Allen & Marcel Volunteer in Honduras

There were two occasions to celebrate this last week, (or maybe celebrate is not exactly the right word): Emilee’s departure and Allen’s birthday. Emilee is a volunteer who has been with NPH for 18 months ( Current International Volunteers | Former Volunteers – NPH USA ) , the first 6 months in Bolivia and the last year in Honduras. She is a therapist working primarily with the handicapped children on the ranch. She is full of life and will be greatly missed so her despedida (farewell party) is somewhat bitter-sweet. Allen with the Birthday Hat   Emilee actually had two despedidas. The first one was on the ranch and very low-key with mostly the volunteers plus a few others with which she worked closely getting together at San Vicente after evening Hogar and sharing conversation and a few snacks. The second one was in Tegucigalpa at a night club called The Underground on Saturday evening. The second party was very lively with much music, dancing, and drinking and lasting until the wee h

  When we returned to the NPH Ranch from Roatan, we brought some special guests: my sisters Stacie and Rene’, and Rene’s husband Greg. We had planned this trip many months ago but as with many things on the ranch, unexpected activities crop up that affect our plans both favorably and unfavorably. On the negative side, the ranch is hosting a series of NPH International leadership meetings that just happen to be timed with this visit so there was no ranch transport and we had to arrange our own rides to the ranch and for our visitors to the airport afterwards. Also, there was no room at the Visitors’ House (San Cristobal). Luckily, we had an extra room at the Volunteer House that we got approval to use. On the positive side, Greg, Rene’, and Stacie decided that staying at the Volunteer House was better, anyway, since we were closer and had more time together. Also, they got to experience some special activities on Valentine’s Day/Ash Wednesday, some of which were probably enhanced due to

M y sisters and our husbands made arrangements to vacation together in Roatan this year. We have been getting together in February for the last few years in tropical locations: St Thomas in 2022 and Los Barriles Mexico last year. After Allen and I knew for sure that we were going to volunteer in Honduras for 13 months, the logical vacation destination was Roatan. We found a 4-bedroom home in West End on VRBO and booked it originally for a week, then later on added a few more days in order to spend quality time with each other in this beautiful location. Deck View from the Deck Although we all live in Oregon and Washington, we came from different directions as two couples visited Belize first, two couples came from home, and two couples (Allen and I) came from Tegucigalpa. Although there has been some wind and a little rain, for the most part we are having perfect weather with slight breezes, blue skies and sunshine. The beach is a short walk and the sea is warm so swimming and snorke

  Volunteers can start their assignment in either January or July. Originally, Allen and I had applied in July for volunteer assignments starting in January, but we ended up delaying for 6 months because we knew we were going to need a month of immersion Spanish and would have a tough time fitting that in, but also because our latest grandson was due in November and we wanted to spend time helping with the new baby before we left for a year. It worked out well for us as we got to spend a lot of time (a week for Allen and a whole month for me!) in March helping out with the new baby and enjoying the other four grandchildren when my daughter-in-law returned to work. Thus, we began our volunteer "year" (13 months) in July with a large group of wonderful young women that have come to be good friends and are enriching our experience tremendously.   It is January now and we have a new group of volunteers, so Allen and I (as well as the rest of our volunteer group) are now the &qu