Arrival in Boston

Hi everyone,
A quick note to let you know the RMHS team arrived safely to Boston early this morning around midnight. After a long day of travelling, the team misses the students, staff, and other friends we made at El Hogar but we are happy to return home to Boston with a greater appreciation for what we have and a better understanding of life in other parts of the world.

The students did a great job at El Hogar throughout the week whether it was playing with the kids, piling dirt or gravel, or painting the interior of rooms inside a new dormitory for the students. We look forward to sharing our stories and pictures with many of you in the coming weeks.

Thanks,

John Harrison

Our Last Day in Honduras

After sleeping in for a few extra minutes this morning, we traveled to the Valle de los Angeles. The Valle de los Angeles is a cozy little community with lots of shops and a small town center encircling a beautiful stone fountain. On our drive, we viewed the beautiful scenery from atop the winding roads, with houses scaling the tree-littered mountainside. To put it simply, the drive to the Valle de los Angeles was the most beautiful drive we have been on so far in Honduras. Arriving in the Valle, the girls were excited about spending all of the money they had exchanged for limpiras. The boys, however, were not as enthusiastic about the shopping trip.

The shops were filled with handcrafted jewelry, textiles, leather goods, pottery, and intricately carved wooden trinkets. All the shop owners (some of whom spoke excellent English) were so excited to see some American tourists. As we were all shopping, we were aware of how much we actually stood out- we don´t exactly look like native Hondurans. Afterwards, we stopped to get a quick bite to eat at a restaurant that had a stable in the back with a horse belonging to the President of Honduras. We had fun looking at all of the horses and playing in the playground.

We then hurried back to El Hogar in order to work hard for the last few hours that were left of daylight. Some of us continued to paint a few of the rooms in the new house, others created giant storybooks for the schoolhouse, while the rest of us hauled gravel up a flight of stairs. By the end of our working period, the rooms were painted, storybooks colored, and gravel pile annihilated.

When our projects were completed, we had time to play with the boys for our last evening in El Hogar. Somehow we still found the energy to play endless games of soccer and tag! No matter how tired we were, the children´s contagious smiles and laughter brightened our moods. We were all very sad to say goodnight- we all want to stay at El Hogar to work and play! But we are looking to the farewell ceremony in the morning. The children are planning a presentation to send us on our way. In return, we are planning a choreographed dance and speech to express our gratitude and love for El Hogar.

When we went back to the volunteer house, the team had planned a surprise birthday celebration for Alex`s eighteenth birthday tomorrow. We enjoyed angel food cake and candy, and the surprised look on Alex´s face. After our small celebration, we were back to work with lots of chores and packing in preparation for our departure in the morning.

We are very sad to be leaving El Hogar and we are already making plans to return. We are extremely appreciative of the life-changing experience, and are grateful to all of the people that have helped us to get here. The children at El Hogar are very grateful for all the supplies (a.ka. suppies, according to Gwen`s posters), and for our presence here. However, we are looking forward to returning home, what with our own bathrooms, no bunk beds, and without the tedious task of carrying gravel anymore!

Can´t wait to see you all when we get back!

Love,
The El Hogar Work Team
(Kelsey and the Birthday Girl!)

El Hogar = LOVE.

Branching Out at El Hogar

Esta mañana empezamos el día con el mejor desayuno de nuestra semana: pan dulce y sandía. Estábamos muy contentos de comer algo dulce porque nos dolían todo el cuerpo después de haber trabajado el día anterior. Después de comer, hicimos oraciones con los niños. Cantamos y escuchamos un sermón de la enfermedad. Todos los niños estaban extáticos de que estábamos con ellos.

This morning we began the day with the best breakfast of our week: sweet bread and watermelon. We were very happy to eat something sweet because our whole bodies were aching after having worked the day before. After eating, we did prayers with the children. We sang and listened to a sermon about caring for people who are sick. All the children were ecstatic that we were with them.

After saying our goodbyes to the children as they skipped off to class, we sorted the supplies that we had brought to them, or as Gwen would say, the “suppys.” We had towels, shoes, clothing, school supplies, toothpaste, and more. When we opened the suitcases, we found an official document from Homeland Security stating that our toothpaste luggage had been investigated. Is fifty pounds of toothpaste really that suspicious? No matter, these donations are definitely well appreciated.

When we finished sorting them, we loaded into the van with Raúl to visit the Technical School of El Hogar Projects, about thirty minutes away from El Hogar. The technical school is a branch of El Hogar. Many of the children that graduate from El Hogar continue studying at the technical school to further their education. The drive to the school was amazing; there were picturesque views of the whole city of Tegucigalpa because we were driving in the mountains. When we arrived to the school we had a tour of the shops they have. There is an electrical shop, carpentry shop, and metal shop. Next year they will also have an auto repair shop. At the school we ate a wonderful Honduran lunch and afterwards chatted with some of the boys from the school. They were very happy to talk to us in Spanish or try out their English with us.

Leaving the technical school was sad for us. We had already met some of the students before visiting and we were so sad to say goodbye. We can only imagine now how hard it will be to say goodbye to all the children at El Hogar on Thursday! In any event, we left the technical school in time to return to El Hogar and work on the construction. When we arrived, we changed into our work clothes and got to work: some of us opted to paint while the rest of us continued hauling heavy earthen materials upstairs for the floor. We got to mix it up a bit: instead of hauling dirt today, we hauled stones. Our assembly line worked out pretty well and we had a lot of fun together! I theorize that we were only physically able to do that because we were so numb from yesterday’s work. We ended our work cleaning up the outside of the construction site and retiring for an early dinner.

Why was that dinner early, you ask? Well, after eating rice, chicken, cucumbers, and tortillas, we hopped in the van again to visit the temporary home of the girls. Once construction is complete on the building we are working on, the girls will live here at El Hogar. Currently they have to drive to and from school everyday. At their small house we colored and played games with them while watching Dumbo. We had to come home quickly so that Arturo, the one who drove us, could get back to El Hogar and put his boys to sleep (he is the English teacher here.)

And now we rest. Tomorrow we are going to go to the artists’ market in the morning. We hope to find some Honduran souvenirs. Afterwards we are going to work again! Well, that’s all. There is a mountain of stones waiting for us, and we should go to sleep. Goodnight!

Y ahora descansamos. Mañana vamos a ir al mercado de artistas por la mañana. Esperamos encontrar algunos recuerdos hondureños. ¡Después vamos a trabajar otra vez! Bueno, eso es todo. Hay un montón de piedras que está esperándonos, y debemos dormir. ¡Buenas noches!

Natalia

¡Dirt and Grime!

Early this morning our tight knit group was awoken from a deep (or not so deep sleep, PDM) by the sounds of roosters, motorcycles, barking perros, a few car alarms, and the loving sounds of the young risers at this Honduran home of Amor and Esperanza. We dined on a fine breakfast of cornflakes and left quickly to meet the boys for their morning assembly at 7:30 before they hit the books in the escuela. Claudia, the director, addressed the boys, and unlike at play time, all of the boys managed to repress their infinite excitement and paid great attention to what she was saying. The kids were led in singing the Honduran national anthem. The chorus is as follows,
“Your flag is a slender of sky, cross with a band of snow, and there can be seen, in its sacred depths, five pale blue stars. In your emblem which a rough sea, with its wild waves protects, behind the bare summit of a volcano, a star brightly shines.”
The anthem correctly describes the views we have all been seeing, it is not uncommon for one of us to find ourselves slowed by the beautiful view across this noisy, hilly, city. Claudia then continued to introduce our team formally to the children, and many of the children broke down into laughter, grins, and squirms. Claudia again asked us to introduce ourselves, and again, every Honduran within a couple miles did a double take at the mention of Gwen’s name, ¿Que, Gwaein? The team was asked to say something to the boys and Ned finally was given the chance to deliver his much practiced “Es un Honor de estar aquí con ustedes,”(It is an Honor to be here with you). Some of the children laughed and many of them just yelled Ñed.

Following our introduction to the kids, the group began work on the new dormitory. The building is two stories tall and contains four large bedrooms: one pink room for the girls and three blue rooms for the boys. The first story is mostly completed and a group of boys has already moved into their room – neatly made bed bunks line the room, each with matching sheets covered in SpongeBob and other cartoon characters.

Work began quickly and was mostly concentrated on the second floor. Temporary wooden scaffolding floated above the staircase and the second floor landing. This extra level, propped up by sawhorses and ladders, allowed the Honduran workers to reach the high ceiling and put in place piece of dry wall. After hesitating for a few minutes waiting for directions from Raul, the group decided to ask the foreman what to do. Using simple Spanish phrases, and a whole lot of physical clues, he eventually conveyed to the group that we were supposed to shovel dirt into buckets and then carry it to the second floor. We began right away, eager to begin work and do our part in construction.

This went on for sometime until the pile of dirt he had indicated was nearly all moved to the second floor. Although our progress was delayed by the aforementioned scaffolding, which we had to crawl under on the way up the stairs and to the room where we were dumping la tierra, we created a partial assembly line and worked quickly. Thinking we were nearly done, we went back to the foreman and asked him what to do next. Knowing of our impaired Spanish, he simply walked to the back of the building, pointed to an even larger pile of dirt, and said, “Arriba.”
Disappointed but unperturbed, we began work hauling up the second pile of dirt. By this time Raul had come to visit. He instructed a few people to begin putting up primer in some of the rooms on the first floor. The primer was put directly onto the dark looking plaster, which we later learned was created using the dirt carried in by a previous group of volunteers. Multiple coats were needed, and people had to stand on ladders to reach the corners and parts of the ceiling.

By this time, the second pile of dirt, which was roughly double the size of the first one, was almost all transported to the room in the second story. Looking for another task, we again went to the foreman and used our broken Spanish to ask what to do. This time we were given a treat – rather than transporting dirt to the second floor, we were to transport piedras, or gravel, to the second floor using buckets – certainly the glorious change we were looking for. We began to haul, this time working slightly slower than the last. The pile was about as large as the second pile of dirt, but we made good progress, and were almost finished by the time almuerzo rolled around. We departed for a delicious lunch – consisting of rice, chicken wings, tortillas, and potatoes – and were happy to know that we only had a few more buckets of piedras to go. This peace, along with our plans for a long siesta, were all shattered when Ms. Gleason returned and told us that she had seen a truck deliver an even larger pile of tierra y piedras. We returned to work warily, by now knowing our inevitable task and the great length of time it was sure to take us. All afternoon we carried up buckets of dirt – by this time the pile of dirt had consumed the width of the entire room, and was a several feet tall. Around this time, PDM began talking with one of the younger trabajadores, Nelsón, and the two began carrying dry wall up the stairs. Nelsón is 19 years old, and had gone to El Hogar as a niño. He then studied at the technical school, which we will be visiting tomorrow. Today was his first day on the job and, just like us, he had been assigned to the menial task of carrying construction materials around the house, up the stairs, and through scaffolding. Nelsón informed us that the soil we were moving will be used to make grout, cement, and plaster.

After dinner and exclamations of “How on earth did I get that bruise!” Mr. Harrison, or Señor Harrisoño as he has renamed himself, tried to launch a dance party with the niños, but the shy kids just laughed. The kids spent some time tonight making us cards and practicing writing in Spanglish. At the end of the day, every team member had experienced at least one heartwarming exchange of cards and hugs.

Tomorrow we will pile into the van again, and drive to the Amerateca valley to visit the Santa Maria Technical School. The school is located over the mountains surrounding Tegucigalpa, and everyone cannot wait to see more of the country. The technical school is the place where many of the boys will continue learning after graduating from El Hogar, where many of the boys will continue after graduating from El Hogar. They will learn the trades of carpentry, electricity, or metalwork and go off to work after graduation with knowledge of a good trade. Some boys will attend the agricultural school instead, but we unfortunately do not have enough time to visit this school.

We are all having a fantastic time down here. Thank you for all of your support.

¡Buenas Noches!
Ned & PDM

P.S. Mr. Lenox, Kathleen wants to let you know that she really did do work today.

P.P.S. Parents, Baked goods would be much appreciated at the airport on Thursday night.

La Paz

Today was our first full day at El Hogar. After a restless night (unless you brought ear plugs) of snoring, fireworks, car horns, and roosters, we started the day off with breakfast in the volunteer house consisting of eggs, ham, tortillas, beans, and a local cheese.

Dressing in our best outfits, we headed off to the neighborhood Episcopalian Church for morning service with a group of children. Although the service was in Spanish, we all enjoyed singing and reading along. The entire church was enthusiastic and welcoming. During the service, the members of the church stopped for a moment to greet each other with, “peace be with you” or “la paz.” We were very surprised to see that the entire church took the time to individually greet each of us with a hug or handshake and “!La Paz¡” Their acceptance of all ethnicities and generosity was extremely touching.

Once the service ended, we headed off to treat the group of children to lunch at Pizza Hut. The boys and girls played in the indoor playground while we waited for lunch and met Raul’s family. While we ate lunch, we learned the children’s names and practiced our Spanish. A fourth grader named Jonathan was almost fluent in English. We noticed that the children were brought up to eat everything they put on their plate. They also enjoyed many United States cartoons such as the Fairly Odd Parents and Spongebob.

We returned to El Hogar and enjoyed an afternoon of bracelet making, Twister, wiffleball, and bubbles. As soon as a soccer game was put on the television, our games were left for their obsession.

We also noticed that many families brought their children back to El Hogar after the weekend. These families are not able to support their children, but they enjoy bringing their children home for the weekend to visit. It is amazing that they are willing to sacrifice the joy of raising their children to allow them to receive an education at El Hogar.

At night, we made personal drawings for the children and played Frisbee. Tomorrow we begin painting the new dorm rooms at eight a.m. We will also be painting a mural for the children on the walls.

Buenos noches y La Paz de El Hogar,
Claire and Emmy

We made it! (Saturday February 14, 2009)

After two days of traveling, we reached El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza. Raul picked us up at the hotel and drove us through Tegucigalpa to El Hogar. Throughout the ride we saw many contrasts. One house would be bright and colorful, while across the street there might have been a makeshift house of a few pieces of wood. Also, we passed many street vendors selling Valentines Day flowers, bananas, and other goods in the middle of the chaotic streets where traffic laws cease to exist.

We finally pulled up to El Hogar and were greeted by many welcoming faces. We walked into the colorful volunteer house, a cozy four bedroom house perfect for our tight-knit team. Raul showed us the new dormitories that have been being built for the past four years. Ned was excited to see the progress made since he laid the foundation just last summer.

After the tour, we were excited to play with the kids. From tickle fights, to intense games of soccer, to blowing bubbles and drawing with chalk, we had a blast. Mr. Harrison showed off his dance moves as he relived his high school soccer glory days. We took a short dinner break, where we were pleasantly surprised with pasta. Before long, we were back outside playing tag and hide and seek.

We look forward to another day of work and play tomorrow!
Buenas Noches! Gwen and Amanda

Our First Day in Honduras

¡Hola! Buenas Noches from Tegucigalpa.

Today we traveled from Miami to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. After rolling out of bed at 6:00 am, we headed for Miami International Airport where we started the day with coffee, breakfast, and an intense game of Catchphrase. We boarded the plane, anxious of the landing that awaited us.

We were able to all sit close together on the plane and it was an enjoyable ride. Thank goodness the landing was not as frightening as the youtube video. Of course with her eyes closed the whole time, Ms. Lynn could not see it. It took over an hour to get through customs. We did have to explain the toothpaste!

After we got through customs, we were greeted by our hosts: Raul, Rich and Barbara. Raul is the guest coordinator at El Hogar, Rich is the founder of El Hogar and Barbara is a physician who visits El Hogar and runs a clinic in rural Honduras. Rich and Raul drove us to the Hotel Honduras Maya. We were surprised by the agressive drivers and the variety of cars on the road. How funny it was to start our adventure driving through Tegucigalpa behind a car with a New York Yankees bumper sticker. When Rich said there were so many Yankees fans here we wondered how our Red Sox hats would be received. At least Mr. Harrison will be alright with his bucket hat from Italy.


We quickly learned that Tegucigalpa is a city of contrasts. As Rich pointed out a brand new mall on the right, we could not help but notice the shanty houses built into the hill on the left. We had a sobering moment when we saw a young boy (about 7) selling food in the middle of a busy street.

We checked into our nice hotel, spent some time at the pool (It´s 23° ... on the Celcius scale!), and had a team dinner at the hotel's restaurant. The more adventurous of the group sampled local cuisine, while others stuck with hamburgers and french fries.

Tomorrow, Raul will pick us up and take us to meet the children at El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza.

¡Hasta Mañana!
Angela and Kathleen