I know over the last few months, we have blogged rarely, at best, but I have found it hard to get motivated to write. I want to write all of this down about Honduras so I can share with you about my experience. I have had a hard time communicating my experience verbally, I don't know if I'll do any better by writing it, but bear with me. It will probably be a brain dump.
It is hard to describe my experience, I have tried to sum it up in one word and I can't think of one word that is awesome enough to describe what I heard, saw, felt, thought, etc. We got to Honduras on Saturday night and went straight to the boys who live at the shelter VBS program. Most of it was in Spanish, but it was so much fun to see the boys express what they had learned in VBS, they sang, quoted bible verses and had a whole lot of fun. That night I began to get to know the boys, they are so loveable, they all want attention and love, but are also very patient.
Sunday morning we got up and went to church, it was all in Spanish and it was great to hear all of the songs we sing in Church sung in Spanish, while we sang along in English, this was our first opportunity to meet the older boys who live on the Farm. The boys from 5 - 12 live in the Shelter in Tegucigapa and the boys over 12 live at the farm in a town called Monte Redondo. After church we went to lunch at the farm and then headed back to Tegucigapa to go to a soccer game between two national Honduran soccer teams. It was a chance of a lifetime for the boys and they had a great time. It was fun for me to see as well, I'm not so much into soccer, but to watch the boys was lots of fun.
We slept every night at the shelter where the little boys live, so we had lots more time with them and also had the 45 minute bus ride every morning to get to know them better. The language was a barrier some, but we had great translators who helped us communicate. Monday morning, we got up and headed to the farm, but on the way we got our first experience with the Food Ministry. We would stop the bus on the side of the road and bring food to families that Stan (the director) has visited before. Most of these people are squatters who live on the side of the road in what I will describe as shacks at best. They almost all have dirt floors, with whatever they can find to make walls and a roof. There is no running water, no bathrooms, just a one room shack where the entire family lives. Most of the familes consist of a mother with 5 or more kids living together, lots of times there are 3 or 4 generations living in one little house. As little as they had, they always invited us into their homes, we talked with them, we played with the kids and gave the kids candy. Usually the food we brought was rice, beans, canned milk, cereal, flour, corn meal, etc. They were all very kind people who were very grateful for a group of North Americans that come and bring them food, smiles and hugs. Here are a couple of pictures of some special families I met during the food ministry.
We did the food ministry Monday, Tuesday and Wendesday morning. Every afternoon, we went to the farm, ate lunch, and while the men worked building a fence, the women did arts and crafts and played with the boys. One afternoon we tie dyed t shirts, we did paper mache, made books, necklaces and yo yos. We also played lots and lots of games. We taught them Duck, Duck, Goose, which in Spanish is Bato, Bato, Gonzo. We played red light, green light and lots and lots of soccer.
That is also a great time to bond with the boys. On Monday, I saw a little boy named Moises walking with Stan (the director in Honduras). He was only 5 years old and the youngest boy in the shelter. I went up to them and asked if Moises would come sit in my lap, he agreed and the picture below is right when he sat down with me.
After that, I wanted to be with him all the time. We walked together and held hands, we could not really communicate verbally because of our language barrier, but we communicated anyway. He would sit with me on the bus, during meals, and we played together for a lot of the trip. On Tuesday, we got a coke bottle, cut the top off, and threw rocks in it for about an hour and a half. We had the best time.
On Wendesday, we played all afternoon together. I helped him climb almost every tree on the farm, he would climb and pick every berry or nut off of the tree and threw them to me to hold. He then would jump from as high as could, looking very pretend scared, and crying "Jaime, Jaime, Jaime" until he jumped into my arms. We played for hours.
That night on the way to church, he fell asleep in my arms on the bus, and we sat very close during the whole church service. He did not fall asleep on the way back from church, but he laid in my lap and we talked about the stars "estraillas" the whole way home.
On Thursday, we left the kids at the orphange to do their chores, they hand wash their own clothes, hang them to dry, wash their own dishes and each have nightly chores to keep the orphange looking nice. The adults headed to Denali, a town about 2 hours away. Lots of the boys who live in the shelter and at the farm are from Denali and we were going there to see if we could get any more boys off of the streets and into the shelter. It was a beautiful day and as we sat in the park and sang songs in Spanish, several street kids came and we were able to talk to them. There were sisters and brothers and uncles of some of the boys in the shelter. We showed them pictures from our camera and they could see and hear they were doing well. We did not bring any boys back with us, but there are several Stan will go back and talk to at a different time and try to get them to come back with him.
On Friday, I had to say goodbye to all of the boys and come home. I was so ready to come home to my family, but I felt as if I was leaving some family behind as well. It was very hard to leave all the boys, but especially Moises. We had become the very best of friends, and my heart aches right now thinking of him. His mother gave him to the orphange to protect him and his brothers from an abusive father, so I know she was doing the very best she could from him. But, my heart breaks that he does not have a mother to put him to bed at night, to clean his hands and face after he eats, take care of all of his bumps and bruises. His story is so much better then the majority of the boys, they have seen and experienced much worse than him. But, the shelter is a wonderful place and they people who run it provide so much love and security for these boys that would never have it. Still, my heart aches that he will never have a normal home, with a mom and a dad and brothers and sisters. I did not know how I could love someone so much, after just knowing them a week, but I now know. I can't wait to see him again, and hopefully next year I will get to back and visit.
Here is a picture at all of the boys at the shelter.
There are so many more things I want to say, but I don't know how to put them in words. It was a wonderful, fantastic, emotional week for me. I saw God work in so many ways through everyone who went on the trip and everyone we met while we were there. Things are very clear in Honduras, I seem to muddy things up here in the United States. Every meal time another child says the prayer and they are such sweet sincere prayers. They always pray for each other, for the kids on the street, their moms, the leadership at the shelter and the people who are there to help them. They always share their food. These kids have fought their whole lives for every scrap of bread and yet if one of them is still hungry after their food is gone, they always share. They fight, like all boys, but for most of the time, they take very good care of each other.
Every morning and every night we would have devotion and share time and Stan always would get out his guitar and we would sing. The below link is some of the kids from the shelter singing with Stan. This is just one of the several songs that are on GodTube where you can see them sing. Click on the below link or search on FCM (Forgotten Children Ministries) on Godtube.com
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=dff883ba2d52715c97bbI have watched these many times since I have been home. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. I probably will post again with more pictures and stories.
