Hola! Another update from life at Amigos. Things are going well. We just wrapped-up testing week at the school and a 3-day weekend. The 3-day weekend was fun. On Sunday, four of us volunteers cooked lunch for the whole hogar, (130 people). It was a bit nerve-wracking as we were afraid we were going to run out of food or not have everything ready at the right time. We made spaghetti, and it turned out great! Most everyone liked it and was satisfied. Yesterday, we spent the day at the nearby river. The river itself is a little rough. It’s about 2 feet deep at its deepest parts, and it’s kind of dirty as farmers use it for their cows and some trucks use it as a shortcut. Nevertheless, we had a good time. The kids loved it, and some stayed longer than the six hours allotted for the activity. We played in the water, practiced floating, looked for pretty rocks, had water fights, played with clay, and ate a picnic lunch.
Weekends… as promised
Weekends are definitely refreshing after the school week. Breakfast on Saturday begins at 8:00 and consists of pancakes and hot chocolate. Yum! We (the volunteers) then have two hours to do chores around our own house. This time is crucial since houses in Honduras are not sealed to the outside. Tons of insects and dirt accumulate inside a house in the space of a week. Around 10:00, we head back out to partake in whatever is going on outside. There is a planning meeting every week to plan the weekend activities, which have a good variety. We’ve gone once or twice to the local water park. One weekend we had an entire-day long competition with every person at the hogar participating. The competition involved teams eating together, doing chores together, creating songs/dances/skits, and playing games. My team, “The Indestructibles,” won. Another weekend was centered around bicycle races, and of course there’s always several soccer games and movies every weekend.
Last weekend was neat as I got to spend a few hours on Saturday morning at the local cemetery with two older boys. We cleaned up Oscarito’s grave and planted some flowers around it. Oscarito passed away before I arrived, but I feel his presence here. The kids pray for his soul daily. Here’s a blogpost my director wrote about him and his amazing life: http://amigosdejesusblog.blogspot.com/2013_06_01_archive.html
Sundays are another good food day as we have cornflakes and granola with hot or cold milk for breakfast. After breakfast, we load up into pickup trucks for Mass (as long as the river isn’t too high to cross). On average, we probably fit about 10 people inside the cab of the truck and about 15 in the bed. If I’m in the bed of the truck, I prefer to stand and hang onto the metal casing. Sometimes I’m not sure how some of the teenagers stay in as the roads are really rough. Mass is very hot and long with the homily taking up most of the time. Even so, I am so grateful to be able to access Mass and the Eucharist. After Mass, we load back up into the trucks or sometimes some of us walk back to the hogar. For the afternoon, it’s usually more games, futbol, and just hanging out. Our prayer circle is earlier so the kids get a good night’s sleep to start the school week.
Other things
This summer a speech pathologist visited Amigos and identified kids that have speech impairments. She couldn’t stay longer than a month, however, and these kids still need therapy. Therefore, I’m starting speech therapy with them. I don’t really know what I’m doing so prayers are appreciated! I have materials and a list of kids and some Spanish skills and enthusiasm and… we’ll see what happens!
In October, I had two “turnos.” There is one adult who sleeps in the kids’ dormitories every night, and this job rotates between workers and volunteers. Turno begins around 8:15 PM and ends at 5:15 AM. I was nervous about it beforehand, but it’s not a big deal at all, and I’m really glad that I now know this side of the kids’ lives. It made me think a lot. There’s about 18 younger boys who sleep in a big room. Some of them keep all of their material belongings in or under their beds. During my turnos, I said goodnight to them, but it’s hard to think about how it’s a different person every night that watches over them. I brought a book to read, and the nearest boy playfully grabbed it from me, and we practiced some reading for a few minutes. It made me think of the innumerable nights my parents read to/with me.
October really flew by. I bought my plane ticket for my vacation in January, which doesn’t seem far away at all. As always, thank you for your love and prayers!
