Support from Switzerland
During the last two months Nora Baltermia from Salouf visited us. From the first moment she entered our home, she supported us. She tackled wherever help was needed: at our weekly purchases, at the Christmas mail, at the Sala Cuna, and most of all in the kitchen. Because we did not have any chefs at the moment, she cooked delicous Swiss dishes (rösti, lasagna and potato gratin) for a whole weekend. In addition, she baked together with the children during the whole week; “Griiti-Bänz”, lucky pigs, braids and many more fun things.
Since she is very young, she was a role model for our girls. They got along very well and talked until late in the night. It was wonderful to see how they connected and how they were able to unite such different worlds.
She really gave her everything during her stay in Honduras. We all hope and pray for, that she will soon visit us again.
Holidays in Santa Rosa de Copán?
We have been longing for quite some to be able to finally spend our holidays in Santa Rosa de Copán. Since the ACEP is constantly occupied by the vaiaty of courses we offer there, we had to go there at the beginning of October during the holiday week Morazán.?With kith and kin we took the three-hour bus ride on us and were really pleased upon arrival to see the building all finished and the surrounding perfectly put together.
Even though we always seem to be active, I can assure you that these are real holidays for all of us. Everyone has enough time to recover and recharge their batteries.?In the morning we ginned corn, harvested coffee and helped to clog old trees in the forest. In the afternoon we played many table games, went for walks or simply enjoyed the beautiful view, location and atmosphere.?In the evening we have always done something special, either karaoke, movies, or games.
?This change of scene has done everyone very well. When packing together, nobody was really in the mood to go back to the busy and bustling city. ?But luckily, the long school holidays are approaching us on a fast rate and who knows, maybe we will get the chance to spend another few days in our paradise.
Planet Jump
Recently, the “planet jump” was opened here in San Pedro Sula. This is a large hall with various slides, bouncy castles, trampolines, foam pools and many other attractions.
Our children romped from one place to another for two hours without a break. They enjoyed their time to the fullest. Even the older ones had great fun but at the same time they were a bit more fearful compared to the smaller ones as you can see in the photos ....
Luckily, we have been invited to this place. The admission fee would have been far too expensive, it would have cost more then what we spend on one week of food.
Chickenpox epidemic
After 2008 and 2010, we were now hit again by a chickenpox epidemic. Since it is a common childhood disease, we do not have to worry too much. However, some had to endure quite some suffering. This time around, the little ones have caught it more severely and with about 35 degrees external air temperature, it is not so easy to bear the high fever attacks and especially not to scratch oneself.
Fortunately, only the first three days were bad and afterwards they got better by the day. Due to the incubation period of 2 weeks, we are constantly receiving new patients. After the current 3rd cycle we only have a few children left who have never had chickenpox before. Everyone else already had the disease and therefore we expect that the worries of this epidemic are soon over.
Weekend activities
Fabienne Lüthi, who already stayed with us as a volunteer in 2014, has now visited us again with her sister Isabelle. Most of our children still knew Fabienne, so it felt like she had never been away. We were allowed to spend very nice, exciting and fun weeks with them and as a farewell gift they invited us to the ZIZIMA water park. We really enjoyed this Sunday with them.
On another Sunday we had nothing planned and were surprised when Chuchi Pañal (Showman) knocked on our gate. He set up a marionette theater and entertained us with his hand puppets for hours. We laughed tears. The hand puppets jokes and statements were really funny and since he knows our children by name, he also integrated them in his play.
As you can see, we usually have a full program on weekends too. The kids stay always busy and this is a good thing for us, it leaves very little time for boredom or arguing.