Hello world! A special hello to my Mother Duck back in Canada. I finally listened to you and decided to write a blog post. I wasn’t inspired, but I still did it.
The last day at Sabana was a sluggish day. Nobody wanted to leave the base because it felt like our “home.” We were all tired, so we weren’t looking forward to the drive home either. Little did we know that Rachael would surprise us with a stop at Du Casa, also known as the Dump Village. Hearing stories from past years about this village made me very excited because I was going to experience it for myself. But at the same time, I was very nervous. I didn’t know what to expect.
When we first arrived, I think that we were all a little scared to jump in and start interacting with the kids. Well, at least I was. It was easier when the kids started running up to you and giving you hugs and yelling “Americanos, Americanos” I think we all felt a little more comfortable. At first, none of the kids were attached to me, so I kind of felt awkward, but then this little girl named Bibliana found me and she never left my side. She is 9 years old, and she was wearing this pretty red and black dress. She is one of the sweetest little girls I’ve ever met. This little naked baby named Chi Chi found me as well, and he never let go of my hands. Every time his brother took him off my lap, Chi Chi would cry and run back to me. Chi Chi didn’t really talk, but he did fill my cheeks with many little kisses. Other than the unlimited amount of kisses, he didn’t really show any emotion. As you can see in the picture :)
Bibliana, Chi Chi and I went on a walk through the village. She blabbered in Spanish and pointed at everything. I just responded to everything with “Si.” When we arrived at Chi Chi’s house, it was a little bit sad because he didn’t want to come out of my arms. When his mother finally ripped him out of my arms, he had the saddest little puppy dog eyes ever. As we walked away, I knew that I couldn’t look back, because I knew that if I went back to him, I wouldn’t ever want to let go of him. So we kept walking on. Bibliana and I picked up another little girl on the way (I don’t know what her name is), and man was she sassy. She had on a light pink dress and she wasn’t wearing any shoes. They showed me the whole village and the big piles of garbage. The roofs of houses that were made of garbage. The random pigs and goats on the side of the road eating garbage. It is crazy to see how these kids live, and they’re still the happiest kids in the whole world. Even though they’re wearing no shoes, and they don’t have any water, all they care about is you. If your clothes are dirty, they will make sure that they clean them. If you are tired, they will make sure you take a break and sit down. They honestly have the biggest hearts ever.
I’m not saying that all the kids are like that, because trust me, they aren’t. They aren’t all sweet and caring angels. Some of them are bratty and actually really rough. Getting my hair done by the kids from that village was so so so painful. They tugged and ripped and were just rough with everything in general. Even some of the kids playing baseball and other sports. They’d just hit and smack other kids, and you tried to stop them from fighting, but they wouldn’t listen to you. I think the most interesting part about it is watching the adults watch their kids get hit and smacked and them not doing anything about it. It was very interesting to see.
Visiting the Dump Village, for me, was a good experience. But I do have to say that it didn’t meet my expectations. Hearing all these other stories from other groups about how emotional everyone was, I thought that we were going to be like that too. I thought that seeing and experiencing the Dump Village, would bring us closer as a group, but I feel like it didn’t. I went into it thinking that it will really change my perspective on things because I thought it was going to be worse than what it actually was. I’m not saying that it wasn’t bad, I’m saying it didn’t meet my expectations of what I thought it would be like.
That’s all I gotta say about the Dump Village.
Please stay tuned for more from Sophia Kotys.
Hasta luego
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