Time to Pack It All In...

Friday, June 27, 2014

I didn't go to breakfast this morning, rumor had it there was banana bread. I did have two bowls of oatmeal at the house in order to get my energy level up.

We had a very full day ahead of us. It started with the "home" visit. We were going to Tesla's house.

A little aside; Most of the children at El Hogar have families. They are at the school because their families can't provide for them or perhaps they have a bad situation at home. The parents (most of the time only a mom) come and visit on the weekends or the kids will go home on the weekend.

One of the stipulations of the home visit is that we bring a box of food for the family. First we stopped at a bodega-like store to purchase the food. The items in the store were all behind bars and you had to go to a window to order what you wanted.

Entrance to the bodega.

Everything was behind bars.

We spent $15 on food, we were told it was enough to last the family for a month. It included rice, beans, bread and milk.

Food items purchased for the family.

Raul parked the van and led us into a dimly lit alley way. On the right-hand side were three houses. On the left-hand side there appeared to be a common kitchen/laundry area. At the end of the alley we entered a small open area that had a door to a common toilet and a door to a common shower area. There was a rickety staircase which we had to climb to get to Tesla's house. At the top of the stairs there was what we would call a shed. The door was locked with a padlock. This was Tesla's home. Her mom was not home, mostly likely she was fortunate enough to get work for the day. The house was maybe 12x12 and housed Tesla's mom, her sister and her brother. Raul described the inside as having a dirt floor and a one mattress for everyone. The rent is $30 per month. We didn't leave the food, it would have been stolen in minutes. Tesla's mom would pick it up when she was done with work for the day.

We walked into the middle opening to get to Tesla's home.

Tesla's house.

At the other end of the spectrum, nestled on a hillside in the small town of Santa Lucia, just outside of Tegucigalpa, is the newest El Hogar campus, the Girls’ House. The girls in grades 7-11 (with an option to continue on to grade 12) live together on the three-acre campus, which includes a house, three apartments and out buildings. The girls attend a local private school called Virginia Sapp. While they are on a separate campus, the girls remain very connected to the El Hogar community, participating in all events involving the other centers.

This was our next destination for the day. It didn't take too long to get there, but the ride was incredibly bumpy. After leaving the main road, we were on a single-lane cobblestone road. The ride was worth it though, check out this view!

View from the porch of the girls house.

After a tour of the house and the adjoining apartments, we headed back out onto the bumpy road.

Our next stop was for lunch. Raul took us to a very nice restaurant, LaFlorida. We had the whole place to ourselves. The meal we had was delicious.

No trip would be complete without a little shopping. St. Angeles was our next stop. A cute little village that offered a lot of tourist type shops.

Shopping in St. Angeles.

When we got back to El Hogar about 3:00 pm, the place was a flurry of activity. On Saturday, El Hogar was holding a bingo fundraiser event. Three hundred people were going to enter the gates to play bingo. There were a lot of preparations to be made.

The boys were out mowing the lawn (with machetes!). We were given some last minute painting they wanted done to spruce things up. And the girls were leaving.

In an effort to keep things organized, they send most of the girls away for the weekend. Where were they going? Up to the older girls facility where we had just come from. It is kind of like one big pajama party for the weekend. So we had to say our goodbyes now. Which wasn't easy, we were all kind of attached to them.

The girls heading out for their weekend away.

In the midst of all of this, Tesla's mom stopped by to pick up the box of food we bought her family. The gratitude in her eyes and the hug she gave me is something that will stay with me for a long time.

After the girls left, it was time for dinner. We were having a Friday night pizza party. Dominos staff came on three motorcycles and delivered 25 pizzas for dinner. The cafeteria had been cleaned earlier in preparation for the bingo event, so we had the party up in the dormitories. Again, everything is very well organized. The little guys get two slices of pizza and then the older kids and employees get three slices. After we ate, the kids put on a little presentation for us thanking us for coming for the week.

Pizza delivery.

Pizza anyone?

Handing out the pizza and drinks.

Presentations thanking us for spending the week at El Hogar.

After dinner we finished our last minute painting (in the dark!) and headed back to the volunteer house. We had to pack up and clean. Tomorrow we head home!