No need for alarms in Bambu. At 5 o’ clock sharp I am awoken by the crow of a very persistent rooster, keen on making sure I can’t fall back asleep before the sun comes up. Luckily, everyone else in the family is already up and getting breakfast together, so within 15 minutes of my rude awakening I am enjoying a substantial breakfast of fried Juka, a type of root, eggs and of course, rice and beans.
After breakfast I follow the road down to the elementary school of Bambu, where the students are crowded under an awning to avoid the rain. The principle shuffles a group of 15 or so students into the third class room and beckons for me to follow. The class is rambunctious, but they quiet down very quickly as I begin to introduce myself. As I run through my brief English lesson and art activity, I can’t help but speculate the different backgrounds each of these children and if they are sponsored by CI. There is no doubt in my mind that they have each been positively affected by the organization’s work, but I wonder if they realize it.
The students range from 2nd to 4th graders in the room, but they all seem to take an equal liking to the activities and before we know it, they have to go to lunch and I am off to the retirement home. The retirement home in Bambu is unlike any you might find in the United States. The building itself is not luxurious, but instead of it feeling like a hospital, reeking of Lysol and poor excuses for a meal, it feels like a preschool. Visitors feel welcomed by the open air halls occupied by the care-free residents, most of who wouldn’t be there if they hadn’t been abandoned or could not be supported by their families.
Morning activities in the home include playing with Legos, coloring, practicing writing and daily exercises. Each of the residents sits in the activity room completely enthralled by their respective activities. Although they may seem to be only concerned with the tasks at hand, one would think that they’d very quickly realize that I am there for a reason. It’s not every day a Gringo shows up for small-talk. Still, they welcome me as if I’ve lived in the village my entire life. In my experiences to this point, I’ve never felt so at home while being almost as far away from it as I’ve ever been. Is this what makes foreign projects for CI so successful? The ability to integrate oneself into a community is perhaps the most difficult obstacle to overcome for a non-profit organization, yet it is the most important in order to effectively support the people.