Tuesday

Today our team had breakfast together at 7:30 am, before the majority of the group were whisked off to ITSM the technical institute where the boys can learn carpentry, welding and electricity. Janice and Louise stayed behind at El Hogar to continue painting in the dormitory. Just on the outskirts of Ameriteca, we stopped for a home visit. Belkis and her family live in a one-room wooden structure with an attached cooking area. 

 

Her oldest son is a graduate of ITSM, while her second son has just begun his studies there. The youngest son attends a local school. She does manual labour to provide for her family, e,g,, cutting and selling firewood, hauling sand from the river to sell along the highway.   Her story was inspiring.

 

 Currently she is waiting for the rainy season to plant her vegetable plot but she has a nice little flower garden outside her door!.

Once at the ISTM, we were taken on a tour of the entire complex . We were keen to see the students working in the metal, carpentry, electrical shops and the computer lab. Everyone seemed to be very focused on the task at hand and content with their work

It was Andrea and Jane's first visit and they were interested in the metal work that the boys had made.

 

We were all pleased to visit the large sanctuary where the boys worship every Friday.   The mural painted by one of the students a few years ago makes it a distinguishing feature and is one of the favourite parts of the visit.  . After a stop for a snack in the kitchen and a visit to the dormitory, we headed back to Tegucigalpa.

In the afternoon, Matt, Terry and Michael completed the stairs up to the Art Room.. Various team members worked on preparation of the craft materials for the evening and others worked on learning materials for learning activities with students identified as needing special support. Jane, Louise, Janice, Rosalind and Lynn worked with individual and small groups of students on fine motor skills, multiplication facts, or reading activities. Kevin enjoyed himself doing special activities with Janice. 

We had another successful craft evening after dinner. This time we worked with all the girls. They made crowns, wands, hairbands, dream catchers, bracelets, coloured pictures and a mural. There was a lot of enthusiasm and creativity in the room!





Michael helping Rubi with her dream catcher.

Andrea had the popular craft of special bracelets and handled the chaos really well.

Some of our favourite photos of the children so far.    Big ones and little ones.