On Sunday afternoon, sporting their nicest dresses, the girls in my Chicas Brillantes group showed up to the community center excited for their graduation.  We spent time decorating with pink and purple balloons, flower-filled signs, and fancy curtains.  The front row of the center was full of their friends and siblings ranging from toddlers to preteens.  The next row had two grandmothers.  And that was it.  Two adults.

I knew of two mothers who were visiting their girls for the weekend, and they could not even find the time to show up.  Mothers who see their children (maybe) once per month chose to forgo an event that their own children invited them to.  Although at this point, I could also ramble on about my feelings regarding grandparents raising grandkids with little contact from the actual parents (for no obvious reasons), instead what I felt on Sunday was a sadness for these girls, and most of the children here, with the lack of support that they receive from adults.  The little value placed on education, group participation, furthering yourself or your community upsets me.  If these kids’ parents can’t even show up for a half hour event, the kids are clearly not going to place importance on these things.  Granted, my Chicas Brillantes graduation is not a high school graduation, but support of these small things along the way could lead to just that…

That being said, it was a nice afternoon.  The girls sang two songs, and I gave a mini-speech on the things we have done over the past 5 months and how proud I am of each of them.  They all received certificates, and we finished with cake and cookies.  The two grandmothers made sure to make up for the hollering of the absent parents, and I appreciated that, as did my chicas.

Certificates!

 

 

In other news, this week I made drinking glasses out of beer bottles (or any glass bottle) with my boys group, Somos Ingenieros.  You wrap string that has been dipped in gas tightly around a bottle two times, light it on fire, let it burn out, and quickly dunk it in cool water.  It breaks right where the string was.  This was obviously a hit since it involved fire.  I would have taken pictures, but playing with fire with six boys under the age of 10 (and a 25 year old girl who is essentially the same), doesn’t leave much room for error and time to step back and take photos.  This makes two weeks in a row now that have involved fire fueled fun…I might be pushing my luck here.