Octavia Waight...

The beginning of this past week, not gonna lie, was a little slow. Our big hike/trek thing with youth from Belize, that we were so excited about, ended up crashing and burning. Only four of our volunteers were able to go because the people in charge were not exactly the easiest to work with and didn't want to accommodate to our schedule. We were really bummed that it didn't work out, since we had been planning for weeks to make it happen, but we have learned that we just have to go with the flow here.

So in an attempt to find more projects in the community, this last Tuesday Kayla, Shelbi, and I headed over to San Ignacio's nursing home, Octavia Waight, to spend some time with the tender older folks there. It was going to be a pretty chill day, but it was much needed after a weekend of not feeling too great. As always I instantly fell in love with everyone there. I really have a deep, deep love for old people. I love their stories, I love their cute old-people voices, I love their advice, their cute outfits, I love how much they love talking and having company...I just love them. a lot. We had worked at Octavia Waight before to paint their physical therapy room so we had met some of the residents there but oh were we in for a treat. 

 

Much like American nursing homes, the ladies here LOVE to get their nails painted. We just painted and chatted with these cute ladies and honestly could have done it all day. They were so precious. There was a slight language barrier at times...they knew some english but most of them always answered in spanish. And old people speech slurring in spanish is pretty much impossible to understand but we still loved every minute.  Let me introduce you to some of our new friends...

 This is Juanita....she was the most lively one of the bunch as you can tell. The moment this lady saw us she clapped her hands, motioned us over, and gave us a kiss on the cheek like we were her long lost children. She just loved having company and could probably chat with us all day long about anything and everything. She was one that we knew probably understood english but would only respond in spanish/her own language because it was nearly impossible to pick out ANY words this woman was saying. But she had hand motions and expressions like I've never seen before that helped us understand almost completely what she was talking about. We loved this woman a lot.

 

 This is Paulita. She was darling. She had the cutest little outfit on too. This woman looked like she was quiet and shy but once you started talking to her she was so friendly. She loved talking about her big family, especially her granchildren, and how she loved having them visit. She was the only one who could speak really clear English. But I'm not so sure how well she understood it becuase she didn't quite understand the concept of me telling her to let her nails dry? oops. Once I would paint them, she immediately would scratch her face, wipe her eyes, or itch her nose so this poor lady had nail polish all over her face. I tried to get off as much as I could but there were still some stragglers...but I loved this woman a lot too!

 This is Marguerite, this woman also couldn't speak very good English but was so cute! She was the singer of the group. All of her friends would constantly beg her to sing to us all. Again, we couldn't make out what she was saying at all but she just smiled and clapped and we definitely made her feel it was the best song we've ever heard, and it secretly was. She was so cute! 

And don't worry Juanita made sure to make Kayla and I have our moments to shine while we danced in the middle of our little circle. And by dancing I mean twirling around, clapping my hands, doing some cool jumps, and maybe adding a few shouts too...basically making a complete fool of myself...but don't worry they thought we were professional and cheered after we were done. Basically Marguerite's song was definitely a highlight of my trip so far.

 

And this sweet lady...we never really got her name, cuz she unfortunately doesn't remember it because she has Alzheimers...was adorable. The moment she saw Kayla she almost burst into tears saying how she hasn't seen her in years and has missed her. She really thought Kayla was her long lost friend...of course Kayla played along the whole time since she does have alzheimers. It was cute/funny/sad...

We then stayed and listened to a Minnonite family (like ahmish people) sing...the residents were really feelin their hymns. Then we just chatted a little more and went on our way to our next project.

I just loved visiting with these cute ladies and even though it was a simple morning project compared to some of the other things we do here, I learned so much. I just love people and love being a part of their lives. I realized how little things truly go a long way and you don't have to have these huge sustaining projects to make a difference....you just have to take the time to love people and find the good in everyone.

I truly have learned so much in Belize but above anything I have learned that life is about the people. It is about the relationships we make, the service we give, the love we share...its about learning from one another and helping other people along their journey. There is always service we can give to others and we don't have to go on these big humanitarian trips to do that, I'm lucky I had to privilege to, but we can find opportunities EVERYWHERE to help people. I just pray I can keep this motivation to constantly try and help those around me. I really just love life and feel so, so blessed today. Happy Saturday!