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