(Most of the photos were taken by one of the camp attendees. Please excuse the quality.)
As a Catholic School student, who is not Catholic (it was the closet private school to my house), I know how important the First Communion is. Obviously, I did not partake in this ceremony but most of my schoolmates did and I know it meant a lot to them and their families. The First Communion, also known as the Holy Eucharist, is when a person participates in this religious ceremony for the first time. From my understanding it is mostly done in a person’s youth. This is when they submit themselves to the faith of Catholicism and are given a piece of wafer that represents the body of Christ and they drink wine or grape juice as a representation of the blood of Christ.
Today, at the summer camp operated by Doña Chucha, we were able to witness four young ladies take their First Communion. I knew today was a national holiday, but I didn’t realize until I was back at my home-stay, that the holiday was Corpus Christi also known as Corpus Domini, a Christian feast day, which honors the Body of Christ. So it made sense why their First Communion was performed today.
The four young ladies walked in the church area, each wearing all white attire from head to toe. They walked gracefully to the front row seats and watched the mass patiently until it was there time to submit themselves to Christ and their Catholic faith. As is the tradition of Catholic churches, there was a lot of standing up and sitting down. I chuckled to myself as I reminisced about this part of Catholic mass. I remember sitting in the pews, not paying attention but followed the crowd as they performed their traditions. You learn quickly to do what the rest of the church does and you’ll get by.
The mass was filled with Summer camp attendees, staff and three parents/mentors. I looked around and I saw some of the young people giving the priest their full attention, some fell asleep, and others were distracted by my little interpreter who insisted that I understood what was being said and that I follow along with the standing, sitting, and motions, etc. She’s knew I didn’t understand Spanish that well so she volunteered to interpret for me through Google translate.
When it was time for the four to take their First Communion, everyone watched intensely. I noticed that instead of drinking from the cup that held “the blood of Christ”, the priest dipped the wafer in the cup and fed the ladies and the other Communion takers the soggy wafer. Usually the participants drink from the cup but only the priest drank from the cup after the Communion takers had Communion.
After the four girls took the Communion, submitting themselves to the Catholic faith, and the priest said his closing remarks, the service ended. Staff members, parents/mentors and other camp attendees gathered around to celebrate and take pictures, including my little interpreter, who took photos of the girls with my phone’s camera. I smiled as I saw them take pictures of their big day. Then it was time for the parents/mentors to be apart of the picture. Three of the girls had smiles on their faces when their parents/mentors joined them but I immediately noticed the one girl taking pictures alone. She tried to hold a smile and pretend that it didn’t bother her that no one showed up for her. That no one took the time to stand behind her, no one was there to show her love. She couldn’t hold her feelings back any longer. She began to cry and walked out of the pictures because she was standing alone before God. She had to walk away because it hurt her so much.
Doña Chucha is a place where young people, mostly girls, go when they have been abandoned or abused. During the school year, they go to school and live there from Monday through Friday. On the weekends, they go back to their families or to their mentors home. I don’t know her story or why this beautiful girl had no one to stand with her but the pain she felt was real. I was blessed to have my parents and a large family that showed me love. If I didn’t get it from one family member I knew I can go to the next family member and get the love and support I needed. At this young lady’s First Communion, she didn’t get the love and support she needed from her family. I was so heartbroken.
I wanted to find her, give her a hug and take pictures with her. But a few minutes later, she comes back to the photo shoot with Dr. White. They began to take pictures and I immediately jumped in the pictures too. I wanted her to feel special and not alone. There is no way we could make her forget about the trauma she experienced then and throughout her life but just for that moment she was not alone. After we took pictures with her, her schoolmates joined in taking pictures with her too. She might not know it now but hopefully soon she will realize her friends are her family.
I looked for her after the photoshoot because I wanted to give her a hug. I saw her walk around after she changed out of her pretty white Communion dress. She was so sad. It showed through her body language. Soon, it was time to leave but I couldn’t leave without talking with her. With the help of my interpreter, I located her. I told her that I was so proud of her and that she is loved and never alone. Now that I look back, I wonder if those were the right words to say to her? Did she understand what I meant? I had only a few minutes so I couldn’t go into detail of what I meant. I wanted her to know that I will always think about her, that she had submitted herself to Christ so she is never alone or unloved. At the same time I wonder does she know what commitment she just made or was she just doing what she was told or what she thought was right?
We only learned the general information about the children at Doña Chucha. We have no idea what they have been through, what this little girl has experienced.
I don’t think I’ll be forgetting her any time soon. I hope she is able to beat the odds and becomes a success story. I hope she will have a happy life and the trauma she may have experienced will only help her to be a stronger person and achieve all that she dreams of.

My interpreter/photographer
(above photo)
Some of Doña Chucha campers (below photos)
