From Wednesday to Friday of last week we had our MCC retreat. We went to a nice place called Madre Selva, which had cabins for us to stay in, a basketball court, a volleyball court, a soccer field, a sauna, and a swimming pool.

During the day, we had sessions about MCC's vision, goals etc. Some of it had to do with MCC as a whole, some of it was MCC Bolivia, and some was about each specific program. It was such a good reminder to me about how much I love the goals and values of MCC. Beyond simply the actual content, I liked a couple of things. First of all, it was really participatory. It wasn't just one man speaking to us, but everyone talking and sharing and working out what we thing MCC should look like. Another thing that impressed me is that everyone involved in MCC participated in these sessions: the SALTers who are only here for a year, the cooks, the night guards, the rural programs, the urban programs, everyone. Anyone who had a connection to MCC was there and had an equal voice. Finally, I'm always glad to see the cultural diversity in MCC. Some of the countries represented were Switzerland, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Germany, and Colombia, in addition to the US, Canada, and Bolivia, of course. It was really a good retreat.

Then this weekend, instead of having some free days, I stayed at Talita Cumi. One of the donors for the boys house came to visit, and wanted to stay overnight in the house. Since he doesn't speak any Spanish, I stayed to help translate and just generally facilitate the visit. It was a great chance for me to see the place as more than just a 9-5 job, but as a place that really has to be a home for these kids. I also really enjoyed doing some of the translation. I love making connections among people, and when I translate, I feel like I'm doing that in one of the most tangible ways.

Overall, things are going well, but I will be happy to have a few days of true rest this weekend.

So I'm happy to find out that I now made it onto the "Featured Blogs" part of the MCC Blogs home page. It was secretly a goal of mine, and while I had/have no idea how they choose those people, I'm glad I somehow made it.

I figure it is about time that I give a briefing on the 7 little kids and surrounding few people that fill my days with an enormous mix of joy and frustration (among other things).

Name: José Daniel
Age: 3
José Daniel is the sone of the "host parents" for the boys. He is extremely shy, but also like to act like he's boss. A common interaction with José Daniel goes something like this. He comes into the room, and shouts at the kids "Mom says homework!" Then I say to him, "You need to do homework!" He looks confused, then runs in (sometimes crying) to his mom. However, about two weeks ago we decided we were friends, and things have gotten a bit better.

Name: Juan de Dios (yes, it means John of God).
Age: 5
"Juan de" is definitely the baby of the group. He is the youngest and most out of control. He does a lot of quick pendulum swings from being super happy to fake crying (which usually stops as soon as he gets distracted). For this reason, the other kids also like to mess with him to get a reaction. He's very affectionate and troublesome. I have the strongest love/hate relationship with him.

Name: Edwin (also "Erwin" or "Ervin" depending on various factors)
Age: 6
Edwin is the older brother of Juan de Dios, and of the three that stay home in the morning (Juan de, Edwin, Iver), he is by far the most well behaved. He works hard on his "homework," and he generally listens to me when I tell him something. He is also smart, and learns fairly easy. For these reasons, he enjoys playing games like Dominoes or Go Fish, since he understands them and can stay on task. He is generally generous and kind, and I rarely see him fight with his brother (which I hope, for their sake, stays that way).

Name: Iver
Age: 8
Iver has never been in school, and his speech is a little behind. I try to spend some time each day working on little things like numbers and letters, as well as practicing his pronunciation. He's generally a happy kid and a good kid, but he doesn't sit still very well. When I'm leaving for the day, Iver is usually the one who won't let go of me.

Name: Gustavo
Age: 8
Gustavo is the youngest of the kids in school. He has quite the reputation for being a bit slow. He gets home later than the other school kids (because of is walking pace) and he does homework until late in the evening (he usually sits quietly, he just doesn't focus on his work very well). I would say "moseying along" is a phrase that often describes Gustavo. But he is a happy and well-behaved kid.

Name: José David
Age: 10
José David is a little bit of a trouble maker. He has a hard time using nonviolent means of resolving conflicts. However, he still has his good moments, and he helps cook dinner (which is actually quite good). Lately, he's been into the Transformers movie, and daily questions include things like "Is Megatron bigger than Optimus Prime?"

Name: (Don) Cesar
Age: 11
I usually call Cesar "Don Cesar" ("Don" being a title like "Sir") for a couple of reasons, but most of all because he is defintely the best gentleman of the group. He is a good student, he helps take care of José Daniel, he cooks food, etc. I enjoy coming up with simple little games or competitions and playing them with Cesar.

Name: Clemente
Age: 12
Clemente is sometimes referred to as "Petente" because of José Daniel's inablitly to say "Clemente." He sometimes enjoys bothering the younger kids. He also really enjoys helping me out with things, like pouring my drinks, serving my snacks, etc. He's the most affectionate of the older kids, and I get frequent hugs.

For now, these kids are, more than anything, my teachers about life. You might also check out the Talita Cumi website for some pictures and a little background info on the kids.

The other day I learned a little more background about some of the boys I work with at Talita Cumi, and I was just feeling overwhelmed by the reminder of how depressing the world can be. Not only do these kids have dark pasts, but I can see how this affects their current behaviors. It's just a evil spiral of destruction. Life seems so harsh and trying to help can seem so futile. But I found encouragement in two things.

Edwin is 5 years old, and on this day he worked diligently on his work and finished early. When he was done, he spent the rest of his time coloring various pictures. He drew houses, highways, rocket ships, buses, cars, rainbows, me, and Superman. At the end of the day, I was going to reward a few of the kids, because I had two pieces of chocolate. I decided to give them both to Edwin, since he was the only kid who was good all day. However, I was informed that because of stomach problems, he shouldn't have any chocolate. I was disappointed, but I told him I would save his chocolate for later, until it would be ok if he ate it. About few minutes later, Edwin came up to me because José Daniel (age 3) was crying about something. He told me he wanted to me to give one of his chocolates to José Daniel. It was an undeniable act of kindness from a kid who has seen very little such things in his life.

Also this past week I played my first basketball game with the neighborhood team I am on. It was a lot more official than I feared, with referees and all the rules. It was fun, and I was certainly thankful for all the things that I learned from my elementary school coach, Gary Kurka. He was an excellent basketball coach, and even though I was only in 3rd-6th grade, I still remember a lot of the essentials of the game that he taught me. Another reminder that small seeds can have effects long after we plant them.

For the past week or more I've been processing some ideas about why I am here and what I hope to accomplish while I am here. I was hoping to blog about them, but they just haven't come together as nicely as I wanted.

But, I guess I'll just try to write a few thoughts, although I must admit that I feel less than qualified to talk about some of these things and that most of the things I do say are not brand new ideas.

Basically, when it comes to cross-cultural interaction, I have decided that I think it is better to receive than to give. I also think that whether we want to or not, we end up receiving more than we give anyway, especially for short term trips.

I walked out of the boys house at TC today, and I saw Mary, a volunteer who has been here a few weeks, hugging one of the kids. These kids do need a lot of love and attention. They do need hugs and people to come show them love. But people come and go in their lives all the time. As I looked at the two, I thought about how Mary's life was being changed at that moment as much or more than the little girl's.

It's easy to look at simple, uneducated people as helpless and in need of rescuing. I think sometimes we feel this need to give something tangible in these situations, leave a house or a playground or new clothes or new toys or something. I think, however, that this attitude usually damages more than it helps. It denies people the ability to be self-sustaining, and it denies what they have to give to you. I believe that one of the greatest things we can do is not give them charity but to acknowledge and accept the gifts they have to give.

I have a lot of other thoughts, but we'll just start small. On a completely different topic, Bolivia's president appeared on Comedy Central while in the US for the UN convention. I am going to attempt to put the video here:

For the past week or more I've been processing some ideas about why I am here and what I hope to accomplish while I am here. I was hoping to blog about them, but they just haven't come together as nicely as I wanted.

But, I guess I'll just try to write a few thoughts, although I must admit that I feel less than qualified to talk about some of these things and that most of the things I do say are not brand new ideas.

Basically, when it comes to cross-cultural interaction, I have decided that I think it is better to receive than to give. I also think that whether we want to or not, we end up receiving more than we give anyway, especially for short term trips.

I walked out of the boys house at TC today, and I saw Mary, a volunteer who has been here a few weeks, hugging one of the kids. These kids do need a lot of love and attention. They do need hugs and people to come show them love. But people come and go in their lives all the time. As I looked at the two, I thought about how Mary's life was being changed at that moment as much or more than the little girl's.

It's easy to look at simple, uneducated people as helpless and in need of rescuing. I think sometimes we feel this need to do something in these situations, leave a house or a playground or new clothes or new toys or something. I think, however, that this attitude usually damages more than it helps. It denies people the ability to be self-sustaining, and it denies what they have to give to you. I believe that one of the greatest things we can do is not give them charity but to acknowledge and accept the gifts they have to give.

I have a lot of other thoughts, but we'll just start small. On a completely different topic, Bolivia's president appeared on Comedy Central while in the US for the UN convention. I am going to attempt to put the video here: