Next stop... NYC!

After one month and a half, I'm back to New York, the Big Apple. When I first got here - that July 10th - I worked at the office in Brooklyn. Now that I'm back, I realized how much I've learnt these last weeks.

I feel free to talk to these moms and couples, hug and advice them. I love it.

Yesterday I was with this woman from Dominican Republic. She came to the office for an abortion because she was five months pregnant and her boyfriend died some weeks ago. Isn't this hard to deal with? Those eyes told me that she felt alone in this, that she didn't want to do it, but her situation was too hard. Most of her family lives in her country, she had to send her one-year-old child there because she doesn't have enough money to afford it. Nowadays, she lives with her cousins, but they told her to terminate - I hate this word - that baby because she would not be able to raise him/her alone. I showed her the video and after watching it, she asked me how many hours would it take. That is what I answered her: "Your unique baby is very big now. I know the reason you want an abortion, but I also know that you love this baby as much as the one you've already had in your arms. You might think that I cannot completely understand you, cuz I'm not in your situation. But, YOU ARE NOT ALONE ON THIS. We can help you, and trust me, when you feel that baby in your arms, despite you cannot give him/her all those things you want, you'll feel proud, happy and satisfied. You don't want to do this..." She started to cry. At that moment, I didn't know if I was proud of those tears or not. I think I kinda liked it.

I cannot say that it was a full turn around, but she said that she might wait for another appointment. "Yeah!" - I thought.

At the Ave Maria Radio station in Detroit.

When I was in Detroit, I had the big and only chance to speak out our work in a radio station called Ave Maria. I woke up a bit nervous that morning, because despite I was sure and proud of my work, I didn't know if I could answer all the questions they might ask me the way they wanted to. However, it was easy. I have to say that I could count on Alicia. We both had to be there, answering their questions. They asked me the typical questions about what is our work here; what do we do, how long are we staying in the US, where do we stay... The most interesting part was when I got to talk about the experience, how I felt  and how is the abortion in Spain. I told them that the best part of being here is getting to know all these turn around moms, being with them, sharing their feelings and listening to them while explaining how their life is. Those moments are the best. You can see how they open their hearts to you, having that sensation of freedom where nobody is going to judge them. Feeling of happiness. Feeling of gratitude. I don't mean that we've the truth and that all the achievement is ours, of course not. I mean, I really feel God next to me when I have the courage, strength and words to respond them.

When I got back home that day, my mates told me how I kept repeating that sentence: "It's so nice...." I felt kind of shy, thinking about how would have been listening to myself on the radio. I would have loved it. Was it good? Was it bad? I don't know. However, when we once went to pick up a kitchen for one of the families in need, the woman asked about us. Asked about how was our work. She listened to the radio station that morning and congratulated all of us. Now I want to congratulate all of the interns: WE ARE DOING A GREAT JOB!

A stolen life written by Jaycee Dugard

In the summer of June of 1991, I was a normal kid. I did normal things. I had friends and a mother that loved me. I was just like you. Until the day my life was stolen.
For eighteen years I was a prisoner. I was an object for someone to use and abuse. For eighteen years I was not allowed to speak my own name. I became a mother and was forced to be a sister. For eighteen years I survived an impossible situation.

On August 26, 2009, I took my name back. My name is Jaycee Lee Dugard. I don’t think of myself as a victim, I simply survived an intolerable situation. A Stolen Life is my story—in my own words, in my own way, exactly as I remember it.

I just finished reading this book. I didn’t expect many things from it. It is amazing how people get through this and still keep their smiles. She taught me a lot of things. I deeply recommend it. There are a lot of parts that make you think twice. I’m going to type a paragraph that I loved:

Choices are what make us free. But with that freedom comes great responsibility that we are often too afraid to deal with. We all have the ability to make choices in our personal lives. I find myself getting lazy and complacent at times. Why is this? At times, it’s easier to wait for someone else to take the trash out or tell myself not to stop to give that homeless man some money because he scares me. We all are in the same boat. We make choices, decisions, and plans every day of our lives. Do we ever take a moment to catch our breath and remember why we do the things we do?

Regarding to these moms, couples and families we are helping, I would tell them that despite the decision they make, we’ll unconditionally be with them. For instance, we are at the abortion clinic and we see a car driving out. What should we do? Let them go because they just did it? NO! They made that choice, but we need to be there, we need to pray for them, we need to offer our help. If we do it once, maybe there won’t be a second time.

Tough but true.

I wanted to share with you a video that I just found. I remember I watched one before that was very similar to it, but in Spanish. I did not find it, though. As the title of this post says: Tough but true. The video is very sad and hard to watch, but everything shown, is true.

Click on that link below and you’ll be able to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzVnaZw6eBM

I wanted to let you know; one more time that…

“Every abortion is one more heart that was stopped. Two more eyes that will never see. Two more hands that will never touch. Two more legs that will never run.”

TURN AROUND, what does it mean?

Some of us might take this as a simple change of mind, but it isn’t. At least, that is what I thought before living this experience. When I had the chance to be at the office in Brooklyn for one day, I heard this expression: we had this number of turn arounds today. That is why I took it as a number of women changing their mind; which is wrong. One turn around means a lot more than this. One turn around means a change in this person’s attitude. A change in their behavior. An alter in their condition. A movement in a new direction, always as to improve. Now, take a minute to think about it. If you get three turn arounds in a day, that means you also get three positive attitudes, three better behaviors, three healthier conditions, and three improved directions. You still don’t understand what it means? Then get to know these turn arounds and they will let you know.

See you soon Detroit, GRACIAS a todos!!!

Four weeks; I’ve been exactly four weeks in Detroit. I remember when Nacho and Poncho picked us– Mireia and I – in Toledo. They brought us to Alicia’s house and there’s where we have been for these four weeks. It looks like it was yesterday, but if we look back we can see a lot of work, effort, some sad moments and others full of joy.

First of all, we want to thank Alicia, her husband Samuel Fermin and her daughters. Gracias por vuestra amabilidad, por vuestra generosidad y hospitalidad. Nos hemos sentido como en casa a vuestro lado. Vamos a echar de menos los toquecitos matutinos de Alicia a nuestra puerta para despertarnos por las mañanas. :)

Mr. Miller, thank you for your patience and your words. We learned tones from you and Alicia. We really had a great and new experience which will remain forever in our hearts. You all guys create a great team. God bless you.

We also want to thank Tara, Mike and her daughters. Thank you for all those dinners – we know those dishes were Tara’s; awesome cook!!! The guys (Poncho, Nacho, Berni and Iñaki) want to thank you for letting them stay with you. Mireia, Iñaki and I want to also thank you for that day with the canoes. Unforgettable! We know we need to practice back in Spain, so when we come back, we’ll race you!

We’ll remain in the US for some more weeks, and we are very excited to share with these women, couples or families in need, everything we’ve learnt in Detroit from all these people I just referred to. We loved getting to know all of you.

THANK YOU AND SEE YOU SOON.

 

I can't ask for more.

Last week, we went to a padding farm with four children from Mexican town. When we got to their house to pick them up, we couldn’t believe it: broken windows, blankets all around the house, old mattresses on the floor… Everything was a mess. The children were very quiet and shy when they got in the car. I kept asking them questions, but they had short answers. As soon as we got to that farm, Iñaki and I got the same feeling: those kids were full of joy at that moment. You could see their happiness in their eyes. How easy is to make them happy, right? I’m a teacher and I can easily see when a kid is happy or sad; or at least I try to take care of it. We didn’t spend much time with those kids, but their face changed when they saw those animals, when they could touch them, when they got on that vessel for a forty-five minute ride, when they could smell that fresh air. Plus, when we were on that vessel, the skipper let them have command of it. That was awesome! They were still very shy, but their smile showed so much: happiness, gratitude and proud. I can’t ask for more.

Sweet dreams...

6.30 am. - Good morning Detroit. It’s time to go to Summit’s today. I’ve to say that I’m not a morning person, and getting up so early is a little bit hard for me. There is this proverb that says: Life is a roller coaster. It has its ups and downs. But it’s your choice to scream or enjoy the ride. I try to remember it every morning, and it works. If I stop for a second and think about the amount of things I’ve experienced… I’ve no words. That’s why I decide to enjoy the ride. Every time I get on this roller coaster, it surprises me.

Last week we went to a house where we met Tiffany . We went to her house for a babysitting. Actually, the guys were doing work in the garden while Mireia and I were with the babies of the family. Tiffany has eight children. When her oldest daughter – Jasmine – got pregnant, Tiffany went to the abortion clinic to “get rid off the baby”. Tiffany was very angry with her daughter. Jasmine is only fifteen. A sidewalk counselor talked to them that day at the clinic. “I found Christ in that conversation”, Tiffany told us. Some weeks later, Tiffany got pregnant, too. Nowadays, they both have their babies. Jasmine was in labor for several hours and finally, precious Kaila was welcome to our world. Tiffany had a hard labor day, too.

I’m with Perrian in the picture, Tiffany’s baby boy.

C'mon! What do you think? Do you want to take the ride with me?

National Sidewalk Counseling Symposium in Minneapolis.

Last weekend, some of us had the chance to go to the NSCSconferences in Minneapolis. We were very lucky to be there. We had the opportunity to get some training on sidewalk counseling. Despite I think the best way to learn is by experience, listening to those presenters in their lectures was good for us. Interns and whoever does sidewalk counseling, we do not have to be shy or scared. We need to have strength and trust in ourselves. Sometimes we may think that we won’t have the best or the correct words for all these women. However, God is with us in all those moments. HE will give us the best speech or the best words to tell them. It seems that this advice sounds very typical, but it’s totally true. After more than two weeks, I’ve seen that I’m not alone in this. I can always count on HIM.

There was this pastor called Walter Hoye. He told us about Stephanie Spidell and her daughter Khya. Here there is a short biography of Stephanie:

I'm a single mother of six children, including a special needs daughter named Khya, who was given an "incompatible with life" diagnosis of Alobar Holoprosencephaly, which means Khya's brain did not develop normally early in my pregnancy. She was not expected to survive the pregnancy. If she did survive the delivery, doctors predicted she may only live a few minutes or hours, six months at most. Khya is now almost two years old. The medical community heavily pressured me to have a late-term abortion, to end my child's life to "put her out of her misery". They said I would be traumatized if I saw her, but we loved Khya unconditionally and would cherish anytime we had with her. I'm very blessed and honored to be Khya's Mom. Along with my other five children, we are Khya's full-time caregivers and we want to share her story so that people will understand that all life is precious! What the world sees as "imperfect" or a "mistake", we see as our much loved little sister and daughter. Khya has taught us so much about faith, hope, and love. I thank God for picking me to be her mom.

You can watch the video by going to this link. It's beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOLQRCL5n5Q

To sum up, I’d like to thank the family we stayed with. They host us for two nights and they were super kind

with us. I used to live with them two years ago. When I told them that I’d be in town for three days, they

offered their house for the ten of us. Isn’t that nice? They also prepared an American breakfast on Saturday

morning which was delicious! We all want to say THANK YOU again for your kindness, and… see you soon!

You can see the ten of us enjoying our breakfast.

The feeling of HAPPINESS.

Today we went to a mother’s house to pick her up and drop her to a car insurance agent. When we got to her house we had to wait for at least 20 minutes. Enough time to have an interesting talk with her. She already has two little girls. While we were playing with the two-year-old, she was asking us what we were doing here in the United States. We explained to her our volunteering and so she asked us: “Do you guys believe in abortion?” She told us her situation and ended up saying that she’d prefer an abortion than not being able to give a good life for her child. At that moment, we kinda interrupted her and said: “Only God has the choice for your child’s life. You cannot predict a bad life for your baby. HE only knows the answer, and if God wants this baby to be born, he’ll be born”. […]

After giving her a ride to her house we received a message. It was the mom. She just wanted to thank us for the ride and that she would like to stay in contact with us. She also said that her two-year-old was sad when we left. How can we feel after that? We answered her telling that we’d love to go for lunch any time and that we’d love to stay in contact with her, too.

 

 

My first days in Canton, Detroit.

Hi everyone! I’m Pili and I’m from Barcelona. I just got to the United States; a week ago, actually. I work as an English teacher back in Spain. One of my friends told me about this program, I thought it was really interesting, and that’s why I’m here. In my opinion, I think that this type of work is one of the best ways to get a personal growth. We know that there is poverty in the world, that children in Africa need a better education and also food and, in this case, that there are many women who do not know the real meaning of abortion. The world is aware of that, but sometimes we do not do anything to improve this situation.

Nowadays I’m living in Canton, Detroit, with four more interns. Our job here is doing sidewalk counseling, besides doing some deliveries, going to the office for some appointments or even going to the hospitals with mothers who need to have a sonogram of their baby. These first three days I’ve been working basically in deliveries. I went to some houses to bring them either food or baby materials like diapers, wipes and clothes. The experience has been great; cannot find the words to explain such a beautiful experience. Going to these houses, being pleased by these women, hugging you and saying how thankful they feel. It’s something I cannot explain with words; something that if you do not see it with your eyes, you might not believe it.

While I’m here, I’m staying with a family who gives me a roof. I know we are supposed to explain our days in here; what do we do, what do we learn, how our days are here. However, I want to thank all these people who make our stay better. I’ll be back soon to tell you more about this awesome experience!

 

PS. The picture was taken at our office here in Detroit.