Honduran friends

Claire, me, Heather, Martin and Wendy (fellow interns along with the Dr. Williams and his wife who I worked with)

Brenda, Alesandra, Minor and Alejandra (Sandy's sister-in-law with her 3 children)

Chris (teacher at IER), Sharon (nurse at our clinic), me, Claire (fellow intern), Allison & Larry Smoak (missionaries living nearby),  and Joel

My buddy, Ronald Joel Velasquez Hernandez

Sandy's birthday

Sandy's sister, Cristy

Elida, the culinary extraordinaire for our short-term teams

Movie night at Earl and Sharon's house (administrators of Instituto El Rey high school)

Maxs, Elmer and Jeremias (boys who attend IER and live across the street at Earl & Sharon's house)

My class farewell

This is a video from my 9th grade English class (the more well-behaved one!).  They sang a song for me in English, "This is the Day".  Enjoy!

Brenda visits her mother!

As I mentioned in a previous post, my friend Brenda is a mother of 3 beautiful children and has been using her talents in sewing and designing bags for me to bring home to friends and family in the States.  I am hoping to continue to purchase bags from Brenda, but it's difficult as I am not living in Honduras anymore (I returned on May 16th).  I had to purchase the fabric, buttons, thread, etc. in the city and bring it to Brenda, and then pay her when she finished.  As Rio Viejo doesn't have mail service, it's a bit complicated to get the bags to the States, but I'm hoping to work with the missionaries who still live there and see what we can do.  It's hard to leave Brenda and her situation and want to help, but being so far away.  

Here one of the twins is taking a nap while her sister mischievously swings the hammock.Brenda also makes and sells food during the breaks at the high school to help support her family.

Brenda, like many Honduran women, works very hard, long hours to care for and support her family.  Her husband works in the city when he can find work, so Brenda has been able to save the money she's made from these bags to pay for the bus fare to visit her mother over Mother's Day.  Brenda took all three kids and spent 5 days with her mother, who she hasn't seen since she was 1 year old.  I asked her what it was like when they first saw each other and she said there were "lots of hugs and kisses, but no crying.  We were just so happy to see each other."  She also added that Minor was a bit apprehensive when his grandmother hugged him, but the twins were both very scared!  Brenda is hoping that her children can be closer to their grandma now and that their relationship will grow stronger.  

Brenda and her husband, Alfredo, have also been saving their money to build a kitchen on their house.  She has already bought some of the bricks and said Alfredo knows how to do construction.  He will build it after they purchase the remaining 100 bricks, cement, and iron rods.  

Brenda is enthusiastic to have an enclosed kitchen where her chickens won't fly up on the pots and where the dishes can be kept clean after they are washed.  Also, she's anxious to put a new doorway to the house as the 3 steps leaving the house are steep and dangerous.  She is scared and nervous after one of her little girls was unconscious after hitting her head from a falling down the steps.  Life in Honduras and all who live in poverty is full of unfulfilled promises, hurt, surprises, and a lack of options.  I hope God will continue to lay on my heart people like Brenda and her family, the awareness of their situations, and what I can do about it.

Saying goodbye to Brenda was probably the hardest goodbye for me, and I'll miss her energetic smile and fun personality.  She is so joyful and a wonderful mother.  When I was saying goodbye, Minor shared a chip with me from the small bag which was probably his lunch.  So generous, yet they have so little.  With tears in her eyes, she thanked me over and over and told me she's excited for when I can come back to visit as we will have a big meal of fish that Alfredo will catch from the river, with tortillas, beans and fried bananas...A true example of hospitality and selflessness.  As I said to her, it's not "adios", it's "hasta luego!"

Final Clinic Days

Assisting Martin cast a woman in the hospital in La Ceiba who broke her arm a couple days before.  She called Martin who brought the casting materials down with us so we could cast her arm that had been in a sling.  Have I mentioned things are a bit different in Honduras?

A couple weeks ago this patient (in the hammock) accidentally cut himself with his machete while working in his fields far away from his village.  He yelled to his friends who found him bleeding profusely from the gash just above his knee.  The friends then ran down the mountain to bring a hammock and carried him to our clinic where he was stitched up and drank IV bags to replace some of the fluid that was lost from bleeding for over 3 hours.

A Honduran campesino-style ambulance...and a sign of true friendship!  

Part of my duties included pre-screening patients and taking blood pressure, temperature, weight, etc.  

This little baby had strep throat, an upper respiratory illness very common in our area.

I also filled prescriptions and explained the different medications to the patients, which sometimes is more difficult as many adults in our area are illiterate.  

One of my favorite patients -- she's a trooper and could out-hike me any day!

Assisting (i.e. pinning the kid down) an injection of penicillin for one of many cases of step throat we saw in the past couple weeks.

Trust and Obey

TRUST AND OBEY

   1.            When we walk with the Lord

           in the light of his word,

         what a glory he sheds on our way!

                While we do his good will,

          he abides with us still,

             and with all who will trust and obey.

Refrain:

            Trust and obey, for there's no other way

            to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

2.        Not a burden we bear,

            not a sorrow we share,

            but our toil he doth richly repay;

       not a grief or a loss,

            not a frown or a cross,

            but is blest if we trust and obey.

3.            But we never can prove

            the delights of his love

       until all on the altar we lay;

            for the favor he shows,

            for the joy he bestows,

                     are for them who will trust and obey.

4.            Then in fellowship sweet

        we will sit at his feet,

            or we'll walk by his side in the way;

            what he says we will do,

               where he sends we will go;

    never fear, only trust and obey.

Larry mentioned this hymn at house church last weekend as a couple of us are leaving soon (me this week, nurse and her husband next month, and Heather later this fall).  It's my Grandma Ippel's favorite hymn and is such a beautiful song.  Think it's my favorite hymn too and also my prayer as I move back to the States this week.  That the Lord would seal in my character and being this part of my journey -- to always love what he loves, and never forget this place and time he's given me.    

A Taste of Honduras

For real fresh fruit.

Papaya tree from my backyard.

Pataste plant (prickly pear) at Larry's.

Lizard friend on our fence.

Pretty beetle friend.

Agriculture Trip

During the last weekend of the Canadian high schooler's two-month stay in Honduras, the team splint into three groups for a sleepover weekend with one of three rotations -- clinic group had campout in remote village with little medical care, construction projects for the orphanage group, and for us ag people, learning to live simply and to live out Christ's love.

Part of living simply was learning how to make lots of foods from scratch.  Pictured here are students making peanut butter, oatmeal bread, and homemade granola.

We also worked in the fields in order to experience a bit of what it's like to be a farmer in a place like Honduras.  Here we are weeding the banana trees, which is done using a very sharp machete.

The most eye opening and memorable part of the weekend was the hike and overnight stay at the home of a fellow farmer and friend of Larry's, Don Chombo.  Just to walk to the village took about an hour through a shaky Indiana Jones-style hammock bridge, dense jungle, steep rocky mountainside, and even across a river -- which is amazing as its an almost daily routine for some in the area.  

Pictured above is a view of Chombo's farm -- not quite what most of us envision as farmland.  But this is where he grows his corn and other vegetables.  He also carries down his harvest on his back in 100-pound sacks in this terrain, which amazed us as we had trouble just walking through.

To help support his family, Chombo sells cilantro in La Ceiba, about 2 hours from his home.  Here we were learning how he uses banana leaves and a part of another plant for string to package his bundles.

All in the group were astounded at the hospitality and generosity of Don Chombo's family.  We brought a live chicken to put in the soup we had for dinner, but the rest of our food came from Chombo's land.  Most students mentioned how amazed they were at how much they gave to us, even though they have so little.  

These people are one storm away from being hungry.

How can I identify with these people as my life is so different?

Chickens!

Ugliest Chicken of the Year award:

One day during the 10-day visit of my friend Alex, we crowned this featherless friend first place.  Unfortunately it must've heard and while we were snoozing in our hammocks it took out its revenge by stealthily sneaking into the house and leaving a number of splats scattered throughout the house, despite the tall barricades which guarded the back door.

Here he is purusing the kitchen in search of the vast array of dead bugs...

...under the kitchen table, where he really hit the jackpot...

...in my ROOM, that little sneaker...

...under the couch (quite a contrast of cultures, no?)...

...and finally, FUERA!!  And stay out!

Alex's Visit

My friend Alex was able to come for 10 days.  Alex and I met at Wheaton on "Honduras Project" and it was great having her here to share a bit of my experience, see what life is like here, relax, meet my friends here, and she also helped out in the clinic.

One day during her visit we went down to Larry and Allison's to help make jam from their Suriname cherry tree.  Wow is it ever tasty.

Alex's visit was not completely pain free, however, as I experienced quite a fall from a faulty hammock tie job.  As you can see, the hammock on the right is mounted considerably higher than the other one, which accounted for my steadily recuperating hip and buns.

Semana Santa

Sawdust Carpet photos from our visit to Copán -- a Catholic tradition during Semana Santa (Holy Week) in a few cities in Honduras

This process took a couple days to complete and culminated in a long procession on the night before Easter Sunday

Many people worked for 2 days and through the night on these carpets in the main streets of Copán -- most just used brightly dyed sawdust, but others had fresh flowers, rice, dried beans and other materials.

View from a ladder of the stations of the cross -- quite a memorable time and unique perspective on the celebration and dedication of Christ's death and resurrection.

Brenda Carcamo

Brenda's son, Minor, is my little buddy and loves watermelon, which is a special treat here.  He has taken to teaching me how to throw a top (trompo in Spanish), but I have yet to figure it out!  He's a fun kid who is so helpful, always obedient and very patient with his little sisters.  

Brenda is a friend of mine from Rio Viejo (who is also Sandy's sister-in-law).  I'd like to share her story with you, as she is someone who I've grown close to and will miss dearly when I leave Honduras in 2 short weeks. 

Brenda (pictured in background here) grew up living all over the country with various family members, oftentimes in an abusive home environment.  She got married when she was 17 and now has three children, Minor (7) and twin girls, Alisandra and Alejandra (2 yrs in July).  

Brenda lives a typical Honduran life here in the cuenca, caring for her children, preparing food for her family (tortillas, beans, fried bananas, rice, chicken, etc.), cooking food to sell at the high school, washing her clothes by hand, cleaning the house, etc.  She is also a very talented seamstress and learned part of her trade through long hours working in a sweatshop, although the bulk of her work has resulted from lots of practice, combined with being extremely talented.  She is very creative and told me the other day that she just loves to sew.

Brenda has made over 60 bags and purses that the Canadian group and us interns have purchased from her in order to support her family.  With this money they have already purchased the cement blocks to use to build a kitchen on their one-room home.  It's exciting to see this progress as it was something they were hoping to do in a year's time.  While taking into consideration other factors including minimum wage in Honduras, being sensitive to other employers/laborers on the local level in Rio Viejo, the cost of materials, etc., I hope that this relationship is nothing but positive and encouraging for Brenda, her family and the community.

When Brenda was 1 year old, she went to live with her grandma.  Since then, she has has spoken to her mother on the phone, but has not seen her mother, nor has the mother met Brenda's children.  Despite the short 2 hour distance between the cities in which they live, Brenda has not been able to afford the price of bus tickets, but this Mother's Day is hoping to make the trip for the first time.  It's been so exciting to see it all unfold and the joy of a family being reunited.