Esperanza is the lady who helped the kids sew little pictures onto cushions (I mistakingly called her Sonja 2 blog posts ago). She is very good at things that are done with thread and needle and she cooks very well. My pants had started to grow a hole on the left knee and she repaired it very well at my request. I don´t wish to speak ill of her though but sometimes she serves drinks that just aren’t tasty without adding sugar to it. (in my opinion adding artificial/refined sugar to anything is unhealthy.) But some times the drinks are quite tasty too, I especially like the rice flavored drinks. She embodies motherly qualities excellently. She is very patient and disciplined. I just noticed she prays over the food here. I do delight so much to see anyone pray.
I want to pick up where I left off at the last blog post. Esperanza had embraced me as a true mother would a crying child, which I appreciate so oh so much. She went to make dinner. The sadness and crying I´d felt went away and I felt much brighter, lighter and happier then I felt just moments before my head hit the ground hard the same day.
The night had fallen on the area, which happens quite abruptly because of the mountains. Kids were gathering because we were having a slumber party in the back yard (which is quite a big backyard). But before then we watched a movie about an elephant and a particle in which many tiny beings were housed. The elephant talked to the particle and eventually one of its inhabitants started replying. It was like God talking to creation and a creation talking back. Are you real? Can you really make it day or night? The elephant used his shadow over the particle to show he did truly have control in that way. For a long time they communicated and communicated. In the meantime many things happened. The creation in the particle was asking the elephant if he could put the particle somewhere where it would be forever safe… so the elephant set out on the adventure to make it so. The elephant was in the jungle where everything was growing and eating and being eaten and constantly changing, not a safe enviroment for a particle. Along the way to the mountain with a cave containing a sunflower our elephant hero meets opposition from apes, a kangaroo mother with her son and a vulture the kangaroo mother convinces to help her to talk this crazy idea out of the elephants head. But regardless, the elephant gets closer and closer to the mountain. The vulture finds him and takes the rose-pink flower with the particle and after a long chase dumps it in a massive field of pink flowers, making the one flower with the particle extremely hard to find. But the elephant (I think represents God) keeps looking and looking, making huge stacks of plucked particle-less flowers. Eventually he collapses from exhaustion, the wind picks up and blows the plucked flowers all over the place. Our elephant friend starts to panic for a moment but then recognizes the flower with the particle floating around in the wind. He chases after it and with so much delight catches it again!
There he continues his path back to the mountain to give it a safe place. Back home the Kangaroo gets the news that the vulture she tried to get to help her failed her; and by some strange way and oratorical display manages to convince the whole jungle to run after the elephant to stop him from taking the particle to the sanctuary at the top of the mountain.
The jungle army overtakes our elephant friend and ties him down, drags him into a cage and takes his so dearly loved flower with the particle. He had been talking and talking to the particle and its inhabitants and the one hero on the other side was on the inside of the particle trying to convince everyone else that the world of the particle is not everything there is, but that there is much more, or in this case our elephant hero! Finally the particle insider friend convinces everyone that if the elephant can perform what a miracle to them that they will believe, but It turns out our elephant friend can not because by this time an ape was holding the flower with the particle and could not perform any miracles. The jungle army did not believe that the particle had any life. Finally In desperation the elephant begs and pleads to the particle to express its being and make a lot loud and beautiful music so everyone can hear and believe that the particle is not just an empty useless something. The particle inhabitants did not realize the danger they were in, but they did carry with the idea and made so much music, so much music that at the point that the flower with the particle that they lived on was falling down into a boiling pot that would destroy it. But, the son of the kangaroo mother was inspired to jump out and chase the flower! Mom called to her on but he did not obey. The son catches the flower with particle and all just in time, hears the music and lets the others hear. Everyone is convinced. Our elephant friend is rejoiced that the particle who was so much in danger did surive and now even mother Kangaroo (who started all the persecution of our elephant friend) is finally convinced of her error of not believing in life on that little particula.
Personally, I have seen such movies with grand displays of technological cunning, but to these kids here at Yo Creo En Mi I think its something that expands their horizon, especially with movies like these which I think was good. We (about 15 of us) were watching together and Esperanza prepared some popcorn for all.
Afterwards we went outside. Walter took his laptop outside and tried to use a program to show the constellations to the kids while others wandered elsewhere. I discovered Walter was doing this about 5 minutes after he started. I joined and tried to look as well but the sky was mostly covered in clouds.
We had prepared some firewood earlier In the day. So some time later Walter piled it up with some plastic at the bottom, poured some gasoline over it and Vanesah set fire to it. To me it seemed it would not burn. I got the impression Walter did not know how to start a fire, even with the help of gasoline. After contemplating for 15 minutes and seeing that nobody was trying to save the fire I start messing around with it (it had reduced to a small smoldering fire) and started to collect small firewood and branches around the core of the fire. I put one of the bigger pieces of wood over it so it would eventually catch fire. I was a bit doubtful it would work, but felt It important to try to make the fire work, because camping without a bonfire just isn’t camping, ¿am I not right? It was a good thing there was a Fiery Salamander around.
Some of the kids and adoscelent, myself taking the picture.
The fire after it got going very nicely
So we get going and chatting on a bench (elevated beam of wood) nearby. The kids try to get me to say "I love you" to a few of the girls and "you are crazy to some of the young men". Eventually some of us start trying to play hide and seek, mostly the younger people. At first I have no clue how to play and stand around and turn out to become a hiding place in the hide and seek game, as Yenny was using me to hide behind. I was beginning to realize I might as well unconspiciously walk forward to help Yenny get closer and closer to the place she needs to be to win the game, heheheh. Eventually they goad me into joining. I suspect Corra Corra, means Hide Hide. Colombian language is still hard. I went the first round with Yenny and she awkwardly tries to explain her directions to me in Spanish. I try to do what she suggests but absolutely fail horribly as I do whatever shouldn’t be done in Colombian hide and seek. But we had all in all a great time! One of the rounds I was the one to ferret everyone out from hiding, but I didn’t realize I needed to call peoples names to cause them to be counted out! And to boot and I still don’t having everyones names in memory.
They also convinced me to sleep in one of the backyard tents. Finally I manage to pick one after Hugo came out from his slumber to see the bonfire and the goings on. We were sitting around chatting or trying to chat and I get sleepy and get my blanket to sleep inside one of the tents. My will to stay awake was already strongly fading. I lay down after reading the fire English fire warning to (I suspect) Filipe. Now this wasn’t comfortable, there wasn’t an airbed or mattress. But finally I manage to find a position under my blanket I can sleep in. Less then an hour later it starts to rain and decides the tents should be moved to the hall of the foundation building. So I wake up again, realizing its going to be a long morning to sleep in. Slow and dazed I take a zombie walk over to my actual bed at the foundation.
To some it may not look like much that there are these things going on with the kids, but without it they would have no fellowship and little hope for a future. Where I come from activities and kids playing is quite normal but here it is a rather grand exception and very much needed refreshment and nourishment to the souls of these children.
What I feel in my heart Is that these kinds of things are very healing for the kids, to have fellowship with their own kin and good teachers in good activities with people who love them. They are taught responsibility and iniative, to put truly spiritual and important things first, to hold a vision for their future, to think in terms of winning not just for their own salvation but the salvation of their brothers and sisters, to understand others before demanding sympathy and understanding themselves, to synergize in cooperation (and not destruction In competition) and to nourish their bodies, emotions, souls and the spirit which gave us life.
Live well and charitous, Sander Fiery Salamander
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