Tuesday, March 3, 2026

 

Efrein, one of our favourite drivers,
drove us into Tegucigalpa after breakfast, after he tried to fix our showers.  Three of our 4 rooms had showers with no hot water and two toilets needed fixing.  We are tremendously grateful to him! 

You haven’t seen traffic til you travel in Tegucigalpa.  Forget the Toronto 401, it is much more exciting to be here.  Lots of crowding, merging, horn honking, darting motorcycles (few helmets), lots of exits and entrances to keep things interesting.   

Today was a very special day as it was a day at the Primary Campus.  We love the big boys at the institute, but the little ones are an active and energetic group with cherubic faces!  Profe Jessika is the principal of the school and welcomed us to the city campus.  El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza.  She had with her, a mother and two young students who told their stories and the importance of El Hogar in their lives.  Being part of the public school system provide many challenges for anyone attending and the girls were very behind in their reading and also experienced a lot of bullying as well.  Coming to El Hogar meant that they  eventually caught up to their peers and became confident in themselves.  It was an emotional time for all of us as they told their stories.  These children now have more confidence and dreams of what their future might look like.  THe photo is of the team and of Jessika and the three guests who shared their stories.

Another change that we saw was the building of a new dental clinic.  It has been a dream to expand the clinic to include more parents and the outside community with additional staff.  All this with help through “Sharing Smiles” staff and donations.  The clinic is an exciting project, in spite of it being on the site of our old volunteer guest house.  The place where many teams and especially St Lukes’ spent many happy and fun moments there. 

We had the privilege of being on the school bus when the kids were driven back home from school at the end of classes.  As in any family, the moms were waiting to receive their kids at the stop and was just part of a Tuesday routine. The parents and children are so happy to be part of a safe environment.

After lunch at the school (made by Dona Tona, who has been cooking for the children since the beginning of this school, more than 40 years ago), we headed to a Musee in the National Bank, (a brand new building)  discovering the history of the Honduran currency over the centuries, ending with the Lempira which weuse now.  

We enjoyed our evening again with the kids.  They love the games and the puzzles and the painting and are loads of fun.