Day 5 Another Day in Bogota
Hey everyone, It's Julie!
We have officially been in Bogota for around five days and our experience has already been so incredibly memorable. We started our day with a much needed eight-nine hour sleep and a wonderful breakfast prepared by our own Colombian Grandma, Bertha. We then climbed into the bus and headed for Luz Y Vida, the handicapped orphanage. Many of us were shoving Kleenexes into our pockets anticipating the many tears for the day ahead. We arrived at the orphanage and took a tour of the facility and got a glimpse of where the kids lived and were taken care of.
My experience here was truly incredible. Going into the orphanage I was nervous that I wouldn't know what to do with people that can't even speak any kind of language. After interacting with these kids, very quickly it became known that there is a universal language- love. (Cheesy right?) These kids were so precious, we instantly fell in love with all these kids, which made it so difficult to leave them at the end of the day. There was a little girl I completely fell in love with today, I was sitting beside a baby, and in the corner of my eye I see this young girl with down syndrome get placed down on the mat and she instantly ran to me and threw herself onto me and wrapped her arms and legs around my neck and back and clung to me like a monkey haha. I walked around the room singing and talking to her while she put her face on my chest and pulled on my hair. It was one of the most rewarding experience I have ever had. Thank you to everyone for your continual thoughts and prayers!
Hola everybody, It's Janaya!
For lunch we went to a mall for pizza . Everyone seemed to favour the Hawaiian pizza, I think everyone is getting tired of having a lot of chicken . After that we went to Nuevo Nacimiento, which is a teen mom's home. The girls range from age 12 to 19. To think girls the same age or younger than me are pregnant or have a child, is absolutely crazy. There are about 100 women in the program, and they stay for 6 to 9 months before they are allowed to go. They learn basic skills, like how to feed and take care of their baby.
When we got there, we broke off into our groups. Some girls went to paint nails and do colouring, the boys went to play with the babies, and my group made para cord bracelets. The para cord bracelets may not had been the best idea. One person only knew how to make them, two of us had no idea, and trying to describe how to make them with a translator did not go well. In the end most of the girls got how to do it, but some look like just a bunch of knots. Later we brought over some nail polish to paint the girls nails, but they had other plans. Later that day they took a cosmetology class and they wanted to practise. A girl named Yelis (pronounced jelly) painted my nails. Even though I knew little to no Spanish, and she did not speak English, we connected immediately! We talked about her baby and about Canada, as she painted my nails, she painted watermelon on my hands. It was so beautiful just seeing how much she loved her baby. When she brought her baby in and she handed her to Julie, he started crying immediately. She told us her name was Oscar Alexander. He was such a pretty child, and she loves him very much. I later got to hold him and we played music and took some pictures together. It was really hard to leave. I wanted to spend more time with Yellis and Oscar. This was the hardest place to leave and say goodbye to. I will always remember Yellis and I hope one day I will see her again.
Thanks for all the support from our family and friends. Keep up the praying!
We have officially been in Bogota for around five days and our experience has already been so incredibly memorable. We started our day with a much needed eight-nine hour sleep and a wonderful breakfast prepared by our own Colombian Grandma, Bertha. We then climbed into the bus and headed for Luz Y Vida, the handicapped orphanage. Many of us were shoving Kleenexes into our pockets anticipating the many tears for the day ahead. We arrived at the orphanage and took a tour of the facility and got a glimpse of where the kids lived and were taken care of.
My experience here was truly incredible. Going into the orphanage I was nervous that I wouldn't know what to do with people that can't even speak any kind of language. After interacting with these kids, very quickly it became known that there is a universal language- love. (Cheesy right?) These kids were so precious, we instantly fell in love with all these kids, which made it so difficult to leave them at the end of the day. There was a little girl I completely fell in love with today, I was sitting beside a baby, and in the corner of my eye I see this young girl with down syndrome get placed down on the mat and she instantly ran to me and threw herself onto me and wrapped her arms and legs around my neck and back and clung to me like a monkey haha. I walked around the room singing and talking to her while she put her face on my chest and pulled on my hair. It was one of the most rewarding experience I have ever had. Thank you to everyone for your continual thoughts and prayers!Hola everybody, It's Janaya!
For lunch we went to a mall for pizza . Everyone seemed to favour the Hawaiian pizza, I think everyone is getting tired of having a lot of chicken . After that we went to Nuevo Nacimiento, which is a teen mom's home. The girls range from age 12 to 19. To think girls the same age or younger than me are pregnant or have a child, is absolutely crazy. There are about 100 women in the program, and they stay for 6 to 9 months before they are allowed to go. They learn basic skills, like how to feed and take care of their baby.
When we got there, we broke off into our groups. Some girls went to paint nails and do colouring, the boys went to play with the babies, and my group made para cord bracelets. The para cord bracelets may not had been the best idea. One person only knew how to make them, two of us had no idea, and trying to describe how to make them with a translator did not go well. In the end most of the girls got how to do it, but some look like just a bunch of knots. Later we brought over some nail polish to paint the girls nails, but they had other plans. Later that day they took a cosmetology class and they wanted to practise. A girl named Yelis (pronounced jelly) painted my nails. Even though I knew little to no Spanish, and she did not speak English, we connected immediately! We talked about her baby and about Canada, as she painted my nails, she painted watermelon on my hands. It was so beautiful just seeing how much she loved her baby. When she brought her baby in and she handed her to Julie, he started crying immediately. She told us her name was Oscar Alexander. He was such a pretty child, and she loves him very much. I later got to hold him and we played music and took some pictures together. It was really hard to leave. I wanted to spend more time with Yellis and Oscar. This was the hardest place to leave and say goodbye to. I will always remember Yellis and I hope one day I will see her again. Thanks for all the support from our family and friends. Keep up the praying!
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