March 13-14, 2010

Our final few hours at El Hogar and our 18+ hours in the Atlanta Airport!

We awoke on Saturday morning to the normal noise (car horns, dogs, roosters, children) but because it was Saturday, the schedule was not quite as rigorous as the weekday mornings. We were able to savor a cup of coffee on the porch of the volunteer house, soak in the fleeting hours of warm weather and sunshine and eat pancakes- what a treat! Our morning hours were spent packing, photographing our projects and the beautiful faces around us, putting away our reading materials and spending a last few moments with the children we had come to love over our week at El Hogar. At 10:00 am we met outside by the kitchen for our Goodbye ceremony. Raul (the poor soul in charge of the work teams!) spoke first, then our Claudia thanked the children for all that they had taught us this week and then several children thanked us for being there, for playing, for reading, for caring, and for ice cream, of course. Two students played the guitar and sang to us and then we were given handmade cards. The marimba music started and the dancing began (and the tears). By 10:45, we needed to head to the airport so we said our final goodbyes and tendered our final long hugs. It is so hard to leave.

We said goodbye to Anne (now known as Ana- she likes the way that sounds) at the airport so she could head to American and we could head to Delta for what was to be a very long trip home! Leaving Tegucigalpa was no problem- it was upon landing in Atlanta that we heard of the powerful winds whipping through the Northeast. Planes had actually been diverted to Atlanta from NYC’s Kennedy which was our first snag because it took us an hour to get to a gate to deplane. Still oblivious to our plight, we collected our bags and boat (ask Claudia and Jenny!) and cleared customs, rechecked our bags and then discovered our flight was cancelled- goodbye luggage! We split into small groups and headed off in different directions to start the ever-joyful process of rebooking- ending up with hotel coupons and stand by tickets for the next day. We then piled into the Days Inn van to go to our luxurious accommodations with running warm water and comfy beds. We ate burgers, wings, steak sandwiches, salads and no beans for dinner.

The wake up call came at 6 am Sunday morning and we headed to the airport in the same smelly clothes we had had on the night before. We were listed as passengers 22-30 on the stand by list for the first flight and fell quickly to 64-72 for the next several flights until Jenny found a sympathetic gate agent and let the tears roll. For the 5th flight we were miraculously moved to the top of the list and Susan, Suzanne, Claudia and Scottie got on. Betsy and Celia got on the 6th flight and Jenny, Kara and Cory got on flight attempt #7. We were all back in Boston by 8 pm. “Ana” flew with no delays on American from Miami and slept comfortably in her own bed Saturday night but she missed all the fun!

Now, we are home and the re-entry begins. How is that our lives are so vastly different from those we encountered in Honduras? How can we have so much while they have so little? Why is it pouring rain here while there is a severe water shortage there? Why are the children at El Hogar so joyful and loving after all they have been through in their short lives? How can we, now changed, further the mission of El Hogar where lives are transformed and saved everyday? As I said last year, our trip is over but our work for El Hogar is not. We have seen the safety, the sanctuary, the strength, the faith, the integrity, the love that El Hogar pours forth each and every day to 100 children and 150 teens. It deserves and depends on our dedication and support.

I feel blessed to have been able to travel again to El Hogar and to share my love for this place with a new group of women. We did not know each other well when we left but we came back part of a sisterhood that will carry on into the future. Thank you Jenny, Kara, Celia, Claudia, Susan, Suzanne, Cory, Scottie and Anne for being the wonderful women and friends that you are and for wanting to open your hearts to each other and to the children of El Hogar. Thank you also to our friends, family, children and spouses whose support made it possible for us to take this trip and share this experience.

With love and gratitude,
Betsy

Friday, March 12

Hola mis amigos y familia,

Our day began at 6:00am with coffee and corn muffins. Our breakfast was extra early so that we could head out for the home visit by 7 am. Raul took us to Senora Mendoza's home. It is the custom for mission trips to take a home visit tour. This gives us a chance to see what these children´s lives are like at home, for those few who have homes. On the way, we bought some groceries from a "hole in the wall" grocery store to give to our host. After a tenuous climb up a wooden ladder we were greeted by our host and invited into her one room "home". She lives there with one of her daughters, her younger daughter Tesla joining her on weekends from El Hogar. Senore Mendoza hopes with the help of her son Marvin to someday build a house. Marvin is in his first year at the Institute and by all accounts is a "jack of all trades".

By 7:30am we were back at El Hogar enjoyng our daily one-on-one time with the children who need some extra help in reading and mathematics. It was sad knowing that this was our last session with each of them. They have all been so wonderful and we have all decided that reading Spanish children's books is a great way to learn Spanish!

Then it was off to the bodega! Inside were neatly arranged shelves of clothing and bedding. It was great to be able to add the shoes and clothing that we had all brought with us.

By 9:00am we were on the road to Valle de Angeles. Once we left the city the countryside was quite beautiful with tree-clad mountains and wonderful vistas. With a major fundraiser planned to benefit El Hogar in June there was some serious shopping to do! You will have to attend the event if you want to view some of the beautiful locally made items we were able to purchase for the silent auction.

En route back to El Hogar we stopped for a delicious lunch with "fondue-like chimineas" filled with beans and cheese for appetizers. I so wished we had seen those while shopping! But the best was still to come. The restaurant had a pool and well, what can I say, a few of us couldn't resist. Let's just say we had to dedicate one row on the van home to three very wet passengers!

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent taking photos of all our projects and helping the children write letters to their sponsors. They are each extremely grateful to their sponsors and love receiving letters. Claudia patiently and lovingly worked with each child to translate their letters.

The final hoorah was an ice cream party for all the children who had not gone home for the weekend. Over 70 children sat patiently and politely as we scooped ice-cream, happily singing a "Gracias" song. Time was running out for us to play with these incredible children. There were laughs and hugs and then it was off to bed.

Buenos noches,
Anne (Kara and Jenny had editing privileges)

Thursday, March 11

Our group went to the agricultural school and farm today, and so our group of sisters nominated me for the blog since I grew up on a farm and was the most keen on all the agricultural school activities. (Yes, as a former Sullivan County Tennessee Dairy Princess, the group felt I could fill y`all in on our farm adventure.)

The agricultural school is about an hour outside Tegucigalpa, and the drive was lovely. Mountainous roads with gorgeous views of (very dry) pine forests, mostly. We visited a small city near the farm, called Telanga, which has about 45,000 residents. It is fairly prosperous, with a middle class we haven´t seen much in our part of Tegucigalpa. Lots of low-slung houses covered with adobe or stucco, painted in pastels or whilte-washed with lime, with terra cotta tile roofs. The roads aren´t paved, which must be tough in the rainy season, but it is a charming town. The church is lovely, located in the center of town, and facing the town´s central park. The only huge line was at the dentist´s office. With no national health at all, and only three per cent of the population insured, health care is pretty hard to come by.

The farm and school are beautiful. The farm is (I hope I heard right) over 375 hectares, and they grow many crops. We heard corn, beans, potatoes, and carrots, and saw a huge herb garden. They have chickens for laying, supplying all the eggs for the school, and probably some of the meat. They also have a few ducks and turkeys. There are seven horses, several goat and sheep, and a herd of dairy cows. (Sorry vegetarians, but the word in the kitchen is that the cows are used both for leche and for carne--all the meat comes from the farm.) The boys work on the farm all morning (though this is the driest and least productive season--planting is in May, with the harvests in July, August, September). The lads clean up and have their main meal at noontime, then spend the afternoon in classes.

Suzanne got to meet her godson or sponsee, Carlos Jesus, and they had a wonderful talk together. We also spent some time with Liz Kinchen´s lad, who spoke most eloquently to our group. Claudia, as usual, did lots of translating. Last year, she had a run in with a dread perro negro, or most fierce black dog, so she says she was glad to miss the farm tour. All we saw were very friendly (albeit skinny) farm dogs, some adorable puppies and a not very aggressive black goat.

The boys have, as Raul says, rural manners. They are courtly and respectful to a fault.

On the way home, we stopped at the Tegucigalpa Marriott (unmistakable, no matter where they are) to look at some pottery made by indigenous women, that, it is hoped, might be used as part of a fundraiser. It was most disorienting to go from El Hogar to the farm, then to a posh hotel all in one day. It was a sort of dissonance to remember our own privilege.

Celia is coordinating the beautiful pillows the sewing team at Epiphany made, and the kids absolutely loved them. We bought the last pillows to go in the cases made at Epiphany this afternoon, another bit of dissonance, as we stopped by a glittering mall only a few blocks from the deep poverty in our neighborhood at El Hogar.

We´re almost finished with the garden. Anne and Susan have done a huge amount of work today, and have the last of the plants laid in, and Betsy and Jenny are painting the wall--although, like Tom Sawyer, our painting crews seem to attract boys who take the brushes from our hands and leave us with nothing to do. The rest of us are hauling water for the new plants. Kara and Jenny´s windows are all done, and the wrought iron screens went in today. Cory and Celia´s painting of the computer lab is finished, and they had a teacher´s meeting today in the pristine, white room.

Soccer and cards tonight, and maybe some reading with the kids, the best part of the day. I´m off for supper, which, I suspect might involve some sort of beans, eggs, and tortillas. Just a hunch. Love to all our loved ones at home and many thanks to our prayer partners from Epiphany.

Paz,
Scottie Wagner

Wednesday, March 10

Hi all - today has been an emotional and long but fulfilling day for many.

We started the day like yesterday, reading to the children who have been assigned to us. Many of the children need extra help in reading so each of us have been assigned one or two children to take out of class for 15 minutes and just have them read to us. Even though most of us are not fluent in Spanish we can actually help them by just listening and following along as they read and give them an encouraging word or two. It also gives us a special bond with at least two children, I am reading with Reina, the little girl that we sponsor and with a little boy named Tulio, he is very proud to show me how quickly he can read ^:Frog and Toad^; (Sepo and Sapo, in Spanish)!!

Water in the volunteer house has been a little bit of an issue, there is a little bit of a drought here and we are on a water schedule, this morning we woke up to no water (although the schedule said we should have had water), but we all have been good natured about it so far. We think it is just a little communication problem because thankfully when we returned from our trip to the Technical school the volunteer house did have water!!

Raul took us out to the Technical school, we took a tour of the grounds and saw where the boys learn how to become electricians, carpenters and welders. They are adding on a new area in Auto mechanics. It was great to see the work (dormitory) that former work teams from Epiphany did in past trips. We also had a wonderful lunch of rice and chicken and really tasty lemonaide!! Claudia spent more time with some boys at the Technical school translating letters that were written for them. As the only person fluent in Spanish, Claudia is really working hard at translations and making sure each child who has recieved letters gets them translated. The work that is being done at El Hogar with the small children and at the Technical school with the older children is another example of God^s work here on Earth.

When we returned to El Hogar, Suzanne, Betsy, and Scotty with the help of many little boys moved more dirt into the garden , and did some painting also with the help of many little boys. Susan, Anne, and Kara, did a wonderful job planting trees and the flowers we bought for the garden. Anne did a great job designing the left garden to match the right garden and it looks terrific, tomorrow we should be finished with the planting and hopefully we will be able to get it watered thoroughly. Celia and Cory finished off the indoor painting and of course it looks wonderful!!

The highlight of today and every day is the time we get to spend with the children. There were a number of touching moments, particularly when Ginger Barrows called to speak with her sponsor child Diana, today is Diana`^s birthday and we were out in the playground when Ginger called Jenny and was able to speak and sing happy birthday to Diana. Jenny had some quiet moments with her sponsor child, Christopher, they read together the photo album that Jenny and her family made for Christopher, it was a special time for both of them. Suzanne, Jenny, Claudia, Betsy, and Kara finished off the outdoor time by playing a mean game of soccer (futbol) with some of the boys - game to be continued tomorrow evening.

Tonight Jenny had a special surprise for us, unknown to us she found prayer sponsors for each of us, and this evening after a long, hot day she presented a letter to us from our Epiphany prayer sponsor. My letter was very touching and I know that it is comforting to know that there is a special person at Epiphany praying just for us. Thank you to Jenny and to our prayer sponsors and all those praying for us at Epiphany, we miss you and look forward to seeing you on Sunday morning.

See you soon , Suzanne

Tuesday, March 9

We each took several children out of their classrooms and asked them to read with us individually. We worked with those that needed some extra help but learned that they are working with curriculum that is at an equivalent level to our children. We all learned how to say "I am learning from you" and this is true on many levels. Their smiles are better than the best birthday present and their hugs, given so unselfishly, have such a profound effect on us.

Jenny and Kara completed their job with some heavy lifting by Ann. Is anyone surprised that they got the better of an 8 inch thick brick wall? They created 2 very large windows in the laundry building. This included a chisel and several sledge hammers and it was a sight to behold---and I don't mean the window. Celia joined in on the action as well, wielding that sledge hammer like a warrior. Ann, Susan, Scottie, Claudia finished prepping the new garden and the plants are ready to go in tomorrow morning. Celia and Cory still on paint duty and nearly finished. Claudia translated sponsor letters for hours to the children with her usual energy and animation which delighted them and everyone who was nearby. Suzanne, not feeling herself for much of the day, rallied in the evening and is now feeling much better thanks to Betsy´s good care, with help from Salomon and Ginger from afar.

Barbara McCune, a medical missionary here in Honduras for more 7 years talked with us about her practice in this community. The average age of women having their first child is 14 and only 3% of people have health insurance. These are just a few of the things that we learned. When asked about how difficult it must be to live and work here, Barbara said that your heart breaks at least once a week but hopefully you stretch it so that you can help more people and that the hardened parts continue to soften as time goes on.

Tomorrow we travel to the Technical Institute after reading with the children...

-- Cory Little

Monday, March 8

Buenas Noches,

Today, Monday, we all started the day by watching the 1st grade teacher perform 'Devotion'. The children all lined up by grade and pledged allegiance to Honduras. Two of the children held the flag high. Doña Claudia made a few announcements and then we each had the wonderful opportunity of observing each of the classes. The cóntent didn't really seem that different to what our own kids are learning in elementary school, except that of course it was all in Spanish! The class sizes ranged from around 12 to 20 children and most of the children changed classes when the bell sounded, all very quietly and respectfully. Tomorrow, we start to work with the children on a one on one basis helping with reading and mathematics - that should be interesting considering only one of us speaks good Spanish!

Then it was project time: Jenny, Kara and Betsy (being the youngest among us) got the enviable task of swinging a sledge hammer at the Laundry window to make the hole bigger in preparation for some new screens. Two hours later they could be spotted sound asleep on the benches where we later had lunch! Betsy decided it really was a two person job and left them to their fun to join project number two...

Following on from the wonderful work that last year's crew did, Claudia, Suzanne, Susan, Corey and I (Anne) tackled an area to the left of the new dormitory to create a garden similar to the one they created on the right. There was lots of weed wacking without the wacker, throwing a pick in the hope of breaking up ground, raking, etc. Then it was time to shop - for black dirt and plants, that is! Back at the ranch, the non-shoppers, now joined by Betsy, painted the garden wall until the wall (and their hands) were a lovely shade of red.

Talking of painting, Corey and Celia took on the computer/conference space and painted it a lovely shade of white. They are planning to return tomorrow for round two. Celia also found time to shop - this time for paint and pillows!

Our ragged group (no hot water to shower) enjoyed some fun time with the children before bed. They were most appreciative of the pillows now in beautiful covers lovingly made by the Women of Epiphany Kraft and Knit (Alison Taber, Peggy Roll, Maxine Ewing). The children are such a pleasure to be with...
Well, that's all folks!

-- Anne Sharp

Sunday, March 7

We arrived at the airport at 4am yesterday to wait in lines that were incredibly long. Thomas Brown actually woke up and came to the airport after procurring a special pass to let him through security to give us a personalized send off. However, because of the crowds he was not allowed through and could only call us from the entrance to the terminal. We were so sorry to miss him but really appreciated his very sweet intention.

Easy travel, with no glitches, except that the computer room was locked and therefore no blog yesterday. Sorry for that.

We are settled and have just finished our first full day at El Hogar. After a church service completely given in Spanish, where we smiled alot and pretended to know the words to the hymns, we took several of the newest children to Pizza Hut for dinner. The girl beside me, Soyla, was excited because she had never had pizza. The children were so focused on practicing their manners that they all used knives and forks -- even to eat their garlic bread !!

Afterward, we learned some of the history of El Hogar and the stories of some of the newer children. Claudia, who is the principal of the school, told each story and it was very clear how much she loves these incredible children. It did not take long to understand why she said that a little piece of El Hogar will come home with each of us.

Each of the stories was uniquely poignant. Edes is a smart, twelve year old girl who was living alone with her two small brothers who had come to think of her as their mother. Claudia brought all three of the children here and all are doing well. Edes is allowed to be a little girl here but still she carried a maturity of someone years older. She taught me some Spanish in the van and was so excited to try on my sunglasses. Two brothers, Steven and Jason, were living with their mother prior to coming here. Both are healthy but still very small from years of malnutrition. Their mother forced them to leave the house each day and they were not allowed to return unless they had collected a certain amount of money. Claudia rescued them and they do not want to go back. You would never believe that these happy, smart and playful little boys could have lived that way. When they are middle school age they will go to the Agricultural and Technical School and may even go to University as previous students have.

Today was the day that the mothers of some of the children came to visit. Some have no parents and others leave on weekends to visit their families. Regardless it is very clear that they are safe and loved here. We are lucky to be with them.

-- Cory Little

The women are getting ready to go....

Well, it's that time...in just a few short days we will be flying off to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to see all those little children. Our women are busy right now at home in Boston- packing, making lists and getting everything set for their own families while they are gone. There is excitement and anticipation as we set forth on this mission trip. It is a great time!
Our women's team hopes to post evening updates from El Hogar daily. With the help of the Reynolds family in Winchester, we should have daily posts and pictures. Thank you Kate. And thank you to all of you who will be praying for us. More from the team on Saturday night!

-- Jenny Rappole