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| The Restoration Centre |
The Restoration Centre is a safe house for girls aged 12 - 18 who have been sexually or physically abused. The centre provides a refuge for the girls, allowing them to recover from their traumatic past, whilst supporting and empowering them through educational activities, gospel teachings and psychological therapy.
Hayley & I arrive at the Restoration Centre at 9am, by which point the girls have usually been awake for a couple of hours. At present there are 14 girls living at the centre including Susannah, the beautiful 2 year old daughter of one of the girls. We don't have a set routine but generally when we first arrive we help the girls with their chores, such as preparing lunch or helping to wash the girls clothes. On one occasion we were asked to sieve rice which we naively assumed was to get rid of dust until we noticed maggots nestling at the bottom of the bowl. Another particularly memorable time, we were peeling potatoes and found several worms inside them which is apparently a completely normal occurrence in Bolivia!
Hayley & I arrive at the Restoration Centre at 9am, by which point the girls have usually been awake for a couple of hours. At present there are 14 girls living at the centre including Susannah, the beautiful 2 year old daughter of one of the girls. We don't have a set routine but generally when we first arrive we help the girls with their chores, such as preparing lunch or helping to wash the girls clothes. On one occasion we were asked to sieve rice which we naively assumed was to get rid of dust until we noticed maggots nestling at the bottom of the bowl. Another particularly memorable time, we were peeling potatoes and found several worms inside them which is apparently a completely normal occurrence in Bolivia!
On Tuesday mornings we teach an English class with all the girls, and recently we have started to re-paint the courtyard walls (we've been waiting a few weeks for the paint to arrive).
We all eat lunch together between 12-1. At the end of every meal it is a Bolivian tradition to go round the table thanking everyone individually. At first this ritual was absolutely dreaded by us because it was highly embarrassing not remembering or being able to pronounce every girls name! Sometimes we'd go to the extent of eating at a snail's pace in the hope that most of the girls would have left the table and there would be fewer names to remember. 
When it's quiet, we sit and talk with the girls or do something they want us to do like plait their hair or paint their nails. At the start when we couldn't communicate much we tried to do a lot of things like that just so that the girls would know we wanted to spend time with them. Most of them are really patient with us even though it is probably extremely frustrating that we don't speak their language and they now call us "Hermana 'ayley" (sister Hayley) and "Hermana Elsbet" (sister Elspeth) which I think means we have been accepted in to the inner circle.
We usually leave the centre around 4:30pm but this can vary depending on how much or how little there is to do.
Some days are really hard work but the majority have been fantastic, especially when workshops have gone particularly well. Over the last few weeks we have been able to form genuine friendships with many of the girls, although it did take a while to build up trust with them which is understandable. We would like to the think that the time we have spent with the girls has had a lasting impact on them, if not then they have definitely had a lasting impact on us.
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| View from the roof of the centre |
