Day 5

Hola, this is Hilary and Alida reporting live from Tegucigalpa, Honduras! Today was a busy day. We started off the day with our usual breakfast of beans... of course, and tortillas and eggs with ham. Yum! We needed our energy for the long day of work ahead. After breakfast, we watched the opening exercises, then paired up with our reading buddies for some one-on-one time. The children seem to really enjoy the special attention and they are making progress... at least Alida's reading buddy didn't try to run away from her today. Everyone else is getting along great though.

After the children went back to class, it was onward to our next job and we brought along four suitcases full of donations to the technical institute. The technical institute is the next step after the boys graduate from El Hogar. They can further their education and choose one of three trades to learn: Welding, Carpentry or Electrical work. They can use these trades later on once they have finished at the institute to go off and work so that they can give back to their community and support themselves. The institute is on a large piece of property about an hour from El Hogar. It used to belong to a doctor until they bought it off of him, and started the school. We were lucky enough to get a private tour and see what the boys are doing in the workshops.

After the tour, we were thrilled to have french fries, rice, beef and tortillas for lunch, accompanied by the most delicious, fresh, natural, berry juice we have ever tasted! Everyone in the group will testify to that.

With our stomachs full, we set out to get our hands dirty... literally. Our job for today was to move a large (very large) pile of rocks from one spot on the property to another, to clear space for further development. This task was made more difficult by the cactus tree that was looming overhead and raining down prickles, which were not enjoyed by any of the group members. But prickles or no prickles, we moved those rocks! While most of us worked on the rock pile, Rick, Tom and Erika were busy digging a trench for a new wall that was going to be built. They were warned that a water pipe may have been about 15 feet away from where they were digging, but on the third strike, an explosion of water erupted from the ground... woops! Tomorrow is going to be a busy day!



Some of the neighbouring boys came over to watch our hard work.


On a detour home to avoid traffic, we all broke in to spontaneous singing. Once we stopped, Louise decided to announce that we were all crazy. The response was simply silence, and then laughter. It was apparent that we were all a little sun drunk from our day of working.




When we arrived back at El Hogar, it started to rain. However, this did not put a damper on our playtime with the children because we relocated to inside the auditorium and brought out all the good ol' games like cards and twister. The boys even revealed their crafty side by making gimp bracelets by the dozen!









Now that the children are tucked in to bed, we find ourselves here, blogging to our friends and family at home. We wish you all the best and hope that you will keep checking our blog!

Buenas Noches! Hasta Mañana!

:)