¡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.