CEVA 2007

This blog entry was written on January, 31st but has not been published until now due to the fact that sometimes, the internet cafés are just to damn slow. Thanks for your patience.

Also, please be sure to include the Pequeño family in your prayers. Roy, one of my fellow associates, had to return to the United States yesterday due to sudden complications in his grandfather's health.

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Last week, along with 6 other Chilean volunteers, the Holy Cross Chile Associates organized and participated in CEVA 2007, or Centro de Vacaciones. Each year the local parish center here in Calle Larga sponsors this week long day camp in order to educate the children of the importance of Christian values and how to live out the values in everyday life...and of course, provide a fun filled week filled with activities, crafts, games, and field trips to children that would otherwise not have such opportunities during their summer vacation. I felt that the “fun” aspect of this is crucial to the success of this program; afterall, it is not called “Vacation Central” for nothing.

This year CEVA, with the theme “Yo tambien quiero ser santo!” (I want to be a Saint too!) was located in Valle Alegre, a small pueblo town filled with wine vineyards and beautiful scenic Andes mountains, just located on the outer limits of Calle Larga. Valle Alegre certainly fit its name “Happy Valley” after the end of the week. Outside of the activites that happened each day, such as a usually funny morning theater that presented the value and Saint to be learned that day as well as crafts in the afternoon, the children, ages 4-13, had a great time being sprayed by the hoses of the local firemen one hot afteroon, going to the local pool, and even making the hour bus ride to Santiago for the day visiting the Children’s Interactive Museum and the Santiago Aquarium.

There were plenty of hard days for the Associates throughout the week. The sun was scortching hot and with 50 kids to look after, rarely there was a scheduled break throughout the 10-hour day. I worked with the smallest group, ages 4-6, and it seemed my main task for the week was to run after the kids and keep them in their assigned area and on whatever task we were doing. There were times that kids did not listen to me and moments where I literally thought I lost a child due to their constant need to run off from the group (I swear...I turned my head and the next second they were gone!). Yet, there were also times they never seemed to want to let go of my hand or where they would hug me and say something sweet to me through their baby teethed smiles. Sometimes they even wanted to play “pato pato gonzo” (duck duck goose) with me for what seemed like forever.

In the end, I am exhausted. Even though it is a week later, I am still catching up on sleep. I find myself glad that I can now escape back to my own reality and do not have a child of my own to look after each day (haha). Nevertheless, I am very happy to have had this experience. I have never had so much fun than when I did running in a soccer field and being sprayed by a firehose, running in the muddy water and splashing around with the kids and my fellow associates. The trips to the pool, the Museum, and Aquarium were amazing to experience through the lense of a child. Even the bus ride to Santiago, which I have taken numerous times and usually used as an opportunity to read a book or take a quick nap, was a first time experience for most of the children and seemed to be a fun filled adventure for all, singing songs and constantly looking out the window to point out “bakan” (cool) things to me and the other Associates. Did the children learn the values that we tried to teach them? Do they know what it means to be a Saint? Probably not, but at least we were able to provide them a fun week and, ojalá (God willing), I will be able to do it again next year.

To see a complete set of pictures from CEVA 2007, click here.