Over 200 people joined together on October 25th for a 5k walk on a beautiful Fall day to raise funds for El Hogar.
You can see photos from the event at http://elhogarwalkathon.shutterfly.com/ .
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Thank You !
Thank you everyone for your support for El Hogar. We have raised over $3,000 towards the computer lab at the Technical Institute. For further inspiration, enjoy our short slideshow put to music below.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
One Last Message for Friends and Family
Dear Friends and Family of the Women of Epiphany Mission Team,
Now, you have heard about each day of our fabulous trip to Honduras and some of you have seen the pictures and heard stories in person. It was a very, very moving experience for each of us in addition tobeing amazingly fun. It is hard to imagine 15 people getting along sowell and working together so perfectly for eight straight days, but it truly did happen. I, personally, felt the presence of the Holy Spirit throughout this incredible journey!
Perhaps some of you have been inspired by our pictures and stories to want to help the work of this incredible ministry called El Hogar. The possibilities are endless! First of all, there are a variety ofways to sponsor a specific child. Click here for the details:http://elhogar.org/sponsor.htm. In addition to the information you will receive when you become a sponsor, at least one of us will very likely be able to provide first hand stories and pictures of the child you are given to sponsor.
Also, there is one specific "loose end" from our trip where you mightbe able to help. That is the empty computer room at the Technical Institute.
As you can see from the pictures below, it is a beautiful, brand new room with wiring and outlets for 10 computers, plus space for the students to learn computer mechanics and repair. The only thing this bright space is missing is the computers themselves.
The computers at El Hogar (where we were living) were such a blessing to us and to you since they allowed us to communicate regularly with each of you every day during the trip. Perhaps it would be a fitting way to express our mutual gratitude to collect whatever funds anyone might like to donate to help buy computers for the Technical Institute. Raul says he has a way in Honduras to purchase new top notch Dell Computers for $300 each. That means that $3,000 would outfit this lab for the students at the Technical Institute!
Many of you have contributed and continue to contribute to El HogarMinistries in a variety of ways. However, if anyone wants to do something specific in response to our trip, here is your chance! To make a contribution to the computer lab, you can write a check to:
El Hogar Ministries -- Memo: Institute computer lab, and mail it to
El Hogar Ministries
70 Church Street
Winchester, MA 01890
It was my pleasure to organize the daily email messages to you, and I hope you enjoyed receiving them as much as we enjoyed living, writing and sending them to you. We hope you will forever hold each school in your hearts and prayers: El Hogar -- Home of Love and Hope, TheEpiscopal Agricultural School and Farm, and St. Mary's TechnicalInstitute. Thank you again for the love and support that allowed the15 of us to make this amazing journey!
Priscilla Burns
Now, you have heard about each day of our fabulous trip to Honduras and some of you have seen the pictures and heard stories in person. It was a very, very moving experience for each of us in addition tobeing amazingly fun. It is hard to imagine 15 people getting along sowell and working together so perfectly for eight straight days, but it truly did happen. I, personally, felt the presence of the Holy Spirit throughout this incredible journey!
Perhaps some of you have been inspired by our pictures and stories to want to help the work of this incredible ministry called El Hogar. The possibilities are endless! First of all, there are a variety ofways to sponsor a specific child. Click here for the details:http://elhogar.org/sponsor.htm. In addition to the information you will receive when you become a sponsor, at least one of us will very likely be able to provide first hand stories and pictures of the child you are given to sponsor.
Also, there is one specific "loose end" from our trip where you mightbe able to help. That is the empty computer room at the Technical Institute.
As you can see from the pictures below, it is a beautiful, brand new room with wiring and outlets for 10 computers, plus space for the students to learn computer mechanics and repair. The only thing this bright space is missing is the computers themselves.
The computers at El Hogar (where we were living) were such a blessing to us and to you since they allowed us to communicate regularly with each of you every day during the trip. Perhaps it would be a fitting way to express our mutual gratitude to collect whatever funds anyone might like to donate to help buy computers for the Technical Institute. Raul says he has a way in Honduras to purchase new top notch Dell Computers for $300 each. That means that $3,000 would outfit this lab for the students at the Technical Institute!
Many of you have contributed and continue to contribute to El HogarMinistries in a variety of ways. However, if anyone wants to do something specific in response to our trip, here is your chance! To make a contribution to the computer lab, you can write a check to:
El Hogar Ministries -- Memo: Institute computer lab, and mail it to
El Hogar Ministries
70 Church Street
Winchester, MA 01890
It was my pleasure to organize the daily email messages to you, and I hope you enjoyed receiving them as much as we enjoyed living, writing and sending them to you. We hope you will forever hold each school in your hearts and prayers: El Hogar -- Home of Love and Hope, TheEpiscopal Agricultural School and Farm, and St. Mary's TechnicalInstitute. Thank you again for the love and support that allowed the15 of us to make this amazing journey!
Priscilla Burns
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Memories of Saturday at El Hogar
Dear family and friends,
Though we have safely returned to the US and have begun to re-enter our normal routines, I promised to share with you our last beautiful day at El Hogar.
On Saturday, we arose to the normal cacophony of roosters and car horns though the boys must get to sleep later on Saturdays so there was no sweeping to add to the morning wake up noise. Our first activity started at 7:30 so we had a little more time ourselves to ease into our last day. We began the unpleasant process of packing and tidying up the volunteer house and drank our many pots of coffee. In an effort to not be late, we headed up to the new dorm a few minutes before 7:30. All of the children were streaming out onto the wide front steps and sitting down. We were thrilled to see the 28 boys that had moved into their new room (that we had completed) the day before! Once everyone was gathered, we began the blessing of the new garden that we had planted with the help and strength of the 7th grade boys from El Hogar. Claudia Castro, the director of El Hogar, and Claudia Bell, WE translator extraordinaire, each said some words about the garden and the love and friendship that built it and that it represents. We sang in English, the children sang in Spanish. Claudia, the 7th grade boys and the WE team sprinkled water on the garden with a palm branch. We said the Lord’s Prayer together in both languages and one of the older boys played a song on his guitar and sang. I honestly don’t remember the actual order of events as you can now imagine, I was trying not to cry AGAIN! We all wore our “powered by love” t-shirts that Barbara F. and her daughter Elizabeth had made. It was a beautiful event on a beautiful day in the sanctuary that is El Hogar. From there, we had ½ an hour to pull ourselves together and have breakfast. We were to meet at 8:30 under the basketball hoop near the kitchen for the “Despedida”, the goodbye ceremony. You know where this is going, right?!
We arrived to find several boys playing the Marimba and drums. The music was upbeat and joyful. Once gathered, Claudia and Claudia, said goodbyes in English and in Spanish. A few children volunteered to speak to us, many in English. They thanked us for coming to El Hogar, for playing with them and for our love. Alejandro, the guitar player, again sang to us and then 15 children came forward with cards and huge hugs for each of us. If we had somehow made it through the students thanking us without crying, it was all over now! Thankfully, the marimba music started up again and the dancing began. We danced around the property in a conga line and when that fell apart we danced with groups of children. The ceremony ended with all of the children hugging us and saying goodbye.
As we headed back to the volunteer house to finish packing, Claudia invited us into her office to buy t-shirts and/or CDs of El Hogar marimba music. A former student, Carlos, was also there selling some of his paintings. El Hogar prospered from 15 women buying up most of what they had to offer! We loaded up our luggage and headed to the airport at about 10:15 am- what a morning! An incredible trip, a remarkable place, a fantastic group of deeply caring women, a life changing experience.
I am so blessed to have been on this journey. I know that it is not over yet- there is more work to be done.
With love and gratitude,
Betsy
Though we have safely returned to the US and have begun to re-enter our normal routines, I promised to share with you our last beautiful day at El Hogar.
On Saturday, we arose to the normal cacophony of roosters and car horns though the boys must get to sleep later on Saturdays so there was no sweeping to add to the morning wake up noise. Our first activity started at 7:30 so we had a little more time ourselves to ease into our last day. We began the unpleasant process of packing and tidying up the volunteer house and drank our many pots of coffee. In an effort to not be late, we headed up to the new dorm a few minutes before 7:30. All of the children were streaming out onto the wide front steps and sitting down. We were thrilled to see the 28 boys that had moved into their new room (that we had completed) the day before! Once everyone was gathered, we began the blessing of the new garden that we had planted with the help and strength of the 7th grade boys from El Hogar. Claudia Castro, the director of El Hogar, and Claudia Bell, WE translator extraordinaire, each said some words about the garden and the love and friendship that built it and that it represents. We sang in English, the children sang in Spanish. Claudia, the 7th grade boys and the WE team sprinkled water on the garden with a palm branch. We said the Lord’s Prayer together in both languages and one of the older boys played a song on his guitar and sang. I honestly don’t remember the actual order of events as you can now imagine, I was trying not to cry AGAIN! We all wore our “powered by love” t-shirts that Barbara F. and her daughter Elizabeth had made. It was a beautiful event on a beautiful day in the sanctuary that is El Hogar. From there, we had ½ an hour to pull ourselves together and have breakfast. We were to meet at 8:30 under the basketball hoop near the kitchen for the “Despedida”, the goodbye ceremony. You know where this is going, right?!
We arrived to find several boys playing the Marimba and drums. The music was upbeat and joyful. Once gathered, Claudia and Claudia, said goodbyes in English and in Spanish. A few children volunteered to speak to us, many in English. They thanked us for coming to El Hogar, for playing with them and for our love. Alejandro, the guitar player, again sang to us and then 15 children came forward with cards and huge hugs for each of us. If we had somehow made it through the students thanking us without crying, it was all over now! Thankfully, the marimba music started up again and the dancing began. We danced around the property in a conga line and when that fell apart we danced with groups of children. The ceremony ended with all of the children hugging us and saying goodbye.
As we headed back to the volunteer house to finish packing, Claudia invited us into her office to buy t-shirts and/or CDs of El Hogar marimba music. A former student, Carlos, was also there selling some of his paintings. El Hogar prospered from 15 women buying up most of what they had to offer! We loaded up our luggage and headed to the airport at about 10:15 am- what a morning! An incredible trip, a remarkable place, a fantastic group of deeply caring women, a life changing experience.
I am so blessed to have been on this journey. I know that it is not over yet- there is more work to be done.
With love and gratitude,
Betsy
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday (March 20, 2009)
Dear everyone,
I think this is our last official email from Honduras.
I think this is our last official email from Honduras.
I (Carol Kellogg) have been asked to write about something that happened yesterday involving the distribution of the sneakers which we brought with us.
As you may know all work teams have names and the sneaker team was dubbed Team Nike. All during the week we have been asking when we might distribute the 142 pairs of sneakers which we brought. We brought many pairs to the farm yesterday. We brought some of the sneakers back, and on the way back the extra sneakers got to travel in the roof rack with three large bags of pollo poo. But, I digress.
Yesterday, around 4 pm without warning, we were asked to distribute the remaining sneakers here at El Hogar. It was very fun with large bags of sneakers being hauled by small boys, whose eyes were eager with expectation. Sadly, many of the sneakers were too big for the boys, but we were able to make about 10 "sales" to boys with size 7 or 8 feet. Several boys tried on many pairs and they enjoyed when we pretended to be shoe salesmen. Dona Claudia watched the whole thing with amusement. All the remaining pairs made it safely into the bodega. (The bodega here is basically a general store. When Dona Claudia opens the bodega the children wonder what will appear.) It seems they are happy with anything. Even those children who will have to wait for Jason and the next batch of shoes were more patient that might be expected.
The rhythm of morning here is lovely. The roosters are the first to rise and begin crowing between 4 and 5 AM. They seem to wake up the other birds. At some point this commotion wakes the buses who wake the taxis and horns prevail. The roosters still crow, but as they have done their job, they go off to do other things while the buses bring everyone to work. The gates to El Hogar are opened when horns honk. When they slide they make a lot of noise. Then comes the giggling as the boys sweep the grounds. By now it is approaching 6 AM and the volunteer house is drinking their first cup of coffee.
The morning devotion begins at 7 AM. This morning the boys were watching Sponge Bob Squarepants in the auditorium. They were also dressed for casual Friday, which means that they had on shorts and T shirts as opposed to white shirts and jeans. One shirt said "Experience the unexpected in Maine". We all got a kick out of that. The devotion was short and soon Dona Claudia arrived and gave us some more information about the specific children we sponsor. When we hear the specific circumstances each boy has faced we are often moved to tears. I think that crying may be contagious. I also think that I have started many a round of crying, but I think it is good crying.
Today I was thinking about how people sometimes view poverty in America. I remember the expression about people pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. The response often given is, what should people do if they don´t have any boots? Well, here in Honduras it seems like there are many people without boots. Happily, there are now some people with new sneakers. In the future people will pull themselves up by their sneaker laces. Its really the same idea, and one that Team Nike strongly supports. We might not accomplish very much, but we do it with a lot of love.
After Claudia's talk we went on a home visit to a house very close to El Hogar. The student who lives there, Marlon Javier Matamoros Menocal, was allowed to come with us and visit his mother and sisters. We stopped for some groceries on the way. We purchased 2 dozen eggs, which were packed in a plastic bag! We had Dona Claudia carry those! We brought many other staples, such as bread, lard, spagetti, etc. We spent about $20 dollars.
After Claudia's talk we went on a home visit to a house very close to El Hogar. The student who lives there, Marlon Javier Matamoros Menocal, was allowed to come with us and visit his mother and sisters. We stopped for some groceries on the way. We purchased 2 dozen eggs, which were packed in a plastic bag! We had Dona Claudia carry those! We brought many other staples, such as bread, lard, spagetti, etc. We spent about $20 dollars.
When we arrived Marlon's mother was filled with joy. She had an unexpected visit from her son and we brought food. She told us that otherwise she wouldn´t have had anything for lunch. Literally, no food of any kind. The house was on someone else's roof and had one room. She had one double bed where everyone slept. It was very tidy and had nice postcards and things on the walls. She impressed all of us as a very loving mother with little in the way of resources and lots in the way of love and grace.
Next we made a shopping trip which seemed a little out of place after our home visit. Nonetheless we headed off to Valley of the Angels. The ride was beautiful. The shops were well stocked with local handicrafts and we provided an economic stimulus to the village. We had a nice lunch on the way home at a resteraunt which was almost a hotel. The scenery was spectacular.
Afternoon projects included finishing work on the dormitory and completing the garden. The dormitory team has renamed themselves Team Roll With It. Besides the obvious assosciation with painting it basically describes Honduras. Things happen when they happen. Or other things happen. If a project seems large and difficult only focus on the next step and then the next. The point is to try.
Tonight we dined on spagetti and meatballs. Sadly, our trip is winding down. Tomorrow there will be a garden dedication as well as a farewell program organized by the children. We should bring tissues. Although we will be leaving El Hogar, we will each be bringing part of its spirit home with us. We are all eager to share that spirit with you.
With blessings and peace,
Carol
Next we made a shopping trip which seemed a little out of place after our home visit. Nonetheless we headed off to Valley of the Angels. The ride was beautiful. The shops were well stocked with local handicrafts and we provided an economic stimulus to the village. We had a nice lunch on the way home at a resteraunt which was almost a hotel. The scenery was spectacular.
Afternoon projects included finishing work on the dormitory and completing the garden. The dormitory team has renamed themselves Team Roll With It. Besides the obvious assosciation with painting it basically describes Honduras. Things happen when they happen. Or other things happen. If a project seems large and difficult only focus on the next step and then the next. The point is to try.
Tonight we dined on spagetti and meatballs. Sadly, our trip is winding down. Tomorrow there will be a garden dedication as well as a farewell program organized by the children. We should bring tissues. Although we will be leaving El Hogar, we will each be bringing part of its spirit home with us. We are all eager to share that spirit with you.
With blessings and peace,
Carol
Friday, March 20, 2009
Jueves (March 19)
Hola a Los Familios y Amigos,
The theme for today seemed to be laughter. We had a great start with our morning devotional, again focused on responsibilidad. Priscilla drifted in a bit late due to her enthusiasm for one of the team projects...pintar con blanca. The rest of us had pretended to sleep while she dressed, had happily enjoyed our morning coffee, and were quite punctual.
The one-hour drive to the farm was an exciting lesson in the ways of Honduran roadways and drivers. The beautiful mountains were a welcome distraction as we raced around trucks on blind curves on a road with no line down the middle. (Don´t worry mom, we`re here to type up a report!). When we finally arrived at La Escuela Agricultura we all enjoyed the peaceful scenery and quiet, a welcome change from the bustle and horns of the city. Hector covered everything on our tour of the farm from the cultivation of crops to care and reproduction of the animals. It was quite impressive. We saw horses, cows, chickens, goats, stampeding sheep, a vicious dog and one big 250 lb. pig!
Our ride home was made more exciting knowing that if we did end up in a ditch, we would be covered in 300 pounds of chicken ¨"fertilizer". The sweet boys from the Farm graciously topped our van with enormous bags of chicken poo-poo, next to the five bags of Nike shoes. (more manana from Team Nike Carol)
We came back to El Hogar ready to work! We cleaned the dorm room and bathroom, swept the floors and walls all with the goal of moving the boys into the new dorm tomorrow. We were 15 women on a mission. While team Fresh Air (dos Jennys, Betsy, Celia, Ginger, Carol, Priscilla, Molly) tidied up team Green got started outside.
Team Green (Sandy, Nancy, Kate, Barbara, Stephanie and Claudia) benefited tremendously from the enthusiasm, motivation, and muscle of the 7th grade boys. They seemed to be thrilled with the work in the garden and managed to dig out a cement wall, spread lots of new, healthy dirt, and race to finish planting over 100 groundcover plants. We have a little more planting to finish up tomorrow afternoon but we made unbelievable progress in 2.5 hours.
The boys seemed to be very excited about the garden and ready to take ownership of it - hopefully thinking about watering and keeping the soccer balls and footballs out of the planting area - or at least away from the more fragile plants. They were sorry to end as the sun set, given that we still had some more planting to do, but are looking forward to finishing up tomorrow. Hopefully we will find a rock on which to paint a tribute to these amazing boys and plant it visibly in the garden. In addition, we will have a short blessing of the garden on Friday evening. Overall, a very successful day for Team Green and the 7th grade boys!
After many well deserved showers we all headed to the lovely Hotel Maya for dinner. Team WE-ep donned our finest (non-smelly) clothes and transformed into Team Giggle. We celebrated Father´s Day with Raul and laughed while we enjoyed a delicious dinner. It was a carefree and joyful time. Back at El Hogar we have full stomachs, sore muscles, and happy hearts. As a team we look forward to the wonders that tomorrow will bring.
Con Mucho Amor,
Sus Amigas: Dos Jennys, Ginger, Barbara, y Celia
The theme for today seemed to be laughter. We had a great start with our morning devotional, again focused on responsibilidad. Priscilla drifted in a bit late due to her enthusiasm for one of the team projects...pintar con blanca. The rest of us had pretended to sleep while she dressed, had happily enjoyed our morning coffee, and were quite punctual.
The one-hour drive to the farm was an exciting lesson in the ways of Honduran roadways and drivers. The beautiful mountains were a welcome distraction as we raced around trucks on blind curves on a road with no line down the middle. (Don´t worry mom, we`re here to type up a report!). When we finally arrived at La Escuela Agricultura we all enjoyed the peaceful scenery and quiet, a welcome change from the bustle and horns of the city. Hector covered everything on our tour of the farm from the cultivation of crops to care and reproduction of the animals. It was quite impressive. We saw horses, cows, chickens, goats, stampeding sheep, a vicious dog and one big 250 lb. pig!
Our ride home was made more exciting knowing that if we did end up in a ditch, we would be covered in 300 pounds of chicken ¨"fertilizer". The sweet boys from the Farm graciously topped our van with enormous bags of chicken poo-poo, next to the five bags of Nike shoes. (more manana from Team Nike Carol)
We came back to El Hogar ready to work! We cleaned the dorm room and bathroom, swept the floors and walls all with the goal of moving the boys into the new dorm tomorrow. We were 15 women on a mission. While team Fresh Air (dos Jennys, Betsy, Celia, Ginger, Carol, Priscilla, Molly) tidied up team Green got started outside.
Team Green (Sandy, Nancy, Kate, Barbara, Stephanie and Claudia) benefited tremendously from the enthusiasm, motivation, and muscle of the 7th grade boys. They seemed to be thrilled with the work in the garden and managed to dig out a cement wall, spread lots of new, healthy dirt, and race to finish planting over 100 groundcover plants. We have a little more planting to finish up tomorrow afternoon but we made unbelievable progress in 2.5 hours.
The boys seemed to be very excited about the garden and ready to take ownership of it - hopefully thinking about watering and keeping the soccer balls and footballs out of the planting area - or at least away from the more fragile plants. They were sorry to end as the sun set, given that we still had some more planting to do, but are looking forward to finishing up tomorrow. Hopefully we will find a rock on which to paint a tribute to these amazing boys and plant it visibly in the garden. In addition, we will have a short blessing of the garden on Friday evening. Overall, a very successful day for Team Green and the 7th grade boys!
After many well deserved showers we all headed to the lovely Hotel Maya for dinner. Team WE-ep donned our finest (non-smelly) clothes and transformed into Team Giggle. We celebrated Father´s Day with Raul and laughed while we enjoyed a delicious dinner. It was a carefree and joyful time. Back at El Hogar we have full stomachs, sore muscles, and happy hearts. As a team we look forward to the wonders that tomorrow will bring.
Con Mucho Amor,
Sus Amigas: Dos Jennys, Ginger, Barbara, y Celia
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Wednesday's Letter from Honduras
Greetings One and All,
Today is Wednesday, and we are more than half-way through the week. Hard to believe! Today was another very full day. Here is the report:
After a lively breakfast (as usual) in the VHouse, we were sadly once again late to the 7am devotional, although we were successful in our plan to get there before 7am, in order not to be delinquent once again. No one seemed to mind, as they were well into the discourse for the morning. The theme this week is `responsibilidad` and today focused on taking pride in homework and other activities and duties comprising the Mission for the children of El Hogar.
Today is Wednesday, and we are more than half-way through the week. Hard to believe! Today was another very full day. Here is the report:
After a lively breakfast (as usual) in the VHouse, we were sadly once again late to the 7am devotional, although we were successful in our plan to get there before 7am, in order not to be delinquent once again. No one seemed to mind, as they were well into the discourse for the morning. The theme this week is `responsibilidad` and today focused on taking pride in homework and other activities and duties comprising the Mission for the children of El Hogar.
Today`s morning excursion was to the Technical Institute where the group had a tour of all the buildings while Liz and Rich and Lazaro met to discuss a few things. The group then had the most wonderful treat to have Lazaro spend the better part of an hour talking with us about the Institute, the boys, and most amazingly, about his personal history with the early days of El Hogar and his life before coming to El Hogar. He spoke with love and passion and his commitment to his ministry here was clear to everyone. In a stroke of fortuitous and surprising forethought, Liz had put the audio recorder in her pack and got it out in time to capture most of Lazaro´s words. She is anxiously awaiting some free moments to check that it worked!
After a lunch of chicken and rice and potatoes, we rounded everyone up to return to El Hogar. There was lively discussion about the yet-to-be realized windows for the chapel, as well as the non-existant books and computers for the library and computer lab. Fifteen smart women can come up with lots of great suggestions. All were impressed with the beauty and spaciousness of the buildings and grounds at this new Institute.
Fifteen women can also tackle a multitude of multitasking activities and the afternoon was spent in pursuit of three efforts: one group (Team Green) of gardening aficionadas went to the local nursery to purchase shrubs, trees and flowers to plant in front of the newly painted and spruced up dorm building. Rumor has it they were there for 16-17 hours making many decisions sometimes several times over, and providing a week´s worth of entertainment to the very patient fellow who ran the nursery.
After a lunch of chicken and rice and potatoes, we rounded everyone up to return to El Hogar. There was lively discussion about the yet-to-be realized windows for the chapel, as well as the non-existant books and computers for the library and computer lab. Fifteen smart women can come up with lots of great suggestions. All were impressed with the beauty and spaciousness of the buildings and grounds at this new Institute.
Fifteen women can also tackle a multitude of multitasking activities and the afternoon was spent in pursuit of three efforts: one group (Team Green) of gardening aficionadas went to the local nursery to purchase shrubs, trees and flowers to plant in front of the newly painted and spruced up dorm building. Rumor has it they were there for 16-17 hours making many decisions sometimes several times over, and providing a week´s worth of entertainment to the very patient fellow who ran the nursery.
A second group (Team Fresh Air) stayed at El Hogar and continued with painting and touching up and using every last drop of paint from every can on the property. Tomorrow they will get yet more paint and continue with painting the walls until every last inch is satisfactory. I am told to report that the wooden lockers from the past couple days of painting are now happily installed in the bedroom, complete with child´s name affixed and clothing in place. ¡Gracias a Dios! This team can now move on to conquer new challenges.
The third group (Team Bed Care), modestly appointed with only Liz and Raul, went on a hunt throughout the city for new mattresses and plastic mattress covers. After an interesting stop at the local Honduran bank to do some money changing, this team arranged to have 48 new mattresses delivered tomorrow and experimented with heavy-duty mattress protection. It should be noted that after Team Bed Care was finished with their tasks, they encountered Team Green still at the local nursery pondering more floral options and discussing dirt and manure.
Seriously, the mattresses are a gift from the WE team, using the extra funds raised by all those soup lunches. The plants will create a beautiful garden in front of the dorm building, purchased with money that was spent in lieu of the standard pizza party that teams usually provide for the boys and staff. The plan is that on Friday afternoon, beds will be moved from the last remaining old dorm into the new dorm, new mattresses and pads (and sheets) installed, and the last group of children not yet living in the dorm will spend their first night in their new (fully painted) and beautifully gardened home. This will be a convergence of a week of much blood, sweat and tears, rotating project managers, and loving devotion to the completion of all these various projects.
Seriously, the mattresses are a gift from the WE team, using the extra funds raised by all those soup lunches. The plants will create a beautiful garden in front of the dorm building, purchased with money that was spent in lieu of the standard pizza party that teams usually provide for the boys and staff. The plan is that on Friday afternoon, beds will be moved from the last remaining old dorm into the new dorm, new mattresses and pads (and sheets) installed, and the last group of children not yet living in the dorm will spend their first night in their new (fully painted) and beautifully gardened home. This will be a convergence of a week of much blood, sweat and tears, rotating project managers, and loving devotion to the completion of all these various projects.
Stay tuned to see whether Friday afternoon indeed unfolds as planned. Other things we will be doing Friday afternoon is going on home visits, meeting with the dental team who is coming to install the 3rd dental chair in the El Hogar dental clinic (unloaded from a pick-up truck in one massive, unwieldy, and extremely heavy mass, and maneuvered under a canopied walkway and up two flights of narrow stairs by no less than 10 Honduran men), and perhaps distributing 100 shoes to eager children. Some say this is a Type A group, but don´t you believe it!
To back up about 24 hours, last night Dra. Barbra McCune came to the volunteer house to spend some time with the team talking about her work and life in Honduras as a missioner physician. We leaned about the health care situation in Honduras, her work with her rural clinic, and some stories of her experiences with patients. Thank you Barbra, for sharing your time and love for the people of Honduras with us!
Tomorrow we plan to visit the Farm, and in the afternoon, plant the garden and finish up the painting, and enjoy a Honduran dinner outside of El Hogar. Tune in for further adventures of Team WEep, so dubbed because of the pounds of collective tears shed daily, over heartbreaking stories of the children, inspiring and moving speeches from the staff, witnessing acts of repentance and forgiveness among the children, connecting with little ones who melt our hearts, hearing stories of Barbra´s patients, and also tears of laughter and appreciation, born of the bonds we are forming with each other.
¡Hasta manana!
Con amor y gratitud,
Liz
To back up about 24 hours, last night Dra. Barbra McCune came to the volunteer house to spend some time with the team talking about her work and life in Honduras as a missioner physician. We leaned about the health care situation in Honduras, her work with her rural clinic, and some stories of her experiences with patients. Thank you Barbra, for sharing your time and love for the people of Honduras with us!
Tomorrow we plan to visit the Farm, and in the afternoon, plant the garden and finish up the painting, and enjoy a Honduran dinner outside of El Hogar. Tune in for further adventures of Team WEep, so dubbed because of the pounds of collective tears shed daily, over heartbreaking stories of the children, inspiring and moving speeches from the staff, witnessing acts of repentance and forgiveness among the children, connecting with little ones who melt our hearts, hearing stories of Barbra´s patients, and also tears of laughter and appreciation, born of the bonds we are forming with each other.
¡Hasta manana!
Con amor y gratitud,
Liz
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