Allen & Marcel Volunteer in Honduras

 We just recently found out that the coming Wednesday afternoon through Friday is a National Holiday in Honduras called Semana Morazanica. It is in honor of General Francisco Morazan, a hero of Honduras who lived in the early 1800s. I am not sure why notice of a national holiday and corresponding days off should be a last minute surprise, but that seems to be the way of life here in Honduras. At first I thought the lack of communication was due to the language barrier as I am still having a tough time understanding the language. However, these days off seem to catch everyone unaware! Or maybe Hondurans just don’t see the need to plan too far ahead. Normally this would be our “work” weekend (aka spend time with the kids), but today I found out that the teachers have the whole week off next week and because of this, many of the children will be able to visit family the whole next week. Starting tomorrow morning, there will only be one child out of the 11 in my hogar. I plan to check in t

 One of the advantages of this NPH location is the One World Surgery Center that is co-located on the property. This is a non-profit organization that supplies healthcare to the community and to the NPH children and staff. I didn’t know the history of this organization until just now. It is very inspiring, and you can read about it at: About us - One World Surgery . Basically, it started with a doctor from Minnesota and his wife visiting NPH Honduras twenty years ago and helping one of the children that had a severe deformity. Since then, it has grown into a surgery center that has full time staff and, in addition, brings in brigades of healthcare professionals throughout the year to resolve health issues. The brigades are usually here for a week and these visitors stay at the Moscati Center which is a hotel-like building on the ranch. Per the one world surgery website: “During weeklong medical mission trips, physicians, other clinical participants, nonclinical participants, and fami

 I am an early bird and here in Honduras that means getting up about 5AM and going for a 45 minute walk around the ranch before doing yoga. I wake up with the sun which came up about 5:15 when we first got here, but is now about 5:30. On the shortest day, the sun will rise a little after 6AM, so only about 45 minutes difference between the shortest and longest days. Honduras is about 1000 miles north of the equator compared to Seattle at 3,300 miles north. In contrast sundown is about 6:15PM on the longest day and 5:30 on the shortest which means that it always gets dark about dinner time and I consistently bring my flashlight to evening hogar to light my way back to my room in San Vicente. Lately I have been getting up in the dark and trying to leave quietly so as not to wake up Al, although he is usually awake when I get back. I normally bring a grocery bag with me to pick up trash on my route and almost always am “rewarded” with enough to fill the bag.   Sunrise on the Ranch I

 In Honduras, as in Mexico, they celebrate September 15 th as their independence day commemorating the independence of the central American countries from Spain on September 15, 1821. The custom here is to have a big parade with bands, soldiers, pom-pom and baton twirlers. Almost everyone gets involved with few spectators and few floats. Here at the Ranch we could hear the marching band practicing for the past two weeks and they did a great job on the parade which actually took place on Wednesday. It included not only all the kids and employees on the Ranch (Allen and I included), but also groups from nearby communities. Groups lined up just inside the ranch entrance and proceeded to march on the public road up to the nearby special forces training center. There they were introduced by a grand marshall at a grandstand. Allen in his Honduran Shirt Special Forces Training Site Grandstand at the End of the Parade Route We found out on Tuesday that we got Friday off as a holiday. As thi

  In 1954 the United Nations recommended that a Universal Children's Day be instituted in all countries, but suggested that each government choose the date on which it would celebrate it. Honduras established September 10 th as Children’s Day which fell on a Sunday this year. The goal is to have a holiday dedicated to children, to promote their well-being and rights. With the many celebrations, it should be called Childrens Days. Last Saturday (September 2), one of the local Honduran companies sponsored a party for the children on the ranch with bounce houses, music, soccer, clowns, and of course pinatas and lots of food. Then this weekend there were three different celebrations: 1) Friday at Mata de Platano which is an outlying NPH community support location 45 minutes away, 2) Saturday at the Ranch, but for children in other outlying communities, and 3) Sunday at the Ranch for the NPH children. Working for the Padrinos has its perks, one of them being able to participate in al

The Padrinos office where I work is particularly busy at this time of year because of the two major projects going on: 1) Annual photo update of each child in NPH Honduras and 2) Annual Christmas cards to every sponsor. There are about 350 children in NPH Honduras counting the ones that are under special care in the communities and in High School and College in Tegucigalpa. The children have multiple sponsors so the total sponsor count is over 2000 from a dozen different countries. About 40% are from the US with another 30% from Italy. The other contributors are mostly European countries although New Zealand and Canada also have sponsors. Padrino means Godfather in Spanish and the child is considered an ajihado or godchild. Allen and I have been padrinos for many years. Our godchild grew up in the NPH in Haiti and last year “graduated” out of the system and is now making a living as an electrician. We are now sponsoring a different child in Haiti and will likely be sponsoring one or