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