Encargado

Encargado means "person in charge". It is the title given to the people who take care of the children. Before I arrived I didn't quite understand how this was organized, so I thought it would be worth explaining. Children here are affectionately referred to as pequenos. A typical pequeno lives in the Miacatlan home from childhood (as young as 3 years old) until 9th grade (some kids are as old as 19). Upon graduation they move to another house in Cuernavaca where they attend high school. High school is broken up into 6 semesters. Upon high school graduation the pequenos are asked to give 2 years of service before going on to college. A very high percentage of the kids comply with this. During these years a majority return to Miacatlan to work as encargados, taking care of the children. The encargados usually work in teams of 2, taking care of a section of about 30 kids. Sections are determined by gender/age/year in school, but also by maturity level and the size of the child (because younger kids share clothing). The encargados wake the children in the morning, make sure they bathe, wash clothes, help with homework, provide discipline, resolve conflicts and then put the kids to bed. It's a lot to ask of someone in their late teens to early 20's, but then again it's the family structure they grew up with. They get a weekend off every 2 weeks and receive about $100 per month as compensation. When they successfully complete their two years they are invited to the NPH home in Monterrey (northern Mexico) where they live together, work and study at the university.

The picture above is of Manriquez, also known as "Mikey". He is one of the encargados in the section that I help out. A lot of volunteers primarily work as encargados during their time here. Manriquez was disappointed that none had chosen his section, so he asked me if I would adopt them even though I work in the clinic. He's a funny guy. He is not ashamed to to tell you that he idolizes "Stiffler" from the American Pie movies. He asked me to watch American Pie 6 last week but I told him I had to organize my sock drawer. He often asks me to swing by the dorm at night to help kids with English homework and then he will tear me away from the kids to listen to a song that he loves. His room is partitioned off in the dorm by the kids lockers and he has posters of Blink 182 all over the walls. Supposedly they're still popular. As you can see in the picture he is not shy. One of the first nights I was here he set up the sound system for an activity and then proceded to lip sync to one of his jams. He's got a great heart and the kids think he's really cool. We seem to make a decent team, what I lack in coolness I try to make up for in maturity.