Day 4
March 5, 2013

We began a sparkling and slightly warmer day in Honduras with the 7am gathering in the courtyard.  What a treat today as Profesor Heyser played the guitar and led the children in a lovely ballad to end the devotional.  After a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs and refried beans, all of us except Judy (more on that later) piled into the van for Day 2 at Santa Lucia.  We were in a hurry to get there so that we could say goodbye to Padre Mateo, and Raul could take him to the airport.  We hope you are home safely now Padre Mateo!

Some of us spent the day digging and planting under Janet and Julie´s expert direction.  Everyone moved frequently between activities, making it hard to remember who did what, but here is a sample...Janet, Blanca and Claudia went with Raul to the nursery to pick out plants.  We set out three containers along the front of the girls´ house and filled them with herbs.  Julie, Kate, Pam, Eileen, Susan M and Jill dug what seemed like enormously large holes, filled them with enriched soil and planted four new palms along the driveway.  Celia, Kate and Eileen worked on the vegetable garden behind Matt´s house.  Betsy, Kate, Claudia and Susan H finished painting one of the first floor bedrooms a bright robin´s egg blue, that together with the yellow kitchen and peach bedroom makes that apartment warm and cozy for a future group of girls.  Jill, Pam and Susan M helped Ana, the cook who came up with us from El Hogar, prepare a fabulous lunch of roast chicken, salad and mashed potatoes, all from ingredients supplied by the farm school. 

Meanwhile, Judy defected to the Canadians (just kidding!).  Margo Mingay, Susan Franklin and their team from Canada are here this week to bring needed clothing and supplies and organize the bodega which houses all of it.  Judy joined with them today to sort and organize the inventory.  This afternoon they set up what they laughingly called a store for some of the grades to come and choose new clothing: 4 pairs of pants, gym clothes, underwear, socks and sneakers.  5th grade boys can be amazingly choosy when picking out jeans!  After it started taking too long, reinforcements in the form of two teachers joined in to keep the process moving along. 

Back at Santa Lucia, the afternoon continued with Blanca and Claudia´s Excellent Adventure.  During a brief visit around lunchtime by the previous owners of the property, George and Victoria Beckham, we heard about a stunning private garden behind the walls of the property across the street.  Naturally Claudia and Blanca had to investigate!  Since the wall that the Epiphany men built last October cut off access to that side of the property, they climbed down the scrubby hill behind the house, crawled under some barbed wire and called on Dona Cristina next door, who apparently had the key to this garden.  (Fortunately they did not encounter the scrappy wild dog that Padre Mateo chased away yesterday.) Once inside the wall of the garden they were treated to what they described as a tropical paradise with lush plants, fish ponds and turtles.  Who knew?  They came back more sedately down the road from the upper property line.  We ended our afternoon a short while later greeting the girls coming home from school, who came walking home from the bus down that same road with their housemother Karin. 

The way home included a bit more than the usual adventurous trip up a steep, winding cobblestone hill in our van, when halfway up the hill Betsy, Eileen and Kate, who were in the rear seat of the 15-passenger van, felt the seat jolt and drop almost to the floor.  With the entire bus screaming with laughter, including us, we looked up to see our paparazzi teammates´ cameras snapping away.  Raul took our predicament more seriously, stopped the van on the steep hill, and had us get out so he could fix the seat.  We started off again, only to stop after about another 50 yards.  Raul thought it would be prudent to lock the back door, just in case.  We arrived home without incident.

The late afternoon saw the beginning of some new relationships.  Two brothers who arrived at the school this year, Durlan and Kevin, met their new madrinas Pam and Jill.  The boys glowed with happiness when they realized what a madrina was.  Claudia B translated for them, and said it was a privilege to witness this new beginning for both boys and madrinas.  Betsy met with her Carlos, who came to visit with his mother and two brothers.  Carlos graduated from El Hogar three years ago and now attends a private high school.  Betsy is still his madrina (and always will be), and he comes to see her whenever she is in Honduras.

The evening was quite special with a surprise Fiesta for Dr. Campi in the new dining hall.  Dr. Campi is the dentist who started the dental program here a number years ago.  He raised the funds to build a first-rate dental clinic at El Hogar to provide care for the children, many of whom had never brushed their teeth before they arrive here.  The amount of work that some of the new children need is substantial.  Twice a year Dr. Campi brings a team of dental professionals to Honduras to see the children from all four campuses.  Dr. Campi is planning to retire, and more dentists are needed to continue his great work.  Tonight´s celebration of his gifts included a slide show tribute, recorder music, traditional dances and of course, marimba music, along with a feast including pineapple upside down cake made by the students.

Following dinner we met with our Canadian friends in the volunteer house for a brainstorming session.  Margo, Susan, Jennifer, Brenda and Mary shared stories of innovative and successful fundraisers, giving us some great ideas to think about.  We ended our busy day with a thoughtful evening devotional prepared by Susan H.

buenas noches,
Eileen