Tomorrow we are going to "el campo!" I am excited to see Ramon Garcia again and see my host family. This also means no internet for 3 days.. which means no blogging.. yayay! Just kidding.
Today we visited "Los Quinchos!" This is an organization that helps kids get off the streets or help them stop their addiction to sniffing glue. Los Quinchos has a big Finca or farm land that houses about 20 kids that have gone through mental or domestic abuse as well as kids that live on the streets all over Nicaragua. Some of these kids sniff glue because they are trying to calm their hunger.. these kids also come from broken homes and from families that basically abandon them because their mothers were to young and irresponsible. This organization helps these kids by keeping them in a camp like setting outside of Managua. All 20 kids live together and go through physiological counseling and other types of anger management classes. Its like a second chance program that help them change their ways to become a better person and citizen.
Last year when I went to Los Quinchos, Joey Sison and I met this little 8 year old boy named Honey. I am guessing because he had Honey eyes.. either way that was his name in Los Quinchos. We interacted with him and he showed us all the animals they have. He loved to take pictures of the animal too! It was great time with him. I was really excited to go see him again.. after a year I expected to see him a bit changed... more respectful.. I was ready to here out his experiences through out this past year. So we arrived in Los Quinchos and we meet all the little boys and I am looking for those honey eyes.. making sure I don't confuse him with anyone else... I keep looking and I don't find him.. I doubted my memory, I thought to myself how could I not remember him! He has to be here! So I ask one of the other kids and I say "Donde esta Honey?" He told me he was not there anymore.. I think to myself its a good thing right? that means he is a changed child.. he has moved on to do great things in the world. On the contrary.. the professor explained to me that he started acting up and he did not want to be in the program anymore, they said they made him talk to every teacher, mentor and psychologist and he was determined he wanted to leave the program. The professor also explained that this was a bad decision because his mother does not take care of him so the probability of him going back to the streets were really high. This killed me. I introduce to you my first tears on this Nicaragua trip. I feel sad because there was hope for him in this organization and I could not help but think negative and wonder what he was doing that very moment. I also thought to myself, I am never going to see Honey again.. it hit me hard. But I had to bounce back up and all these rush of emotions happened within 5 min. and its only because little Javier grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the rabbits and cows. He also wanted to show me mangos. He was determined! :) So I met Javier, great kid.. fun and fast I think i was running most of the time because all he did was pull me in different directions. I also allowed him to take pictures of the cows, rabbits and pigs with my camera.. great photographer i must say. He also showed me their swimming pool. Apparently they did not know how to swim so I gave Javier and 3 others a crash course on how to swim like a pro! Those kids are awesome and they are completely capable of sucking all the energy out of you! I loved every second of it.
I just reflected on what happened to Honey and I have faith that the time he was in Los Quinchos he learned values and moral. I want to stay positive and hope that he is not back on the streets and that he has found a home were he is loved and cared for. Even though everyone there thinks Honey is "DEFINITELY" doing bad.. I can only hope and pray that he is doing good where ever he is.
:)
Kathrine Avila
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