Most of my time in the past two months has been planning for and interacting with the group that's been staying in the HHIM dormitory, which is across the yard from our house. We been visiting and hiking to lots of schools in the area to distribute toothbrushes, toothpaste, band-aids, alcohol wipes, anti-parasite medication and children's vitamins (when they're available). The group has also painted 3 murals since they got here, one of which is shown above at a elementary school in a village called Los Limpios. It was about a 2 hour hike, one-way, with all the paint for the school exterior and the mural along with the other materials. Just a side note -- we frequently see patients from this village, which cannot be easily reached by car when the river is high). During the walk back to Rio Viejo, I thought about the patients who make the walk to the clinic when they are very sick, or the mothers who carry their little babies the whole way, usually with other children in tow...brought a new perspective to this very rural area.
On the urban level, one Saturday a youth group from the large nearby city of La Ceiba come up to have a picnic, swim in the river and get to know the Canadian group from Toronto District Christian High School. The kids played group games which were easy to explain in limited Spanish and got them to interact with each other.
This picture is of two of the three guys who live across the street from the clinic in the dormitory of the administrators of Instituto El Rey, where I teach English. All 3 boys are unable to live at home because of sad and unfortunate circumstances, and because of support from the States, they can live here and get a top notch education at a Christian high school. Their names are Elmer and Jeremias (Jeremiah in English) and they're great to have around. The boys from the TD group have been inviting them to our weekday worship service and playing frisbee and soccer with them -- I'm sure they'll be missed when the group returns to Canada this week!
