Today was Embrace day again (for an accurate description, read the post entitled “the greatest gift I ever refused” – Guatemala 2011) and a chance for me to 1) meet my sponsor child, Octavila and 2) see Heydi.
My eyes lit up a
s Heydi entered the grounds and teared up when she gave 
me a little wave. Her independent spirit and intelligence has not been damped in the year I was away from her. She was playing right away and showed Octavila how to do the kid things that we take for granted like swings, monkey bars and slide. The day progressed similar to last year; playing, crafts, shopping (yes, I gladly overspent), lunch and a trip to the hot springs for a swim.
I had intended to go and visit Heydi’s home again but a shortage of trucks meant this would not be possible as Heydi lives on a different mountain than the rest. I explained this to her mother at the end of the day an
d gave them some money to take a truck taxi home instead of walking the 3 hours, but the hard part came when I had to tell Heydi. She looked up at me and asked if I could come to her house again and I had to tell her ‘no’. It was one of the most heartbreaking moments I can recall.
s Heydi entered the grounds and teared up when she gave 
me a little wave. Her independent spirit and intelligence has not been damped in the year I was away from her. She was playing right away and showed Octavila how to do the kid things that we take for granted like swings, monkey bars and slide. The day progressed similar to last year; playing, crafts, shopping (yes, I gladly overspent), lunch and a trip to the hot springs for a swim.I had intended to go and visit Heydi’s home again but a shortage of trucks meant this would not be possible as Heydi lives on a different mountain than the rest. I explained this to her mother at the end of the day an
d gave them some money to take a truck taxi home instead of walking the 3 hours, but the hard part came when I had to tell Heydi. She looked up at me and asked if I could come to her house again and I had to tell her ‘no’. It was one of the most heartbreaking moments I can recall. The plan was to visit Octavila’s home in La Mina instead, as there was a truck heading that way. Leila and I, and 25 other people climbed into the back of the pick-up truck and started the longest, most painful ride up a mountain. No picture will ever do justice the absolute awkwardness of that ride. The gringos inability to balance with minimal support lead to a tremendous amount of inappropriate touching/grabbing to avoid falling on the Guatemalan children who had somehow managed to fall asleep on the bed of the truck. At one point po
or Leila had a Guatemalan woman sitting on her feet, holding a sleeping baby, nestling her head into Leila’s pubic area while Leila inadvertently smothered another woman behind her who had become lodged between her and Steve. No one died on that ride; in fact I think someone may have actually been born in the back of that truck.It took 1.5 hours by truck to reach the drop off point (we did have to stop for about 10 min when the truck over-heated) for Octavila and her family. Leila and I were going to run over for a visit and then have the truck pick
us up on the way back down the mountain. This plan was abandoned when we discovered that their home was still another 60 min by foot. 
We were able to see the home of another Embrace child, Deyri, who lives in La Puenta – VERY far up the mountain. She had the photo frame we made at last year’s Embrace day hanging in a plastic bag, tacked to the exterior wall of their mud shack. The nice thing about La Puenta is that people are genuinely happy to see you, they don’t ask for candy or money, just a wave.
Embrace day makes me truly happy and sad – I laughed and cried a lot I played in a giant game of catch with 12 other people and everyone was all smiles and laughing – no need for translation. Getting to spoil the kids and giving them a day off from being a Guatemalan mountain child is truly an amazing experience - I just wish it could be more.
No comments:
Post a Comment