We started our morning by finally finishing our Chicken Project - a long arduous task - the giant enclosure now has a door and is secure with a lock on it. The hope is that once the chicks have grown big enough they will get full run of their new play-ground. The roof is on the coop and the baby chicks have all been moved into their new home. It has been a huge project but one that we hope will give sustenance (eggs) and vision (hopefully some of the children will someday want to raise their own when they get older and can use it to generate some income).
Before lunch a part of the team went out to the Grocery Store to purchase bags of basic supplies that we were planning to take to the local community. Orsy and Banesa have a long history of trying to encourage those who are helping the Children's Home to also give to the even less fortunate in the community.
It is amazing that even while they are caring for 20+ children who have been orphaned they still have a hope to see good done for others in the community. Each bag purchased
has basic - soap, sugar, coffee, boxed milk, flour, etc. and could mean a month or more of supplies to a family.
After we had our lunch we were off to Punta Gorda - home of the Garifuna populations. Many of the Garifunas live below even the most basic of
standards and have been somewhat segregated into an individual community here on the island. The history of the Garifuna is unique in that they were brought to Honduras originally from Africa then transported through a number of other countries by the British until they have found a few small communities in various Latin American countries. The people were over joyed to receive visitors with gifts and share a little bit about their daily life with us.
(Some groups - like Savannah, Eve, Kristen, Holly, and Rob even treated their hosts to some sweet sounding songs from the States!)
It is amazing to think that the lessons of social justice and giving to others in need that our students here emphasized all the time by our dedicated religion teachers back to at school are truly being put into practice as we visit the least of these here on the island.
After we returned from our long day out visit folks in the community it was time to party. Friday nights are a traditional time for Fiesta here and we got a chance to bless all the children with a meal from the BoJangels (the only fast food restaurant on the island - there are actually 3 and seem to be growing).
Our evening was dotted with a myriad of games as Kristen I. brought joy to the children's face playing with her rainbow parachute, there was a huge water balloon contest (with Kurt ultimately pulling out the win for the Blanca's red team) and a rowdy game of 'Stomp the balloon' where shockingly everyone survived uninjured.
After our super fun night full of laughter and joy, we ended with a treat of ice cream soup - now before you get to inquisitive - while ice cream is a special treat - ice cream soup is nothing special it's just the ice cream in 90 degree weather. See just about anything cold and solid tends to melt here awfully quick. But it didn't seem to matter as the evening drew to a close - there were plenty of faces painted (by the expertise of Lexie, Faith, and a few other ladies) that were then smeared with some yummy and sticky ice cream soup for good measure. It is fair to say that the night is one none of us will forget. Warm breezes from the ocean sent us off to bed tired from a week worth of work but full from good food and new found friendships!
Tomorrow (our last full day here) we are taking all the children to the beach for a special beach day! Should be just another amazing day here in paradise (or Roatan, Honduras if you have to give it another name). Sun, surf, and fun with some special children who we now consider family!
No comments:
Post a Comment