This morning after liturgy Mother Ivonne distributed the shoes brought by the Chicago group. There were some sizes that got lost in translation and it was hilarious to see some of the tiny kids with giant shoes. This was a special time because they were receiving their new shoes for the school year. They also get to exchange clothes twice a year.
One of the things that is so amazing about the orphanage is that they are taught to be charitable no matter how much or how little they have. The old clothes that the children no longer wear are taken to the children and families who live at the trash dump. It’s one of the realities about Guatemala that is really hard to swallow. For those who live there, every hour is a struggle to stay alive and for most there is little or no hope for a life that is anything more than a heap of garbage, the scraps of waste that the rest of us no longer want that have become their only possessions. How do I deal with that as a fellow human being? We’re all made of the same flesh and bone, and they don’t deserve their poverty any more than I deserve my wealth. We are led to believe that there is hope in this life, but deep in our hearts we know that there is no hope for a child living in garbage, along with millions of others around the world in similar or worse conditions. The only hope is to be found in God’s promise that on that final day, the first shall be last and the last shall be first.
Since today was our last day of El Tren de Chocolate, things were a little chaotic and the kids were all a little bit “electric” as Mother Ivonne would say.
Here is a video of my little ones dancing to El Tren de Chocolate. So funny.
I played Candy Land with Alexander during the games station and then a game of catch with Adrianna. For a brief moment, I caught a glimpse of parenthood as I showed her how to hold her baseball glove and for a moment I forgot that I was in Guatemala at an orphanage for a few days. For a moment, I was teaching my little girl how to catch a baseball just like my dad taught me when I was her age. It’s moments like these where I know that it is something more that just an activity at a summer camp to pass the time. It’s a moment that this cruel world took from her and for a few minutes she got it back.
In the gym our group was practicing and preparing for the championship game of the Hogar World Cup later in the afternoon where we would play against San Marcos for the title. Since we have little ones in our group who can’t play, I had to entertain them somehow. I did the same few magic tricks over and over and it was enough to keep them occupied for an hour. There wasn’t much for the kids to do in the bakery so it was a struggle for Gina and me to keep them from getting too wild. Our final stop on El Tren was arts and crafts, which ended up being a free-for-all. The kids made whatever they wanted, and as long as we could get through the last station without any major hiccups everything was fine and well.
After lunch the children had a special treat of their own—birthday cake for Fr. John! They all sang happy birthday and God grant you many years and Fr. John was just beaming. We are so blessed to have him as our team leader and spiritual leader and we learn so much from him by watching him interact with the kids, as well as during our evening discussions as a team at the end of the day. I am so glad we get to share in this special day with him in this wonderful place. May God grant him many more years—hopefully right here! 
After the birthday celebration we headed to the gym for the main event—the championship soccer tournament. I was incredibly nervous, but not for the reasons you might expect. Sure, I had a title to defend from last year and I wanted my kiddos to win, but the real reason I was nervous? I had to be the referee! Fr. John was leaving after the first game and somehow Madre Ivonne decided I was the next most suitable ref for the final Championship game. Maybe she didn’t realize that everything I know about soccer I learned at an orphanage in Mexico, a summer camp in Romania, and right here in Guatemala. In other words, I know nothing. In her worldly days, Mother Ivonne played pro soccer, which was enough to scare the bees out of me. Add to the mix 60 miniature soccer fanatics who play daily and know every written and unwritten rule and I was terrified. I’ve seen this event before. I remember the enthusiasm. I remember the determination. I remember the injuries. I remember the tears. Oh please don’t let there be any tears. The coin toss. The whistle blow. And here we go! For 15 minutes I pretended like I knew what I was doing, and thankfully, the kids are so self-governing that I didn’t have to do very much.
San Lucas!
At one point I had to give a yellow card to one of my own kids for hitting the roof of the gym with the ball. A second time meant an ejection from the game. It sounds harsh, but a damaged roof means puddles on the gym floor which means no using the gym. Mother Ivonne is so good at teaching consequences to the kids and this was one of those opportunities. My kids were doing so great and the game was definitely a nail biter. The previous match went into double overtime and culminated in a shoot out and we were all hoping for another dramatic adrenaline-fueled finale. Alas, San Marcos scored a few last minute goals to pull ahead for a 5-3 win. I wanted my team to win, but I was just glad it was over. An hour and a half of intense soccer without a single tear. No injuries and no children or disgruntled fans yelling at me for a bad call. Thank you God!
After the awards ceremony we had our open house to show off all of the arts and crafts that we made during the week. It was a proud moment for Yvonne, Paula, and me since we were the arts and crafts coordinators. Things didn’t go exactly as planned with the projects, but the important thing is that we had that special time to bond with the kids and spark the creativity inside each of them to express their individual personalities and to learn to think outside of the box.
We had some free time to play outside and wanted to take advantage of the clear skies, so a few of us on the team went to play with a group of mostly older girls on the playground. We played tag for about an hour and then had fun making human knots. I’m always amazed at how simple life can be sometimes. Here we were, a group of kids and adults from diverse backgrounds, playing a simple game that didn’t involve anything but one another. Our laughter could be heard throughout the orphanage, and probably beyond. The game was like a little reflection of our purpose during our time together. Our lives had all collided and we each carried with us the things that tangle our existence in this mess of a world that we have found ourselves in. But with a little patience, a little teamwork, and a lot of love and laughter we were able to turn our human knot into a circle of friends, accomplished without ever having to let go of each others’ hands. Just maybe, life really is that simple.
We had moved to the gym and had just begun a game of dodge ball when Mother Ivonne told us that we needed to go to bed. It was only 7:00. We had also planned to do our usual team get-together/meeting and then prayers as a team the next morning, even in the absence of Fr. John, who was staying the night at the monastery. Mother Ivonne told us we couldn’t do either. I’m sure it would seem a little strange to the outsider. One of the things I’ve learned from being at the hogar and more specifically, being in a monastic community, is that the nuns have a reason for everything they do whether the kids (or mission teams) understand it or not. Obedience is a way of life for monastics because it is disobedience to God that has brought on the evils of the world that we see every day—the evils that have caused most of these children to be at the hogar in the first place. We all have something to learn by being obedient. Mother Ivonne knew that we were all completely exhausted, as much as we wanted to pretend like we weren’t. We knew our time with the children was dwindling and we just wanted to play. But in her wisdom and knowing what lied ahead of us in the coming days, she knew we just needed to go rest. She could tell we were wondering why we couldn’t have prayers together early in the morning and she simply said, “It’s okay. I’m the monastic here. Rest and take care of yourselves.” So that’s what we did. Maybe we didn’t want to, but we all knew that we needed to. We were obedient, and sometimes we have to remember that as any good child can tell you, Mother knows best.
