Blog Archives

Dia del Nino

9/27/2009

In Honduras there is a holiday called "Day of the Child." The schools all throw a big party that day for the kids with a piñata and more. This year Jason and I were involved in two celebrations for Kid's Day.

In the morning we went on a hike with the 9th grade students from Instituto El Rey (www.ierschool.org). We walked out 45 minutes from the road and jumped rocks (or waded like me) across a river to reach a little village called Nueva Suyapa. The 9th graders then threw a party for the local school kids. They played games, taught the kids a dance, read stories, and had a piñata.

It was a great experience to hike to Nueva Suyapa again, to have a special day for the kids there, and especially to spend time with our former students from Instituto El Rey.

After this trip we hurried home to change out of hiking clothes and went to our local school in Urraco, where we've been teaching English classes all year. We made it just in time for their party. We had more piñatas, food, time with the kids, and we handed out little prize bags to them all. We were reminded that day how privileged we are to have created such great relationships with the people in our village.

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Independence Day Marching

9/27/2009

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Every year on the 15th of September, which is Honduras' Independence Day, the schools all march in a parade. It is one of the biggest events of the school year.

At Instituto El Rey (www.ierschool.org) the students learn how to march and practice for months to get ready for this special event. This is also the big show for the school's band for the year, so they put in a lot of work.

This year Ruby played a drum in the band and Roxana got to dress for the parade in a costume celebrating the Honduran indigenous culture. So, it was particularly fun to see them in their special roles this year.

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Thanks to the Furrow Family Group

9/27/2009

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As I write this the Furrow Family (& Friend) Group is flying home. We certainly had a great week with them and we want to express our thanks for all the hard work they did.

The guys from the group wired the 3rd house for kids, worked on building that septic tank, put in a beautiful stone path between the first two houses, and did some other odd jobs. The 3rd house is now really close to being done -- all we need now are doors and windows, a kitchen counter, some paint, and some furniture.

Meanwhile the ladies of the group had the big, pressured-by-the-clock job of getting the library up and ready for it's grand opening to the community at the end of the week! They sanded and painted and organized and handed out flyers and decorated. We got everything finished about 5 minutes before the grand opening started!

Thanks to all of you for your servant's hearts and diligent work! We couldn't have pulled this off without you. We love you.

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Opening the Community Library

9/27/2009

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We just had the grand opening for our library. Thanks to the help of the Furrow Family Group, we were able to host a party for community with snacks, balloons, crafts, prizes, and a piñata, along with books to read. We were thrilled at the turn-out of kids and adults that wanted to read.

Jason and I (Sarah) really value books and have always been readers. (I think if you weighed everything we owned personally, including furniture, the books would weigh more than the rest combined.) We want to pass on this passion for reading to all the kids near us. We want to raise kids up to be life-long learners.

So, we've been collecting books in Spanish anywhere we can find them to have a library for our Children's Home and our community. We've turned the building previously known as the "office" into a library and we'll have library hours two afternoons a week.

Just to put this into perspective a little, let me say that I doubt more than a handful of the families in our village own a book other than a Bible. Kids go to school to learn to read and write, but we live in a village with two or three written signs and almost no books. Why learn? Even in the classrooms there aren't more than a couple books. In this part of Honduras I don't know of more than a couple bookstores and their books would financially be out of reach to the average person.

In February we have a group coming to build a playground and next summer we're building a covered area for sports and assemblies. With these and the library together we will have a complex we can open to the community.

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Give Hope 2 Kids

Dia del Nino

Independence Day Marching

Thanks to the Furrow Family Group

Opening the Community Library

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