An Update from Jenna: I am still going to the Ronald McDonald sala every morning. The parents are starting to use the facilities, one by one, and I'm loving seeing the whole thing develop. I have gotten to know the parents, the other volunteers (including Juan, the 65 year old volunteer who gives me Spanish poetry lessons), and the cleaning guy Esteban. I even got to run the sala by myself for one whole day this week, which I am pretty proud of. So other than the morning I had to make the half hour trek to the hospital in the pouring rain, all is good.
For both of us, it has been an eye-opening experience to learn about some of the inner-workings of the hospital, the zoo, and science labs of this Argentine city. The standards of quality and cleanliness here, for example, are completely different from those in the states. To give you some examples: the entire zoo has only one veterinarian, there are stray dogs and homeless people roaming the children's hospital, as well as families posting up the halls with folding chairs, and, while we were running our experiments in the biochem lab on campus, the power kept cutting in and out forcing students and researchers to pause experiments and lose data. Some things you would never imagine being negotiable, we definitely take for granted in the U.S. Consider yourself VERY lucky.
Mala Ala also learned how to jump out of her box. In this picture Jenna caught her hanging out in the closet with our packs.
Last Thursday, we decided to take advantage of another opportunity to help. A group called g.a.n.a.s. (I put the foundation details under our time-line tab in case your interested) meets every Tuesday and Thursday nights in a plaza near downtown to hand out food to the homeless in the streets of Cordoba. On Thursday we showed up, not exactly knowing what it would entail, but were immediately humbled by the long, patient line of men, women, and children, with all their belongings in duffle bags, backpacks, and plastic bags, waiting to be served a meal of rice and sausage out of big serving coolers. After feeding this bunch, we rolled the coolers around the streets downtown, looking for others who needed dinner that night. Many of them were regulars, and we could see that the g.a.n.a.s. volunteers had developed genuine friendships with them. Everyone receiving food, which was a small plastic tray filled with rice and a chunk of bread, was very gracious. Some of the people we served included families with small children. On Tuesday we went again, and this time hopped in a car with some volunteers to go to other parks and plazas further away. We met people living on mattresses in the streets, on benches in the park, and in cardboard boxes under bridges. With this opportunity to go up and actually get to know them, our hearts were blown wide open. These people were as nice as anyone else we've met along this journey: telling jokes, asking about our trip, and opening up about their stories. We woke up one man sleeping on a piece of foam in the middle of the park to ask him if he wanted to eat. As he was eating, the volunteer asked him, concerned, if the rain bothered him, as his foam and blanket were wet from the rain earlier that day. The man answered, “What rain?!” and then smiled and continued to eat his meal. The whole experience is one we will never forget. Just when we thought we had seen the worst of what life can deal, God put another realm of people in need in front of us. Experiences like that definitely make us look at life through a new lens by humbling our hearts and opening our eyes to other struggles. I am constantly realizing just how blessed I have been during this life, and I hope God can continue to show Jenna and I the ways we can give back.
127 days, the half-way point of our journey, and still we're being surprised by the things put in our path, our expectations never failing to be surpassed. With everything we've already learned, all of the things we've experienced, and everyone we've met, I cannot believe were only half-way done. What else does God have to show us? What other crazy plans and people can we stumble across? Whatever it may be, bring it on. I don't think any plan, situation, or dream would be out of the question now. That being said, a huge part of our strength and courage to do all this comes from the love, support, and prayers we get from back home, and for that, at this half-way mark, I want to say thank you. I couldn't be more grateful. It has been a blessing in disguise to be so far away from everyone I love, showing me just how important they are in my life. And guess what... now there's only one half of the trip left until we're back to squeeze the life out of everyone we've been missing!! So watch out, the countdown has begun...
Love,
Nae
P.S. This week we had to watch some of our housemates pack up and head back to their countries. Kanya from Australia and Marcia and Renato from Brasil completed their 6 weeks of the volunteering program in what felt like the blink of an eye. We had an asado the night before their flights to top of the amazing adventure of living in this United Nations household. We all stumbled through our spanish goodbyes, and even though it is hard to say exactly what you want to say in another language, the message was clear: we had all come to learn from one another, and love one another. As Jenna said as we said our last goodbye, “Something very special happened in this house”. Cultures were shared, language barriers torn down, and, in only 6 weeks, we made close friendships with people from all across the world, and we will always remember our time in Cordoba for that especially.
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