One day at Big Heart Orphanage is hard to describe
because things are always changing due to the volunteer groups that are constantly coming to Big Heart Orphanage. Almost every morning I wake up around 5am to pray and read my Bible. This is a perfect time because it’s the most peaceful and is a good way to start my day. I wake the boys up at 6am and read a short devo from a book and then we pray together. Then, they make their beds and do the chores in the dorms.
At 7am we all meet up in the kitchen for breakfast. After breakfast we walk the kids to the private Christian school that Big Heart set up in the community many years ago. While they are at school we always have work projects going on especially if there are volunteer teams here. For me, this is mostly a time just to get other things done or just to rest.
Once we pick them up from school
I help the youngest Javier, with his homework. Since I am still learning Spanish this is the easiest homework for me to help with! Usually all the kids finish their homework in an hour or less. I love when that’s finished because we basically get some free time to spend with the kids. Whether that is playing soccer, riding bikes, swimming, etc. I believe this is where relationships are built with kids, in the good times just playing with them and spending time together.
Around 6pm
All the children and all the staff eat dinner together. Once everyone is done then we split off and go to the boys dorm and we usually get around an hour to have them all showered. Then we can play together, just a board
game or other small game in the dorm. At about 8pm I read a story out of the book “La Biblia en Acción”, which is the bible in the form of a graphic novel. Then I’ll ask them some questions about the story that we read together.
After that we pray together and then it’s bedtime! On the weekends, everything is the same except Micah and Jenny, the director and his wife, they like to do something special for the kids such as taking them out to pizza, going to a movie, going to a trampoline park, etc. The weekends are usually really busy especially since volunteer teams and families like to come on the weekends to spend time with the kids. Nevertheless, the weekends are some of the more fun times since there are less responsibilities and more free time.