About time to write...And a story about birthday´s

For those of you who have been kind enough to follow this blog, please accept my apologies for not having written anytihng sooner.

As you might be aware, at the end of July, I headed back to the UK for a month.  After a great time with friends and family, I arrived back out here to Nicaragua at the end of August.   I have been back working with Casa Alianza Nicaragua for just over a month now.  For some reason I have found it difficult to process my thoughts since being back  and to put them in writing, but will now try and start doing so again.  

My new contract has me working part time in exactly the same position, in the area of Arts, Sports, Culture and Recreation, working directly with the kids to provide healthy and sustainable forms of activity.   The other half of my time will be spent working on a new project with all of our Casa Alianza sites in Latin America (Honduras, Guatemala, Merxico and Nicaragua) to develop a brand new websaite representing the work being done in all of the countries.

Of course those who know me, know I am not exactly a computer person, and I am much more about the work direct with the kids, but still, I am sure I will make it work out ok.  It does mean that on this blog I will be able to propvide stories about the kids here in Nicaragua, and the work being done by all of our sites in Latin America.  

So I guess that is about it for a personal level.   Despite a few doubts about my new position, all is well, and I am, on the whole, happy to be back out here.

Before I leave it for today, it´s time for a stroy to start off this new set of entries.   

In a few days I turn 26, so lets do something about birthdays:   

For the majority of the kdis we work with, celebrating a birthday is a distant concept.  Many who do not have docuemntion, don´t even know when there birthday is.  For others, the daily grind of trying to survive a life on the streets, or abuses and explitation, means that there is nothing much to celebrate.

But every child should be able to celebrate their brithday, in fact, I almost think it is something that should be mentioned in the Universal Declaration on the Right´s of Children.

As such, every month at Casa Alianza Nicaragua we hold a birthday party for all of the kids who have turned a year old over the course of the month.   The event invovles a very special recognition for each child, birthday cake, songs, dancing, sporting competitions, and most importantly, the chance to be a kid once again, and have the space to celebrate and have fun and feel very much part of a community based in the values of love and respect.    

It is actually not that easy to coordinate such events.    The kids have undergone such trauma that is much more difficult to simply have fun than it might it appear.   Birthday parties such as these, therefore, do not work miracles in suddenly creating groups of kids running and playing and just wanting to enjoy themselves.   But what it does shoow to everyone, is that when they are ready, here at Casa Alianza Nicaragua we will always be offering that space, and although it may be tough to adjust to that new way of life, we will always be making it happen. 

I hope that makes sense.

To be honest, I´m not really a big fan of celebrating my own birthday, it kind of makes me a bit homesick, but I guess this year I might just view it a bit differently, beacuse being able to celebrate your birthday is a privilege and quite a wonderful thing, and so this year, by knowing I have such wonderful people around me, near and far, wand knowing that there have always been people to celebrate it with me, will make it that bit more special.   

Its good to be writing again!