Alumni: News

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La Suiza Orphanage

By Allie Nagurney’09

I climbed down the steps of the yellow school bus, and looked around at the nine teenage girls, five adults, and the four curious Dominican boys.  The last time I traveled to La Suiza Orphanage I disembarked that same school bus with my nineteen classmates and five trusted advisors. It was dark then, and we immediately went to church with the boys.  I easily bonded with Francie, a young boy who fell asleep on my shoulder.

The March sun beat down on my neck as I fumbled through my bag for sunglasses. I approached one boy with his shoes on his hands and, through hand gestures and my limited Spanish, his worn out shoes were soon on his feet.  Soon enough one boy was tugging on my shirt showing off his prized possession, an old tennis ball. As he motioned for us to play, I noticed it was Francie, the same boy I had bonded with on my first night two years ago.  “Hola Francie,” I said, “c’est Allie,” already wishing that these boys spoke French.  As we played catch, I realized it did not matter if he remembered me.

That night, our entire group gathered on the roof of the orphanage for a nightly reflection circle.  I remembered constantly passing tissues around the circle, as classmates felt overwhelmed by the ability of these boys who had so little, to love us so much.  This time, we laughed together about the three-year-olds who tried to kiss us goodnight.  And through this laughter on the roof top, morning trips to visit an elementary school, and afternoon English lessons for the older boys, our group bonded.  We only could have come together in the Dominican.

There is something special in the purified water there; conversations are deeper, horizons are widened, friendships are made, and while saying goodbye is hard, I learned that week to live in the moment.  For one week, grades, friends, classes, skating, and track did not matter.  My needs did not even matter.  Instead, I spent a week making other people smile.                                      

(a bonus recollection from the Bement Bulletin) 

The Official Bement vineyard vines tie is here!