Volunteering for the summer

      The children of Amigos de Jesús are always excited when visitors are expected to arrive. They peek their heads through the front gate and wait in anticipation to see who it will be that steps out of the big vans.

                  One summer, a group of summer volunteers came to visit the Hogar. Eager and excited, they jumped right into life with the children of Amigos de Jesús and set out to educate, entertain and love our children.

                  Six weeks may not seem like a long time in the grandness of life, but it certainly is enough to make a lasting impact. As soon as Kate* walked through the gates of Amigos de Jesus, Juan* was drawn to her. He grabbed her hand and began asking her questions in Spanish while staring at her long, blonde hair. A few days later, Juan found out that Kate would be his camp counselor for the summer and he let everyone that would listen, know.

                  “Kate is my teacher and she is going to teach me English,” he would tell me and everyone else. Juan sought out Kate that summer to eat with, to play with and to give many hugs. He adored his teacher and she adored him back. Not only did their love for one another grow that summer but so did Juan’s English. His Spanish phrases soon turned to English ones.

                  “Hello, how are you?” he would ask me.

                  “Wow, Juan! Where did you learn to speak English so well?” I would ask him.

                  “Miss Kate is teaching me,” he said. “She is my teacher and she is teaching me English.”

                  I remember the day Kate and the other summer volunteers had to leave. The children gathered around the vans that would take the volunteers to the airport and many hugs were given. When the vans pulled away, I noticed Juan coming toward me. He sat me down and crawled into my lap. He looked sad. I asked him what was wrong.

                  “I’m sad Miss Kate left,” he told me. I comforted him as best as I knew how. I told him that when he was feeling sad about Miss Kate, he could think about all of the fun times they had together and all of the English she taught him.

                  “But most importantly,” I reminded him, “Miss Kate will love you forever.”

Juan smiled. “I know she will,” he said. And he jumped off my lap and ran off to play.

*Names changed to protect privacy