I decided, after some suggestions to do a girl feature of the week. I'm trying to balance posting about the program and about my experience here, most importantly I'm here to serve these girls and they are a huge part of my life, so let me share with you a little about Milagro. She is my next door neighbor and often comes over to play outside of activity with Kelly and I along with the neighbor boys. The street we live on is Santa Lucia, one of the more affluent streets in Granada but their are definitely very destitute families on this street as well. I would say Milagro's family is in the middle range of this scale. I've been in her home before, from the outside a lot homes look small but in reality there are relatively large spaces and sometimes you can never tell how many people live in the homes. From what I've gather about Milagro's living situationis that she lives with her aunts, grandma, grandpa, uncles, siblings and cousins, something like 15 people living there at a time. Her's is one of the more confusing situations to understand. She is by far the sweetest girl that comes to FSF and she really lights up my day, always asking when we can play or if we have activity that night. Even though she is small she tries her very hardest to keep up with the rest of the girls. Because she's my neighbor I know a lot more about her than other girls so far. She has older siblings who are now gone having been sent by their aunt to boarding school because they were experiencing physical and verbal abuse. I'm not sure if it has subsided since then but Milagro does have an uncle who has a severe alcoholism problem and sits outside next to our porch most days in a stupor, along with other strange men. It is a frustrating to watch and to be around, to see someone that is in no one contributing to this World or being positive influence on the children in his family. It is also hard knowing that Milagro could very well be experiencing physical and verbal abuse. Not to denote her grandmother or aunt, Milagro is clearly a very happy child and is a joy to be around. I hope that her participation in FSF continues to be a safe, happy environment for her and I love that she is our neighbor, it gives me so many opportunities to talk, get to know and invite her to play for awhile. She is a blessing in my life, along with all the other girls and as I learn their stories I learn more about what I can do for them and why I'm here...Every single girl here is a Milagro (a mircle).
