update: victory

2 weeks: just a little update on the situation i explained last week... i guess i wasn't the only one upset that 3 kids were being kicked out of the home... apparently a lot of different people had approached our national director expressing their concerns. so, they called a big meeting on friday with everyone involved. this was the day that the kids were supposed to go home, but instead everyone was given one last chance to speak their peace (or is it piece... i never know.) it was mainly myself, another volunteer, the school psychologist and a couple tías on the side that the kids should stay... but something really cool happened that i didn't expect. apparently 2 of our oldest kids, deborah and junior, had approached our director with their concerns about the kids being asked to leave. they were very upset about the decision and had come up with a plan to help the kids, so they were also invited to the meeting. everyone that was there got a chance to speak and voice their opinion, but it was mainly led by deborah and junior... which was so awesome to see. they're both such great kids and i was so proud of them. deborah is a strong confident girl and she stood right up in front of all these adults and explained how she believed that it was father wasson's philosophy not to ever force a kid to leave the home and how everyone here is a family and they have to stand up and help each other. junior is a great kid too, but much more quiet and soft-spoken. he read his notes from his notebook as he explained to everyone the plan he had to work closely with the boys, doing work and activities with them, to hopefully help improve their behavior. i think all the higher-ups were very impressed with the two of them, and so was i. it was so great to watch them care about something really important and try to do something to help. it was also great to see these kids act like one big family. i think that was part of fr. wasson's vision as well. it was definitely one of those situations where you see how something really great can came out of a not so great situation. in the end, a decision was made to give the boys 2 more weeks... a sort of probation period... a chance to prove that they want to change and that they want to live here in nph. so we'll see what happens. the two weeks is up the day after i leave, but until i leave i'll be working with nicolas every day and hopefully he'll figure out a way to shape up! i'm happy that at least they have been given a second chance. :)