Newsletter January 2020

A Miracle

It is always amazing in which condition a child can still survive. This was also the case in January when we took in a pile of misery without a name, neglected and in critical health.

On 10 January 2020 at midnight, the state organisation DINAF brought us a small, 40-day-old boy who was found by the police in a miserable and critical state of health. Early in the morning, we needed him to go to the public hospital, where he was admitted to the neonatal ward. During the next two weeks our nursery teacher Zoila visited him every day for one hour to give him love, safety, closeness and physical warmth. During this time, they have done surgery on his hernia, which was caused by the many crying and screaming. They also carried out a computer tomography examination because his anterior and upper fontanelles were still open.

When he came back to us after 2 weeks in hospital, he weighed only 2.3 kg and was still suffering from anemia. His haemoglobin value was only 8.5 g/dl instead of the usual 12 to 15 g/dl.

As you can see on the photo of the hospital, the Pampers for newborns were much too big for him... But I am happy to tell you that our little one is making great progress and that he is gaining weight every week.

Medical and Odontological Medical Brigade

At least once a year our children and teenagers are examined by doctors and dentists. With great joy the paediatricians confirmed that all children are very healthy. Only girl showed some heart rhythm defect, which is now being further examined by a cardiologist.

Unfortunately, the dentist was less satisfied. She found cavities in most of the childrens’ teeth. And this despite the fact that our children have to brush their teeth after every meal. Therefore, we have now drawn up a dental plan, and bring two children at a time to the health centre for periodic check-ups.

Hike through the Cloud Forest of Panacam

With "Tat", "Tatta" and Karin we visited the nature park Cerro Azul Meamber and made a big, almost four-hour hike. The views, the vegetation, the sounds, the animals such as birds and butterflies were simply unique and stunning. Since hiking is unfortunately not so common in Honduras, we met very few people on the trials and therefore had them almost exclusively to ourselves.

 

Eating Fish at Lago de Yojoa

After this big hike we were all very hungry. At the shore of lake Lago de Yojoa, near the nature park, there is a famous fish restaurant. It was a simple decision where to satisfy our hunger... we enjoyed fresh fish from Lago de Yojoa, tajadas (banana chips), rice, beans and salad along with some fantastic views over the lake. The sheer beauty of nature invites you to dream and take pictures.

With this trip we also had to say goodbye to "Tat", "Tatta" and Karin, because they flew back to Switzerland afterwards. We enjoyed the time together very much. This was also shown by this year's questionnaire when we were asked what the most beautiful moment in 2019 was. Our children answered:

Trip to Panacam 8, Christmas and New Year's Eve with "Tat" and "Tatta" (8), trips like Zizima and La Ensenada (8), received godparent gifts (4). In second place among the saddest events was: When "Tat" and "Tatta" returned to Switzerland...

Week  Camps with ROOM

Already for the second time our friendship organization "Reach Out Orphanage Ministries", or ROOM for short, organized two weeklong camps at the beginning of the month. The first week focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The second week offered creative activities which covered a wide range of artistic disciplines such as music, visual arts and theatre.

The children were able to register for the course they were most interested in. Both groups experienced once more wonderful, exciting and interesting days. For them it was also very nice to be able to meet children from other children's homes and get to know each other better.