Family Day Round 2 + Arts N’ Crafts

So yesterday was once again Family Day. It’s a day where dads, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, close friends, and older siblings can come to visit our kids (most of them probably being dads, aunts, or older siblings). My first family day in January (they happen every 3 months) was a tough one, but I felt like I had a better idea of what to expect this time. So the crew (see above) put on the blue shirts and gave it our best shot. By 9:00am in the morning, I was already tearing up and lowering the sunglasses while waiting at the front gate with loads of expectant kids. Overall, the day went well. Of our 215 kids, 91 didn’t receive visitors. It’s such an extreme day because the highs are really high for those with family here and the lows are really low for those without visitors, esp. the ones expecting family to come. And no one actually knows until this day if their family will show up.

Highlight of the day: I’m walking around later in the afternoon with one of the boys who rarely gets a visitor. Despite this, he’s still in a good mood. Lots of kids are coming up to me throughout the day asking for 10 pesos to get an ice cream. While we’re walking, he says to me: “Kristen, do you want a cookie?” He proceeds to run to his house and give me all 4 of the cookies that the family of one of his friends brought and tried to refuse to eat any himself. I couldn’t believe it. For a boy who’s family rarely shows up surrounded by kids asking for snacks to share the ONE thing he received on Family Day from a visitor that didn’t even come to see him with one of the volunteers. I was taken aback…that’s the kind of stuff that keeps me going here :) I learn so much from these kids…

The park was full!

The family of Franchesca. She's one of the very few with many family members that visit her every single family day without fail...what a blessing.

Gosh, I love this girl. One of our Haiti cancer patients. She can be a little devil if she wants too, but an angel too. She leaves Friday to return to Haiti. Very bittersweet...

Anytime she sees me from near or far she comes sprinting towards me until I scoop her up!

Family Day at its finest...face paint and all!

Later in the afternoon, I spent awhile hanging out with some of the boys without visitors. We went for walk and then this is what we ended up doing... My little office helper who just gifted me some of his pottery is the one in front in red.

One of my girls, Eridania (in the white) with her siblings and dad (again, a dad that always comes on these days). This is our biggest family at NPH (6 siblings).

So then today is Dominican Labor Day meaning no school and no office work…yay! I took advantage of that to do a craft with my girls. I brought over a bunch of magazines this morning and had them each make a page about themselves with things they like, things that describe who they are, etc. A lot of my girls have really low self-confidence, so I’ve been trying hard to think of things we can do to work on that. I gave them an example of one I made and let them take it from there. One picture that nearly all of them seemed to include on their collage was a picture of a complete family: mom, dad, and kids.

Have a look…

My collage. Traveling, yellow, tomatoes, 4th of July, sunsets, fields, graduation, working at an orphage, waterfalls, books, a glass of water, riding a moto, a passport, a watch, and cupcakes!

Hard at work.

Finished product #1. Go Yudelkis!

My little Haiti girl once again...she's been rather attached to my hip these last few days. Now she's styling in my shades!

Obviously, Carolina REALLY enjoyed this project. She ended not with just one collage, but six!

What a cutie! One of my girls who is ALWAYS willing to help with anything I need. She even ocasionally reminds me that I need to rest sometimes, haha.