New Volunteers and 4th of July
Allen and I started our long term (13 month) volunteer
assignment with NPH Honduras the first weekend in July last year and the latest
batch of long-term volunteers arrived to begin July 1 this year. It seems
strange to think that we are now the “experienced” ones showing them the ropes.
All the volunteers that started before us, even those that extended their
service, have left except for Sienna and Christine who have taken on permanent
positions with NPH Honduras. Of our original group of eight, only three will be
left after Allen and I leave plus the 3 that started in January. We are
effectively turning over the volunteer duties to this new group who appear to
be more than capable of handling it.
In this group of volunteers, there is a retired couple and
five young adults most of which just finished college. All but one of the new
volunteers are here now; the last one will arrive in late August. Three of the new
volunteers are men and Allen is happy to have male companionship at San Vicente
as he has been the only guy in the house since Cormac left in December. With
the exception of Filippo who is Italian and thus not featured on the NPH USA
website, you can read more about our new housemates Matthew, Chloe, Morgan, Kelly,
Mike, and Kara at the following link: Current
International Volunteers | Former Volunteers – NPH USA. There are a variety of
backgrounds and personalities, but they have a couple of things in common – a
big heart and a willingness to go outside their comfort zones.
They have most of the month to learn about NPH and spend time
with the different Hogars before being fully integrated into work and being
assigned a hogar. On Sunday, we took some of them on a tour of the grounds and
on a hike to the dam above the ranch. Allen and I also helped prepare the celebratory
dinner Sunday night, making spaghetti, salad, and a big batch of roasted
butternut squash from our garden. Produce from our garden has, in general, been
a bit of a disappointment, but we were able to get a half dozen butternut
squash and one (only one!) large zucchini which went into the Spaghetti sauce.
I was also involved in another fun activity last Sunday,
helping Loekie turn the Padre Wasson salon into a restaurant and providing a
fancy luncheon for the girls in her hogar. Loekie has been developing and
managing Chicas Poderosas (Powerful Girls) and chose this occasion to teach the
girls about etiquette and how to behave in a nice restaurant, a situation that
they do not normally encounter. Loekie turned her ideas into action, and I
helped with the cooking, serving, and cleaning. She had help from a couple of
the girls to prepare and act as waiters. I can highly recommend the food at the
Restaurante Etiquetas, but it may have been a one-time event.
One other occasion of note for this week was the 4th
of July. Most of the volunteers are from the US and as it was cleanup day on
the ranch, we spent it doing some much-needed yard work, so we missed the normal parades and fireworks that we would have back at home. However, when we
were done with hogar in the evening, Allen made a campfire and we sang the
Star-Spangled Banner, roasted hotdogs and marshmallows and made S’mores on the terrazza. It was a beautiful evening with mostly clear skies where you
could see the stars and the lights of Tegucigalpa well off in the distance.
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