Chapter Two - These First Days

“Beware!  He is coming!  The man is coming with a machete!  Close the door!”  They laughed pointing at an old man some distance away.  Not taking them seriously, I glanced at the man down the street, glanced at the boys and then went inside my dorm.

“Close the door! Close the door!  The drunk man is coming!”  They hollered as they dashed in the neighboring kitchen house, slamming the door behind them.  I did not close my door, but grabbed my laptop as I had intended and walked back outside to sit in the rocking chair to type this up.

I had only just seated myself when sure enough, a man walked around the corner of the kitchen house waving a machete, yelling angrily.   A torrent of angry Spanish fell from his lips as he expressed his evidently machete-grade annoyance.  I understood a scattered word or two but “Dos ninos!”, or, Two boys!,  was repeated more than once.  

I calmly remarked, “No habla Espanol.”  The man continued fuming angrily, indicating the kitchen house where the boys had ran, still waving his machete.  Seeing I would not help him, he left moments later, exasperated.

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El Doradito has been pretty much as I anticipated.  There is luscious greenery everywhere.  It is a flat land dotted with mountains, and great fields of sugarcane surrounding.  The homes and buildings are mostly concrete, for the incessant rain and humidity swiftly rots away any wood frames.  The roofs are tin or some other such metal.

There are about 70 homes here.  Despite the greenery, it is not an aesthetically pleasing village.  Dirt/clay roads turn into rivers in a heavy rain.  While inside the homes is generally clean, trash is just as soon thrown in the yard or on the street as the designated trash pit out back.  There are no maintained lawns. Mangy dogs trot the village searching for scraps.  Sheep and roosters roam at will.  

The school has a little over a hundred students.  The children are so kind and loving, greeting your entry with plenty of hugs and wide smiles.  I am trying to learn their language (slow going thus far) and they try to learn mine.  

I am here with 7 other volunteers, excluding Dalton.  I teach first grade, and am enjoying it for the most part.  These children know very little English, so the first few days have been a struggle as I try and lay the foundation for basic communication.  We are swiftly making progress and many of the kids have already learned several new words.  I’m getting the hang of the schedule and now trying to come up with new ideas how to better help the children learn, for most are far behind where they should be.

It’s stunning how fast this week has gone when each day often felt like it was passing in slow motion.  It’s been fantastic.  The first few days were a little more difficult than I anticipated, but a rewarding experience so far.  Our schedule typically consists of being at the school from 6:45am-2pm, then afternoons and evenings are alternately filled with Bible studies, English/Spanish lessons, and free time.  Church in the village is held at 3pm on Sundays and 5pm every Thursday.

New leadership has taken over the ministry as of Wednesday, and that certainly caused a few waves, but I am hopeful for the improvements they will bring and that they will continue to share the gospel and raise the standard of education.  

Classes here at the school resume tomorrow, for of course they do not celebrate MLK Day. My online class starts on Tuesday.  I will likely stick to sharing individual stories like the machete story mentioned above because I know I won’t have the time for much else.

Until next time, my friends!