We smiled when we walked up to the dining hall for breakfast
and saw that all the children were wearing the green shirts for Earth Day that
we had pulled out of the storeroom (Bodega) last night. A wonderful smiling sea of green. Erika, who lives in the residence with the
children says that the noise level this morning was much higher than usual as they all
tried to find green shirt for each child.
Not only that, they all seemed to fit perfectly.
Jefferson (also a graduate of the El Hogar schools and now almost ready to graduate from University) is washing the Director’s car who is arriving back in Honduras today. Padre Matt, the Executive Director, moves back and forth between the US and Honduras and we are pleased that he is here for a few days of our week.
This is Wednesday and so it is the day to travel to the
Technical School. The four newcomers,
Carolyn, Terry, Carrie and Bruce went with Rick and Erika to see the school to
get a chance to see some more of life in the country.
On the hour drive, we saw
two housing areas rebuilt after Hurricane Mitch 17 years ago (one of them by
Habitat for Humanity). The fields are
being burned off in preparation for the rainy season and the new crops.
We had a tour of the workshops - welding, carpentry and electrical, as well, the computer lab, the residence and the beautiful chapel with the amazing mural. The new comers were impressed and inspired by what happens there. Seeing the second step of the education of the El Hogar students helped complete the picture.
And we are always moved and in awe of the mural on the front wall of the chapel - painted by one of the graduates of El Hogar.
Carrie and Terry are with Junior who we have known at el Hogar and who is sponsored by Caroldean.
Back at El Hogar, those of us who decided to stay behind went back to finish some of our jobs. Varnish arrived for the floor painters in the art room. Janice emptied the donation suitcases with all the clothing and supplies and found places for everything in the Bodega..
Lynne and Ros were back testing some of the new children on their reading skills – only 12 left to test.
Tom’s supplies and his electrical helper
Ramon finally arrived so they could
get to their repairs. Beforehand, he was able to help Janice sort all the
donations in the store room until he had to get to his jobs.
At the morning break, it was time for all of us to take an Earth
Day picture. Somewhat chaotic getting
100 kids plus volunteers in place but we ended up with a round world and then a
pine tree. What fun! 
There would be nothing ‘cooked’ for lunch and
so we had the most marvelous tropical fruit salad – mango, papaya, melon,
etc The children have been working on
the Earth Day theme all week including workshops and we have witnessed all sorts of displays throughout
the campus.
We have been asked to act as the election tribunal to
oversee the student elections. This is a
very serious event here. The teachers
use it as a very important civics lesson in this country, still developing it’s
democratic processes. There are 2
parties running, each with a slate of officers, election platform, and slogans.
There were political rallies yesterday,
a candidates’ debate today, and an assembly about the importance of studying
the issues and voting for the most qualified candidate, regardless of
gender. The debate was particularly
impressive with the presidential candidates answering questions from the
students through a moderator. The
candidates were dressed up for the event, presented their ideas very well and
demonstrated real leadership.
Some were having a hard time staying awake throughout the debate. 
On Friday,
election day, we will be observers at the polling station, checking ID (issued
for the occasion), Inking a finger so they cannot vote twice, Claudia, the director, has said many times
she expects a graduate from El Hogar to be President of Honduras someday.
Posted by Rick and Janice
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