The Girls of Jerusalén

The 350-ish kids here at NPH Guatemala are divided into about 15 sections by age, grade, and maturity level. There are four sections in the Babies' House, four sections in the Girls' House, six sections in the Boys' House (there are significantly more boys at NPH than girls right now), and one section in Castillo Mágico -- our center for children with severe disabilities.

As Home Correspondent, I decided that I wanted to "feature" one section every month I was here (doubling up a few times) and write sort of a "Spotlight" about them for the website. I'm obviously just getting started with it, but I think it's going to be fun. It should hopefully be a great way for me to get to know the kids in all the sections (at least a little bit), hopefully they'll have fun being interviewed and having some photos taken, and hopefully donors and godparents will like that the by the end of the year, they can essentially check in on every child at NPH via our website. :)

For my first section, yes, I chose the easy way out. I decided to write about my own section: Jerusalén. But hey, I've only been here for a few weeks! It makes sense to write about the kids I know best!

Anyway, a week or so ago I held group and individual interviews with them, and they were SO into it. When I finished with my list of questions for them, they weren't ready to end it! They started yelling at me, "Ask us what our favorite animals are! Ask us what our favorite colors are!" They gave me more than enough information to work with for my 800-word article. :)

I also let them run free with my camera, which was by far the funniest part of the entire evening.

The story has been submitted and is awaiting official publication on the site, so I'll let you all know when it's up there. For now though, here's a summary of what I had on my camera by the end of the night. Welcome to Jerusalén, haha. :)

Fidelia and Juana

This was the second take with Dania. I took the first one horizontally and when she saw it she yelled at me, "No! Get my whole body in it!"

Celeste and Marta

They scream at me to take a photo with them, and then they won't smile for it haha.

Irma

With Estrella, Georgia and Juana

They love to play jacks. I'm getting pretty good at it now.

Each girl has her own locker for all her stuff. They are obsessed with decorating them, and it's pretty adorable.

And now my favorite collection of photos. They ran off with the camera...and came back with about two dozen photos of magazine cut-outs of their favorite singers.

(Daddy Yankee, FYI haha)