To Give Light

• To say give birth in Spanish, you say “Ella da luz,” which translates to she gave light

 The last two weeks in June have been especially busy for everyone in the Paz y Esperanza office. Just the other week we received a group from the River Community Church in San Jose, California. They come from all different professions and take a week out of their busy schedules to help out in Huánuco. My main job throughout the week was to translate for an art student, Michael, who provided drawing lessons for my kids therapy group as well as for the adolescent girls. Both groups really love to draw, so they enjoyed learning how to draw different animals, faces, and even sceneries. The rest of the week I spent translating in different areas or just running around to make sure the group had everything they need. While it ended up being a very tiring week, the group brought some wonderful ideas/work to the Huánuco community and Paz y Esperanza team.

                                                   Learning to draw

Now this past week I spent planning the final therapy group with the kids. We had decided that since Friday was a national holiday and everyone had off school and work, we would take the kids on a field trip to the shelter. Bright and early Friday morning we boarded 15 little ones into a small mini van and made our way to Tomaquichwa. All morning we played different types of tag, had potato sack races and balloon tosses. We then ate lunch as a group and spent about an hour in the afternoon drawing and doing crafts. It was a very busy, stressful, and tiring day for myself and Lisbeth, the psychology intern, but the kids had a wonderful time, and the children at the shelter really enjoyed having visitors and meeting new faces. All in all it was a perfect way to wrap up my therapy sessions with the kids that I have come to love over the past five months.

Last Wednesday at the shelter, I was able to see the four-day-old newborn of one of the girls there. While gushing over how adorable the small little one was, I asked her 14-year-old mother what her name was. She told me it was Hannah. Now up until that day she had not decided on a name, and I don’t know for sure if she will actually keep Hannah as the name. But it was a huge compliment that the mother was even considering naming the baby after me. It made me think about how I only spend one day a week there, and though we sometimes have deep conversations, I don’t spend ever minute with this young girl. But at the very least, I do always make sure to give her a hug and a kiss and ask her how the baby is doing. It made me think that maybe it isn’t always the quantity of time you spend with a person, but the quality. I thank God that I was given the opportunity to give this new 14 year old mom love each Wednesday, and I wish her nothing but the best with her new light of the world.