Hola –
As I’m writing this we are sitting on a bus bound for Copan. It’s about 6:00 a.m. and we’re climbing through some hills outside of Comayagua. We are joined by eight of the students from the Hogar along with Jeff the administrative director and Matt, one of the volunteers living and working in La Villa.
Yesterday was quite the day. I didn’t do my usual writing on the bus ride from La Villa to Comayagua because I just couldn’t. I just needed that time to collect my thoughts about everything I had seen and done during the week. I had ripped a couple CDs from Omar and Jacoba prior to leaving so I just popped in the earphones, listened to some of their music, and thought about the trip.
I have all of these faces of these children in my head whenever I close my eyes. They are all such magnificent kids, smiling and loving and embracing. I cannot believe how much love and affection they showed us. The best times were when we had moments to just sit and be together. The kids just drank up the attention and wanted to touch and hug and be close. I can’t help but think how little of that we give to one another in America. How often do we just sit and touch and hold the children in our lives? Of course I do it with my own children. But it’s rare that I hug and hold my nieces and nephews, and the thought of holding hands with or hugging students in the U.S. is out of the question. We do some things better and smarter in the U.S., but I think we have to bow to the Hondurans when it comes to the way in which they show love and affection to one another.
Yesterday I had a chance to tell Dilcia that I plan to be her sponsor. I found her near the basketball court and asked her to join me. I then grabbed Sarah to help with the translation. It was an awesome moment where we could just sit apart from the buzz of activity and visit with one another. When Sarah told Dilcia that I planned to be her padrino a big smile lit up her face. She is such a beautiful girl. She is a little quiet and a bit serious but she shows me that smile whenever I see her. She has this deep voice that is wonderful to listen to and she seems to need some support. Dilcia is not one of the children who would be likely to approach one of us and just shower us with attention like some of the other children do. She hangs back a bit, watching more than taking part. I cannot wait to build a relationship and friendship with Dilcia.
Dilcia comes from a family of 15 children. She only arrived at the Hogar back in January. I cannot recall exactly how old she is but I believe she is around 10 or 11. I hope that all goes well for Dilicia. She says that she is happy at the Hogar. I hope that is the case. And I hope that she will find some way to blossom in life.
Thursday was just a day of celebration. Our morning was fairly routine as we did some more teaching but also tried to finish up some of the projects we had started earlier in the week. It was a bit more of a laid back morning. I think this was the case because we all knew that this was our last day and we just wanted to drink in as much of the experience as we could with our last few remaining hours.
Around lunchtime I joined Ann at the comidor, which is a soup kitchen paid for and operated by the Hogar. It is a place where children from the village who do not live at the Hogar but who still need food can go and have a nutritious lunch every day. The comidor is operated by Alba who is this amazing lady who lives in this tiny shack herself. She does the cooking in her home then serves the food to the children under an awning in her yard. The comidor was set up as a way for the Hogar to give back to the citizens of the village. It serves about 20-30 children each day.
While at the comidor Ann and I read books aloud to the children as they ate. I read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See in Espanol to the kids. It was a lot of fun and a book with simple words and repetition which made it easy for me to get into. It also made for a convenient English lesson as I asked the kids to practice the English words for the various animals on the pages. It was a lot of fun.
Following the lunch, we distributed gifts of books to the children at the Comidor. Ann had brought with her about 30 books that had been donated by a girls group back in Eden Prairie. Each book was individually wrapped in colorful paper and came with a personalized note from one of the girls. The children washed their hands after the meal and then were each given a book to open and look at. All the books were written in Spanish. This event was hugely impromptu, but proved to be one of the more rewarding experiences in the village for me.
In the late afternoon we had a program in the courtyard. Right prior to the program, however, I said my goodbyes to some of the girls who were leaving on a bus to pick up a group of Canadian high school students from the airport. I climbed on the bus and gave a big hug to all the girls. I don’t remember exactly who was on the bus but I do remember Jessica and Rosa for sure. Then was the program. The first part of the program was us doing our best to entertain the children. Nick did a Brittney Spears lipsync, several of us acted out the Three Little Pigs, Debbie told a cute, little joke, we did a group dance led by Chris, and Mitch and Lois led the entire group in prayer. Following our performances, the kids put on a program for us of dancing and music.
Then the hard part came – saying goodbye. This lasted for a good half an hour as we all tried our best to say goodbye to as many of the children as possible. The kids I remember most from the goodbye ceremony are Mirian, Jacoba, Alba, Dilcia, Simona, Julieth, Idalia, Sarai, Christian, and Jogeni. It was extremely emotional and difficult. I just kept thinking, “Am I ever going to see these kids again,” “I just don’t want to leave these kids.” I worry about what will happen to them in the future, but I really need to remember to be comforted by the fact that they are in good hands, they are well-cared-for, and they are happy. I’ll just hope and pray for these kids as I return home and resume life.
My hope, of course, is that I will return. When that will happen, I’m not sure. I just cannot see myself never coming back here. The relationships I built with some of the kids are too important for me to just let fall away. One of my fears coming down here was that I would get hooked and feel the need to keep coming down. Well, my fears have been realized. I need to come back. I will come back.
