A Busy Week

 

Monday – Giving a Presentation to The Brigada

I mentioned the brigades of doctors and other medical professionals that come to NPH and work at the One World Surgery center for a week at a time. As part of my job, I find out which visitors are sponsors for the children and then help to arrange a meeting between them. About a month ago, Dixi (my boss) asked if I would give the presentations on Sponsorship. Of course, I agreed. Not only is it a subject close to my heart, but also it saves Dixi and Cintia from having to stay late at the ranch, plus it is in English!

I got my first opportunity last Monday and I think it went fine. Allen joined me as he had not had the opportunity to visit Moscati (where the brigade stays during the week) and we were able to enjoy a nice meal (complete with ice cream!) before the talk. We are getting used to the daily ranch food, but it was quite a treat to take a break from rice and beans for a night. The presentation was easy to present, and the group were good listeners with a few questions afterwards. It helped that there was a sponsor in the brigade with his “godchild” visiting so everyone could see the joy. Here is a picture from my presentation and a link to some of the information I provided:

Godparent Frequently Asked Questions – NPH USA

Tuesday – Proyecto Familiar (Family Project)

 I mentioned Proyecto Familiar in a previous blog, but if you missed it or just need a refresher, this is where a small group of children, usually a family group of brothers and sisters, are treated to dinner at the volunteer house. Allen’s group actually had their first Proyecto Familiar on Monday and I had one back in October, but Tuesday was the first one with my recently assigned volunteer group. I helped make the pizza crust, but didn’t actually need to stay since there were two other volunteers in my group to entertain for the evening. Apparently things went well except that our oven temperature is inconsistent and the pizza was a bit undercooked.

 Wednesday – Birthday Party at the Pool

This was my fourth party at the pool and each one is different. This time we took a group of handicapped young women for a “birthday” celebration. Five of the seven were in wheel chairs so we took the special mini-bus outfitted with wheel chair safety belts to keep the girls and their chairs in place. Only the two girls not in wheel chairs actually went in the water, but all of them seemed very happy to take the trip off the ranch. Their handicaps are pretty severe. In addition to needing wheel chairs, several of them need help eating and only one is able to verbally communicate effectively. They are well taken care of and I loved the hairstyle of this one:

Thursday – Tea with Hermana (Sister)

 There is a nun at the ranch that works in the religion department and lives in a unit attached to the religion building. She is originally from India and is in the order started by Mother Teresa of Calcutta but has spent a lot of her life in Central American and speaks Spanish, English, and probably other languages that I don’t know about. She invited some of us volunteers to her place for some home-made chai tea, which was delicious. We only spent a half hour with her this time, but hopefully will get many more opportunities.

Friday – Quinceanera

 Quinceanera is a big celebration in Honduras when a child turns 15, a kind of coming-of-age. The girls wear fancy dresses, have their hair and makeup fixed up, and ask one of the men on the ranch to be their “Padrino” or godfather for the event, escorting them to the mass and dinner-party afterwards. Boys also dress special with nice shirts and shoes and choose a woman on the ranch to be their “Madrina” or godmother. This year there were 18 Quinceaneros. They have pictures taken, a special mass, then a nice dinner with music and dancing afterwards. Everyone on the ranch can go to the mass and dancing in the evening. It reminded me of one of our big family weddings since everyone dances with kids running around the big dance floor all evening. Needless to say, Allen and I did our fair share of dancing and we can “cut a rug” with the best of them. Just need to work on our salsa moves!

 

Saturday – Baptism 

Saturday was also a special day on the ranch with a Bautismo (Baptism) mass for some of the kids. As mentioned in a previous blog, Allen was the Godfather for two of them, a boy and a girl. They are each quite a handful and I think he was a little concerned beforehand on how he would be able to keep track of them in mass as neither of them usually attend. As it turned out, he had lots of help and, for the most part, only had to hold one at a time. Also, the little boy who is usually quite active fell asleep in mass and slept through his baptism and much of the time afterwards. Mass is normally about an hour but was lengthened to about an hour and forty minutes Allen's godson got a pretty good nap.

Allen & His Two New Godchildren Plus Helper

 I don't think we have quite as many activities next week, but the volunteers are having a potluck Thanksgiving dinner and, of course, many of the activities pop up unexpectedly so it could be even busier than this week!