Lunch at the Comidar

One of the great things the Hogar does for the community is offer lunch every day for the neighborhood children. Alba opens her home to 20-30 neighborhood children every week day.
Today, there were about 20 children from age 1 to 11 eating spaghetti and cabbage amidst the dogs chasing the chickens in the yard.

Today was a special day at the Comidar because Ann and Chris K. read books to the kids as they ate. Then, after lunch, the kids washed the spaghetti off their hands and faces and waited for a special surprise. Wrapped in paper, each child received a book of their own. It was so fun to watch them open their gift with such excitement. It will be a lunch to remember.

Larry

Fishing and Kindergarten day 2

Yesterday, was another eventful day. After my kindergarten lesson we headed out to the fishing pond, where we proceeded to teach the children the basics to our way of fishing. Many have fished before, but never with poles. Sometimes they have used a string and a close pin. Other times they have used a net. They loved casting out and reeling it in. Although we didn't catch any fish, the children had a ton of fun. On my next trip the plan is to make it out to Lake Yahoa, which almost occurred on this trip.

After fishing, all 18 of us piled into the truck with the fishing gear. However, there was one small problem, we didn't have any gas. We spent the next 40 minutes walking back to the hogar with all of the gear. The truck we used doesn't have a gas gage, so that makes things very difficult. It was a fun walk, because I got to have a very long conversation with Julisa about life in Honduras. Julisa was the first child that I met when I got off the plane. We road back in the school bus together for four hours so our connection was immediate. Anyway, on our long walk back we talked about hopes and dreams. I have a strong connection with Julisa and plan to correspond with her for a long time.

This morning I spent working in the kindergarten room. We played the "Cheerio Math". It was so fun, but also extremely difficult. I cannot wait to show the video and pictures to my students in Eden Prairie.

It was great having a lot of extra hands helping with the project. Thank you Kevin, Jeanine, Larry, Chris, Mitch, Lois, Becky. The kids really started to get it, which is one of the reasons I became a teacher. Many children had the "Ah ha!" moment. It was a total rush. It's great to be a teacher!

Hasta luego!

Nick Windschitl

Beth and Marcela

When i first brought up Hogar Tierra Santa at Eagle Heights, Beth told me that she had been there before. We quickly sat down and shared our experiences and pictures with each other. Beth told me one story of a little girl named Marcela. During Beth's first week, Marcela arrived at the hogar. She was only about a year old and in desperate need of attention. She clung to Beth and called her mama. Marcela and Beth were together everyday while she was here. Beth asked me to check up on Marcela while I was here. Well Beth, Marcela is doing great! When i first got here she ran up to me and gave me a big hug! Shorty after, i sat down with her and told her about Beth. I told her that one of my friends that i work with was here the day she arrived at the hogar. I told her that Beth still thinks about her and loves her. I will never forget the look on her face. She said "really? she remembers me?" And i told her of all of your pictures Beth, and how she is the one you talked about most. She just had this huge smile on her face. It was great. I am going to talk to her more about you today. I just wanted you share that with everyone and with you Beth. I know that this story has made her month...or year. I hope some day you can come back and reunite with your little girl. Lots of love!

Sarah

Weepy Wednesday

The day began as most others in my life…chopping the mortar off bricks in the 90 degree weather! O.k., that’s not exactly what I do for a living, but some days at RSM are equally as aggravating...I mean challenging....I mean rewarding!

Next on the agenda for the day was Lice Shampoo treatments for over thirty of my closest girlfriends. This was quite the process but what was most impressive is how the girls, even the two and three year olds, knew exactly what to do and how to use a lice comb. Not a talent shared by many toddlers and teens from Minnesota. YUP, I did save two bottles so we could do a group de-licing before we leave on Friday. Head Lice is a souvenir you do NOT want to take home from Honduras.

Although my natural reaction was to feel sorry for my brothers and sisters of the Hogar, I can’t help but think about how lucky these kids are to have each other and to have this safe place to call home. It certainly may not meet my personal standards, or those of many of us from Minnesota, it is their home, a SAFE home, and they take great pride in it.

There were countless awesome moments throughout the day. I brought a journal along and began to have the kids sign it / write in it today. Those pages will be cherished and read and re-read for a long time. Oh my goodness…how are we going to make it through Thursday afternoon - driving away in the bus and not knowing “tomorrow’s” fate for the boys and girls we have begun to claim as our own? I believe we have indeed found “the least of these” and all we can do is continue to keep them in our thoughts and prayers for the days, months, years to come.

Lois Hegland

Video from Wednesday afternoon

Video from Wednesday morning

Hi from Chris from Wednesday

Guess what? We had another dia fantastica a el Hogar!

As other days, there were just so many activities going on throughout the day. At any point during the day there were probably five or six groups doing five or six different activities. We did everything from lessons in the kindergarten room to window sill repair to tie-dye to lice removal to fishing to reading to the kids. It’s like this constant buzz of activity going on at any given time. I try my best to capture it all on pictures or video and still have time to do some work myself and visit as much as I can with the kids.

Ann and I worked a bit more in the library in the morning preparing for a lesson later in the day. In the course of the last couple of days we had removed some of the outdated books or books that had a great deal of damage. We placed them in a box with the idea that they could be thrown away. But today Iris, Santiago’s wife, took a look at the books and did not seem to like the idea of getting rid of them. Sarah explained to us that for the Hogar it is very difficult to throw anything out. But from our perspectives as librarians we know that if a library is half-filled with books the kids would have no interest in reading that the kids will have less successful experiences using the library. If the kids have to sift through shelf after shelf of poor quality books to get to the good stuff, they’ll get frustrated and just give up. I don’t know how we’ll ever communicate this to the folks at the Hogar, however. But the library job could be a large, ongoing project that, if given the chance, we could really make better. We’ll see what happens.

In the afternoon, Chris A and Karla helped Ann and me organize a library lesson with about thirty or forty of the kids. We held the class out in the courtyard. Chris helped us translate. Ann and I talked to the kids about how to properly take care of and handle books. We also gave them some basic things to think about when using the library. But by far the best part was when we gave the kids time to touch the books, read the books, or have the books read to them by the many adults who helped us. All the books were in Spanish so the kids were able to pick them up and dig right in. The older kids, anyway. The younger kids were read to by many folks from our group, even though many of us don’t really speak Espanol. But we tried, and that was awesome!

We also showed the kids the book that I wrote, which was really fun for me. Because it is a graphic novel, the students I sat with could actually follow the story without knowing how to read the words. They asked me lots of questions and I tried my best to help explain the story.

Beyond the books that were donated by Capstone and Scholastic, the kids also got to take a look at the books that were created by students from Deb Haraway’s 6th graders back at Oak Point. This was super fun! I sat with a couple different groups and read them a counting book about foods. They were able to practice their English words. Another girl sat and read two of the story books. The books were written in English and I don’t think she knew what she was reading, but she pronounced the words very well. The kids from Oak Point should be proud of the gift they gave to the Hogar.

Enseñando a los de Kinder

¡Hola a todos! Hoy pasé la mañana ayudando en el salón de Kinder. Era muy diferente de las clases de Kinder en Eden Prairie. Solamente tuvieron 2 mesas, y aproximadamente 20 escritorios. Habían 3o niños en la clase y una maestra. Los niños aquí también tienen merienda y recreo, pero es muy diferente de lo que tenemos nosotros. ¡No puedo esperar para compartir mis experiencias con todos ustedes!
¡Un beso y un abrazo fuerte!
Srta. Asuquo

Kindergarten

This morning was fantastic! I just got back from a three hour tour in the classroom that started in the kindergarten room. I was a little nervous to teach my lesson. It's hard enough to teach 22 English speakers in Eden Prairie, but 30+ 5 and 6-year-olds that don't speak English is another story. I wasn't sure if I would be able to communicate as well as I wanted to, but it turned out to be wonderful!

My first activity was to read the book "It looks like spilled milk"to the children. They were very attentive and listened and interacted extremely well with the story. However, after the book I had a painting project that went along with the story. I was surprised that none of the children knew any of their sounds and were unable to write their name. They also looked extremely small for their age. Anyway, there was paint all over the place! I'm not sure they have ever used paint before. Totally crazy, but when the kids folded their paper and then opened it up to see their creations, they were very excited.

After my lesson I went and worked with Natasha, Larry, Jeanine and Chris on some other art projects. After three hours of trying to communicate in Spanish while teaching lessons, I am physically and mentally exhausted. The people taking down the wall have nothing on us. Our work was tough, but extremely gratifying!



Tomorrow I plan to do a cheerio math activity with the kids, which I hope will have less cleanup.

Nick Windschitl

The Animals and Critters of Honduras

As I lay in bed hearing the dog barks echo through the streets of Comayagua, I thinking about the different animals and critters I see every day. In our backyard, we hear the parrots screech their ever present "Holas" to everyone who walks by. There are blackbirds feasting in the mango trees and geckos scurrying on the ceiling to greet us each night. On the trip to the Hogar, we see horses roaming freely and cows with their calves wandering down the roads. Vulture-like birds circle the sky and all kinds of critters roam the ground. Fire ants, termites and all kinds of beetles are found underfoot. As we walked back to the Hogar, we watched a happy calf eating the leaves from the Mango tree cut down earlier by Evan and Ben. Never seen a more content soul.

Larry

Laundry

WOW....we have a whole new appreciation for washing machines! We dyed shirts yesterday and today the job was to "launder in the warmest water for the fabric." Well.......water is a different resource here. I thought maybe we could find a laundromat in town to throw a couple loads in. EVERYONE here washes all their laundry by hand the old fashioned way. Even the hotel we are staying at does it this way. So, we used a bar of soap and a washboard and buckets of water we dipped from the pila (rainwater)and washed all approx. 60 shirts we had let sit overnight. It was a humbling and enlightening experience. The clotheslines are full of colorful shirts that each child had labeled and made themselves.

Today we also did a easier version of dyeing with 21 of the younger kids. All we had to do was help them tie these magic dye-filled strings around their shirts, then dip them in salted water, cut off the strings and wa-lah.....they were done. Needless to say the kids liked that they were done so quickly. Their faces were priceless. The yard is filled with colorful drying camisas that are strung on extention cords and ropes. This afternoon we will be doing all the boys camisas and laundering them tomorrow!!

The things we take for granted in the USA like water, machines, and sidewalks are very different here.

We are having an incredible experience and cannot wait to tell you more stories and share photos when we get back.

Hasta luega!!

Jeanne and Darla

More Video from Tuesday

Video from Tuesday

Tuesday from the Hogar

Tuesday was another fantastic day! Should I keep saying that or is it getting old? Oh well, I’m just speaking the truth as the days just keep getting better and better.

Today was not unlike yesterday in that we arrived at the Hogar in the morning, did some work, then spent some time in the afternoon just hanging out with the kids.

What was different about today were two things – the outdoor brick factory and the program at the school. On our way out of Comayagua we stopped at a traditional brick factory. It was quite an interesting experience. We were able to watch a man assemble the mud bricks then others firing them in the kiln. If you watch the Amazing Race, there was an episode where the contestants had to make bricks. The way they did it here was exactly the same. What wasn’t quite as enjoyable to see was the kids who came to see us as we walked around the brick factory. They were very cute but unfortunately they were very dirty and several did not have many clothes on. One of the little boys also had reddish bumps all over his body. It was an eye-opener.

At the Hogar one of our first events was to attend a program put on by the children at the Tierra Santa school. They danced for us, sang songs, and sang the national anthem of Honduras. We were very grateful for the show.

Following the program, we all went various directions to do various things. One thing new today for some was the chance to do some teaching. Jeannine, Sam, Nick, Michael, and Natasha taught a drawing and beading class for the 4th-grade students. The beading was an especially big hit and many kids later in the day continued to bead with Jeannine.

Perhaps my biggest highlight of the day was watching Chris A teach a dance to many of the girls. They had so much fun and provided so many smiles for those of us watching. Kudos to Chris for preparing for this and pulling it off big time. I hope the girls do the dance for us a few more times before we leave. It’s been hinted at that we might put on a program for the kids before we leave on Thursday. Maybe Chris and the girls will perform for us all once more.

I spent the rest of my time today doing some work in the library, playing soccer with a bunch of the boys, and visiting with many of mis nuevas amigas. I honestly can say that I have never, ever had so much fun practicing my Spanish. The kids are so accepting of my slow speaking and how I butcher many of their words. They are so patient and give me every chance to get it right. I’m using my phrase book and any words I can pull from deep inside my brain. I know I’m not very good, but I’m doing better than I thought I would be doing. I haven’t ever had a chance like this to really speak the language, where the person I’m speaking to knows English less than I know Spanish. It’s the best experience ever! Will I continue to try and learn more Spanish when I get home? I sure hope so.

Another great thing about speaking the language here is that those of us in the group who do speak fluent Spanish don’t step in and correct us poor speakers very often. They let us struggle through, which is great, but then they are always there when we need them. I am so thankful that we have Debbie, Sarah, Holly and Chris with us on this trip. You’re all the best!!!

Busting Walls and Building Bridges

We began the day visiting a brick factory. The word “factory” doesn’t quite do this operation justice. You can’t imagine how hard these men, women and yes, even children work, making each brick by hand. It seems like days ago that we made this trip.

At the Hogar, I began the day organizing the many donations that we collected and that many of you contributed. What a moving experience to see it all come together and blessing to be able to get into the hands of those who need it. And what need there is!

We did plenty of dirty work today as well. Yes, the wall is mostly down, but now we are picking up the pieces and hauling it away to the farm.

True, we came to work and that included breaking down a huge wall. But that is not really what this trip is about…I am seeing that this is about building bridges. Bridges between the Hogar, the many dedicated volunteers, and each of these beautiful children. We started building walls, but now we are building bridges.

Blessings to you all,

Mitch

Head Lice and Hospitality

Although I am currently sitting here with Lice Shampoo in my hair (sigh), today goes down as one of the best days I have ever experienced. We, once again, did not accomplish everything on “the list” and I am DELIGHTED about that fact. That meant I got to spend part of my day doing bracelets with the girls. Doing bracelets included highlights such as:

• About 3,427 hugs
• Ten little girls giggling as they yell “MITCH!"....mimicking me, of course!
• Six little girls making fun of me because I only know about five words of Spanish.
• Four beaded bracelets that were made just for me!
• Three young ladies telling me to stay and to not get on the bus.
• One farewell kiss on the cheek from a special young lady (Mike, it was Lesvia…she is a real gem!)

The time is flying by too quickly and I am already in fear of the buckets of tears that will be shed as we drive away on Thursday afternoon.This trip has proven to exceed my expectations in so many ways.This group of people is tremendous – hard working, dedicated, passionate, talented, patient, loving and even a couple of them are funny!

I can’t wait to get home because I sure miss my own kids, but if you gave me a nickel I’d never go back to work again! Something tells me I’m going to have to take some additional vacation time off so I can plan our next mission trip!

Blessings -
Lois Hegland

Back in Honduras!

Being back here is amazing. My first encounter with the kids was very overwhelming and emotional. I was scared that i wouldn't remember all of the names...i was right. I love seeing the kids with the legacy group. they just LOVE them! I could write forever about our experiences, but there is one story that i would like to share.

When i was down here last year, my mom wanted to come and visit so badly but was unable to. She asked me to pick out a kid for her to sponsor that i was close to, and who i thought would be a good fit for her. I chose a little girl named Demaris. She is beautiful inside and out. She is 8 years old and has three sisters and one brother with her here at the hogar. She follows me around like a puppy dog. I have been communicating with my mom and Demaris about each other for over a year. There were finally able to meet on this trip! I arrived on Friday night without the group, and the first thing Demaris asked me was about her "mardrina", which means godmother. I told her that she would be here Sunday morning and would have all week with her. I could see the look of excitement in her eyes. on Sunday i arrived to the hogar after the group was already there. i walked through the gates and Wendy, Demaris little sister, came and got me. "Your mom is here", she said. "She is with Demaris, come and see!" I walked over and saw the Demaris on my mom's lap. I couldn't help the tears. This little girl was finally able to meet her "madrina" who she thinks about about constantly. And my mom was finally able to meet the little girl she supports and loves from a long distance. For the first time they were able to hug each other and say "i love you". Bringing these two together means the world to me! Only about a third of the kids get to meet their madrinas. Obviously this is a special one for me. The last few days we have been able to spend lots of time together. The three of us have sat down i have translated their conversations. It is an honor to do so! Well, back to the kids. I am off to play uno with Demaris and my mom. More later...hasta luego!

Sarah

De la Señora Berkey

¡Buenas tardes!

No puedo creer que ya es el martes. Ya vimos una boda, bajamos un muro, pintamos muchísimo, reparamos paredes y claro que tambien estamos conociendo a los niños. A ellos les gustan hacer programas con canciones y baile. Además de esto, les gusta jugar. Están en exámenes, entonces estudian bastante ahorita tambien.

Hace mucho calor, pero esto no me molesta mucho. La verdad es que me gusta el calor... creo que es bueno para los músculos y la piel : )

Hoy visitamos un sitio donde fabrican ladrillos. Fue muy interesante. Ayer fuimos al supermercado y tenía oportunidad comprar cosas que extraño mucho. Por ejemplo, marmelada de piña, galletas que no se puede conseguir en los EEUU, cremas, etc. También estoy muy emocionada recibir la placa que compré el domingo. Es de un paisaje hondureño. Será muy lindo.

Pues, me voy. ¡Hasta luego!

Sra. Berkey

Video from Monday at the Hogar

Greetings from Larry on Tuesday

Greetings from Larry,

After a scrambled egg and toast breakfast, we were off bright and early to the brick makers to watch them create the most important building material in Honduras. We watched a young man bending over a form that makes four bricks. He moved like a dancer, scooping a handful of mud and dropping it into the form. With perfect correography, he would scoop and drop a perfect amount into the form. Then he took his fists and pound the clay into the form. Next, he picked up handfuls and dropped them gracefully back into the form...making sure that all of the form was filled and no air pockets existed. Scoop, pound, lift, flop, smooth. In no time at all, he had four perfectly formed bricks, ready to dry out and put in the kiln.

Thinking this was easy, Jeannine and I volunteered to make a few bricks ourselves. Not so gracefully, we scooped up a handful of mud and toss it into the form. It took as as long to fill the form with mud as it did for our mentor to complete the whole process. My second handful fell on top of a few of his perfect bricks. How embarrassing!

Finally, after a few minutes of slow work, Jeannine and I were ready to lift the form and see our creations. The master brick maker walked over (made a few improvements) and lifted the form for us. Voila...four almost perfect bricks. Luckily for the country of Hondura, Jeannine and I have retired from the brick making business. I have a new found appreciation for the skill it takes and the hard work required to make a brick.

Larry

Más pintura...

Ay ya yay!
Hace mucho calor aquí pero todavía estamos trabajando. Esta mañana los niños hicieron otro programa para nosotros. Bailaron bailes típicos, cantaron, bailaron más, y dijeron el juramento a su bandera. Grabé la mayoría del programa y puedo mostrarlo al regresar. Creo que escuché a niños llamando "Rosita" pero no vi a ella. ¡No lo puedo creer! Era posible que Rosita viniera dentro de mi mochila... No sé. Les escribo más tarde.
Con amor,
Señorita Asuquo

TQOMSS

Paint fumes!

HOLA from Honduras!
This experience is beyond words. The children have touched my hearts with all the many smiles we get each moment they see us.
I'm taking a break from painting the beds with oil base paint- the fumes were getting to me so I thought I'd write a little. I painted walls yesterday and ran out of paint to give it a second coat.Others started this morning with the second coat, so I started up with the beds. I became very emotional yesterday to see the living condition of these children. Yet they are always so happy! They are very well taken care of and we certainly have witnessed children in worse conditions.
I'm going to go for now, it's almost lunch and i have to clean up my paint stuff.
Love to my children, grandson and all my friends,

Darla Parrague

More from Monday

Okay, our visit to the Hogar has just finished for the day. And what a day it was!

We began the morning with another breakfast at Hotel Quan. This morning we were served French toast, along with the usual dark morning coffee. The way the breakfast room is arranged is that there are about five table inside the café and then another three or four outside. Because our group is so large we need every chair the café has. It’s a simple, easy breakfast and a very good way to start every day.

Following breakfast, at roughly 8:00, we boarded the bus. Our first stop was the Mall Premiere where we spent a good hour shopping at the grocery store. This was a cultural experience in and of itself. Five from the group were given the task of buying all the necessary items for lunches for the next four days. The rest of us were free to roam around buying coffee, candy, snacks, and drinks. Sam and I even took time out to have dos cafes at a bar inside the grocery store. Mine was café con leche, Sam’s was café negra.

Then our day at the Hogar began. Upon arrival the Hogar was mostly empty except for a few workers doing the daily chores around the grounds. The children were off at school. Some attend school right in the village just a short walk away. Others, the older children, attend high schools in nearby villages.

Because the kids were busy at el colegio, we had much time to begin various projects. Sarah Fimmen and Annie Bjerke took most of the group on a walkthrough of some of the buildings to explain what was needed. Bob and Doug then did an awesome job serving as pseudo project leaders. Folks in this group did everything from minor repairs in the bathroom and kitchen to cleaning and painting one of the children’s rooms to painting cribs in the toddler room.

While this work was going on, others tackled a large brick wall the stood in the front of the Hogar courtyard. It was our job to tear down this wall so that a water filtration building can begin to be constructed a few weeks from now. This building will allow the Hogar to bottle enough water to not only serve their own needs but also the needs of many others in the villa.

The wall went down fairly easily, thanks to the brute strength of several tough Minnesotans. Once the wall toppled over it was then necessary to break it into small enough chunks to load into the back of a pickup.

Adjacent to this wall was a bathroom building that also needed to come down. Mitch (aka Hurricane) and Evan (aka Almighty) gave removing the toilets the old college try, but to no avail. Thank goodness for the hepatitis shots, eh boys? We decided to leave the toilets for another day. Too bad my friend Neil T wasn’t here. Neil earned a reputation for expert toilet removal on a trip to New Orleans in 2006. Maybe we’ll save the toilets for Neil and convince him to come next time.

In the afternoon the children returned to the Hogar. We had mucho tiempo to visit and play with the kids. Again I got to know many children. They are all so friendly and happy to talk. Some are trouble, though, and are clearly having some fun at our expense. The joke is on us most of the time as we scramble to find an interpreter to tell us what they are saying and why they are laughing so loudly. It’s all in fun and of course we love it.

Among the children I worked with or hung out with today were Giovanni, Jessica, Alba, Sarai, Wendy Esmerelda, and Maria Isabel. Giovanni had a little too much fun wielding his machete.

It was another great day and I just can’t wait to get back tomorrow. Hasta manana!

Chris

Tuesday

We just arrived back from the school where the children put on a program of dancing and singing and welcomed us with lots of smiles and hugs. This place is truly incredible....lots to process! I will leave it to say that the children are beautiful and full of joy and living in such a way that will be hard to forget....yet they have smiles all the time.

This morning we visited a brick factory, and you will be surprised when the pictures come up at what a 'factory' is. The wood factory that we visited on Sunday was also surprising.We will be going back to retrieve our purchases on Thursday. I am guessing that the woodworkers have been carving day and night to fill our orders!

Larry and Jeanine made bricks and had the brickmaker enjoying their efforts!

This afternoon we will be tie-dyeing and playing BINGO and we cannot wait to interact with the kids in these projects. They are excited to have us here even when we don't do things with them!

Hasta Luego,

Jeanne

Things I've learned in the Honduras (Part 1)

-When the Berlin Wall came down, it's got nothing on this group.
-There are a hundred ways to fix P B and J's but no Hondurn equivalent of Marshmallow Fluff
-A leopard doesn't change its spots but it can change its habitat
-There's no such thing as too much Purell!
-A store with the word "Carrion" plastered on the side of the building can havereally great groceries
-As Honduras Bob would say "we're the circus in town"-guess that means we have to give everyone " The Greatest Show on Earth"

Ann