My Heart's New Home (Part 2)
(NOTE: This entry is a continuation of my account of my trip to Honduras. For a background of this post, click on this. Sorry for the delay! Life got in the way.) Indeed, children are the hidden victims of the global AIDS crisis. They are likely to be orphaned on account of the disease. Or their parents (if they're still alive) or relatives may be too poor and/or too sick to care for them. These children are also at risk for mother-to-child transmissions of HIV. Some are infected with the virus while they are still in their mother's wombs. Many other children come into contact with their mother's HIV-infected bodily fluids at birth or if their mothers breastfeed, and become HIV positive themselves. I did not understand the repercussions of such realities until I did volunteer work at Montana de Luz last month. That experience put a face--or should I say multiple faces--to all the statistics and trends I had read about.
I went to Montana de Luz with an open mind and heart. That was the least I could do. I took this biblical passage to heart: "Take off your shoes, for you stand on holy ground." I trusted in the wisdom of this teaching, which had served me well so many times before, during my visits to different disadvantaged communities in the Philippines and in Chicago.
Although my groupmates and I thought we would spend most of our time with the children, we ended up performing labor-intensive tasks, as well. My group was responsible for planting an orchard from scratch and doing other manual tasks, like laying pipes on the mountains for the water system of the orphanage and giving a very pregnant pig a bath. So just imagine me doing such tasks...although I did NOT give the pig a bath, thank goodness! We started working as early as 7:30AM. On some days, we worked until 2:30PM, stopping to take a water break and a lunch break. During our "lucky days," we were done by 11:30AM, just in time for lunch.
Beto (an employee at Montana de Luz) and I digging a hole for one of the seedlings
I have to admit that the work we did was a stretching experience for me. I don't do labor-intensive tasks on a daily basis. I worked on the pipes during the heaviest days of my period, so it took a lot of strength for me to dig a ditch for the pipes on a rocky incline and shovel dirt back into the ditch. I also witnessed firsthand how planting trees isn't as simple as it seems. You have to dig holes and cover them up with so much dirt (enough to fill four wheelbarrels) before planting the seedlings. But my groupmates and I bonded so much over this experience. We have so many jokes that only we can understand...and we'll never look at dirt, shovels, or construction work in the same way ever again.
Oh, we had a creepy experience at work one morning. Five of us were shoveling dirt into the wheelbarrows, which would be used to fill the holes for the trees. Suddenly, four vultures appeared and hovered over us, circling our heads. We joked that the vultures were waiting for us to collapse so they could eat us. But that was scary!
In the afternoons, we played with the children. These kids have been through a lot. A significant number of them have lost their mothers, fathers (that is, if they were even around), and other family members or relatives to AIDS. Some were abused in their former places of residence. The majority of them lived in abject poverty and came to Montana de Luz malnourished, suffering from ear infections, tooth decay, skin problems, tapeworms, and the like. I know at least two kids who used to slip some of their food into a napkin and sneak it into their rooms after meals, afraid that they wouldn't eat the next day. Their stories are heartbreaking. But you wouldn't even realize that, if not for the stories of the staff and the volunteers. At Montana de Luz, the children run around, play games and sports, ask you to play with them, hug you, and joke around with you. They're still as carefree as other kids.
Playing softball with some volunteers
We had different activities lined up for the children at Montana de Luz. We did everything from playing with a parachute to blowing bubbles to painting rocks to planting a "Peace Garden." Our playtimes were the sweetest moments of my life. I learned to let go of all my worries and just live for the moment. I relished the simple pleasures of life--such as: having my sweet Jaimi on my lap for the entire afternoon, hearing little Marlo call me "Tia," making paper boats and airplanes for countless kids and watching them paint rocks, receiving a rock with my name painted on it, and being hugged by Dilma everyday...the list goes on and on. I felt like a child again, as I learned to view the world through the eyes of the children. Suddenly, things like paper boats and airplanes, finger-painted rocks, clapping games, and trips to the pulperia (corner store) filled me with a sense of wonder. I just had to stop and give thanks for everything.
Tanya (in the background), Jaimi, and Tia Gabi holding the paper boats I made 
Lala and me (credits to Tanya for the picture)
Kenya (a young girl who lives near Montana de Luz and often drops by to help out) and Sonya playing a clapping game at the pulperia
With Dilma...I miss her tight hugs!
With Kevin Omar, who helped me carry my stuff the day I arrived at Montana de Luz and put up with my barok Spanish. We became really close, too.
Aside from bonding with the kids, I became really close to some employees at Montana de Luz, like the cocineras (cooks), the tias (housemothers), and my favorite staff member who will remain unnamed, haha :) I helped the cocineras bring our food to the dining room and set the table, and we got to know each other along the way. I also bonded with several tias. They all reached out to me despite the language barrier.
I was really touched when seven staff members asked me when I'd go back to Honduras. Enoria, the nurse, told me I'd better go back. And during my last night, Merli, one of the tias, specifically told me: "Regresar a Montana de Luz (Come back to Montana de Luz)." I told one of my companions about it and she was really moved; she realized that she didn't even get to know any of the tias.
With the cocineras, Juanita (to my left) and Magdalena (to my right), and Don Juan (the driver, whose house I visited)
With one of the tias...she asked me when I'd go back to Honduras
I wonder what the future holds for the children. I'm happy they're on anti-retroviral therapy, and I can only hope they respond well to their medication so they could live longer. I also hope their communities would become more accepting of them. I just wish governments, humanitarian organizations, and NGOs around the world would invest more resources to mitigate and resolve the global AIDS crisis.
I want the memories of my stay in Honduras to burn in my soul and transform me completely. I keep looking at the pictures of my trip, especially during lonely days. I definitely plan to go back there. I'm even open to working and living there for a few years after I finish my studies--which has to mean something, considering my tendency to get really homesick. The Philippines will always be my home, and my heart belongs to certain people and places, like the inmates of CIW and the Aetas of Tarlac. But if I were to do service work in Honduras, particularly for people with AIDS, it would be worth the sacrifice.
For my heart has found a new home.
Regresa re! ( I'll be back!)
P.S. If you want to see more pictures of my trip to Honduras, check out my albums (labeled "Honduras ABI") on Yahoo Photos and Photobucket. Enjoy!
found herself @ 8:15 PM
12 Comments:
These are really powerful testimonies you share.
wow, if only i could volunteer! i will really render my services too.
but wait, you omit some story... the lovelife thing? hmmmm, i wonder why you cut your last pic.
Lisa: Thank you!
Mommy Lei: Hay...I really want to go back there. I left my heart in Honduras for so many reasons, haha :) *wink* If I had gotten "stranded" there instead of being stuck here in Chicago, I wouldn't complain at all.
Hmm...I won't blog about the "lovelife" part. It's between me and God (and a few close friends, haha). Don't worry, wala siya sa last pic ko sa post na ito. I just cropped that picture because one of my groupmates was beside me, but not fully in the picture.
Ingat po!
very inspiring. keep it up! ingatz!
i.n.: Thank you! Ingat ka rin!
inspiring tlaga. i'm planning to do such great things on my own, too. :) galing!
wow this is very inspiring sis. which reminds me, i gotta be more involved with Hands On Manila.
:)
Aww.. ang ganda ng pics!
grabeh ang lalim ng dimples na yan, :) ang ganda mo talga!
Kendi: Uy! Thank you! Touched naman ako.
Ingat ka lagi! :)
Lysistrata: Thanks!
Ohmygosh, volunteer ka sa Hands On Manila? I used to work there. I was a project officer for HOM before I left for the US for grad school. What a small world :) :) :)
Which service projects have you joined so far? Give everyone my regards!
Ingat ka lagi!
Nang Ethel: Haha :) Thank you! Ingat ka lagi. *mwah*
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