Honduras Day 2 – HO330

February 3, 2014

by Lisa Pickering

The second day of my trip to Honduras, we went to Compassion Center HO330.  As usual Grace (our tour guide) send back some child packets of children for HO330 that needed sponsors.  Well, Hilary and I looked at them, and I saw the sweetest of girls, Cristi who is 10 years old.  I kept her packet and handed the other two to Hilary, who looked at them, and found a sweet little girl for her to sponsor as well.  Hilary was debating, and we decided that she would pass it on around the bus, and if she came back to the front, it was meant for Hilary.  Well, needless to say, she was back to the front, and Hilary thought about it, and finally decided to sponsor her.  The other packet was a boy, and he found a sponsor as well. The three kids were not at the center on Monday, but would be there the next day.  We were both so excited.

The first day we spent at HO330, was so much fun, and we got to play with the “babies”.  Compassion Honduras had just started the Child Survivor Program (CSP), January 15, so only a couple weeks had passed since it was started.  We got to see a lot of young moms with their young children, and even some pregnant moms.

When we walked in, we were greeted by the children and mothers, and they were waving Honduras flags, and cheering.  They were so glad to see us, and we were so happy to see them.   Once we were seated the older children of the program  danced for us.  The girls were so pretty in their blue and white outfits, with the Honduras Flags.  They were lead by their teachers.

 

 

 

 

When the girls were done dancing for us, some of the teenage girls/boys performed a dance/skit for us.  It was so moving, even though we did not understand the words (as they were in Spanish).  You could see that it was good vs evil, and of course the good won.  It was very moving.

The teachers all introduced themselves to us, and then the children went downstairs to their classrooms for lunch. Each day that the children attend the center, they receive a healthy lunch.  All of the sponsors got to serve lunch to the children.  It was really neat how organized the center was to be able to feed so many children in  a short time.  We took trays of food the different classrooms for the children, and then we took trays of juice to the children.  The center has bottled water to use for consumption to keep the children healthy.

While the children were eating some of the sponsors were “entertaining” them.  Ok, Jay was being really silly, and so was Mark.  Jay was going room to room, spinning a tray, to see the classroom that cheered the loudest.  Then he was showing the kids this “trick” of two fingers on one hand, and one on the other, then he turned around, and the two fingers went to the other hand.  The kids were laughing, and one young boy next to me was mimicking Jay’s action.  No words were spoken, but you could see in the facial expressions what he was saying.  I agreed, Jay is goofy.

One of the classrooms, the teacher was having the children make “fruit of the spirit roses” out of pipe cleaners and toilet tissue.  They were all trying to figure out how to get the pipe cleaners twisted the right way.  Meanwhile one of the translators and a couple sponsors were trying to figure out the order of the Fruit of the spirit’s in both English and Spanish for the children.  This way they could write the English on one side of a leaf and the Spanish on the other side.   We were trying to help the children get them made.  Of course we had one “sponsor” who sat in the back, and would not acklnowledge that he was encouraging the boys to be silly.  One of the boys made a pair of glasses from his pipe cleaners instead of making his rose.

Later in the day, one of the young girls brought her rose upstairs, and gave to me.  I will cherish this rose. 

A little later, a young man gave his rose to Cissie (my roommate).  We were both honored.

In another classroom was Mark (another one of our guides) who was being really “loco” or silly in one of the classrooms.  They were sitting on an old mattress on the floor, and were making all kinds of silly faces, as we took pictures.  He was even sneaking and taking pictures of the girls sitting around him.  The children loved to look at the pictures on the camera.  Again, no words were spoken, but a lot of emotions were shared.

CSP – Babies

We were called upstairs to visit with the CSP moms and babies, as it was almost time for them to leave the center.  The babies were so sweet, and little gifts of stuffed animals, blankets, socks, and little outfits were given to the mom’s from the sponsors.  The mothers were very nice, and let us hold their little babies.

One little girl kept crying, and didn’t stop.  When we got close she started crying louder, and tugging on her mom.  The director of the center come by, and said that “she always is crying”.  We hated to see a little baby crying, she was so sad looking.

       

Later in the day we were going to breakup into groups and go see the homes of some of the mothers.  But first they wanted to give us some more information about the CSP program, and the statistics of children living in poverty.  Many of the poor, do not realize the importance of taking care of themselves while they are pregnant.  In their culture, the women, usually feed their husband and children before they eat, many times not having anything left to eat.  This is not good for their babies.  The women are encouraged to take care of themselves while they are pregnant, and afterwards.  The CSP program encourages the mothers to breast-feed their babies, as this is the best way to protect them from illnesses.  The mothers that were at the center, had no problem nursing their babies when they were hungry.

Women who are poor, often have to go to work as soon as the baby is born, and they do not always bond with their babies, because they have an older child in the home watching the child, or they are taken to another home to be watched while the mom works long hours.  The CSP program helps the mothers understand the importance of bonding with their babies.

When we were done, we ate the same lunch as the children had.  A tortilla with chicken and onion, with Pico on top.  It was really good, and filling.  I enjoyed this more than eating at the hotel restaurant.

Home Visit- Brenda

My group went to visit with Brenda on our home visit.  Brenda is 14 years old (15 on July 26th), and is 9 months pregnant with a baby girl. She had participated in the Child Correspondence Program (CCP), until she got pregnant.  She lives with her mother Ola, and her brother who is disabled, and unable to work.  Her mother Ola, does laundry for others about 1-2 times a week, and earns about $5US per day.  This is what this family lives on each week.  Her older Son has his own family of five children, so is not able to help them.

The CSP program is a great help to the family, as Brenda is a high-risk pregnancy because of her age and because of the position of the baby.  She was scheduled for a follow-up appointment in a couple weeks from our visit.  (I wonder how her baby girl is doing).

When we asked Brenda what she is going to do after the baby is born, she said she wants to get a job in the clothing factory. Ola said that they will have to get a special permit for her daughter to work because she is under 18 years of age.  Brenda, did say that she would like to continue her education, because she has only finished sixth grade.

Ola and Brenda’s home is made of adobe and sticks, and is a one room home with a small covered patio.  When we came up the steep hill to visit, they insisted that we have a seat, and the translators told us to have a seat, that it was an honor to them to have us visit their home.  We left a bag of food for the family, for letting us come visit (about a week worth of sugar, flour, and such staples.)  We gave Brenda a very gifts for herself and the baby.

When we were leaving, we saw at the back of the house their “restroom” that was attached at the back of the home, it was made of odd pieces of rusting tin.  But I am sure this family is proud that they have one.  Of course they do not have running water, so I am sure it is nothing like what we are used to.    The family uses a cistern to catch rain water to use for cooking and cleaning.

While we were waiting for the other groups to join us, Cissi and I were looking out over mountain.  As we starting walking down the hill, we saw some cows just eating, and all of a sudden, one started walking faster and faster towards me.  I didn’t think anything of it, but one of the teachers from the center, warned us that they will bite.  So I moved fast, didn’t want to get bit.

Towards the bottom of the mountain, we were pointed to a well that the community uses to clean their clothes.  There were several women washing their clothes. No washer or dryers at these homes.  And their clothes were really clean considering they wash by hand.  The children’s school clothes consist of a white shirt/blouse and black skirt/pants.  And the white shirts were really clean.

End of the Day

Our children are often upset and unhappy because they don’t have what everyone else has.  The children we meet were very happy and loved to give hugs, and loved to have their pictures taken.

Well, back to the hotel after a fun day, and we were going to be coming back to this center again in the morning.  It was a very emotional day and really gives you a different outlook on how we live, I will never take for granted how lucky we are to have safe running water, and toilets that work.  The toilets in the compassion center, did not have running water, we had to get a bucket from the cistern to pour in when we were done.  We could not put the toilet tissue in the toilet, had to put in a trashcan, even at the hotel.

After we got back to the hotel, we walked over the a small mall to get some gifts for our new Sponsor children, and while you would think you were back in the US with all the same stores, the major difference was all the armed police officers walking around.  Especially around the banks.  We even saw one guy in camouflage with a semi-automatic riffle. Definitely different than in the US malls.

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“Day 3 at HO330 ″

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Here are a few extra pictures from Day 2 – HO330.