In the hustle and bustle to get packed, tidy up and get home, the blog often never gets wrapped up so I wanted to make sure to do that!

 

Saturday morning was a morning to sleep in since breakfast wasn’t until 8 but our eager play structure team needed to get an early start if there was to be any chance of finishing the project so they were up at 6:30 and swinging hammers by 7. They got a good hour of work in before breakfast. After breakfast we piled into the van for a home visit at Tesla’s house. We stopped on the way to get a box of groceries to bring with us. Tesla’s home is a one room wood structure that sits about one floor above the rest of the dwellings nearby and is accessed by a rickety ladder. Tesla was there (home for the weekend) with her older brother (who attended El Hogar), older sister and mother. I have come to know Tesla’s mom over the years and though we don’t speak each others language we share a long, tight hug, tears and smiles. She is a sweet woman who wants the best for her children and is so incredibly grateful to El Hogar for helping ensure a brighter future. Home visits can feel awkward, even wrong, for their voyeuristic/ exploitative quality but I do believe that Sra Mendoza is happy to be able to help El Hogar by opening her home to visitors. For us, it is a stark and sobering experience to witness what extreme poverty looks like up close and to see where our children are coming from.

 

Upon our return, at about 9:15, the children invited us into the Auditorium for the goodbye party. We were thanked by both staff and children, songs were sung, Ethan and Mary both spoke to the children on our behalf, cards were given and then the hugging began. All of the children hugged each and every one of us- it was a sweet, emotional goodbye, a bittersweet end to a great week at El Hogar.

 

We then headed to the El Hogar store to buy last minute t-shirts, jewelry etc made by the EH students and then to the play structure for pictures. I am relieved to say that the play structure was completed in the nick of time- I am pretty sure that Chief was not getting on the plane until it was done!

 

The van was loaded and we were off to the airport by 10:40- what a morning, what a trip! All travels went smoothly and we all arrived safely at our homes by midnight.

 

When talking to my mom last night she asked a few questions about our trip which were yet unanswered in the blog-

 

1. Claudia was able to win the court case and keep Jefferson at El Hogar. His mother will be able to visit him at El Hogar and they will work with our psychologist to begin rebuilding a parent- child relationship. Wins like this are rare as parents have strong rights in Honduras and Claudia does not often prevail so this was great news.

 

2. The school president election took place on Friday and was VERY official. Each child had an id card and a specific polling place. They filled out ballots, signed their names and were finger printed. We were the international observers posted in each polling place to make sure the voting was not corrupt! After the ballot counting behind locked doors with “International” oversight, Josue Mauricio was elected President. We were disappointed that Diana wasn’t elected as we felt she ran the best campaign but we weren’t surprised by the results.

 

3. Neal and I persevered in the 1^st grade classroom. I think we can say that our 2 little ones can count to 6 in Spanish and they might even have mastered ma, me, mi, mo, mu, pa, pe, pi, po, pu but that is debatable. For many of our new 1^st graders who started in February, this is the first time they have encountered structure, rules and formal education. It is a lot for them and for their teacher- every day is a challenge but I know that they will progress day by day. I have seen it. I can’t wait to go back and see how far they have come.

 

I write this today from the comfort of home, so very aware of my safety, my abundance, my blessings, my family- things I often take for granted. But my blessings do not all reside in the US- on each trip I leave a piece of my heart in Honduras where I am blessed to know and love so many beautiful children and the staff who love and care for them. I am also blessed to form unique, close and wonderful bonds with the people with whom I travel. Ethan, Neal, Nancy, Chief, Gill, Mary and Bruno were great to travel with and I am particularly grateful for the time I spent with my brother, Gill. Thanks, team, for joining me on this adventure!

 

Betsy