Importance of the Wall

Today is the actual holiday of Chile's 3-day weekend.  It is the holiday of Saint Peter and Saint Paul.  We are not sure what you do on this holiday, as we have not seen festivities other than some people walking down the street with a cross yesterday in Vina del Mar and singing a song we didn't recognize.  The weekend has been good to keep figuring out how to get around and what kinds of new food we can try at the grocery store.  But we are looking forward to getting to do what we came here to do:  love those girls at Casa Esperanza and Hogar, and serve their caretakers.

The earthquake in Chile last year did some damage to Casa Esperanza (ages 18-21 or so), though not much for how much shaking they felt from the earthquake.  The biggest damage was to the security wall.  As Daniel told us, "we have problems with the neighbors."  The neighbors are the people that live in and around Casa Esperanza and Hogar, where unemployment and drug use are high.  The security wall is about 12 feet high and has either pointy steel rods or barbed wire on top to keep the neighbors out.  This is how Vision for Chile got involved with Hogar and Casa Esperanza years ago in the first place.  The living conditions for girls removed from their homes was so bad that men would break in and assault these little girls on a regular basis.  Oh, just so heartbreaking it's hard to even write it.  So when the earthquake damaged the wall at Casa Esperanza last year, it was an emergency to fix it.  One of the big projects this year is to build the wall at Hogar higher and to make it more secure.  Right now the wall on one of the sides of the complex (which is probably about 1/4 - 1/2 block in area) is see through fence and not that high.  The project will make the wall concrete and higher.

Daily life is not easy, but we are adjusting.  We have mass transit mostly figured out, but spend probably 3 hours a day getting to where the girls live or other places we need to go.  Not speaking the local language is very challenging, but we are learning more Spanish every day!

Here's to a good week for you wherever you are.  Thanks for reading, we love you all!