Volunteer Experiences - Angie

Ahhh… how was my time in Guatemala? I’ve been asked this question so many times. Well, it’s been almost nine months since I’ve returned from the orphanage and haven’t stopped talking about it ever since! It was amazing! I miss the boys so much.

I spent three weeks at Hogar Miguel Magone in the little town of Aguacate. It’s a beautiful location. The orphanage sits at the top of a mountain that overlooks Guatemala City. There I took care of forty six little boys that ranged between the age of four and sixteen.

When I first arrived at the orphanage there were forty six sets of little eyes staring at me. The boys were quite shy at first, but that was short lived. Soon enough I had smiling four year olds sitting on my lap, hugging me and mumbling away in Spanish, asking me to push them on the swings or to play with them in the slides. The older boys took the time to show me around the orphanage and patiently explained what happened at the orphanage on a regular basis. My Spanish wasn’t that great at the beginning, but I quickly caught on as the boys learned to explain with sign language. We exchanged Spanish words for English words and vice versa.

It was just like a family there, the older boys took care of the younger boys. All of the boys had their own task that they performed everyday. Some helped to prepare the meals, some cleaned the playground, some helped with the laundry and cleaning the dishes. They were all very focused on their tasks. The boys were all well behaved, with the occasional fight amongst themselves but always very polite to the volunteers and the teachers.

My daily tasks consisted of getting up to the cheerful chattering of the younger boys (at 5h30 am) that slept in the room just next to mine. Then I helped serve breakfast, and prepared to walk them to school, which they are all very keen at attending. Most of them lined up at the door fifteen minutes before we had to walk them down to school!! While the older boys were at school, I played with the younger boys at the orphanage.

The boys always amused me. They had their way of putting a smile on my face everyday, whether it was watching little Tonito pick up a used chewing gum off the floor and chewing away at it in much satisfaction, Brandon waving his paper airplane with so much pride, or little Antonio singing to himself while piecing together a puzzle. Even though they ran around the orphanage with their shoes untied, leaky noses and food slobbered all over their clothing, I couldn’t help but take them in my arms every time one of them fell down or asked for a hug. One event that occurred quite frequently and that I could never get enough of was their silly dances. The older boys used to play their Guatemalan hip hop music very loudly in the playground, and soon enough you had the four year olds dancing away with the sixteen year olds! And they could all dance surprisingly well!

The boys ate whatever was donated to the orphanage by the bakeries or butchers. Sometimes it consisted of only black beans. Some of the volunteers and I often went up to the bakery to get pastries and juice, everything for maybe 25 American cents! It was very inexpensive and so hard not to buy treats for the boys, although it happened every once in a while. At the end of our stay there, we bought some jam, peanut butter and bread and made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the boys. Let me tell you that it was definitely a meal that they preferred over chicken hearts, livers and legs. After seeing what the boys ate, I feel quite guilty about leaving any food at all in my plate.

I also assisted with some other tasks. Another volunteer and I brought four of the boys to the dentist, where they had a thorough clean up of their teeth! Of course we couldn’t pass up the opportunity of buying each of them a donut after that. Also, to help earn money for the orphanage, we set up a garage sale for the people in the village.

On our weekend off, two of the volunteers and I took the chicken bus to Antigua where we got to climb up Pacaya, an active volcano, and we visited the markets, where I learned to bargain for the goods that I bought. It was quite nice there, much more touristy though. Everything is really inexpensive in Antigua (as a matter of fact, in all of Guatemala), so we ate some very tasty traditional Guatemalan food and stayed at a five star hotel for a very cheap price.

My time was very well spent at Hogar Miguel Magone. I hope to be able to go visit the boys again in the near future. A lot of these little boys have horrific stories under their belts, but you would never know it, as they keep smiling and keep on being just so lovable. I’m convinced that it’s all due to Karen (who started and runs the orphanage) along with all of the caring volunteers that come and help the orphans.

Angie