practice makes perfect

Before anything else, we wanted to let you know that we changed our blog settings, so that anyone can comment on our blog –not just registered users. So feel free to say hi!

Matt and I have been assigned to a practicum site to work at for the rest of our time here in Stony Hill. For the most part, our training sessions tend to take place 8-5ish M-F, with the weekends being time to spend with our host families. Half of that training time tends to lend more towards an interactive classroom, while the other half of the time is actually working at our practicum site.
I have been working at a place called ‘Homestead’. Homestead is a gated girl’s facility which largely consists of girls who are on remand, meaning they are awaiting a court date. Some of the girls there are wards of the State, and have been removed –or have removed themselves- from their natural home. The girls range in age from 12-18 yrs old.
Matt has been working at a place called the SOS Village (Save Our Souls). SOS is a Swiss based organization with something like 100 other facilities functioning around the developing world. They function basically as orphanages. SOS attempts to recreate a family atmosphere by having the children live in houses with a house mother. These house mothers act just as any natural mother would. They register their kids for classes, cook dinner, do laundry, take them shopping, etc. Matt has been working with both the “Aunties”, as they are affectionately called, and the children. This particular village has about 120 children.