No leche de él

Today we visited the Agricultural School to help celebrate the 25^th Anniversary!  The school is located just outside of the town of Talanga, and is home to about 60 students who, in addition to their grades 7-9 primary education, learn the basics of agriculture – growing crops and feed, raising animals for milk, eggs, or meat (which don’t all from the same animal, we learned!), and of course the value of a hard days’ work. 

On the Road to Talanga

The road up to Talanga took us through one of the tougher parts of Comayaguela – a stunning reminder of the disparity of living standards we enjoy at home.  Mud floor homes, barbed wire, broken glass, armed guards, garbage on the streets – and people living among it all.   Tough conditions, tough people – more on that later.

Touring the Farm

When we arrived at “The Farm” as it’s sometimes called, we were greeted by Yony Aguilera, the director of the Agricultural School and El Hogar’s Executive Director in Honduras, Matt Engleby, who gave us a great tour of the property.  We saw the school's banana trees, corn, sweet potatoes, papayas, mangos and coffee, along with their cows, chickens, pigs, horses and goats. The Agricultural school provides all the milk required for all El Hogar associated schools. Eggs supply the need for the Agricultural School. They also raise Tilapia on the farm, but it was just harvested a few weeks ago.After a brief mass we had a delicious “Plato Typico” lunch consisting of beef, avocado, sausages, plantains, beans and cake. Our free time was filled with Karaoke (Spanish and English) and a very competitive Connect 4 tournament.

The main event of the day, highly anticipated by students, staff and volunteer alike, was the football “friendly” between the visiting Technical School team and the home team of the Agricultural School.  As game time approached there was a nervous tension in the air as the teams began to gather in their uniforms (apparently donated by the Belmont Day School and North Toronto Team Estonia, respectively – but hey, they’re Blue and White, and that’s all that matters).  For those who have been able to visit other parts of Europe or Latin America, you know what an institution a football match can be, and today was no different.  This was the Evento Más Importante and everybody knew it.  As the teams took to the field to warm up, we took our place on the bleachers on the other side – walking around the field, of course, out of respect – as today this field was Tierra Sagrada, and was for players only.

The Evento Más Importante

They played a fast-paced, offensive game that despite many attempts, ended 1-1 at the end of 60 minutes of regulation; the Technical Institute, with St. Lukes’ own Jorge Francisco in goal, took the game in the shootout, 4-2.  Remember the toughness I mentioned earlier? Many of these kids come from tough homes, such as they are, like we saw on the drive out.  And these kids play tough on the field, no doubt.  But there was something else there – a camaraderie, commitment to fair play, and respect for the game and each other no doubt instilled in them in no small part by their education at El Hogar.