RV

I live in a trailer park...this is my RV.

Hello...
Well this has been my first week here in Baja Mexico. Things have been different than I expected, both good and bad. I have now worked in the Cuna (a nursery of children 2 and under) for four days. The first day there were 9 children, but two of them have been adopted. Now there is (oldest to youngest) Mayra, Lalo, Leo, Lorena, Roy, Dana, and Moises. The oldest being almost 3 and the youngest being 6 months. There are three shifts in the Cuna, morning: 6:30am-1pm, afternoon: 12:30pm-7:45pm, and night: 7:45pm-7am.

My first day of working was somewhat miserable. Being that it was my first day of ever changing a diaper it was a bit traumatic. Although after four days of working, I feel like a diaper expert. I use to think that changing a diaper just meant taking it off, and putting on a new one. But in reality each kids takes like 3 duces a day, which is now with the 7 kids a total of 21 poopie diapers to change, on top of the other 30 pee stricken diapers. All of these kids are sick, so their poop tends to be the consistency of a milkshake, but don’t let the thought of a chocolate milkshake pacify or diminish the picture. In closure of this paragraph, I have learned that a poopie diaper also means many wet wipes are in dire need.

Working in the Cuna is better now, it is manageable. I have now worked the afternoon and morning shifts, and the morning shift is a bit calmer. I have no set schedule, and I won’t ever get a weekend off. The ratio of days off is 7-8 days of work, to 2 days off. But on top of the Cuna, I will also be working the Tiendita 3 days a week, which is a shop open an hour a day.

Now don’t think that working in the Cuna is only changing diapers. These children have no parents, or do but have been taken away by DIF, which is like Mexico’s child protective services; which means that we have to do everything. We cook, clean, do laundry, and feed them, which takes a lot of patience with the babies. We bathe them, change them, put them to bed, punish them, play with them, give them medicine, and our biggest goal is to potty train them. Once they are potty trained they leave the Cuna and go to live in a house of about 10 kids, up to the age of 17 or 18.

Today went well, except for one part. One of the kids when she takes a duce while in her Cuna (crib), likes to pull it out and wipe it off onto everything, which ends up getting all over her. That happened today during nap time. That was nice.

I don’t mean to gross everyone out who read this, well maybe I do. No matter, the point of it all is that this is really hard work. It is easy to forget why I came down here, and be a bad sport. Although I didn’t come here for myself, and if I did that was dumb, I came here to serve God and to be a help to those who are in need. If I look past myself, and poopie diapers, there are these children, who have been neglected by their parents and just need love. It is sad because most people working there are like me, they have only come for a while to help out, and will be out of the children’s lives when they grow attached.

Other than work, it has been good down here. It was an easy adjustment coming down here and meeting new people. I feel very comfortable in my trailer park - yes I can now say I have lived in a trailer. Everyone has been very nice and welcoming. Well, see you all in September… maybe. Most of the people have bets that I will end up staying longer. We’ll see.