Meet Anahi...

Anahi is 17 years old. Her favourite colour is yellow. From what I understand, she was abandoned as a baby and is an orphan. Thus she lives here at the centre year-round. She has only been here for about a couple of years and is in second grade.

Because Anahi has no family to pay her tuition and room and board, she has to work. There is a family with four children, ranging from a one-year-old to an eleven-year-old, who live above the girls' dorm. The mother is the secretary here at the centre and also looks after the girls in the dorm whenever I have a weekend off. The father also works in some other capacity here at the centre (I'm not exactly sure what all he does). From Monday to Saturday, Anahi works for this family. As soon as she's done with lunch in the afternoons, she goes and does cleaning for them, washes their clothes, and helps take care of the four children. She often works till late into the evening, which means that any homework has to be done really late at night or very early in the morning.

Because Anahi works, I don't actually get to be around her very much. Her only day off is Sunday, and even then she often is busy washing her own clothes, which she didn't have time to wash during the week. I feel for her not being able to hang out and enjoy time with the rest of the girls. On the positive side, she is quite close to the family she works for, and I understand they sometimes take her with them on vacation during the summer holidays.

Anahi is a very sensitive person. She often seems to get her feelings hurt in the little time she does spend with the rest of us down in the dorm.

Anahi is also a very loving person. She is always coming up behind me and wrapping her arms around me. I can't imagine what it is like for her having her disability and on top of that lacking the love and support of a family. I imagine she is starving for love and physical affection.

RANDOM INFO. (about my life here): The other week I discovered that one of the girls' responsibilities is to keep the grass cut on our side of the property. Now that spring and the rains have arrived, the grass will be growing higher. Apart from aesthetic reasons, the grass needs to be kept short because of the danger of snakes. Apparently someone was once bit by a snake here and had to be taken to the hospital! If cutting grass is considered grueling work, cutting grass here at the centre is more than twice as grueling. There is no lawn mower, and we use hoes and machetes. With the girls we spent a couple of afternoons clearing the grass on one side of the dorm building. I wanted to give the girls an example of working hard with a positive attitude, so I went out there with them. As the girls hacked away at the grass with machetes, the two girls with developmental disabilities and I went around stuffing rice sacks with cut grass along with garbage and dried up dog excrement (I made sure to go and put on some rubber gloves!). Then we would lug the sacks to the end of the property where all the garbage is dumped. As we went back and forth, I would make the best of each trip and would carry the sack in one hand and a brick (there were some old bricks lying around that need to be thrown out) in the other hand. Soon I saw Manuela and Sonia (the two girls with developmental disabilities) coming down the road with a sack in one hand and a brick in the other (the power of example!)

PRAISE (Blessings):

-Anahi's life.

-My mom's visit this past weekend. I have been at the centre for two months now, and she was my first visitor! It was so special to have her here and for her to get to know the girls--they loved her!

-The arrival of the rains! Having grown up with serious water shortages, I know the importance of rain! I also love the sound and smell of it!!!

-Thunderstorms! It maybe sounds strange, but I LOVE thunderstorms!!! They give me a thrill and make me think of the awesomeness of God's power!!!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

-Apparently discipline and grades have gone down the last little while (it would seem since I arrived), so I need to start cracking down on the girls and be a little more strict. Please pray that I would learn how to be strict and firm in a loving way.

-I have been really struggling with my own selfishness. Please pray that I would not be controlled by my selfish feelings but by God's Spirit.

-Please pray that I would do everything out of a genuine love for the girls. I am constantly convicted by 1 Corinthians 13. All my sacrifice and service here is worthless if I don't do it out of a genuine love for God and for the girls.