...I Got All Proud

On Wednesday me, Katie and Anna took 5 of the boys that participate (although we were exhibiting 6 participants´ photos) in me and Katie´s photography club at the home to Santiago.  Some of their photos are being exhibited along with those from photography clubs at 2 other Coanil institutions.

Here are the photos that we chose to exhibit:

 It was really sweet and the boys were so proud to have their pictures on display.  María José, the volunteer coordinator for Coanil, said a few words, as did some of the volunteers who run one of the other workshops.  Then all the participants were handed out certificates reconising their achievements, which was a really nice touch.

Here are our boys with their photos and their certificates:

It all went very well and it was a well needed distraction from the atmosphere that is still hanging around the home and school since Belen´s death.

And I should add that we went ourselves, SIN TÍAS!  This wasn´t exactly planned, but it was nice to have the trust put in us to take some of the people we work with out into the big bad world for an hour or so!

Hope you are all well. xx

..."Life After" Began

Well.

I definitely feel as if one part of my life is over and the new, more worldly wise, level-headed and ready for anything Ellen is here to stay.

Losing Belen was something that I wish I hadn´t had to experience.  But I did.  And I´m going to make sure that I take something other than bad memories away from it all.

Today we all got properly back on the figurative horse and had a good day´s work with fewer tears and fewer feelings of hopelessness.

There´s no going back now.  We are all made of pretty tough stuff and I am so proud of the other 3 girls.

And who would want to sit around wallowing life away when you have faces like this to greet you at work every day?!





...Tení Pena

Her name was Belen.  She was 8 years old.  She died on Sunday night.  We buried her today. 

I can´t tell you how many tears I cried when I heard she was gone.  I can´t tell you how many tears I cried when I heard how it happened.  I can´t tell you how many pieces my heart broke into when I saw her tiny white coffin.  And I pray that never again will I feel the pain that I felt when that little white coffin was lowered into the ground.

The past two days have been two of the hardest days of my life.  I can´t imagine how the Tías that witnessed her passing are coping.  They are still working.  I can´t imagine how her Godmother is coping.  She organised the funeral.  And I´m not sure if her teacher will ever fully recover from this.

But I´ve just about come to terms with it now.  The funeral brought some peace.  It was indescribably painful, but at least we all saw that she was being laid to rest in a peaceful, pretty place and that she was being remembered by all the people that cared for her both physically and emotionally when she was with us and will continue to do the latter for the rest of their lives.

And it hasn´t put me off this line of work.  In fact, it has made me even more determined to do my utmost to make a difference to the lives of other children like Belen.

<3   Rest In Peace Gorgeous Girl   <3

...Our Road Became A River

Chile has well documented problems with it´s water supply.  And we have felt the effects ourselves with frequent loss of water as they try to repair problems or having to cycle through flooded streets on our way to do our shopping.  But this was the most rediculous problem yet!

Luckily the problem was sorted pretty quickly and we only had to share 2 pairs of wellies lent to us by a Tio from the school for 2 days!

At the moment we are busy helping with a whole load of activities centred around painting a mural on the wall surrounding the home.  So i´ll have a post on that tomorrow maybe.  Here´s a sneaky preview of what we´ve been up to: