Once a year the sponsors in Canada receive an update report
from their sponsored children here in Yapacani, Bolivia. This report includes
an interview with their child, a letter from their child, a drawing from their
child, and a photo of their child. We asked the kids to come to our offices
during the first and second weeks of March to write their letters and so that
we could interview them. There are kids in the sponsorship program that live
way outside the vicinity of the city, the focal point of our sponsorship
program. One day we had about 30 students come from a pueblo called Los Pozos
which is located more than 1 hour outside of the Yapacani.
I enjoyed carrying out the interviews with the children from
Los Pozos and the other pueblos. We had a list of questions that we needed to
ask them. I kind of felt like a psychiatrist asking them questions. How do you
feel? How is your outlook on life? How is your general well being?..the typical
and overused response was.. “bien no mas” which basically means “just good,
nothing more.” I have to admit sometimes it did get tedious asking the same
questions over and over but my Spanish was like rapid fire especially with the
questions noted above. Some days I would have a line of 8 kids waiting for the
interview and only a half an hour to spare before “siesta” so I had to ask the
questions quickly. So quickly that the questions and the “good” responses
sounded like it had a rhythm or musical tone to it. I would get the “good,” “good,” “good,” pattern
of responses and eventually laughter would burst out from the kids waiting in
line because every answer was “good” from some kids.
I think that I
learned in this month the type of questions to ask to kids in order to see what
they hide in their hearts. I was able to see pain and hurt inside some of their
hearts. Everyone has something inside that needs to be healed. It is good for me
to know their hearts so that I can try to better communicate God’s caring love
to them. Listening to the children, I realized how important the relationship
between parents and children are here in Bolivia. Many of the problems the kids
have can be avoided by the “good” example of their parents.
We
celebrated the feast day of Saint Joseph this month in Yapacani. Padre Arturo
told me that Saint Joseph was chosen to be the patron Saint of Yapacani. As we
know in the Gospels, Saint Joseph was the foster father of Jesus and he was a
righteous man. One of his titles in litanies is the “Mainstay of the family.” I
thought to myself during some of the interviews, if only your parents looked up
to Saint Joseph for how to be a good parent and spouse. Saint Joseph loved his
family selflessly and patiently. Parents need to teach kids the values like
good judgment, patience, fairness, and persistence. All values that Jesus most
probably learned from Saint Joseph while growing up under his guidance in the
workshop. The same values that helped Jesus in his later ministry when Saint
Joseph was not there. For me, I have
realized how important it is to maintain my Christian values and to not let the
culture change them. I try to give the message to the teenagers that our
natural inclinations (like getting drunk, pre-marital sex, doing drugs,
stealing) are not always the most choice worthy decisions, the same message
Jesus gives, the same message our Church gives. I’m still trying to figure out
how to wave the cross in front of them and giving them the message that they
need to curb their desires without discouraging them. Many teenagers have the
mindset that living out a Christian life is boring and a life without fun. It
is actually the opposite, it is full of Love, fun, and adventure. When you give
God the reins to direct you, your life will fully flower into tons of wonderful
memories that you can look back on.
Two farmers from
Canada recently visited one of our farms at the Saint Joseph trade school to
figure out why the 23 cows here were not producing the daily quota of milk for
the local milk company and why the herd is not growing. My site partner and I had
our mouths full with translating back and forth between the Canadians and
Bolivians on the farm. I can tell you Connor and I learned a lot about the life
cycle of cows that day haha. At the end of the day we had a beer with the
Canadians back at the rectory and we started talking about Christian values and
the cultural values of Bolivia. A good point that one of the farmers shared
with us that evening is that many people share the common view that the Ten Commandments
are a set of rules to hinder people from doing what they want and to make them
feel uncomfortable. However in reality the Ten Commandments are really a recipe
for Joy. I think if I can just get the teenagers to pause for a second and look
at the Christian Life in that kind of light more often, they would see how
joyful, comforting, healing, and exhilarating Life with Christ really can be!
The reality that I hope that they can pass on to their kids one day.
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| Water balloon toss at a catholic youth conference in San Juan |
