November, a month full of events and not only due to the high number of birthdays that we celebrated in this month…
The absolutely highlight of the month, which gives at the same time a perfect review over the past 13 years of history of the children’s home, is the graduation of Yulissa, our eldest resident. Yulissa came into the children’s home at the age of 5 years, at the very beginning of the project and could observe the coming and going of many other children. After eleven years at school Yulissa visited a course in cosmetics and styling which she finished successfully. After that she decided to study and become a technician in clinical laboratory. After three years at university and practice time in a laboratory she now successfully graduated and was given her well deserved diploma. What an incredibly beautiful success story for the foundation: the first child that was taken from the streets and has now succeeded with a lot of effort and dedication to become an independent adult with a promising perspective. We congratulate Yulissa for this wonderful accomplishment and hope that we’ll be able to share many more similar stories in the upcoming years.
At the beginning of this month winter has started: it rains a few times a week – sometimes just for a few minutes but sometimes for several hours – and this turns the nights cool and nicely relaxing. This time of the year is not only a welcomed break for nature, but it is also cherished by all the kids as the cooler climate allows deeper and better sleep and recovery.
At the same time school holidays have started. After another year of distance learning the kids and adolescents successfully finished their school year 2021. According to the teachers their grades are higher than the average of the classes. But as we sadly know those grades are not as representative as they would be in presence classes. As for example the pupils are graded only by the fact if they hand in their homework but not regarding the content or orthography.
Thanks to the work of Annett and Fabienne a study plan has been elaborated for the kids. The goal consists in preparing them for the next school year. The younger ones are working in small groups attended by the teachers and the psychologist on site and the elder ones mostly work independently with some supervision.
After plenty of U.S.-America-inspired activities in October the kids were able to enjoy a very special Thanksgiving feast at the end of the month: The “Grupo Karim” invited them into their luxury and very modern working spaces in the city centre. The international company has plenty of high-end workspaces with its own food corner, a reading and relaxing area, an area full of gaming automats, a brainstorming room and even a section where one can play different instruments – just as you would imagine a workspace of the highest standard.
In one of these rooms the kids were able to enjoy different activities and games prepared by the volunteers and we were then served a delicious meal with turkey, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie. After two hours at the gaming machines, the soccer table, and the billiard table we finally got back home to the children’s home completely exhausted but so happy and satisfied. It’s always a huge joy when we can get out of our walls and get some “fresh air”. The children absolutely love it!
In November we could welcome five new residents into our children’s home: a boy of nine years came together with his two younger sisters which is very nice as we are one of the very few places where girls and boys can live together in the same area. Up to that moment they had to live in two different children’s homes. The arrival of new kids always comes with plenty of action as well as some disturbance. It takes some time until they get used to the rules and culture that we have as well as to get used to their duties. But we are positive that they will find their place and that the harmony and peace will be restored soon.
The two other newcomers are bringing in some more disturbance but in a completely different kind of way: in the professional education centre in Santa Rosa de Copán they got four puppies. As one of our dogs died in august, we wanted to get two of the puppies and train them to become our guardian dogs. But for now, they are fooling around and causing a lot of riots but in a very charming and funny way which brings in a fresh air into our children’s home.
To sum up a little greeting from my side…
My name is Fabienne, and this is my fourth visit in the children’s home. My first stay was in 2014 as a volunteer for three months. I then visited the children’s home two more times and had now the chance to spend two and a half months here again. I was able to support Paty in her duties as well as in other daily tasks. For me it is amazing to see the project and the children grow and to see new children becoming part of the family.
I would like to thank all the employees and especially Paty for their wonderful and meaningful work and congratulate them for all the achievements that have been done so far. Please go ahead!