Quinceaneras

Here's a nice little cultural event for y'all. One of the biggest celebrations at the orphanage is for quinceaneras which is a girl's 15th birthday. In theory it's the same as our "Sweet 16"; it celebrates a girl's passing into womanhood. Since we can't have a party for every girl's 15th birthday, they have a huge annual party to celebrate all the girl's who turned 15 that year (there were about 16 of them this time around). It's taken very seriously here and we prepped for weeks for it. All the girls needed to learn how to dance the waltz (the European volunteers were put in charge of that since it's part of their normal school education. I offered to teach them to square dance but they didn't think it would fully capture the moment ;) They had gowns donated and NPH paid for a special dinner and decorations. All their families were invited to celebrate with us and lots of old volunteers from past years returned for the weekend.

Sadly, I had to work my shift in the clinic that day so I missed almost all of the party. I had a kid with a really high fever who I couldn't leave alone for very long, so aside from running in and grabbing a plate of food to go, I didn't really get to see anything, but for the sake of cultural awareness I'll fill you in on what I was told about it! The girls came in with an escort after everyone was seated (I DID get to see how crowded the place was. There were easily over 600 people there).

Some decorations. I have to give props to the folks in charge of decorating. For working with a minimal budget, they really made some nice stuff! High five for creative use of aluminum foil and drinking straws!

They immediately started their waltz which was a huge hit despite some of the difficulties the kids were running into during their practice sessions. After that there was some kind of ceremony where the priest talked about them growing into women. Apparently his speech was a little controversial since he talked about the importance of them having mother's in their lives and I guess was kind of a downer. I don't really know the whole story, I just know that a couple of volunteers were pretty pissed about it afterwards. After the priest spoke, he blessed gold rings that were given to the girls as a reminder of their bond to Christ (they'll wear these until they're replaced by engagement rings later in life [hopefully MUCH later in life]). The girl's sat at a special table and received wine and a fancy dinner (stuffed pork chops! Delicioso!).
Lots of drinks

Volunteers hard at work prepping food for everyone!

Once they were served everyone else ate and had cake (which was donated from some Germans volunteering at a local health clinic). Then it was like a regular party, lots of dancing and hanging out until the wee hours of the morning.

Since the parties traditionally don't end until after midnight, it was too late for the families to travel back to their homes so they slept in the clinic. It made for a hectic night trying to get folks settled in and then I was too nervous to go to sleep in case someone might need something through the night. They were all very nice and appreciative for the beds though, so it was nice!