Projects Abroad has changed my life. The ten weeks that I spent in Ciudad Guzmán were the ten most valuable weeks I have ever lived. I worked in a rehabilitation centre for street kids and I was blessed to have been able to work with thirteen of the most amazing boys I have ever met (the youngest being twelve and the oldest seventeen).
At first I was very overwhelmed. I came to Mexico not knowing very much Spanish and not knowing what to expect at my placement. However, after the first couple of weeks I found a niche at the centre playing with the boys and entertaining them with my terrible Spanish. My job was simply to play with the boys and at first I was disappointed because I didn’t feel like I was doing anything valuable. But, it didn’t take long for me to realize how incredibly valuable it was to the boys to simply be there and love them. And love them I did.
These boys have seen so many horrors and lived through so much yet every day they are joking, laughing, playing and smiling. I have learned more from them about courage, strength and love in the past ten weeks than I have in the entirety of my 22 years on this earth.
There were many ups and downs working at the centre. One of the most emotional days was near the end of my placement when some of the boys’ families came to visit. During the few weeks prior I had been teaching thirteen-year-old Jorge to read and when his mom came to visit I watched him read to her for the first time in his life; pride beaming from his eyes.
That same day I saw all the boys dressed up in their best clothes in anticipation of the visits, excitement quivering in their voices. I saw Luis sit by the window, watching for hours, waiting for his sister who never came. The devastated look in his eyes sincerely broke my heart.
My first and last days at work were the worst. On the first day, I was overwhelmed, culture shocked, upset, and seriously considered changing placements. On my last day, I wept like a little girl as I parted ways with the boys I had grown to love as if they were my own. I would have smuggled them all home with me if I had thought of a way. If I had any advice to future Projects Abroad volunteers, it would be to request this same placement. It will change your life.
-Dionne Wilkinson
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