Choosing to Live!

So a lot has happened in the last few days, and I can’t help but think about what it means to choose life! I’ve heard this saying so many times, at pro-life rallies and in church, but it means so much more now.

First, Saturday morning after sleeping in ‘til 6:30, we went to visit the children at the Sisters of Charity’s orphanage right down the street. My friend Kate Palla, a VIDES volunteer in Tegucigalpa , had come to visit for the weekend so this was a special day and we were with some very special kids. These kids have all been abandoned by their parents and come to the orphanage in various stages of malnourishment. Until now I have never seen children so capable of breaking your heart. Here at the school these girls at least have a family of some sort, but the orphanage has four sisters and a few staff members, but over all is grossly understaffed for the amount of children there. We went to the infant area where there were about twenty-five infants from 2 to 18 months and one paid staff member and one lady who helps out sometimes. The smell of urine a poo was a little overwhelming, because between bathing and feeding them all, there is little time to change their cloth diapers. We spent most of time just picking up and holding the kids because they were all just dyin’ for some lovin. Then I helped feed a few of them. They had an ingenious home-made highchair for feeding six kids at the same time. After a couple hours visiting hours were over and we left. Just seeing these kids, you know that God loved them, He took them out of drains and away from certain death to here, where though they were not up to US standards, the children were all fed and loved and were taken care of. Merely their presence in the world is a gift, and their little lives are so precious!

Secondly, I’ve been working at a soup kitchen for children, that the diocese runs from a school building we have across the street. Children between the ages of 2 and 10 can come and receive lunch. I have been taking names and taking pictures of them to make them ID cards for when they come. Oh they are “bien lindo!” (so cute!) But it pains me to talk to the parents who come with them, because they all have such sad stories, and have no money not for lack of working. After leaving the Orphanage Saturday, Kate and I went to explore the town of Santa Rosa , like I’ve never explored it before! So from 9:30 am- 4:00 pm we walked almost all the barrios within the city. I got to see where it is that the kids are coming from, as I recognized the different barrio names, and also see how it is that someone can work all day and earn nothing. The streets are full of people selling cheap goods that they buy in bulk and then try to sell on the streets to make a minimal profit, but there are so many people selling the same things and very little people looking to buy stuff. This week two of the boys have been coming without shoes because someone stole them, but they don’t have the funds to buy new ones. Choosing life for these kids and these parents every day is deciding to walk around with smiles, seeing the small blessings in life, and really LIVING!

Thirdly, yesterday we celebrated the day of the Teachers, all day, starting with a special Mass, a special breakfast, then a special assembly, then ending the day with a special dinner. We had some good times, with some crazy dances by the girls in the assembly, then our own dancing after dinner. But what I realized here is that being a teacher here means a lot more. As one of the teachers said it, the school is another home, and we are second parents to the girls. Here the teacher’s primary responsibility is to not to make sure they get good grades, but first and foremost to ensure that they become women of God and women of good character. The teachers take this seriously too, and whether they like it or not, the girls’ private lives are all public knowledge, and they never say aww too bad that’s their problem, but here they do something. I am just amazed at how much the sisters and the teachers choose to give life to these girls and to the community by uplifting them and preventing the culture of death to continue its evil cycles.



Good Night! Pray for us here, and pray for me that I am able to get to know these awesome sisters and these teachers better, and that we can all try and choose to preserve, live and give life!

PS. I Love all of you back home! And a special shout out to my girls! Muah we'll talk soon, and send me your' phone number again and I can try and call it some night around 8. Muah!
   Some of the Ninos I serve every day!