Flat on My Face

I am fighting with the best way to do things with this blog.  Coming back and fortht to the internet cafe and not being able to hook my computer up directly is driving me crazy.  Maybe soon I will figure out a good way to make it all work exactly the way I want it to.  Until then, you will have to click the link below to learn about CFCI being the organization of the month!

 organization-of-the-month-in-la-carpio3

Everyday, I am up by 5:30 and headed to the bus by 6:30.  One bus to San Jose.  A brisk 10 minute walk through the crowded Avenida Central to the bus to La Carpio.  The shift at the clinic.  Then, back on the bus for the reverse.  It is a struggle to stay awake through dinner most nights!

That was last month.  School has started now.  I have to rush in the morning to get to the bus earlier, not to get a seat, but to get on the bus.  The crowd is thicker.  And after clinic, I help with teaching kids to read and work on math. 

These “classes” are a time for students to come and personal attention that is not given in school.  I realized that I don’t remember learning how to read.  I know that math and school stuff has always come easily to me.  I was always focused…I was weird. 

I have no idea how to help a tired kid learn how to read!  If I thought I was exhausted before, yesterday brought in a whole new level.  I worked with one girl mostly.  She is needy for attention.  And was working well, then hit a wall.  I couldn’t tell if she had memorized the words and gotten tired as the day progressed and forgotten them, not being able to read at all.  Or, could she read them, but was being lazy and didn’t want to prove that she could read so that we could continue.  I was so frustrated!  I want to know how to help her!      

So, this will be a challenge for me.  It is a great opportunity to form relationships with some of the kids in La Carpio.  I will learn something about teaching young kids, as well.

The program is needed.  The school in La Carpio has three shifts to fit all of the kids in.  They are about 3 hours each.  That time includes a meal and recess.  So, there is not much instruction time.  When they are in class, they are large classes—about 40 per teacher.  You can see why kids need extra help or a place to go to play, since they have too little time in school and only streets for playgrounds.

Physically, this is a tiring job.  When you start thinking about the social situation, it becomes mental as well.  The kids are worth it.  They are great kids that deserve the same opportunity as anyone else, but they are living in a place where they are taught that reading is difficult, only for the intelligent. 

On Monday, I woke up at 5:45, showered, shoveled food into my mouth and was off to a place where I had no expectations.  I met up with two other short term missionaries to catch the bus, one who knew the ropes. 

It takes two buses to get to La Carpio: one from my neighborhood, San Francisco de Dos Ríos, to downtown then one to La Carpio.  Between the two buses there is a nice five to ten minute walk down Avenida Central, which is for pedestrians only and is lined with stores as well as street vendors selling whatever you can imagine.  Finally, I board the second bus for La Carpio.  The whole trip takes about and hour and a half, if it runs smoothly.

The bus lets off right by the clinic, which is nice, but I haven’t yet figured out exactly what to look for near the stop so I can signal the bus driver to stop.  Everything has a metal roof and is disheveled looking. 

Monday, I was introduced to the clinic and how it is run.  Patricia, a nurse from New York who is full time here, showed me how to give a shot.  On Tuesday, I gave one, and on Wednesday, I gave three.  I guess I am doing ok—no one has screamed yet.  That is how things work there, I am told.  See one, do one, teach one.  This means I will learn bunches!

The rest of the week I gave shots, took blood pressures and helped pass out medicine.  I am relieved to know that I enjoy being in the clinic. 

On Wednesday afternoon, there was Kids Club.  We took about fifty kids down to the end of La Carpio where there is a play ground and room to run.  We walked down a road that is off of the main road.  That was the real stuff. 

It has been unusually windy lately, and I was glad I had my sunglasses to help keep the dust out of my eyes.  The dust still won, but it was better than it could have been.  There were people on top of their roofs trying to secure the tin, or whatever else was used, to keep them from blowing off.  We walked for about three or four blocks up and down hills on the dirt road, except for where it was kind of muddy from water running through the streets, no telling from where.    

We got to the end where I played games I haven’t played in years, like hide-and-seek and freeze tag.  There was a time of devotion and a time for me to get hit in the head with a kickball.  In the end, I had a lot of fun and was very tired.

On the way home, I was talking with a girl who is about 9.  Her name is Rebecca.  She wants to go to school.  School is free in Costa Rica, but you have to buy materials and a uniform.  CFCI has a program where they start children in kindergarten.  They wait until just after school starts for Costa Rican children and find children who haven’t enrolled and try to enroll those with the greatest need to go to school.  After the year of kindergarten, it is my understanding that they encourage the families to have their children continue in school and try to help out as much as they can. 

There are a lot of good programs going on here.  And the people of La Carpio that I have met seem to still have hope in what many would call a hopeless situation.  They are definitely not forgotten by God, who, on our walk back to the education center from playing the kids, reminded us of his promises with the fattest rainbow I have ever seen.

La Carpio is a slum on the outskirts of San Jose.  It is home to 5,000 families, mostly Nicaraguans who immigrated for work and settled.  It is also home many ministries of Christ for the City International.

Streets are mostly unpaved and lined with houses made of available lumber scraps, tin, cement blocks and cardboard.  Overcrowding has left no room for yards, much less parks, so children play in the streets.  There is no sewage system and garbage is everywhere.

There is one grade school and no high school.

The community deals with many social issues that CFCI targets to help provide relief and hope to the people of La Carpio.

La Carpio is where I will be joining full time missionaries and other short term missionaries and helping to share the love that God has for his people, no matter their situation.

Info and photo from CFCI informational handout.