Second floor The second floor is slowly but surely assuming shape; the handrail, the windows, the intermediate parts and the doors have been fitted and the bathroom floor has been tiled. Building the second floor takes a long time as only Edwing and Darling are working on it.
First midterm exams in school Our 30 elementary school students and our two high school students had to study hard during a whole week for their first midterm exams. Every afternoon, they had to repeat the subject material and memorize it. It was worth the effort, as everyone passed their exams with grades ranging from good to very good.
The settling down of recently received children Briny had some difficulties adjusting to the life in the children’s home, as she did not want to observe our rules. She was very lazy and avoided all the work. After talking to her several times, we pointed out that she would get a very good chance here, but that we would not hesitate to give her spot to a different child if she…
Recently received children Our “yo quiero ser…” family has grown again; our new housemates are Engell (ca. one year old), Jaklin (ca. three years old), and Briny (eleven years old). Due to this growth, the Sala Cuna, which was established last year, was refurnished and now the seven youngest children have a nice place to sleep and live there. We do not know anything about Engell’s background or his family name. He was given to the IHNFA because of unreliable parents. Jaklin was born on the island Roatan, but was given to the IHNFA because of abuse and unreliable parents. Briny, too, has the same background history as Jaklin and came to us as a very shy, introvert girl without any self-confidence. All the three of them have settled in very quickly, are very happy and the energies of our children’s home have transformed them into happy, radiating children.
Second floor In the last days and weeks, our eldest boys as well as Edwing and Darling have worked hard on the second floor on top…
I was welcomed with open arms. Immediately after my arrival, the first children swooped down on me, and I suddenly became aware of the fact that I was going to be their property for the next couple of months. They showed no mercy to my Swiss restraint - which is great! By doing so, they have provided me with valuable knowledge concerning my life. Today, as I sit back at home and write this text, I miss some sneering child hacking my keyboard, some other child playing with my hair and a third one urging me to see how well they can do a handstand.
I was allowed to live and assist in the children's home "yo quiero ser..." for six weeks. I spent most of the time helping in the Sala Cuna with the little ones.
The day I arrived, the children were visiting the waterpark "Wonderland", which is why I was welcomed there by everyone. The welcome was very warm; everyone introduced themselves and hugged me. On the ride from the waterpark to the children's home, I obtained first insights into San Pedro Sula. The city is, on the one hand, highly developed with its many malls and American restaurant chains, on the other hand there is a high poverty rate. This can, among other things, be seen in shoeless children who sell newspapers at the roadside, men who drive through the streets on donkey carts, or crumbled shacks, in which various generations live together. The most lasting impression of the city was the ubiquity of rubbish. People throw their waste over the high walls, behind which they live, without further concern.
Honduras... big family, smiling faces, children's hugs, missing the kids, the big question of when I will see them again, poverty, crime, and much more comes to my mind.
In February this year, I was allowed to go to Honduras for a month to visit the children's home "yo quiero ser...". After a warm welcome, I quickly settled in and felt comfortable.
My main task consisted in looking after the little ones in the Sala Cuna with Olga. Grooming and breakfast were followed by playing and early intervention. While the children had their siesta after lunch, I was concerned with different things. I sewed curtains, arranged the playing room and the computer room, I helped the older ones with their homework, went shopping with Paty, and so on. There was always something which had to be done. I was never bored!
Thanks to Edwing and Paty, I got to know a lot about Honduras and its culture. I was shown the Chalet in which the children usually spend their holidays, the beautiful Maya ruins…
Advent and Christmas spirit Our volunteer Fabienne introduced the Swiss tradition of having an Advent calendar to Honduras. The children did not really understand the sense behind it and why they were not allowed to open all the Christmas presents on the same day. Every child was allowed to open one present and they all were very happy with what they got. Another tradition is baking cookies. As we all love sweets, we increased the recipe ingredients eightfold and baked six different types of cookies. In spite of the huge amount of cookies, they were all gone very quickly.
Festive season We spent the festive season in the children’s home in a quiet atmosphere. Every child received new clothes and shoes for Christmas, which is a tradition here in Honduras. On December 24, we received a delicious dinner including the famous Tamales. We watched a Christmas movie together and then we went to church. Christ Child was born at midnight, which we celebrated with the matching Bible passage. On…
New Volunteers Fabienne Hofacker is visiting us during two months and helps us in our everyday life; she looks after the youngest children, sews torn pants, has crafted an Advent calendar and filled it with presents. Giovanna Ardüser visited us during her trip in Central America. Together they beat egg whites and cream during five hours in order to make chocolate-banana roulades for the children’s afternoon snack. It was worth the effort, as everything was gone within only five minutes. Giovanna invited us to the waterpark, where the children enjoyed the swimming pools and the water slides. On that day, there was a karaoke-competition where Enrique received huge applause for his performances.
Graduation In November, the school year finished and we were happy to receive the children’s report cards. They all passed the school year with good, very good and excellent grades. The children received 14 diplomas for solidarity, academic excellence and excellent behavior. This is the result of…
New volunteer On October 3, Karin Eggenberger from Obervaz came to our children’s home for three weeks. She will write her matriculation project about our children’s home and came here to take a look at it. She helped a lot in the Sala Cuna but also helped with other daily work. Being a professional soccer player, she played soccer with the boys every evening and showed them that women, too, can be good at it.
Celebration with all the children’s homes October 13 was a very special day for many Honduran children, as the charities CEPUDO, Angels of Hope and Food for the Poor invited 25 children’s homes from Honduras for a gathering. All the children wore the same t-shirt and the whole picture looked like a blue sea with sparkling children’s eyes. On this day, there was a soccer tournament but our soccer teams from “yo quiero ser…” did not really succeed, as they were among the youngest of all. In the afternoon, there were different games to be played; sack races, face-painting and…
Return to Honduras Juan Carlos and Patricia spent a few weeks in Switzerland and came back home to the other children at the beginning of September. Although they arrived late in the evening, all the children were awake and greeted them with candles, self-picked flowers and banners. The children’s eyes shone like little stars.
Dia del Niño September 10 is the national day of the child in Honduras. This holiday arises from November 20, 1959, when the General Assembly of the United Nations came together with the goal to celebrate the universal rights of the children as a special day in every country of the world. On this occasion we received visitors every weekend of the month. Different organizations such as the Red Cross, the church Great Commission, a religious group from San Salvador and a secondary school class sent people to celebrate this day with us. Most of them brought a delicious lunch with cake and piñatas (colored container filled with sweets), played with the children and…
Circus visit At the beginning of June we visited the circus with those children who received good grades in class. Such excursions are great to reward our good students as well as to motivate the kids to study more. The kids really liked the smurfs and were deeply impressed by the skills of the different artists. We all enjoyed the show and returned home with everlasting memories.
Student visit from Kansas City A religious group from Kansas City, USA, visited us for six days under the lead of Mike de Baker. The community of faith is called Gran Commision and consists of 21 teenagers (between 13 to 22 years) and three leaders. Our kids organized everything by themselves. We had a welcome ceremony with singing and dancing performances. It is wonderful to see how much energy the kids invest in singing and dancing for hours. The welcome was even more affectionate, since this group visits the children’s home every year. This year, they painted parts of the outter walls, organized a play…
2008 - the experience of new things related to children, an approved study leave, and, above all, the visit to my former co-worker Patricia, led me to San Pedro Sula for three months. A month-long stay in 2010 and the conjoint 2 1/2 weeks in July 2012 with my partner Felix followed.
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