Today we hopped in the car and headed to Chula Vista. We= myself, jessica and zac. I randomly met them on the email list and we decided to save the earth and carpool. Upon arrival we parked at a house, ubered to walmart, and then proceeded to load all of our stuff into a cart and walk to the meeting poing.
Here were tons of families, yes, families! I knew people would be brining some teenagers but I was so excited to see full families with kids as young as 5. This makes me so excited for my future! Also if any of you have families and have wanted to so a humanitarian trip this one is pwrfect! There were families with many young kids, some with all teenages, some young college kids, some older college kids, and then me. Hahahaha. I think I’m the only solo flyer but I’ll take it. We got shirts and hopped in the van, crossed the border, and headed to the orphanage in Baja. We are staying at this one orphange that is super nice! You drive up the hill to the upper campsite and there are these little bungalows all in a row. All of us younger single people went into one together. Jessica and Zac, kiera and her sister lea and then three friends: lindsay, lauren, ans another zac.
From here we headed to our orphanage which is in a lot worse shape. We introduced ourselves to the kids and spent time teaching games, interacting, and just having fun. We had a dinner with them complete with quesadillas, rice, beans, and chicken. After we headed back to our campsite ans had a big bonfire, a debrief and some get to know you games: there are 47 of us.
All 47 of us then shared 4 bathrooms, of which they are really decent, even flushing toliets! The rooms are a square with a lot of bunkbeds. It became apparent fast that it was going to be a hot night as we had three screenless windows and no fan. But all things considered this was so nice comparable to what ive experienced in the past. The accommodations are cute, simple, and clean.
We were assigned to breakfast club so we were up at 5:30am and left to head back into Tijuana. Apparently there was a large dump and people used to come to look for trash to build things, food, etc but then it was closed down leaving this community in need. A church came in and set up a sort of food service where they cook and seeve the kids breakfast every morning and then have church services. We arrived and helped to cook food and serve the kids. We then cleaned up and took a few house baskets to those in need. The home we visited was made from scrap metal and did not consist of much. There was a mother and her two young children home. We then held hands and prayed. It was an incredibly spiritual experience. After that we headed back to the worksite where we helped sort, sweep, clean, and do various projects on the new orphanage that is being built. Then lunch with the cute kids. After making friendship bracelets with them we headed to the beach. The water was suprisingly blue and clear. We ended the night with dinner and shopping in Rosarito. I mostly followed around my new friends as I don’t eat tacos nor do I souvenier shop but we had fun in the market.
Now for sleep.
thursday
woke up. Helped with breakfast. Breakfast burritos with avocado! Yum! Headed to orphanage. Picked a room and painted. Im pretty sure we got more primer on ourselves than the wall but we had fun painting for 5 hours and got the bottom story completely primed. Lunch at the orphanage and then onto another orphanage to interact and play with the kids. They were so excited for the books. One girl was so happy to see island of the blue dolphins because there was a wolf on the front. She went around and showed everyone and then She then kept coming back for more and more books. Uber cute. One boy wanted all the super hero books and insisted I go through all of them to make sure I wasn’t missing any.
We made bracelets, played games, blew bubbles, and did crafts. Dinner was at a taco place after and I ate my weight in avocados. We ended with ice cream and a community circle around the fire doing high lows.
Day Friday
we cooked breakfast at the orphanage for the volunteers and orphans. We made pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns and fruit. Then to the new orphanage site and we primed the outside walls. We were hanging out the upstairs windows and rolling the outside. It was quite comical. We painted until 1 and pretty much finished! Then lunch: quesadilla, beans, and rice. We had a huge soccer game and then a goodbye fiesta at the orphanage.
Tomorrow we will cross back into the USA.
Final thoughts: this is a great organization for families! So wonderful to have kids serving and connecting with the orphans. Families with teenagers also would thrive. It is great for a first humanitarian trip or first trip out of the country. Very easy, cheap, and short. I would absolutely take my family. Would I personally come back? For sure but later when I have kids.
For me it was a fun week connecting with awesome people and working to build an orphanage but it did not have any of the “rip your heart out and create a firey passion within to go and save the world” feeling. But was still a great experience.
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