Day 2. An Orphanage named Casa Hogar

February 20, 2010

Our first night under the Mexican stars..... and it was cold. Since arriving we’ve learned the weather here has been a little unusual for Mexico. It has been quite cold and very damp with more rain than ever expected for this time of year. Only a few weeks ago there were two days of constant rain causing flooding in Mexico City and the town of Michoacan. Cuernavaca was lucky to not have suffered from floods but the rain was definitely in the air.

My sleepwear for my first night in Mexico was long johns, rugby socks, t-shirt, sweatshirt with hood up and blankets x 2. Perhaps not what was expected for our first night under the Mexican stars, but we survived and I am still more than pleased to be here.

Lesson learned – expect the unexpected and be flexible and prepared for change!

Once I was up and about there were a few small things I had forgotten, things that in Canada we take for granted. Things like not flushing the toilet or using toilet paper... (unless it isn’t optional !!!) Things like tap water not being safe to drink, not even for brushing your teeth, bottled water only and cold showers with next to no pressure because hot water is a rich person luxury and only using one towel for body and hair!

Easy enough right? Well sort of, once you’ve remembered.... but with the whole congesting of tap water, you should be careful what happens if you forget! J

Our first meal of the day was of quesadilla con queso (Cheese quesadilla don’t ya know!)with freshly made carrot juice and buns. Myself and four other girls, Caila, Melanie, Lynne, and Chrissy, headed off to “an orphanage” called Casa Hogar. This is a place where children stay and is also where our friend Caila has been spending the last 5 weeks as a volunteer placement. The children were amazing. They were so inquisitive and intelligent, full of life and curiosity.

The rest of the group went to visit families in a squatter settlement called La Estacion. This is something we did last year, to read an article on our visit last year, scroll down through my blogs to “A squatter settlement called La Estacion.”

When we arrives it was interesting, the kids were open and rambunctious. They were pleased with our company and asked one hundred questions a minute even though we couldn’t answer almost any of them because they were speaking so fast and of course, in Spanish! We played with them on the whirl around, threw around a football, danced, took photos, practicing English, saw a massive nasty caterpillar and got to know each other the best way complete strangers from totally different worlds would do. It was amazing. To read an article on Casa Hogar please follow the link below or click here.

Today I focused a lot on my own personal disabilities. A lot of the experiences and circumstances we through as individuals and members of Quest can relate back to living with a disability ours being we are foreign. Our disabilities as foreigners are lack of ability to communicate with those around us because of a language barrier, our appearance, we look different than everyone else, we stand out and people stare, we are unsure of our surroundings, we are vulnerable, undereducated about our surroundings, new culture and lifestyle. We are at a disadvantage. This is our disability.

This comparison may seem odd to some but to us it is not.

At one point in every person’s life they are disabled. Based on certain factors and circumstances we are all at one point in time at a disadvantage and this is their disability. It may not be mental and it may not be physical but it is present.

To realize this makes us strong. It opens our eyes, makes us aware, teaches us compassion and helps us understand.