From hi5 - December 21, 2004

Don Bosco Roga 1993  

Tired again today. I was up late last night, on the computer and a friend of mine came on at about 1:00 in the morning, (he'd just come back from an office party) and he needed to talk, so we were up til almost 2:00. Then at around 4:00 Gabriel was yelling from his room... (groaaaaan...)

Had a headache around suppertime, but took some advil with some coffee and that got rid of it.

I have been going through my journal that I wrote when I was in Paraguay in 1993. It was part of the experience, I had to write an entry for every time I went to my place of work. (volunteer work) I didn't always feel like writing in it, sometimes it felt kind of ridiculous to be writing about seemingly mundane things, but I am SOOOOOO glad I did now, and that I kept it. A lot of memories came back about things I had completely forgotten.

I am in nostalgia city right now. Every once in awhile I get that, and then I re-read the journals, and I look at the few pictures I have from Paraguay and I dream about going back to see my boys, but of course my boys are all grown up now and most likely gone. Some probably have children of their own. It is amazing how 5 months of my life can still haunt me today. There are certain parts of my life that stand out in my mind as especially meaningful and those five months spent with streetkids in Paraguay is definitely important.

I am posting a picture from back then, Antonio, myself and "my boys". Too bad it ends up being so small, noone can see a thing... but here's a link to a bigger version: http://www.geocities.com/baril_chabot/Amis/DonBoscoRoga.jpg

Antonio, with whom I worked the most, (along with Iginio who is not present in the picture) is standing in the back to the right of the kid waving his hands in the air. I am in the back to the right wearing a green sweater. I remember Antonio with a great fondness. What a wonderful man and such a good friend for the time I was there. I wish I had some news of him.

These are my boys (some of them). Full of life, full of affection, full of faults, but so loveable. They wanted me to stay. They wanted me to marry Antonio or Crescencio, it didn't matter to them which one, as long as I stayed with them. I do so miss them all and wonder what has become of them. Did their stay at Don Bosco Roga better their lives? Are they happy today? Do they still remember Juana la Cubana?

Angelito, Miguelito, Raul, Richar (no era tu nombre de verdad pero, bueno,...) Ruben, Edgar, Jorgito, Antonio (el niño), Pedro, Cesar, Luis, Victor, y los demás... a donde están hoy? Me acuerdo de cada uno de ustedes con mucho cariño, espero que están felices.