Alalay

I’ve been volunteering during the afternoons at Alalay with Alex, my compadre from Princeton. Alalay is an orphanage for girls that were living on the streets. They come to Alalay to live there, go to school, learn a trade and become self-sufficient. Alex and I go for a few hours and hang out with the 20 some girls that live there. Here’s a little description of a few of the each of the girls:

Anahi: Anahi was the first girl to get attached to me. She’s fourteen and wears this forest green sweatshirt a lot. It makes her look very cool. Her hair is always falling in her face. We have this tradition. Every time I leave, I pretend to eat her with kisses. It usually ends with us on the floor in a tickle fight. She loves talking about celebrities, boys, the United States, movies and music. She loves to laugh.

Shirley: Here come the girls! That’s the first thing I heard when I came to Alalay on the first day. I was nervous. I wasn’t sure how I would be able to relate to them. They had lived on the streets, grown up too fast, seen way too much. So on the first day, this little eight year old girl comes running up to us and gives us hug. Do you have any chocolate? Ah, something I can relate to. I pull out a bag of M&M’s that I had in pocket. Girls are still girls after all. Shirley is the youngest of the bunch. She is so cute but she’s a handful sometimes. She has short hair and a pretty face. On her neck is scar, about 4 inches long, right above her jugular vein. She arrived a month ago and still can’t chew with that side of her mouth.

Mary: Nena Mary Aborta Mendoza. Quiet, beautiful, smiling Mary. She had long hair that she wears up in a claw and loves school. She likes to learn, she’s smart and studious. She’s a hard worker but she likes to play too. She’s very tender and endearing. She is fourteen and has a boyfriend, Miguel, who is also her age. They have been together since she was twelve and started off as friends. Her girlfriends make fun of them but she says she just ignores them. She is studying gastronomy and her favorite food is broiled chicken and mashed potatoes.

Yoseline: Yoseline has short hair and a pixie face. She has tons of energy and is always bursting with something to say. She is good friends with Mary and Anahi. She’s a bit mischievous but she always means well. She is always drawing or coloring, she has a real talent for art.

Lourdes: Lourdes loves to hold my hand. She is very affectionate, never missing the chance for a hug or kiss. She likes to be called bonita, princesa, hermosa... She is very good at spotting empty yogurt containers in the street which the girls recycle for money. She can see these little plastic bags from like two blocks away. Anyways, she always comes running up to greet us when we arrive and has this warmth about her.

Gaby: Gaby is absolutely gorgeous but she hasn’t discovered it yet. She is thirteen but looks like she’s nineteen. She has a stunningly beautiful face and long, wavy, black hair. She is always so happy to see me but is more reserved, like Mary. She expresses herself in subtle ways, smiles and flickers of meaning that escape her dark, brown eyes. I mentioned that my favorite Bolivian dish was orange chicken yesterday. Today, she was leaving to go to cooking school as I arrived. She gives me this huge smile and says she made me orange chicken in her class last night and sure enough, there is a big plate of chicken waiting for me in the kitchen at Alalay. I felt like crying with every spoonful.

Maria: Maria is outspoken and mature. She has curly, telephone cord hair. When you look at her wide eyes, you feel a little unsettled, but in a good way. She is always thinking and watching people. She is also very sweet and when she laughs you can see the little girl inside that is normally guarded under her demure exterior. She is playful once you earn her trust and loves to be cuddled and hugged.

Gladis: Gladis is eighteen and very beautiful. Her face is very serious and pensive, so when you make her smile you feel really good. She is at a different level than most of the girls. She takes a surrogate mother role in the house, moderating disputes and delegating chores. She is studying medicine and is very smart. She always greets everyone when entering a room and says goodbye to everyone when she leaves. She is quite the lady.

Patti: Patti is hard to reach. She is fifteen but has the mind of a three year old. Sometimes it feels like she understands what is going on outside of her and other times she is in her own little world. But she is very receptive to affection, and in general, a very sensitive little girl.

Janeth: Janeth is also a beautiful girl, seventeen years old. She has seen a lot, you can tell. She’s the fifth of eight children and told me about her brother, who still lives on the street with his girlfriend and baby. When you talk to her, you feel like you are the only person in the world that matters. She’s not around the house as much as the other girls but when she is I like spending one on one time with her. She’s resilient and much stronger than she lets on.

So those are a few of the girls at Alalay. They are just normal girls. They like painting their nails, watching chick flicks, and eating chocolate. But they haven’t had the normal lives that little girls deserve. I wish I could erase all the ugly bits and pieces of their past, buy them things that other girls have, just hold them and make all the old hurt go away. These beautiful little girls have taught me so much about love. Every day, it gets harder to leave Alalay, but it also gets harder to go back. I step outside of myself and see this American girl, in a world completely foreign to her. Swinging a giggling thirteen year old girl around in her arms in a playground on a Wednesday afternoon. Who is she? She is Yoseline. She is touching my heart, my life, my soul. She is changing me into the person I have always been meant to be.