Perfil de MayaMaya: Barinas, Venezuela...FotosBlogListasMás  |  Herramientas Ayuda |
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15 noviembre ThursdayAlright. So, today we visited an orphanage. We came expecting there to be older kids, both boys and girls as we were told by the lady who took us there, Alessandra (who is a local from Barinas and is part of Operation Smile). As we walked in, girls ranging from the age of three to thirteen, little girls dressed in uniform came out in two lines. There were about forty of them and they were all so cute and so beautiful! They were at school when we came, but took time out of their day to listen to our presentation and let us spend time with them. As soon as we arrived, they all came up to us and gave us hugs and welcomed us with a "hola" from each and every one of them. We exchanged a few words and were then hustled inside by the nuns who were in charge of the young girls. They all sat down and were so proper and adorable! We began our presentation about dental hygiene, and introduced ourselves as a part of Operation Smile. When the girls heard we came from the United States, they all were so shocked and intrigued. We then passed out toothbrushes for each girl, and also brought out some colors and stickers for the girls to draw and play with us. They were so appreciative!! They seemed to be so interested in Andrea and I; always touching our hair, holding our hands, and wanting to get in photos with us. They were just too cute! They then gave us a tour of their school clenching onto our hands and fighting over who gets to stand next to us and hold our hands. Once we finished our tour they all gathered and sang us two songs. After all of that, we said our good-byes, and I truly don't think I have ever said so many good-byes and given so many good-bye hugs and kisses at once! It was an incredible experience to know that we can make these girls happy! One of the older girls, Brenda (she was thirteen), took me over to Alessandra and told her to tell me that she will miss me greatly and that she loves me. I was so touched by her! She was so cute and so sweet! I gave her a hug and she couldn’t stop hugging and kissing me before I left. She must of said bye to me at least like four times! It was really cute and all the girls were adorable! I am so glad we got the opportunity to go visit this orphanage. Check the pictures!!!! P.S. Tomorrow is our last day of surgeryyy 14 noviembre From the hospital...Okay. So I'm still here at the hospital, and felt the need to blog! Before I get started, I just have to add that today is the most exausting day I have had yet! I don't know why, but I just seem to be DEAD TIRED!! I am definitely sleep deprived, but it is totally worth it!
Back to the main purpose of my blog, this morning, those who had surgery yesterday afternoon, and spent the night at the hospital were being released. I was SO happy to see that I made it in time to still be able to say good-bye to Jesus (Hey-zoos), my little best friend from yesterday. He was the sweetest thing! At first I was a bit hesitant whether I should go see him (fearing that he might not be up to it, and want to just leave that hospital ASAP). I was also kind of afraid he might not recognize me. But WOW WAS I WRONG! As soon as his big brown eyes caught a glance at me, he had an instant smile on his face. His mom was holding him but he immediately grabbed hold of my hands and gave me a big hug. He made my morning FOR SURE!!!!...Maybe even my week!!!! That's when I really noticed how much that little cutie meant to me. His little head was wrapped up (because of his ear surgery) and he looked so happy! He had stickers all over his bandaged head, and you could tell that he was just super excited to know that his ears had been fixed. I said good-bye to him thinking he was leaving, and no more than 3 minutes found him right by my side. I was so happy to see him again! I was so hard for me to concentrate on the other kids! I just wanted to play with little Jesus (Hey-zoos) before he had to go back to Colombia-(where he came from)-15 hours away!! He began to color next to me, and just as yesterday,with his sweet little voice, started our conversation in Spanish. I absolutely LOVE this kid!!!!!!! I was so sad I had to say good-bye to him, but before he left I managed to give him another little teddy bear to take home with him (on top of the other 20 things he got this morning and yesterday)! I was warned this past summer, at mission training, about getting attached to someone special, and that was definitely little Jesus (Hey-zoos). I am SO glad I had the chance to follow him through his surgery, and also see him after! I know I'll never forget how cute he was and how much I fell in love with this little cutie!!!
P.S.
Tomorrow we are going to an orphanage!
CAN'T WAIT!!!
ciao
13 noviembre 2nd day of surgery!!Holaaa! Just wanted to write a quick blog before I go to sleep because I am just so exhausted! Today was not as long as yesterday...only 11 hours at the hospital. It was our second day of surgery and everything went much smoother than yesterday. As we arrived to the pre-op and post-op area, a little girl we met on the first day of screening, Maria, recognized Andrea and me and came and gave us each a hug! It was the cutest thing ever! She followed us to our play area until she was called for surgery. Another little boy, Jesus (pronounced Hey-zoos), who was five years old was my little boy friend for the day. He loved talking to me in Spanish and actually taught me some new words; like how to say "blue" in Spanish...which is "azul" by the way. He was so precious and had the cutest little voice you could ever imagine! He was getting an operation on his ears because they stuck out in a bit of an unusual way. We played together for about three hours until he was also called for surgery. Andrea and I were able to watch his surgery and it was amazingly interesting! It was unlike any other cleft lip and cleft palate surgery. Anyways, basically today was another incredible day and I'm super excited for tomorrow!! Goodnight! Buenas Noches!
12 noviembre ...Once again, I have finally been able to reach some internet connection! After a long, fourteen hour day at the hospital we finally got back to the hotel. Today was our first day of surgery, and boy was it crazy!! There were so many kids and families from all over in the pre-operating rooms. It was like a zoo! Andrea and I got to set up a small play area near the pre-op rooms to entertain the kids while they waited to be called for surgery. We saw some familiar faces, and it was great to see that they recognized us too and wanted to play with us again. We had some "burbuja", which is Spanish for “bubbles”, out for the children to play with. They LOVED blowing and running after the bubbles. It was fascinating to see how much they loved and were entertained by them. One little boy named Fransisco, who was only four years old, thought the bubbles were the funniest thing he had ever seen! He was just so adorable with the cutest laugh you've ever heard. Once we pulled out the GIANT bubble wand he just couldn't control his laugher, and it was impossible not to smile and not fall in love with him!! Another little girl named Johanny really enjoyed taking our crayons and breaking them into two. She found it VERY amusing and loved our reactions! She was a little trouble maker but was still adorable! She had a repaired bilateral cleft lip and was getting her cleft palate repaired today. Andrea and I were actually able to watch her surgery in the Operating Room (aka OR). It was really awesome to see a live surgery, and having some of the doctors explain to us what they were doing was really interesting! It was incredible to see how the kids look before their surgery and then immediately after. It is so good to know that what these children are getting here will truly change their lives forever. I was able to watch another young girl's surgery. Her name was Michel (pronounced like Michelle) and she was my favorite today! She was the cutest little thing, and was just so sweet and tiny! She was three years old and had a growth near her right eye and nose, but it didn't have any effect on how cute she was to me. I fell in love with her, and found myself playing with her and helping her pick out stickers to put on her drawing for hours. When she finally went into the OR, I was able to watch the whole surgery and also calm her down once she came out to the recovery room. I also had the privilege to carry her over to her family after her surgery. She was so precious! Today was a long day, but definitely and experience of a lifetime that I will never ever forget!
Yesterday was our free day, and we went to this really nice environmental reserve. It was kind of like a farm, but really nice and well kept. There were several different animals there including an anteater!! It was my first time ever seeing one in real life! There was a pool and everything! Our whole team went in, and danced and just enjoyed the beautiful day. We've been having the most amazing yet hot weather here. I just love every minute here in Venezuela!!
Dancing happens to be very popular here for everyone on our mission; especially the Venezuelans, who are essentially our dancing teachers. Not only did everyone dance and have a good time at the pool on our free day, but we also had a nice team dinner at a traditional Venezuelan restaurant the night before. After dinner, we all got up and danced and it was just so funny and a lot of fun!
The day before that was the day the names for surgery were posted. This was when the families came to hospital to find out whether or not they were accepted for surgery. This is one of the hardest parts of the mission. Those who look for their name, but don’t seem to find it because they were not accepted for surgery become so devastated and just break down into tears. There was one 45-year-old woman with a cleft lip, who found out she was admitted for surgery and just started balling. She was so emotional and began to share that she has been praying all week long that she will be be able to get this surgery. She told us that people would make fun of the way she looked and that she is just so happy to finally have the chance to change that. As soon as I heard these words I got shivers down my spine. I was so happy to know that she was one of the people to be chosen for surgery. Once again, we saw some familiar faces down near where the names were posted, and I found my little twins that I had fallen in love with the previous day at screening. The one twin with the cleft lip was admitted for surgery and the mom was just so happy. I can’t wait to see them at the hospital again and to play with them and just spend more time with them! If I can, I will definitely want to see his surgery and be able to return him to his family!
I am looking forward to the rest of the week, and I'm more excited than ever to witness all of this!!
09 noviembre At the hospitalHey guys! It's our second day of screening and people are slowly trickling into the hospital. There are much less people than yesterday, but it really gives us a chance to get to know the kids that are in line for screening, and a chance for us to play with them more. When I was buying toys and games for the kids before the mission, I was a bit unsure about these Superman sunglasses I had bought at the 99 cents store. Well, I WAS SO WRONG!!!! The kids absolutly LOVED them! I took pictures of them with the sunglasses and they just loved seeing themselves on the digital camera. One family came in with twin boys...They were the cutest little boys ever! Only one of the boys had a cleft, but other than that they were identical and were wearing the same exact thing. I fell inlove with them as soon as I saw them! They wore their superman sunglasses with style! One of the twins boys, Alejandro (not the same Alejandro from yesterday), came to me and wanted me to take more pictures of him. He got so excited and started kissing my camera screen! I just wanted to take him home with me!!
I love being here, and being able to make this stessfull process much easier for these kids. Every single one of them deserves this great opportunity Operation Smile is offering!
*Im going to try and upload the pictures as soon as possible. They are great!!
08 noviembre FINALLY!!!I was finally able to get internet connection!!! YES! (I'm actually not on my lap top...but that's okay). Anyways, we arrived in Venezuela Tuesday night. We flew into Caracas and spent the night there. The next morning we had a nice and VERY long bus ride to Barinas...9 hours! It was okay though, and a really good opportunity to spend time with the team and get to know everyone. Everyone on the team is so nice and so fun! It seems like we are going to have an amazing mission! At around 7:15 AM we were off to the hospital. I was so anxious and excited to finally arrive!! As we just pulled into the hospital I was able to see crowds of mothers holding their cleft lipped children, and families gathered with their children by their side. To be honest, I think was my first time ever seeing a cleft lip in real life. It was just an unreal experience. Being able to witness all of this, and be a part of it was just so incredible. At first it was a bit chaotic and overwhelming for me. I was a bit intimidated at first but as soon as screening began, Andrea, the other student here with me on the mission, and I immediately began playing with the kids. Screening is the process that the patients must get through and evaluated on whether or not they are fit for surgery. As the parents and children were waiting in line to be screened, Andrea and I began playing with them. There were a few of the children that just were permanently stuck to us. Alejandro for example, he was so sweet. Whatever we brought out he just pounced on, and played with everything and anything he could. He must have put at least 20 stickers on me, and another 20 on himself! He seemed to have had a previous surgery on a bilateral cleft lip, meaning both sides of the lip once had openings. He was only four years old and just couldn't leave us and the toys we brought out. There was another beautiful little girl, who was only six years old, who was playing with me outside the screening area. She was adorable and just loved the beaded necklace I gave her, and loved drawing pictures. I happened to walk by her during her screening process and she got up from her chair and came and gave me a hug. She was just so cute! I fell in love with almost every single child, despite the fact that we didn’t speak the same language! My Spanish is actually improving, if I may say so. For now my most important phrase is, “Hablo mui poco Espanol”, and “Hola”, but it is for sure getting better by the minute!! There were so many other children that were so adorable! Edimar, another young girl for example, who is four years old, kept coming back to me and loved to draw and show off to me what she can make out of her play-dough. She was just so adorable, and loved taking pictures with me (which I can hopefully upload)! I knew that wouldn't be the only connections and bonds I would make with the children here, and I am just so excited and looking forward for the rest of the mission!!!
02 noviembre 4 more days...!!!It feels like forever since I found out, during my Summer Mission Training in Ireland, that I am going to Barinas, Venezuela for my Operation Smile mission. And now, the day is almost here, and I leave in 4 days!!! It still hasn't hit me that I will be there, at an actual mission with Operation Smile, and with the kids who will soon finally have the opportunity to have their smiles fixed! I have my suitcase filled with toys and games for the children, and all my stuff put aside and ready to go! I have my presentations all ready and practiced, and I just can't wait! Just 4 more days to go!!
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