Friday, June 14, 2013

Oscar Francisco Romero 12/17/2005 - 06/13/2013



There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day.  And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would have gladly eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.  Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.  (Luke 16:19-21)

Oscar Francisco Romero arrived at Amigos de Jesus as Lazarus and spent the last 48 days of his life experiencing what Lazarus was given in heaven:  comfort, the care of angels, love and a life worth living.

Oscarito was brought to us on April 26 by the Missionaries of Charity, the Sisters who live the life laid out for them by Mother Teresa to care for the poorest of the poor.  They asked us to provide a permanent home for Oscarito because they knew that we would become his family for the rest of his life and would provide him with a level of care they were not able to provide.  He had been left for dead at an international border crossing and found in March of this year.  At approximately 7 years old he weighed less than 20 pounds, and dragged his emaciated body through garbage, filth, flies and dogs in search of scraps.  He was living a life worse than that of a stray dog.  No one had ever bothered to get Oscarito a birth certificate or medical care.  He had never felt love.  After the Sisters rescued Oscarito he spent a month in a run-down public hospital fighting for his life.  With nowhere to go upon release, we received a phone call at 9:00 PM asking if we could please take him first thing in the morning.  So the next day Oscar came home to Amigos de Jesus.

Amigos de Jesus undoubtedly changed Oscarito’s life.  He lived his last days clean and safe, with a balanced and nutritious diet, quality medical care, a special toy he loved, a jogging stroller he used to explore our rough terrain, and a bed of his own for sleeping.  More importantly, however, Oscarito was cared for and loved.  He was so very loved and he returned the love we gave him in abundance in spite of the fact that he only knew love for 48 days.

Though Oscarito’s life may have been changed by Amigos de Jesus, he changed ours in so many ways and changed all of us for the better. 

Oscarito changed us as he taught us to never be the rich man in Jesus speaks about in the Gospel according to St. Luke.  We were afraid to bring Oscarito to Amigos de Jesus because we’ve never had a child so sick, so disabled, so dependent for every little thing, and with so many medical needs.  We wondered if we could ignore his needs as we thought there must be someone else who could do a better job, or a place that was better equipped.  But Honduras is a place of few resources for special children like Oscarito and we are here to be friends of Jesus so we welcomed him home.

Oscarito changed David, one of our older children who will start University this year.  David, always a slightly immature young man lacking in direction but with a heart of gold, became Oscarito’s primary caregiver.  We needed someone to look out for Oscarito immediately and our madrinas, padrinos and volunteers were already stretched too far to be able to give Oscarito the one on one care he needed.  The two of them spent their days going for walks with David pushing the jogging stroller, listening to music together, and being in each other’s presence.  David kept an alarm set to go off every three hours to make sure Oscar’s meals were always on time.  He took it upon himself to make sure Oscarito didn’t get sores from being in one position for too long, was protected from the sun, and was stimulated and engaged.  He delighted in every small step Oscarito made- smiling and laughing, holding his own water bottle, climbing out of his stroller, finding ways to communicate his needs.  He worried relentlessly that Oscarito’s seizure medications were too strong, or that he wasn’t gaining weight quickly enough.  He lost sleep over his worries about Oscarito.  At 18 years old, David became Oscarito’s father and demonstrated a love and maturity David himself didn’t imagine he was capable of.

Oscarito changed our children and taught them about gifts and blessings.  Meeting him, knowing him, seeing him lose his fears and begin to smile for the first time in his life showed our children- all of whom have been through unimaginably difficult and inhumane situations in their short lives- that life is a gift, that there is always something to smile about and that we all have blessings to count.  Some of our most troubled and broken children poured love into Oscarito.  In their love and care for Oscarito they have lived the gospel:  “for whatever you did to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did to me.” (Mt 25:40) For many it was the first time they understood that they are called to use their gifts to minister to others and were able to truly experience giving unconditional love.

Each member of the Amigos de Jesus family has a story about how Oscarito has changed our lives for the better.  We are crying tears of pain that we have not had enough time to spend with Oscarito here on earth.  We share stories, we remember, we support each other and we give thanks.  All of us are so very grateful for the opportunity to have loved and to be changed by Oscarito, our little boy who is gone far too soon.
Oscarito may have spent most of his life as Lazarus but he spent the last 48 days as a son, a brother, a friend, and someone who was finally able to experience the love and joy he is now experiencing in heaven.  He touched more hearts and impacted more lives in 48 days than most of us do in a lifetime. 


Praise God for Oscarito, and may our sweet, tough, amazing little child be truly welcomed into heaven where we now have a guardian angel forever.  We miss you Oscar Francisco Romero, thank you for changing our lives.  You are so loved.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Welcome to Second Grade

Amigos de Jesús  along with BECA (Bilingual Education for Central America) now offers its’ children and children from communities in neighboring towns the chance of a lifetime – a bilingual education. In the fall of 2013 we will officially begin our partnership with BECA, and  grades K-2 will be taught by both a native English speaker and a Honduran teacher. Right now, as we await this change in education (and the arrival of new teachers) the volunteers have been asked to aid in the process and help to teach subjects or grades modeled after a typical BECA classroom. In February I was given the honor of being appointed as the English teacher for our newly formed second grade class. I could not be happier to be a part of this chapter at Amigos de Jesús  And as such thought it would be nice to share our experiences of a typical day in second grade.
 

First, I’d like to say that there is never a typical day at Amigos de Jesus and the same goes for my second grade class. As every teacher knows, you can plan every second of your “flawless” day and then something completely unexpected happens and changes everything.  My students never cease to surprise me with their ability to soak up all we learn like little sponges.  


We start our day at school together with Morning Prayer. Prayer, is one of the only times that we speak Spanish in class together. As the year progresses I hope to have them saying the sign of the cross, Hail Mary and Our Father in English. For now we pray in Spanish and they thank God for all he has given us. A 7 year-olds prayer ranges from thanking God for the trees and animals to the food that is always on the table, for their caretakers or for their best friends. It’s always a surprise. After prayer we begin our day with Morning Circle, from this point on we only speak in English. I have all of the boys and girls sit down in front of me facing the white board and they learn about the date, the weather and counting. As they become more comfortable with the basics of each subject in English we will eventually expand on each subject and thus their vocabulary will grow. The children love Morning Circle because it involves each of them, it stays relatively the same and has a series of activities to learn and reinforce new English words and phrases to use later during class time. Their favorite part of circle is singing. Right now, they know eight songs - all in English. After morning circle, it’s time to read in English at Guided Reading time.

Guided Reading is my chance to review what they remember in a fun way.  We read a book together and they tell me what's happening, make predictions and of course give me their well informed critical opinion of anything and everything they see in the pictures. In doing this, they begin to start thinking critically and use their imagination in ways they had not in their former education experience.  I often remember being read to as a child by my parents and I realize that this is something some of my students will never experience. I like to think that reading together may give them memories similar to mine and that they will one day love to read. After we read a story together it is time for them to practice reading on their own in English at Reading Centers.

Reading Centers give the children a chance to pick their favorite books and attempt to read in English. Little by little they have learned various words and get so excited when they read a word and know what it means. I get just as excited as they do and plenty of high-fives are exchanged and it seems like I always say “good job.” I hope by the end of my time here I will have the children reading and understanding small books. I have high expectations for my class and they always seem to surpass them.
After Reading Centers it’s time to practice writing. Writing block is the children’s time to write the words they have learned and try their hand at some tricky English grammar. I spend the first ten minutes teaching the children grammar that relates to the theme of the week. They then try their best to apply the rules using vocabulary they can see around the classroom. Some of my students still struggle with letter recognition in their own language, but we face our problems head on, do our best to improve and always sing a song or two.  After we learn about grammar we practice our ABCs and spelling in Word Work.

Word Work is the best part of the day for most students. They get to play fun games and play with blocks. The best part is all the games are educational but I’m pretty sure they haven't realized it yet. We practice letter recognition with puzzles and card games. We also spell words using blocks. Sometimes I’ll throw in a math game to see how much they remember. At the end of the day everyone helps to clean up and then we close our day with a prayer and thank God for the wonderful day he has given us.

This is pretty much a typical day for my Second grade class. They also have Spanish, computers, physical education, art and music throughout the week. All specials except for Spanish are conducted in English by other volunteers. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for these children and I am extremely proud to be their teacher. I am so eager to teach them as much English as possible by the time my year of service is up and can’t wait to see how they’ll improve when I come back to visit next year.



Joseph Sarappo '13

Current Volunteer