Santiago’s Children

Me and the kids during the bonfire workshop

Currently the majority of my time in Chile is spent working in the administration of VEGlobal, but I make a point to visit Mi Club Domingo Savio once a week.  Every Thursday afternoon I make the hour and fifteen minute commute from the city center down to the little house on Tupungato Street where I lived last year, and where Steve lived 25 years ago.  Although my activities while at Domingo Savio can range from giving the youngest kids piggy-back rides to providing the 45 children with a modest once (a Chilean snacktime tradition that bears a strong resemblance to British tea-time), one constant factor of my experience is the struggle to implement a series of camping workshops that I lead with the children.  For the last several months I have been implementing the workshops by myself, and while some days I am amazed at how well the kids behave themselves, other days leave me feeling as though I spent all my time stopping fights and did not actually manage to teach anything to anybody.

The workshop that I had planned for this past Thursday was the “bonfire workshop,” and I was eagerly looking forward to it.  Given that the workshop not only allows the children to build a fire (in a controlled environment, of course), but also because it culminates in a marshmallow roasting session, this workshop is always a favorite with the kids and hence the group is usually much more manageable.  I also knew that this Thursday I would have the help of Elliot Rosenberg, one of the current full-time volunteers, which further strengthened my confidence that the workshop would run smoothly (and safely).

As has become a common theme in my volunteer experience, things did not exactly go as planned.  The group of 5 children was unusually rambunctious and even getting them to sit down together in our designated area took about 15 minutes longer than expected.  I began to wonder if I had put too much sugar in the milk for once.  For an entire hour the kids were goofing off and a constant vigilance was required in order to prevent some of the children from removing flaming sticks from the fire and waving them dangerously at each other.  Exasperated, Elliot and I eventually managed to pass out the marshmallows, which did effectively calm things down a bit — at least for the 2-3 minutes that it took for each marshmallow to be roasted.

This was the final workshop of the series, and as we were all sitting around the fire licking our sticky fingers I began to ask the children which workshops they liked the most and what they had learned.  Naturally, everyone’s favorite was the “marshmallow workshop,” but it was really interesting to hear some of the kids mention as secondary choices a few of the other, less exciting sessions.  A little boy told me that he was going to teach his mom how to fry bananas just like we did in the cooking workshop, and one of the other girls remembered that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, which we had gone over during an orienteering workshop a month earlier.  As frustrated as I was at the moment, a smile slowly began to creep onto my face.  These are the types of small steps by which I measure success, and after a long day of frustration, I had experienced once again the type of moment which urges me to continue taking steps forward.

The front door of Mi Club Domingo Savio

Almost exactly one year ago I first arrived at Mi Club Domingo Savio, where I was to work as a volunteer for six months.  As a young and idealistic college graduate I had high hopes for my upcoming international volunteer experience, and I was counting on the fact that these hopes would offset my rather meager understanding of Spanish and the fact that I had not the slightest idea how to work with children, or if I would even enjoy it.

“Mi Club” Domingo Savio is the current incarnation of the Hogar Domingo Savio which first brought Steve Reifenberg to Chile in 1982 and as such provided the impetus for Santiago’s Children.  Until I decided to volunteer through VEGlobal, the NGO that coordinated my volunteer work, I had never heard of Domingo Savio and I knew nothing of its story.  But during my six months living and working in Domingo Savio, I became aware of the history of the place and eventually became quite familiar with the stories that Steve tells in Santiago’s Children.

In the 25 years that had passed since Steve’s arrival, much had changed.  Domingo Savio was no longer a residential home for the children, but rather had transitioned into a community center and after-school program guided by the principle of prevention.  Instead of a dozen or so children, there were instead roughly 35 who regularly attended the activities planned and implemented by the staff.  And due to Steve’s continuing involvement, as well as a constant stream of foreign volunteers managed by VEGlobal, people were much less surprised by the presence of a young and idealistic “gringo” traveling thousands of miles to try and make a difference.

On the other hand, many things still remain the same.  Domingo Savio still operates under the compassionate yet watchful eyes of “Mommy” Olga, who has managed to maintain the same family environment despite the increase in the number of children.  Although certain renovations have been made, all of the action continues to take place in the same little house on Tupungato Street.  And, on a daily basis, good intentions and larger than life expectations are still confronted with the hard-reality of this impoverished community.

Setting up a tent on the camping trip

Many of the central themes in Santiago’s Children strike a very resonant chord with me and my experience.  The unrealistically high expectations that I brought with me down to Chile have generally not been met, but strewn along the path of many failures there are also many small successes.  I was not able to bring all 35 kids on a week-long outdoor leadership excursion, but because of my efforts and those of another volunteer, 9 of the children were able to escape from Santiago for an overnight camping trip.  And while I may not have convinced little Connie to read The Alchemist with me, she did pass 1st grade and has even started to read for fun (and additionally she is much more capable of selecting books suitable to her reading level than I am).

But more than anything else, these small moments have had a great effect on me. I decided to extend my stay in Chile past the originally planned 6 months and will be in Latin America for another year.  I still dream big dreams about what I can accomplish during the rest of my time here, but I have learned to not get discouraged when my expectations fall short, but rather to savor the small victories that periodically mark the way forward.  I have come to believe that significant and sustainable change is enacted through the combination of big dreams and small steps, and furthermore I think that this holds true as much for ourselves as individuals as it does for the hard-reality of the world around us.  I have even started to learn that I do indeed enjoy working with children.

Me and one of the kids

My first step in this process was deciding to devote a period of my life to the service of others, and it was a small step that has brought about large changes in my life.  There are many different steps and paths that can be taken, and as Steve mentioned in his last post, as long as one is guided by worthwhile principles it is hard to choose a “wrong” path.  I encourage everyone to find a path that is right for you, and I invite you to share your experiences on this blog.