Assigning a Hogar

 The children live in homes (hogars) with “family” groups of 10 - 12 children with Tias (aunts) and/or Tios (uncles) that take care of them. We have been given tours of most of the Hogars and for the rest of this month are on a rotation program to have dinner with and spend a few hours each evening with different Hogars. At the end of July, each new volunteer will be assigned a Hogar to become part of their family for the next year. Like many processes here, it is not clear how Hogars are assigned except that we are asked to put in our top 3 preferences at the end of the rotation (July 28).

I have no idea how I am going to come up with a preference.  It feels kind of like asking me who my favorite grandchildren are! ☹ The homes for the younger kids have boys and girls mixed while the older kids (>10 yrs) have separate homes for boys vs girls. My rotation has mostly included the girls and the younger kids homes while Allen has been visiting boys and younger kids. We eat dinner with the home, then play games (cards, hide & seek, tag) or help with homework. Our language skills are still rudimentary, but we are slowly getting better.

In addition to the rotation program, we have started our “jobs” here at the ranch. Al stepped right up as maintenance assistant – or I should say “stepped right into” as one of his first assignments was cleaning out a sewer trap. I think language is his biggest challenge right now and he is relying heavily on Google Translate. In contrast, my first week helping with the Sponsorship office has been a piece of cake (or “es pan comida” in Spanish). For one thing, the ladies I will be working with have been at a conference in the Dominican Republic all week, so I was given an assignment to update a database while they were gone. The part that I am updating is a paragraph (in English) on each child at NPH Honduras for their sponsor. It is an easy start, but I have been promised that it will get very busy when my coworkers return next week.

It seems like each week has a few surprise activities – seems like they crop up almost overnight.  This week there was a special mass on Tuesday for the 1-year anniversary of the death (from cancer) of a well-loved Tia. On Wednesday was the annual Corn Festival which pretty much everyone on the ranch attended. Lots of food, music, and comradery – similar to the Turner Lamb Show but without the parade 😊 This Saturday we will celebrate Marlon’s birthday. As he is the National Director, I guess it is a good reason, but mostly I think Hondurans just like a reason to celebrate.


                                                                    "Aw Shucks!"

                                            Group of Tias Instrumental in the Cooking!

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