Monday

The weekend is over and Monday finds the campus a bevy of activity as a new school week begins and our official work week starts.  Breakfast was at 6:45 before we headed into the auditorium for opening exercises.  The children were all decked out in their school uniforms having just completed cleaning their teeth at the “outdoor tooth brushing sink”.  The assembly lasted approximately an hour and a half and it was amazing to see how well the children behaved for that length of time. The overriding theme of the assembly centred around  the importance of respect----unconditional respect and honour for parents and respect for all creation.  It was highlighted by one of the students bringing a live rabbit up to the stage.  The national anthem was then sung and the children were dismissed to their classrooms.

 The team doing their best to understand the lesson in spanish of course.

We then met with Matt Engleby, the Executive Director, who explained how the volunteer program benefits the children of El Hogar.  He spoke about a dentist who came here as a volunteer to do some painting and wound up becoming instrumental is setting up a dental clinic at El Hogar which services not only the needs of the children but also those of their families.  There is now a full time Honduran dentist on site.  This all came about as a result of the volunteer program and highlights its’ importance.  We also met with Claudia, the Director of the school, who introduced us to a young man who had graduated from the technical school at El Hogar.  His story was an intriguing and touching one filled with the difficulties and struggles of his life but  El Hogar became his safety and refuge .  He managed to find work because of the skills he learned at El Hogar and now serves as a role model for other young boys.  He is a true testament to the importance of the work that is taking place here.

The rest of the morning and some of the afternoon were spent sprucing up the dormitory with a fresh coat of paint.The weather continues to be very hot and humid but it has not dampened our enthusiasm. 

 and the engineers taking down the old and building new steps to the art room.  By the end of the day with all those engineers measuring several times, and cutting, everything fit into place  so well.  

and trying to figure out which tool to use next!

 As usual the end of the day for the children was craft time and Terry and Carrie had chosen wonderful age appropriate crafts for the little boys - our first group of the week.  They loved the crafts and we had such joy working with them.

It was Jane's day to put this blog together today and she did so in her "office"  with a lot of expert help!










It was a busy and very hot day, but we felt that we got much accomplished.  Looking forward to tomorrow.