Brigade

Three or four times a year, a medical brigade comes to the Ranch to do orthopedic surgeries for kids here as well as people in the surrounding community. The surgery center was built by the Daly family, and they bring a huge group down every year. The work they do is amazing, but managing 60 extra people is definitely a major undertaking. Well, our volunteer visitor coordinator (my friend and roommate Marie) had to leave the Ranch, and since I worked for her during her vacation and was planning on helping with the brigade, it fell to me. On the 2nd, I came off 12 straight days of work in hogar (the last four of which I slept there) to start prepping for the brigade to get here the 5th. Fortunately, I’d already done a general schedule as well as one for meals and hogar assignments. So my work involved getting rooms ready, arranging for materials to be purchased, moving furniture, cleaning (working with the tías to get girls to help), managing last minute visitors (including putting one in the vacant bed in my own room), answering my phone every 5 minutes, and generally running around and putting out fires. Fortunately, I hac Reinhart’s daughter to Camila to help (she’s a godsend), and Ross gave me saldo and cash without even blinking.

I had to go to the airport FOUR times, which is a 3-hour round trip on the worst, dustiest, potholiest highway on Planet Earth. Going to the airport means confirming transport, picking up visitors, tipping the baggage guys, getting everyone something to eat, doing a mini-orientation, running errands, and getting everyone settled in their rooms. While they’re here, I’m the go-to girl. I make sure they know where to go and when, answer questions about the Ranch, make sure they have water and get fed, etc. It’s A LOT of work, but the group is really great. I'm especially enjoying the girls who are students and are staying in the volunteer house. They are planning my marriage to someone who shall remain unnamed.

The best part has been that through the experience, Reinhart and Momo have become my adopted parents. They invite me to eat, Momo fixes me up with her naturopathic remedies when I’m sick, and Reinhart now calls me his conse. I’ve been such a stress case, but the volunteers have been so awesome. Whether it’s Lauren getting me keys copied and hanging up my laundry or Trip handling last minute maintenance issues or Jessie taking care of the water or Pete and Bryan picking things up for me in the city or Leila making sure I use positive self-talk, I don’t know what I’d do without them.

I managed to go to mass five times in four days. I’m not Catholic, but I go regularly here, and I really enjoy the priest that came with the group. He was born in Nigeria and now lives in Chicago and speaks a bajillion languages. I even went up to do one of the readings. I also get to have seriously legit Italian dinners every night they’re here, so that’s awesome. Another bonus of having so many doctors here: being able to grab one and get antibiotics for my swollen ankle due to infected bugbites (just what I needed).

The worst part was finding out Sunday night after another 14 hour day that I had to move all my stuff out of my room so they can start doing construction before I left (Tuesday morning). I got so stressed out that I had a half-hour nose bleed. I was literally leaning over my sink bleeding and bawling. Again, volunteers to the rescue. Real friends become your personal RN and bleach out your bloody sink (Tiffany). Real friends mop up your blood off the floor and help pack your bags (Patri and Sona). Real friends hold you even when you're disgusting, make you go to bed, and promise to pack everything you don't need for home (Pete).

In the end, everything went well. Lulu said this was the most organized they'd ever been, Ross told me I was a rockstar every day, and Stefan told me repeatedly they'd be dead without me. Jessie is taking the job over on a more permanent basis, so when I get home, I'll get some much needed downtime.