Special needs care in merida.

This will be hard to put into words. I was seeing everything for the first time. This was my first time doing something like this, as well as my first time ever leaving my own country by myself.
There are so many unique experiences ive had, but the most intense would have to be my first and last day at pastoral del amor.
My first day... i walk in to a 300yr old building surrounded by nuns. I was kindly greeted and then introduced to the 'kids', who ranged from ages 12 - 50. I didnt expect that. I worked with the kids for a few hours doing various art projects. When lunch time rolled around, that is where i got my first real dose of reality. I had to spoonfeed some of them. I had never done that before. Iwas afraid id hurt them.
They were so helpless. It really hits you in that instant just how vulnerable and reliant on you that they are. You realize in a millisecond just how much in life we take for granted. They have to live like this... every minute of their life. This is their reality. They have no mothers, no fathers. Just you and the nuns.
I wiped the tears from my eyes and reached out my left hand. I gently lifted up a bib to a 19yr olds chin. I said hello, but she couldnt speak. She could only stare. I smiled anyway, hoping it helped. I tilted her head back, and with my right hand i slowly poured a spoonful of some sort of pureed tomato liquid into her mouth. She didnt swallow. I wasnt sure what to do so a nun came over to show me. I needed to tilt her head back more and rub her throat to stimulate the muscles into swallowing. Once i got it right, the girl who could not speak would swallow... then let out a short but genuinely happy little laugh.
Fast forward to my last day. The day it sunk into my head that i was truly leaving. I was so sad. The kids were sad too. I promised them i would come back. I think about them every single day. I finally found my purpose.