My First Day of School

Today was my first day at the school... ever! I have been spending most of my time at the clinic, with a little bit of time dispersed between the ranch and the office. Therefore, it was quite a different day. We began by hitchhiking to San Marcos from Las Palmas. It was a lucky day. We got 2 rides and only had to walk for about 45 minutes instead of the normal hour and a half. It was great. We then stopped for breakfast since we were so early. That was a big mistake for me. I had a little too much too eat, a little too quickly, and then I didn´t feel so hot. You shouldn´t do that. After that, we went to the school and hung out with Roxana (the director) for a while, and some of the girls helped with classes (I still wasn´t feeling so great, and my Spanish is terrible). It was then lunch time (I had a Fresca) and then back to school. I felt a lot better, so we played with the kids for a while at recess and now here I am (it´s raining now), typing my final blog of the summer. It´s been a pretty interesting and different day. It was nice to see yet another aspect of Mission Lazarus in action though. The school provides such a wonderful service for the children in the community that might never get the education they need. Plus, it´s a lot of fun to play with those niños. I liked it.

Love,
Tristan

Hitchhiker's Guide To. . . Honduras?

Hola! This little ditty is to describe my first hitchhiking adventure of my life. I know, especially as a college kid, a lot of my peers who have travelled around the U.S. as hitchhikers, and I've read On The Road, by Jack Kerouac, so it's always seemed one of those alluring, dangerous activities that both draw you and scare you at the same time. But it's those activities that often thrill us the most (like climbing a mountain, riding a roller coaster, or watching Javier cut a parasitic worm out of a little girl's head). But in the States, hitchhiking is not exactly condoned, unless you're my Grandma, who seemed content to scare the begeebers out of my brother and I when we were young by picking up the sketchiest-looking hitchers she could apparently find on the highway.

Nevertheless, I've always wanted to hitchhike, longing for that weightless feeling that a gypsy must feel, drifting from place to place like a leaf in a stream. So in Honduras, it's, like, status quo to hitch rides all over the place. Thus, on one occasion when I spent the day at the school in San Marcos, I got my first opportunity. We never get rides from the ranch to San Marcos for some unknown reason, but the school workers are dropped off every day at the highway by Las Palmas at the bus stop. Unfortunately, the buses don't start running for about two hours after we are dropped off at the stop, and I have yet to have a busito stop to pick me up. So, it is usually up to us to get ourselves to San Marcos, sans Holman and our faithful Land Cruiser.

Shanna, Seth, and I set out one morning on foot along the road, hoping that a pickup truck (the ideal hitchhiking vehicle) would cruise along and pick us up. However, despite our despondent looks as we held out our arms to signal a ride, no one stopped. After more walking, more "courtesy honks" by passers-by, and plenty of smiles from Hondurans in the backs of trucks, a lone fruit truck slowed to a stop ahead of us and we ran to it. We ran to it, yes, only to find out that it had stopped to back into a little dirt road off the highway, we just happened to be there at the right spot at the right moment. Grrr. So we continued on.

About five minutes later, this same fruit truck pulls alongside us and the driver shouts something to which Seth replies in Spanish. Apparently, they're going to San Marcos, so we hop in the back. And by "hop in the back", I mean climbing 12 feet or so up the wooden rear of the truck and into the bed with about seven other Honduran teenagers. They are all perched high atop the rickety sides of the truck, and I join them, many feet above the bed of the truck. Everyone is eating mangoes as the truck speeds off, and it is curious to listen to all of the wild cries that the teens shout to pedestrians as we rocket down the road. At one point we stop and all the teens shout as fast and as loud as they possibly can to some young gal who apparently was going to come work with them, but changed her mind as she reached the highway, turning and walking hastily back the way she came. We started driving again, and I watched the girl ahead of me carefully for cues when to duck my head as we drove under precariously low-hangin, butt-huge tree branches. She apparently had them all memorized, and I was glad that she was sitting in front of me!

Eventually, we reached San Marcos safely and Shanna, who had ridden in the cab of the truck to Seth's and my dismay, emerged unscathed and all right, and we continued walking to the school. We shouted "Adios" and "muchas gracias" to the driver and they sped off again. My arms were pretty tired from holding myself on to the knife's-edge thin wall of the truck, but I was all jacked-up to know that I'd successfully hitched a ride in the back of a fruit truck in Honduras. It was thrilling all right!! Yet another anecdote for the annals of "TIH."

-- Dylan Wann

Mode of Transportation……

…my feet. Seriously though, I have learned this summer just how much of a privilege it is to have a car or at least be given a ride by a car. I know people have already written blogs about hitchhiking and how crazy it can be sometimes, but when we don’t catch a ride with someone, sometimes our only chance to get somewhere is to walk. One morning, Shanna and I walked a little more than halfway to the school, which was a good hour and a half walk, I don’t know how far we walked exactly, but I know that it was a fairly long way. Another story that I have about walking is one afternoon when school was over, Seth and I caught a bus to the house after already walking through town in the pouring rain. Once we reached our stop at the end of our fairly long driveway, we had two choices. We could either sit at the bus stop to wait for the rest of the interns to get back and pick us up, or we could…walk; we walked. It was a good walk, but difficult in the fact that my clothes weighed more because they were completely soaked and because much of our driveway is a good uphill climb. Those are just a few of my experiences from walking a lot, but I think my favorite part about walking besides the amazing exercise that I get, is the time to actually enjoy the views. Because when you are driving by things, it can be a lot easier to miss some of the awesome things that you get to see when you take a little walk.

--Kenz

Raul and Oscar

Two men in charge or guarding one school, day and night. One of the many awesome things about the school is getting to talk to the two guards, Raul and Oscar. The two alternate 24 hour shifts of watching the school. Their jobs include filling the milk jugs for the people in the nutrition program, unlocking the gates for cars and kids, clipping the hedges, and to keep watch over the school at night. I enjoying spending time talking with the guards, asking them about their families and how they feel about different aspects of life. They are great around the kids and always bring joy to those they come in contact with. One night when we went down to Mario's hamburger stand to get supper, I saw Oscar sitting under the overhang. I went and asked him how long he'd been working and he answered since 6 that morning..and his shift ended at 6 the following morning. Woa! He described some of his methods of staying awake: walking constantly, drinking Coca-Cola, talking to passersby, listening to music on the radio, talking to God, and sleeping all day the next day. Sounds like a college student trying to make it through the week.

Seth

Second Star to the Right and Straight on till Morning...

This is one of my favorite kids at the school. He's always got this mischevious grin on his face, like he has some hidden plan full of trouble.

Doesn't he look like a Lost Boy?! That's what I think. His hair is kinda pointy and messy and his shoes are always untied. he usually wears these cut off pants and a mesh ragged top and he looks just like he could have walked off the set of Peter Pan.

I guess it's more the idea of the Lost Boys and Neverland that makes him fit there in my mind. The idea that they would never have to grow up and that he could play all day and run around with wooden swords, capturing pirates, and saving indian princesses. Sounds a lot better than the reality that these kids live everyday, with little to eat and not much parental attention.

But that's why i love the school. The C.I.D.T. is a place where they can come and be kids. They run around and play on the swing set. They have their friends and little clicks just like any other school. They eat snacks and color and paint and pretend and just play. And better yet they learn. So maybe there's no pixie dust to carry them away or a tinkerbell to grant them all their wildest dreams and fairytales, but i think that the school here and the things it is doing to enrich their lives is pretty close.

- reb.

Insect Bites and Swollen Ankles

So, I wrote earlier about having scabies, and thought surely, since I had to suffer through skin lice, nothing else crazy would happen to me....WRONG. I was sitting outside the school talking to some of the girls during recess when I felt a sharp sting on my ankle. I´ve been bitten quite a bit since I´ve been here so of course I didn´t think anything of it. Later in the day, I happened to look down at my ankle and noticed there was a very large red spot forming. Upon further investigation I noticed that the spot was hot to the touch and very hard, it felt like scar tissue. I showed the nurse at school and she said it looked like a spider bite and it would go away. Ha! For the next few days, my bite continued to swell and be hot, but it also caused my ankle to swell. I couldn´t even see the bone in my ankle. What kind of spider makes your skin change colors, increase in temperature, and causes your ankle to swell??? A spider apparently, or at least, that´s what everybody told me. This morning I came to Choluteca for my office day and decided to show the doctor, Javier. He looked at my ankle and poked it a little and told me, in very clear English what had bitten my ankle. When I heard him, my response was, ¨A WHAT???¨ Javier had told me, that I was bitten by a cockroach like insect. Yeah, a cockroach. He said he had a bite similar to that on his face and this kind of cockroach hurts when it touches you, much less when it bites you. The bite happened 4 days ago and is still there and still swollen, although the heat has subsided. Recovery is looking bright. So, living in Honduras has been an adventure, things happened to me that have never happened before and possibly will never happen again, and this is just an example of one of the crazy things that can happen living in Honduras. Who knew there were insects like cockroaches that could bite you??

Shanna Crossland

School Kids

So, I was thinking about what I should blog about. There are so many things, things that happen at home, things that happen on the ranch, at the school. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to blog about the most important part of Honduras, the people. And who better to write about than those I´m around the most: the kids. There are so many kids that are ¨blog worthy¨but I´m going to write about a few that I have gotten to know over the past six weeks.

Every morning whenI walk into school there are two kids there when I get there. Marvin is a four year old in the Kinder class and he is quite possibly the grouchiest kid in the mornings that I have ever met. He doesn´t want anybody to talk to him or touch him, especially adults. The other kid there early in the morning is Victor. He is maybe the coolest kid I´ve ever met. He is one of the kids that will move into the children´s home at Las Palmas whenever it is ready. They found him on the beach and now he lives with Roxana (the director of the C.I.D.T. in San Marcos) and her husband, Juan. He will talk to anybody and play with whoever and he is just a really cool kid.

Most mornings, the only kids there are the kids in the Kinder and Preparatoria classes. The older kids come to school in the afternoon after their classes at the public school or the private baptist school. So in the morning, I spend a lot of time with the Kinder class. One little girl in particular likes to play with me and her name is Naydelin. She is absolutely precious. She´s four years old and loves to play hand games. Most of the time I just sit there with my hands up while she sings one of two songs: Pepito or Patito Juan. I would sing with her, but during the thousands of times I´ve heard her sing these songs, I can not understand more than about 5 words in each one. But she is great!

In the afternoon, the older kids come and eat lunch and play outside with us. There are two girls, both about 7 or 8 years old, that have attached themselves to me. Not only do I see them at school, but at church too, and sometimes walking around San Marcos. The first one, Gisel, is a beautiful girl with dark skin and very long dark hair. She is really shy and it usually takes me a while to get her to talk to me. One thing about her that really impresses me is her loyalty to her family. She has a little sister, Andrea, who is four years old and wears a hearing aide during the lessons and can´t hear well without it. Gisel is always at her side, walking with her to school, playing with her outside, and making sure she goes where she needs to go. Gisel also has a brother, Jenri, and she does the same with him, making sure he´s always ok. The other little girl, Pamela, is stuck in the middle of 6 sisters. This family is very well known among the North Americans that have ever worked at this school or with Mission Lazarus in San Marcos. To be quite honest, they are known for how mean they are. All together, I´m sure they are mean. What family of seven girls isn´t? But Pamela is my friend. Every time I walk into the room, there she is at my side. She is very much the opposite of Gisel. She is outgoing and most of the time does not know where her other sisters are. But I love her.

Since I´ve been here, one of my favorite things, hands down, is spending time with the kids at the school. There are so many and they are all so different but, and maybe I´m biased, but I think they are all so beautiful. I know I only told you about 5 of the kids, but I don´t have nearly enough time or space to talk about all of the kids I have met and gotten to know. Kids really are beautiful and innocent, and so great to spend time with!!

Shanna Crossland

VBS

I don't actually have a designated day at our school in San Marcos, but occassionally I have given up my office day to go to school. This past week I was there, helping the SHINE group with their VBS program. Americans that come here for a week and do 3-4 "VBS"s don't really understand the impact they are making on the kids. What is great about these programs is the fact that groups actually spend time with the kids, helping them do crafts, telling them stories, and keeping them entertained. Most importantly, they show the children the love of christ and make each and every one of them feel special. This is something many will never get at home, and during the 10 weeks groups are here, they are showered with those gifts of love. It is easy to become numb to some things while we are here for two months, but I am always touched when I work around the beautiful children at our schools.
Molly

What I have learned at recess!

My last blog was directed mostly towards the teachers, cooks, and administrators at the school, so I wanted to write another blog about the kids in the school! Though recess seems liek the longest part of the day when working at the school because it is about 45-60 min long compared to our 15 min long one in the U.S., it is one of my favorite parts of the day because it is when I really get to bond and hang out with the kids. One of the first things that I noticed when I started playing with the kids at recess was how much they dont seem to mind whether or not you can speak much spanish, they are just glad to have a new companion to join in their games. I feel bad because most of the time I dont rememeber or I butcher them when I attempt to pronounce them, but that still doesnt stop them from wanting to play. They still run up and grab my hand and give me hugs and get excited when they see me, it always makes my day brighter. I have learned quite a few words in Spanish from the kids as well, such as pato pato gansol is duck duck goose and maseme is push me...and all kinds of other useful playground talk! But I really do love the kids and the opprotunity that I have had to work with them here. To be given the opportunity to just sit down under a mango tree with them all gathered around me singing the song, God is so Good, in Spanish and English seems to remind me that in some ways we arent so different! --Kenz

International VBS

My first day of working as an intern was a mixture of working at the school and helping with VBS. I helped in the preschool room where we attepted to teach the children how to write their names. I also played a game of pictionary with them. Later the VBS group came. I have worked VBS many times in the states but this was my first international VBS experience. I got to translate for the "mariposa" (butterfly) craft group. I can't describe how awesome it was to hear the children shout "Dios" (God) when I asked them who made the butterflies. Then they each got to make their own butterflies out of coffee filters, paint, clothes pins, and pipe cleaners. Since that day I have worked two more days of VBS. I have played Mary in the skit and I have also done a puppet show. I learned that puppet shows aren't as easy as they seem and I learned just how heavy an arm can get. At the last VBS I got to help in the kitchen serving the children their juice. My heart went out to each little child as they stared up at me with their beautiful brown eyes, waiting patiently for their cup of juice. It was such a blessing to work at each VBS and to spread God's love to each child. I pray that God pours his blessings upon all the people that came here and made VBS possible.
~Christie

Hey, my name is Kenzie, and I have been working in Honduras now for about 2 months and each week I have been working in a little school in the town of San Marcos up in the mountains here in Honduras. I remember my first day at the school here this summer, it was much different from what I expected it to be, but defininetly a good way. I love the teachers and the administration at the school, and I want to dedicate this blog to them. I have learned alot this summer from watching the teachers at the school and how they interact with the kids, how they are able to discipline the kids as well as show them love and give them a safe and clean environment to be in all day. I really appreciate all of the teachers and the administrations patience with me, they are all so welcoming to let me come into there classrooms and help them teach, especially when I dont know a whole lot of Spanish and communicating can be a challenge sometimes. But even with that language barrier, I am still able to learn from these people and have fun with them. One day during lunch the teachers were dancing in the kitchen and they asked me to dance for them, and I tried to do a salsa dancing move for them, it was akward, but it made them laugh, so it was worth it. I also really appreciate Roxannas humor and how she seems to just laugh at me everytime i mess up with my spanish or make a mistake instead of getting upset. For example, the other day she told the interns that there was ham in the kitchen if we wanted any for breakfast, and the word for ham in spanish is jamon and I thought she said that there was jabon for us to eat in the kitchen, and jabon in spanish is soap. But those are just a few examples of the fun things that I have experienced wit hthe people who work in the school, I love working with them, and learning what I can about them. The people at the school are great! --Kenz

Off The Ranch

One day a week, I get to leave the ranch and hang out with the kids at the Mission Lazarus school in San Marcos. And it's a blast! The last time I was there, Shanna, Seth, and I hitched a ride in the back of a fruit truck to San Marcos, which was pretty thrilling. We then proceeded to hang out at the school, where I got to help with the preschool kids all day. Yikes! What a crazy-fun bunch of niños! After going through their morning lessons, (in which the letter J that I colored got posted on the wall! Yes!), they had free time, which was free reign to do just about anything! So, some of their favorites that I experienced were the Sleeping Monster game (pretending you're asleep until the kids get really close to you and tug at your hair and your glasses and stuff and then waking up and growling and roaring and chasing after them) as well as picking them up with one arm and swinging them all through the air. Man, it's a blast! And they don't even care if you can barely speak a lick of Spanish; they just want you to pay attention to them and play with them. If only us "adults" could be the same way! Lunch time at the school is great, too, especially when you get to eat the divine chicken and rice on Fridays. And after lunch is recess, the crazy swing- and soccer-fest, packed with a million kids screaming "Dee-lan, Dee-lan. Mesa me!!!" It's great, too, because I look like I'm really good at soccer when playing against a bunch of four-, five-, and six-year-olds! Yes!! I love it! And, after sweating it out on the playground all afternoon, you can slip over to the ice cream shop and get a divine Giga caramel chocolate bar and feel like a lush!! The school is so much fun to be a part of, no matter what your main focus is as an intern. It is soooo amazing how God is using Mission Lazarus, in so many amazing ways, to reach the seemingly insurmountable needs of this corner of the world. ML serves these children and their families so well, and it is so evident in the kids' little faces how excited they are to be who they are in Christ. It's an amazing thing to see so much light in the midst of so much chaos. God's hand is here in so many ways!! The school is a flippin' sweet place to be; that's all that can be said.

-- Dylan Wann

So I Have Learned Something in College

For the past several weeks at the school in San Marcos, I have been tutoring two little boys one on one. My first student, Jenri, was having trouble keeping up in class. In his second grade calss, he was not participating like the other students and when called upon, he could not answer. I took him out of class to work with him and decide what he needed to work on specifically and realized very quickly that he did not even know his alphabet. So, first things first, I taught him the alphabet song. I will never forget the smile on his face the first time he listened to Emily and I sing that song (he probably just thought we were wierd). After singing the song a few times solo, he joined in and learned in pretty quickly. He still gets mixed up around G, H, and I and also around L, M, N, O, P, but who didnt get those mixed up when they first learned the alphabet? Teaching him something simple, like the alphabet, was amazing to me. Because of the emergent literacy class I took at Harding last spring, I knew exactly what his little brain was going through to learn that alphabet. So, here is some proof that I have actually been learning while in college. I know some people doubt the capability of college students to retain information, but here is some hard evidence that it does happen. Since teaching him the song, he asks every day if we are going to ¨do homework¨together. We have also been able to work on the sounds of letters (which is way easier in Spanish than in English) and also he has put a few letters together and has begun to read. The one thing that has amazed me in this process of tutoring is that he only needed a little bit of help. With only a few days a week of my help, his abilities have grown immensely and I am so impressed with his intelligence. He just needed a little extra time and needed to take a small step back to be able to reach the rest of the class. He is still a little bit behind the rest of the students in second grade, but I have no doubt that he will be right up there with them in no time at all.

Shanna Crossland

Bienvenidos a Honduras

The first day we were working in Honduras, I was sent to C.I.D.T to help with a teaching conference about the rights of children. The day started out pretty slow, just making name tags for the teachers, and meeting some of the people that work at the school where I would be spending three days a week for the rest of the summer. We set out cookies and coffee and Coke and ate lunch with the teachers. After lunch, Shelly came to get the other two interns and me because we were going to the house of a small boy, Giovanni, to find out why he had not been attending school. The social worker was going with us. So about 6 of us piled into a van and drove over the dirt roads to get to his house. It was there that I learned that Giovanni, the slightly autistic 6 year old, was left as an infant in the care of the elderly woman that lived there. His mother had not been seen or heard from since then and Giovanni just lived with this woman and her grown sons. He had two outfits total and no shoes to wear. After some discussion with his caretaker, the social worker decided he needed to be out of those living conditions immediately. The woman was not adequately taking care of the boy and no longer wanted the responsibility. He needed more attention than he was getting, and there was also a great possibility that he was being abused. So, just like that, Giovanni came with us to C.I.D.T. until the end of the day when they could send him to a new home. What a first day! I am not sure what I was expecting, but I certainly was not expecting to be able to see a child taken from an unhealthy living situation to a home where he will be loved and provided for and taught as he grows up. I was able to see Mission Lazarus in action, improving the life of one adorable little boy, and it was only my first day in Honduras. I can only imagine what else can happen, what else I will be able to witness and be a part of for the next 9 weeks.

Shanna Crossland

Something really exciting happened this week. There's a little girl at the school named Andrea, who is about 4, and she has some sort of birth defect or something (sorry, I'm not very medical). Anyway, she doesn't have any ear canals, so she has a hard time hearing, and a doctor was here from Nashville and he brought her this headset thing that vibrates, converting sound waves into something, so that she can hear sound. It was so cool!! Right now they're working on fitting the headband so that it will fit her head. Above you can see Alli showing Andrea the headset for the first time.

-por Emily

I'm back helping at the school, and I'm having a great time. Having a great time, but glad everyday that I don't permanently work in an elementary school. The kids are really fun, and they love us gringos. The other day we left school to walk into town to make some copies, and when we came back the kids were at recess, and when they saw us coming, every single kid in the school ran to the gate...it's the closest thing I've ever experienced to being a famous person.

-por Emily

Getting to school in San Marcos has become quite an adventure. Our driver, Holman, drops us off at the bustop at the end of our street, on the highway. There, we have 3 options. We can wait for a bus, walk like a bazillion kilometers, or hitch a ride. We have discovered that the most cost, time, and energy effective way of travel is to hitchhike. All you have to do is simply wave at trucks as they drive by, and as soon as one stops, you just hop in the back!!

-por Emily

This is Glenda. She is in 3rd grade, and is simply precious. Glenda has trouble recognizing her numbers, so I've been working with her one on one, and some days I actually feel like we're making some progress. Hopefully by the end of the summer, Glenda will know her numbers backwards and forwards....Don't you just love those big brown eyes??

-por Emily