Check Out Our Chicks!

Thursday - we did a whole lot of work and had a little bit of play ... but the most exciting thing we did was introduce 30 new chickens to the Children's Home this afternoon!  You should 'check out our chicks!'  They are pretty cool!

  

The idea for chickens for the home came back in September when Mr. Orsy and Mrs. Banesa visited the United States for their annual board meeting.  They had a chance to visit the Hollin and Powell homesteads (which at the time were roughly housing 30 or so chickens collectively).  Orsy saw an

opportunity to help the home by providing fresh eggs daily as well as give the children an opportunity to have the responsibility of taking care of the chickens as a daily chore.  The vision has changed a few times but ultimately we are almost finished creating a  chicken metropolis right here in Roatan.  Quite possibly a future tourist attraction to Chicken-opia - our 100 ft. by 40ft. enclosure is now home to a custom made coop - 

roughly 10ft by 10ft, a composting pen (great idea Faith - and excellent execution) and about 30 of the cutest two day old chickens you ever did see.  

Early on in the day Alex, Erin, Preston, and Eve took a journey out to the local pet store to purchase the chickens (along with a bunch of extra lumber and supplies to build our chicken coop).  It was  

love at first when the students saw the future residents of Sandy Bay Children's Home.  And yes as promised each student will get to name a chicken before they leave.  Eve even tried to bring home a turtle from the pet store but turtles don't lay eggs so she needed to put him back!

The students worked the majority of the day on a multitude of jobs (with the promise of a special dinner out tonight).  Between hauling giant pieces 

 
of wood across a barren field, making more cement, finishing the chicken enclosure, and making the chicken coop, and organizing/cleaning up an old supply room in the school house - there was plenty of work to be found.  

Mix in a whole lot of playing and hanging out with the children (once their school work was done) and you have the makings of another great day.  

After a ton of work (and a ton of sweat) everyone got to shower up and take our host (Orsy and Banesa) out to a fancy dinner by the water at Splash Inn in West End.  The restaurant, owned by a Canadian, managed by a Spaniard, and run by local Hondurans was a gem with great service and 

amazing food.  They have already generously hosted the children from the home here once and brought pizza to them free another time.  If you 

ever make it to the island make sure you stop in at the Splash Inn and pay them a visit.  Besides plenty of cold bottles of soda - our table was littered with big bowls of pasta, calamari, shrimp, and even a whole fish here or  there! It was a great time to celebrate as a team the work that has been done and the work still left to do.  

Tomorrow we are off to serve in the local community bringing grocery bags and visiting sick and shut in folks.  We also hope to finish up our work on the chicken project and have our Big Fiesta with the children in the evening!  Can't wait!