Te Ayudo?

Today as I took care of 10 orphaned children from 6 am till bed time, I kept hearing things like, “I love you” and “te ayudo?” which means “can I help you?” and “don’t worry about mopping the dining hall Caroline – the older boys dorm wants to clean it for you because they love you.” That’s not super normal for me.

First of all, my boys yell, “I DON’T LOVE YOU!!!” a lot when they are angry about something. But only sometimes do they flip that around. Today I heard it more times in my direction than ever. Maybe me telling them so many times that I love them has started to sink in.

But it seriously just warms my heart when they say, “te ayudo Caroline?” They want to help me. It’s almost my 6 month anniversary from when I moved into Casa Hogar Douglas to start taking care of these very same boys. At first, I made it a point to do ALL the chores for the little boys (ages 2 to 6). I don’t believe that any child under 5 years old should sweep, mop, wash clothes, clean toilets, clean dining halls or anything of that nature. Thus, they haven’t done any kind of chores whatsoever in a while now- I don't even let them make their beds. But they see me putting their wet clothes on the line or taking it off and the folding it and putting it away and a few have decided that they want to help me. Whatever I’m doing, they want to do. They are so sweet about it too and so proud to say that they are helping Caroline. To say that I’m obsessed with them is an understatement.

I had to hold myself back from laughing today as a 4 year old ran up to me and yelled in his best angry voice, “that boy big stole my broom!! Get it back Caroline! I was sweeping.” One of the teenage boys has “relieved” the 4 year old from sweeping the dining hall and the 4 year old was mad about it.

Today, they behaved sooo well for me – unusually well. When I left, even the normally unaffectionate ones wanted to say bye to me and give me a hug and say good night. Hearing a room full of 3, 4, 5, and 6 year old orphan voices yell “bye caroline!! Good night Caroline!!” You are sleeping here right? Thank you!” is just about the sweetest thing on earth.