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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Drugs, Preachers, and Kids

So the adventures didn't stop in Santa Rosa.
     First, I spent a week in Tegucigalpa.  I made it safely, but on the way in the eight hour busride, I had a run in with some drug smugglers, who after buying off the cops, stopped the bus outside the city of San Pedro, pulled out about 20 huge boxes of drugs out from underneath the unsuspecting passengers' seats, and then threw them out my window on the bus. I could do nothing and sat in silent horror with the other passengers as this happened.  Shortly after that, the bus ride had the usual people getting on to sell the snack foods and drinks, but also we were graced enough to have three different wandering preachers each with about an hour sermon! THe wermons were bad enough telling us we were going to go to hell and to REPENT!, but then they had to follow the sermon with selling something, so everyone just felt guilty and would buy something, because maybe then they wouldn't go to hell.  I could only stand so much, one guy kept insisting we all weren't children of God, this pushed it too far, and I had to talk to him.  How could he say that! How could he say God only loves some of us!  A father is always a father as soon as his child exists, and the child is always  a child as soon as he exists!  He was probably a victim of a broken family, like too many people, and unfortunately coudn't wrap his head around this idea I proposed to him, and so left the bus still telling me that its me who didn't understand!       After the bus, the Taxi driver i asked, ended up taking me to another location with the same name! I was horrified because my phone was dead and when I borrowed a phone, my friend Kate wouldn't pick up because unbeknown to me, she had just been robbed! What luck!  But  fortunately after about 50 minutes driving around, the taxi driver by sheer miracle (because there are no such things as addresses or Mapquest there) got me to the right location.  I honestly believe this was a miracle, that I found a respectable taxi driver that didn't take advantage of my being a foreigner and made sure I was safe not just leaving me in the middle of the ghetto where he first brought me by mistake.       Finally, I was able to enjoy Tegucigalpa.  I loved spending time with my friend Kate Palla, and helping out with the kids at the Hogar (for an explanation of the Hogar Don Bosco see the first section of my old post on Tegucigalga).  The kids were out of school, so it meant 12 hours a day of hardcore playing; it was awesome- soccer everyday, and lots of pushing kids on swings.  Mass with the kids and the Salesian priest Padre Eduardo was awesome, but it hit me there, that although the Hogar takes the kids away from the streets so they can play like normal kids, the streets are still a part of the kids.  Padre was asking the kids questions in the homily and got a little side tracked, and the kids ended up shouting all the drugs that kids on the street use, and even when asked how much they cost, the kids could answer without a pause.  I hope that these kids at least got the message that they are children of God, and that God is a father who won't abandon them even though most of them don't know their fathers. That instead of relying on drugs like their friends, they can learn to rely on the hope we all have in Christ.
Hector 5; a fearless orphan sent to the Hogar from the Missionaries of Charity ( mother Theresa's order)-- He is my favorite!
 We took the kids on a field trip to a place that had some fake ruins, and a pool These are some pics
Exhausted on the drive home from the pool/ fake ruin place.
Kate driving through the crazy Tegucigalpa traffic in an old 20 passenger van/bus, with 20 kids screaming in the background
our other bus in front of us
I pray that all of you realize that you are a child of God, and that you know that every person you meet is one too! Pray for all the people from broken families, who haven't experienced the undying selfless love of a father, that they can still know that GOd is our Father who always loves us!

Christmas Lights

Merry Christmas!  I have been back home in Arizona since December 14th and it has been wonderful to be with family, to be here living in abundance until I go back January 19th to Honduras.  It is nice not to worry when its raining, that you won't have any dry clothe.  And I am especially excited to go drive around the neighborhood and see the Christmas lights tonight, at our Community trolley party.  In Honduras, almost noone has Christmas lights, electricity is too expensive.  Before I left we drove the kids at the Hogar don Bosco to see Christmas lights, so we drove to the super shmancy shopping area in town where they have a 100 ft area decorated with lights and then we drove in a circle around that about five times going oooh and aww.  Then they got to go into a shopping mall where there was a Santa Claus and this was the most amazing thing, they each got to hug Santa!
Well I'll leave yal with this.  I've been thinking about this passage ever since I've been home.
"I know indeed how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret of being well fed and of going hungry, of living in abundance and of being in need. I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me. " (Phil 4:12-13)
I am so thankful to so many people for the opportunities I have in life.  However, I can't say I have learned the secrets Paul is talking about, only that I am still learning.   Its hard to put God first to see that its God that makes us rich.  Then we can see our lives in a different light.   Well I guess we need to act as good stewards of our possessions and appreciate what we have, share the things we do not need, and not just waste so much. And then when we are in need, we need to see beyond jealousy and learn how Christ gave the pain and suffering of poverty redemptive power, and store our treasure in Heaven.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Some, good ol' ruins, and some good ol' fun!

Me and Sor Yorlanda

THANK THE LORD! Sooo This past week without the other volunteer, and without the internas, I have pretty much been just helping the hijas de casa cook and clean for 30 directors of other Salesian schools who had come to visit.  Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I am so thankful to have come here and to have spent this time here.  Today I went to the Copan ruinas for my last day in Santa Rosa de Copan, (until I return January 20th).   It has been wonderful, and emotional today.   These are some thing to be thankful for if you are still trying to find some. 

 Electricity!
     With the 30 visitorsplus the sisters here, there has been a lot of work to do for only four of the hijas de casa with cooking 3 meals a day, washing dishes, and cleaning.  However to add to the workload, Wednesday, in the middle of cooking the pizza for the dinner, the electricity went off and the pizzas had only been in the oven for five minutes!  We had do run over and prepare something for the dinner in half an hour without electricity.  The government decides sometimes that it is going to conserve energy, and turns off the electricity every once in a while, sometimes without warning...

Jovita an hija de casa
Zenaida making Baleadas
Linda making Baleadas too!

Running Water
     So yes we have running water, but it is very expensive, so to save money, the internas use rain water that collects in a whole by their lavanderia.  I usually don't have to use this because I have my own bathroom and use a different lavanderia, but this week with all the guests, I am living in the girls dorms, and using their facilities.  Let me tell you every girl here has to be very strong to be always pulling up bucketsful of water from the well! and let me tell you, it is not that fun to always have to lug water over to the toilet to flush it.   

Internet.
     One of the sisters who was visiting was crying because her cousin who grew up with her like a brother was taken in by ICE.  She didn't know anything about where or if he is safe only that they told her that he would probably be in a certain prison.  So I just got online and looked it up the records for her, so she could figure things out.  The internet can do sooo many things its crazy! 

Beauties of Antiquity,
    So I got to Go to the Copan ruinas today.  These are amazing! The sisters were just hilarious running about the ruins.  Seeing these immense temples was really cool, and marveling how over 2000 years ago did they have the technology to build them.  And wow there where some really amazing trees, so wide ten of us could not encircle it with our arms and uber tall!
  
Everyone on top of a temple
A temple

Sor Roselba under an awesome tree!
Sor Mirna being herself
Sor Mely!!


   
Being with loved ones. 
Tonight shoeing everyone the pictures from the Ruinas

     I have been daying goodbyes and this is hard, because  I really have grown to love the people here.  Yesterday, I said goodbye to the last interna that was here, then I left to say goodbye to the kids at the comedor.  They are way to cute! While one kid was hanging on my neck, and another was trying to undo my hair tie, I told them I was not going to be back and they asked me, if at least I would come back next week, another kid who likes to call me Bebecca to tease me, just didn't believe it and he ran away.  Aw.  Thats when I cried the first time.  So then I went straight to the mass at the school for some visiting sisters, and they offered it up in thanksgiving for me and my family, and friends, for all of you, and I am so glad for each one of you.   Then saying goodbye to the hijas de casa, half in tears, they are so sweet hearted, and gosh darn hard-working, I love them!  Finally, I said goodbye to the sisters, some of whom I don't know if/when I will see again because they are getting reassigned.  This was the hardest because they have been my family this past three months.  Thats when I cried again.  So, not that I like to cry, but I am glad I cried, because then I know that yes I really did give the people here a part of my heart, and that is why I cam here, and the only way, I think you can make any difference in the world.  I know that I really do love the people here, and thats the only reason it hurts to leave.   Adios! Hasta Tegucigalpa!
Exhausted after the long trek through the ruinas!
   
Right now pray for safe travels for me, and everyone else who is traveling back after the conference here, and pray for perseverance for all the people who are still working hard here, and are not going to leave Santa Rosa for this vacation time.  

 

Friday, November 19, 2010

Fiesta fiesta!

    Sooo I had been planning on having a bible camp type program for the kids who come to the comedor, but I needed help, and no one really was able to, so then I cut it down to a day program, and the helpers would only have to come for one day, but then the night before, I find out they can't come....

    Come the day of the fiesta, it was115 children,  and 5 volunteers (including me)!    
Luckily the moms of the littlest ones where there to keep the smallest ones under control! hehe
Playing Simon says, and I lost every time along with about half the kids!

    I was a little worried how we would get everything done, but it worked out. While me and the other volunteers sang some songs, and played with the kids, and tried to organize stuff, a few other people stepped up and saved the program, and my sanity.  The hijas de casa pitched in by adding to their daily chores, the task of making and popping 125 bags of popcorn, one of the moms stayed and helped Doña Samira prepare the 250 pastelitos for the lunch, a teacher gave up an hour of his busy schedule to help us control the hords of children fighting over the piñata candy and the desert we gave them, and some of the internas stopped their studying for finals and helped hand out the pbags of popcorn to the kids as they left. 
We had two huge circles of Animal, Animal, Vaca! ( like duck, duck, goose)
By a miracle made possible by all of your prayers, and the generosity of some unexpected help all the kids had a fun celebration of the end of the school year. 



Trying to make sure each kid got only one plate of food is pretty hard when they are all hungry!
Then comes the piñata!Don't let the pictures fool you, kids are crazy when it comes to candy!
One for the girls!

One for the Boys!
 Well besides all this, things this year are really coming to a close quickly.  The graduation ceremony is today; the girls who are here for recuperation finish Monday; Tracy leaves Monday; and I leave Friday for Tegucigalpa and then the next week for Costa Rica!  I can't believe its almost been three months, there is still so much to do!
¡Hasta luego!   y  ¡Dios les Bengiga!

    

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Final Words

Sor Mirna Presiding over the Farewell dinner


I thought I saw expereinced the last of worrying about final exams las may, but I was wrong.  The same fret over exams hit me again the past week as I've been helping the internas study for their finals, and then I have been proctoring final exams all week, very fun!  Well so this may not seem like that exciting of a post, but man it has been a stretching experience. 

Marinita Studying in another part of the back yard!
The girls in Third Basico, and Third year  Bachillerato between their studying have been in an emotional mess. There is 1st- 3rd of Basico which is 7-9th grade, after which they have to choose a specific area for Bachillerato, our10th-12th.  Our Bachillerato program is Business Admistration, and  only a handful of the girls in Third Basico are going to return, the rest will go to other schools for sciences or computers or other specialties.  Its crazy that the year is almost over.)  Hence they are all moving on to new horizons and leaving behind this one.  These goodbyes in the states mean a lot less then they do here.  In the states we all have facebook and email and internet and yes some girls here have Facebook, but then there are still a lot that will be going back to houses that don't even have electricity.  Some of you might say ohh then just send snail mail, but that really doesn't exist outside of the city either, a goodbye really might be forever, and they know it.  I am having a good time while they are still here, but as of today exams are finished, and as of Thursday, almost all of the girls will be gone, and I don't know who will return.   Its strange already saying goodbye and I feel like I just got here.  But have so many relationships that it is killing me to end.  Well goodbye and continue to pray for us!  Love yal!
  Becca

 Here are some pictures of our Farewell Dinner with all the girls and the sisters together!



Sor Yorlanda serving the Tamales for the special occasion!

The dance contest for the prizes!

Yenny studying in the backyard





Another cool fruit that is in season now.
Where I do Laundry

Sunday, October 31, 2010

A few little ones

   So its Halloween and I just realized it, it has pretty much passed without occasion.  But after viewing all the cute photos of my nephew back home, I thought I'd enlighten you with a few cute stories about some of the kids who come to the comedor.

       One day one of the boys and his younger brother come in without shoes, and I am very concerned, so I ask him what happened to their shoes, and he looks at me and indignantly says "What do you think these are!, [pointing to his blackened feet] These are the best tires in the world!" as he begins to run in circles all over the comedor, making car noises, and making his younger brother fall on the floor in laughter.
       Another time one of the girls comes in with a huge grin on her face and tells me she has a secret to tell me, and then she tells me she bought this gum for me and hands me a piece of gum.
      Well later one of the boys asked me for a piece of gum, but I didn't have any to give, but another one answers "Hey I have a ton of gum for everyone!"  to which I say   -"Really! How!?" and then he begins to scrape some gum that had been smashed on the floor for ages!
  
     Just this past Thursday it was one of the girls' birthday, so Sor Vilma gave her two pieces of a sweet bread from the bakery that we run, and ohh how happy she wasas she ran to show me! She insisted on giving me and the lady I work with a tiny piece, it was too cute!  The next day she came skipping in to the comedor, and I cannot explain the smile she had, that just wouldn't disappear.  Then she began to tell the story about how she got to share her "Birthday Cake"(the sweet bread) with her family the night before.  Way too cute!

And well these aren't as much cute stories, but I wans to tell you about the life of a few of the kids,
      Valeska, she is 12 and she dropped out of school in this year to take care of her younger brother who just turned 3, because he was getting beat up in the daycare, her mom right now is working at a store of some sorts, as a type of clerk, but doesn't get paid well at all.  Valeska is smart, and she loved school and always tells me that she dreams of going to "El Maria" [my school], but she loved her brother more, however, we convinced her to go to school next year and complete 6th grade and then we could find a sponser to send her to school here.  She has recently began to sell earrings in the street, but is not very good at it [this month I think she has only sold two pairs].  Also, she is the biggest help, because she will explain what the some of the parents or kids that I don't understand are saying.
     Belky, is 10 and she has never gone to school, like the rest of her family.  She lives out in the campo, around the city, and would just play with her older brother. When her older brother, 12,  became too busy with work, she didn't have anything to do all day, until this past week, when she began her work as a nanny for a 3 year old.  She brings him to the comedor every day and is so great at taking care of him.  However not ever having gone to school, or having talked to many adults, she can't read and even has a hard time with naming colors in spanish.  After we had been talking about her family, I changed the subject and I  asked her what her favorite color was she stopped and then she said she didn't know.  So I pushed the question a few more times, and then she looked like she was going to cry, and pointed to the blue plate, and said its just that she forgot how to say this color.  
        Well It is getting too late, and I can go on with stories like these way past my bed time, but I need to sleep.  But this is the life of these precious kids, who it seems cannot escape the grasps of poverty, and the seemingly inevitable cycle of uneducation like there parents. I love these kids, they are all soo great!

Pray for us, and pray for the bible camp that we are going to have with them Nov. 16 - 18, its only three days, but hopefully it will be the start of something bigger for the kids... I have some ideas, pray for some miracles, so they can happen.
Also it is the end of the school year here and we are starting final exams this week.  Pray for all the kids here, because failures in a class for some, mean that that they will not be able to continue going to school, which pretty much damns them to poverty for the rest of their life.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

GRAN RIFA!

Some girls ready to do a traditional dance to entertain the crowds!

Saturday, at the Maria Auxiliadora, a large crowd gathered, to spend  all afternoon listening to music, playing volleyball, eating traditional food, and watching some traditional dances, until the final show, the Gran RIFA! [Great Raffle!]  As a fund-raiser, we raffled off a  washing machine, a fridge, two twin sized beds, and many other prizes, like clothes, irons, and random stuff that was donated.  Amid all the nervous silence waiting for the winning tickets, my name was called! “I won an iron!” I thought, but no, my name was called as one to be eliminated, ahhh, I could have had an Iron!  Despite the great disappointment ;-)  I was happy to finally have this long awaited event, because leading up to this week, we have been selling raffle tickets for what seems to be an eternity!  Me and Tracy had been taking groups of girls out into the city almost every day for the past month and a half, to sell their twenty raffle tickets each, and then to sell the raffle tickets of the sisters too!  Ironically people were often more willing to buy tickets from me, a foreigner, than Marinita, and Ruth Alicia, the smallest and cutest girls, who I thought would sell like crazy because of the cuteness factor!  The first week, I stumbled over the words as I tried to quickly name off the prizes before people walked away, but by the end I could spurt out the names as quickly as the girls.  However, I never seemed to overcome the stumbling over the sidewalks, and thus have quite a few bruises from running into things when I misjudged the very uneven sidewalk or missed a random haphazardly placed step  The tremendous amount of inclines and steps in the city were at least good exercise, but equaled bruises when added to both trying to sell to random people while walking and keeping an eye on the girls while they talked to random strangers!
Selling tickets around the city gave me another look at life here, and well, if yal think this time of economic hardshipis hard on American businesses, its even harder here.  The cost of ten Lempiras (roughly the equivalent of 60 cents) was way too pricy for many people [so you don’t ask them] and for others, the idea of having an electric appliance, though idyllic, it is quite repulsive because it would only mean an electric bill they couldn’t pay. Once again, I just want to reiterate, don’t feel guilty for your life, if you have a refrigerator, a bed, a washing machine, and three meals a day.  However,  what I hope you do is to Thank God for it, and be grateful for the blessings you have! And, then stop and think before you go and waste your money on useless things.  
Prayer Requests! Please pray that the Camp that I am putting on  for the kids who come to eat in the comedor comes along, becasue I am running into some difficulties.   It is going to be Nov. 16-18th for about 100 kids from 2-12 so I still need to find helpers!
Some girls hangin out with Sor Roselba in the Patio

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

La Contenedor y el Hogar de Don Bosco!

Dinner at the Hogar don Bosco
 So hello to all!  My stories from Tegucigalpa will have to be cut short because so much has happened since then, that I am just far too behind in the blog.  So first I want to tell you all that you are still in my prayers, though I might not seem to be a part of your lives right now, I know that your lives have continued to move along, with your own triumphs and difficulties, so please don´t forget to let me know how you are, your lives are important to me! 

 So in Tegus, I have a few mental images for you: 
    One:
Forty children from first through sixth grade, all running around in torn clothes, broken shoes,  having a blast playing basketball, and soccer.  They are all skilled because they have an hour and fifteen minutes of mandatory sports time every day, and also play in their free time too! Aww Man they were cute!  Then  the fighting breaks out and these cute little kids start hitting and cussing, etc, and I remember the problems these kids have.   After dinner and after polishing their school shoes and putting on their pj´s the twenty girls start going crazy during their weekly dance party. Until I realized that some of these six and seven year old girls are dancing how little girls shouldn´t know how to dance, the only evidence of their past history, and the work of some of their mothers...   These are the awesome, tough, and troubled kids that arrive ever Sunday, eat and sleep during the week at the Hogar.  While there, they are taken to the public school that segregates and picks on them :(, they return return to the Hogar in the afternoon, and they have catechism, homework help, crafts and sports.  And then finally Friday, they return home to their poor broken family lives with their prostitute mothers/ beggar parents, and every other lowest of the low professions you can think of. 
Dance Party!
That is the Salesian Father on the Right, and a box of Trader Joe Crackers form the Contenedor
  Two: a trailer truck full of food and clothes, well  I was at the Hogar Don Bosco when they reiceived the monthly  “contenedor”  which they use for themselves, and dispense to 40 other families  most in need.  Up a steep steep hill from the street we sent truck load after truck load of boxes while the kids hung on for their dear lives while also attempting to hold the boxes in, as Kate drove the dying stickshift “ 92 up the hill.  They received a ton of (what i think is really good) healthy Kellogs cereals (that none of the Hondurans liked), food from Trader Joe's, tons of hospital garments,  and tons of miscellaneous boxes of clothes and random stuff.  The other volunteers there are from Spain along with the Salesian priest, and it was refreshing to have other outsiders looking in with me.  In some senses it is important to have a foreigners view of your country to see critique things well.  As Spaniards, the father there also was used to the higher standard of living (like those in the US),  but now lives here where things aren’t always so nice.  Being there I didn’t feel guilty about where I came from, unlike in Santa Rosa, where I often felt guilty for having been raised in “wealth”.  The priest didn’t try to hide that he had lived with higher quality things and was used to European food, but explained to the kids what it was like!  H explained to them what the boxes of "Flat bread" were to the kids, who were amazed that anyone would use crackers like tortillas!  I realized that I don’t need to feel guilty for having been raised in a more affluent country, and neither do you, we just need to rejoice and be thankful for what we have, don't waste it, and give what we don't need. 
Two of the three Spanish Volunteers who work with Kate
Three: a see of white and gray habbits!  The reason I could come down to the city in the first place was because the Madre superior Sor Yvonne came to visit  from Rome to celebrate 100 years of the Salesian sisters in Honduras, with all the sisters from Central America!  It was so cool to see so many sisters dedicating their lives to serve, and then to see the 17 postulants and 27 aspirants (those who are going to become sisters), was really cool, the church here is alive and the congreagation was so young!  I was lucky enough also to be able to participate in some of the fesitivities and see some professionals dancing really well, the professional dances that I've seen the girls here dancing all the time.    
Four: Finally imagine a shnazzy restaurant where at least hapf the people are on the dance floor jammin out to the YMCA (not doing the letters)!  I had the chance to go out dancing one night at a restaurant, and it was really fun, it was in the breaks they had Kareoke, and they played such an array of music it was hilarious at times that they would follow a regatone song with some cheasy song in english, but everyone loooved it!  Before we left, the spaniards were worried that they didn't look nice enough and would get kicked out, but we had to remind them that they were in Honduras, where everything matches!  The joke was that we all needed to go"al Contenedor para hacerse guapa" [to the container to make ourselves beautiful!]  which probably was true , but no matter, we went and danced and all was fine,  The only sad part is that unfortunately, Tracy (the volunteer here in Santa Rosa with me) had already left for Santa Rosa and after seven months still has not gone out dancing, but, hopefully we will get to go out dancing some time here before she leaves in November! 
Driving Through "Gracias" in one of the few areas of flat countryside!

Overall It was an awesome trip, beginning with Mass at the Cathedral in the Centro, and ending with a Mass with the sisters on Sunday! Is there a better way to have a trip than beginning and ending with Christ!    well there was a lot in this post, but believe me there is alot more going on here right now, but that will have to wait until later!  

--Prayer Requests: For all the missionaries that serve here in Santa Rosa, and all the other VIDES volunteers all over the world right now, especially for two of my friends Mary and Monica, who have gotten very sick on Mission.   And that we can figure out a good plan for what more to do to improve the Comedor Infantil (the soup kitchen I work at). 

Random Pics from Valle de los Angeles where a Spanish friend of  Father Eduardo lived.
Exploring with Kate and a Irene! We couldn't believe ther eare more than 14 types of bananas!

Bananas Grow on trees!

Guayabas! Also grow on trees!
 These next were actually packed from the sisters for my lunch!
Mangostinas and Lichas, they are really good!
We learned how to harvest Yuca