Hello Family and Friends. I apologize once again for how often I neglect to update all of you. A lot has gone on since May. For instance I have been home and back in that time. The container of goods finally came last night and we’ve gotten at least 6 new kids in that time. Where to start then? I suppose I will start where I left off.
June
In the first week of June I made my way stateside for the first time in a year. I went primarily to help out in our offices in Philly and afterwards I continued onto Boston. In Philly — really Malvern and Phoenixville (suburbs of Philly) I spent my time getting to know the other side of Amigos de Jesus, the office side. Donors, paperwork, spreading the ADJ message ect. Originally my visit was planned around helping to pack the container we were sending with hundreds of donations but as luck…or misfortune would have it, bad weather delayed my flight for an unexpected overnight stay in Miami thus preventing me from reaching Malvern until 3pm the following day. That seemingly small chunk of time was allotted for sorting donations and packing the container to be shipped and I had missed it, kind of ironic when that was one of the only reasons for going to Malvern in the first place. But if Honduras has taught me anything it’s don’t sweat the small stuff, because sometimes things are just unavoidable and there’s no use getting stressed and worked up about it. That morning though, Emily, our executive director had a team of volunteers ready to go and they did a wonderful job sorting donations and getting what would be useful to us in Honduras onto the container. When I finally got to meet up with everybody they were in a local restaurant and clearly pooped but they were oddly very enthusiastic after hours of packed a container. I got to meet everyone in the group and they asked me a ton of questions about the Hogar, my flights ect. I was an awesome way to be welcomed home after the layover in Miami. Everyone I met was extremely nice and obviously very supportive of ADJ.
For the next four days I worked with Emily as well as Patricio and Alan (both former volunteers at ADJ) and we discussed some planning for the future at ADJ Hondo as well as helped out with two events stateside. Which included a board meeting to answer any questions the board might have had about the statusof the school or staff ect. The second meeting was with the local Knights of Columbus, we presented a program to them in hopes that they would support ADJ, at the end of our 20 mins they gave a resounding yes and a promise to help get us support at the state level. All in all the trip was informative and enjoyable and probably the best way to ease me back into first world living since everyone knew the kids I had been working with and had lived or worked at Amigos de Jesus. Later in the week I made my way to Boston and spent the rest of the time I took off with my family and friends, which was excellent.
On my commute to Boston Emily broke the news that Oscarito had passed away, and I feel like I have a lot to say about how I was feeling at the time and how heartbroken I was but I just don’t want to write it here so I will pass along something my boss wrote, because she captures his life here so beautifully.
When I came back to the Hogar I had an overwhelming and wonderful welcome back from the kids and was nearly trampled. It was so good to see them after 12 days of being away. The girls all chanted my name at the gate, it was awesome to know how loved I am here because it is easy to forget sometimes!
Shortly after my trip home we ended Preschool for the year. It was bittersweet to say the least.In the past 8 months, all of our kids have come so far and it seemed like they were really trying to prove it in our final week. In that last weeks some of our students were making leaps and bounds. Fani learned how to draw stick figures without any help, Brayan could make flowers and they could both(finally) write their names. Some of them were getting really good at cutting straight with scissors and others were finally able to just sit quietly and do their work. We tested them all individually that week and almost all of them had learned our 25 English focus words. Kristin and I were beyond happy to see the progress and we know that our kids will be doing big things next year in Preschool and in their new Kindergarten class. On our last day of school I thought back to the first day and how much of a nightmare it was, I am proud to say that between Kristin, Jose and myself we were able to not only teach our kids some English and school -related skills but more importantly we taught them to be better friends and better listeners — in doing that that have a great set up to be attentive students. I cannot wait to see where they go in the upcoming school year.
July
The highlights from this month include a short mission trip to the Hogar and swimming lessons! In the beginning of the month we welcomed in 18 volunteers for a crazy, hectic and fulfilling week to the Hogar. They helped us out in so many ways and were great entertainment for our kids. They arrived here the 7th of July and left on the 14th. In the week that they were here they helped move a fence from one piece of our property to where our bilingual school is located. Not an easy task, considering the posts are concrete and the physical fence is made of barbed wire. But they did it (in just three days!) We also had a group working in the woodshop for the week where they helped start and finish 6 picnic tables that the kids have been using to do homework and hang out in the shade all this week. We also had summer school for a week and we couldn’t have pulled it off without the extra hands. Our kids got to do a lot of creative projects and just have fun without the structure of a classroom. When the week was over, they were asking us when we were going to do it again.
The group that visited ranged in ages from 19 to 70 and everyone helped us out in some way- big and small. We were extremely blessed and lucky to have them. And I know the kids were especially excited to have new people to play with. Father Dennis accompanied the group and had mass with the entire Hogar on a few different occasions, which was a nice break from walking to mass 30 mins awayin the heat and mud. Plus he does really excellent homilies that the kids love (and so do the adults!)
Since our kids were so excited about summer school, we have decided to do a modified version this upcoming week. Two days out of the week we will be doing swimming lessons with them at the local pool! I am looking forward to this mainly because so many of our kids are terrible swimmers and give me a heart attack at the river or the pool. Wish us luck!
In addition to the mission trip we hosted, we have been bringing in our new volunteers for next year. So far we have welcomed in 4, all of whom are in Copan Ruinas for Spanish school. It’s weird to think that a year ago I was there. I have come a long way and have so much more road to cover. I can’t wait for the new group to start but am sad to see the community of volunteers I live with currently leave. The group I came with leaves August 20th.
Until next time — hopefully sooner this time,
Meg
As always enjoy some pictures!
My Adventure in Honduras 