time I’ve truly watched a game, even if I had to hold up my hands to shield my eyes from the sun to be able to see anything other than a bright glare, and understood a lot of what was going on, and truly enjoyed watching it, apart from the fellowship of those I went with! To top it all off, our team won 3-1 with a couple pretty dramatic goals. Fun times! Now they are back in Cochabamba for the championship final tomorrow night, but it's my turn with the triplets so not sure if I'll get to go.

Team picture, Week 1 (minus two players)

Yep, I can now add "soccer mom" to my (imaginary) mother resume. =)