My thoughts on a few things...

Before arriving in the states:

A lot of thoughts come to my mind right now. Im on my way home and I cant help but think about everything im leaving behind, even though its only for a week. One person in particular, Wakiria. She is a beautiful, intelligent, caring and hard working young girl. Her mom, Miladies relies a lot on Wakiria, of only 13 years old, to help her from the time she wakes up to the time she goes to bed. From trying to bring Yeison to Kinder in the morning, to washing clothes, taking care of little Noe, and cooking. She has grown up WAY too fast. She is now in school and has been coming to our afternoon homework help session we hold at our beach house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. In one of the recent sessions, she asked for a note to take to her mom saying that she needs to study her multiplication tables. When have you ever heard of such a thing? Where a 13 year old wants to study and needs a note to prove it? Know why? Because she is needed doing household chores or caring for her 5 other smaller siblings. Does her momunderstand the importance of an education? Probably not. How far will Wakiria go in school? Hard to tell. Im just happy she is there now. School is interesting here in El Porvenir. When classes began, we asked several children around town how they liked their classes. Well, some didn’t have class, they didn’t have a teacher. NO TEACHER. Some classes went longer than others, some kids in the afternoon classes got done at 3 and others at 5. That’s only 3 hours of school a day. However, this depends on the teacher. However long they want to teach. Now that school is in session we have been keeping our eye out for kids not in school for whatever reason. Amalia found Marcos a few weeks ago, who was not in school because he could not afford the $2.50 it costs to register. He didn’t have a uniform or any supplies. Amalia got what he needed and he is now in classes! Crazy huh? Two dollars and fifty sense.

 The other day in Kinder Rosa began telling me about Oscar. She said whenever he asks for more cornflakes, to give him as much as he wants. His mom is really struggling at home. He comes to Kinder, not having eaten breakfast, because they don’t have anything. There are times where she has to feed her baby water with sugar because she cant afford milk or food. I think im thinking about all this as I am on my way back to the states because they will most likely never have this opportunity. It almost makes me feel bad about going home. Knowing that I am going to get in one of the four cars my family owns. Eat tons of food daily, sitting on my comfy couch, watching my flat screen TV, in my house where we all have our own beds and rooms to sleep in. Mom will probably vacuum one day…THE CARPET. Dad will work on…THE POOL. No muddy dirt floors, no cardboard walls, no wooden plank bed. No need to try and sell that 50 cent pineapple in order to buy dinner for that same day. No need to send my kids on the streets to beg. Its not fair. This world is not fair. People are not fair. 

After my trip to the states:

Im back in El Porvenir and couldn’t be happier! It felt so good to drive into town and see all Porvenirs hot-spots. My trip home was great but just reconfirmed how much I really love being here, in Honduras. One of the many questions I was asked while home, was what is the most annoying part of being back in the states? Well, that’s an easy one. People and their money. Im so tired of people flaunting their money. In the news they talked a lot about Charlie Sheen who now wants 3 MILLION dollars an episode rather than the measly 2 MILLION he already gets. That’s what now, weekly he gets that? Its absolutely ridiculous. I walked to grandmas house the other day to play with the kids and little Noe was bathing himself in a broken cooler. You know the cooler that anyone and everyone has, carring their drinks, beers, and food to the beach or on a picnic or whatnot. The insulated part was still intact, which is what he was sitting in but the outside was all falling apart. Really? And Charlie Sheen wants 3 million dollars, give me a break. I get so frustrated when it comes to money. SO FRUSTRATED. Even the little things in everyday life. It just makes no sense. I get frustrated with myself. How can I go on in life and be happy if I know I can be helping others? I feel so guilty every time I go out to eat, everytime I sleep in my bed, everytime I get into my car. How can I be so fortunate when I know others are struggling. People in general are just really ignorant, I just don’t understand how you can live like that knowing others are starving elsewhere. The world would be such a better place if people cared. 

So Monday, we went to pick up our normal kids for “Mommys day out”, a new program we have started to watch infants to 4 years old, giving the moms a break. Also to try and reinforce that this is when they can leave their kids, not at home alone. As we walked up to Brayan’s house, we see a little naked boy in the water spicket outside his house. Well, theres Brayan with a washing board, washing the clothes Rebecca gave him. Scrubbing them back and forth…mind you, he is 5 years old. Im 22 and have never had to do that once in my life. His baby sister, 6 months old, is laying in the hammock on top of some blankets. We usually take her but Rebecca didn’t have any milk for the baby so she didn’t come. Milk…and Charlie Sheen wants 3 million dollars an episode.

 So this is why we spend our days, and our free time with the kids. They need us. I equally need them, they are my life now. At home they do chores a parent should be doing. But the times we spend at the beach, on the soccer field, even coloring, they are able to be kids again. And that is exactly what we want. Give them the chance to be the kids they should be.

So, as you can see Im so happy to be back here. Im glad I could visit home but Porvenir is my home as well. I missed my kids, I missed this life. And now were onto our next adventure, getting Lubin enrolled in school, getting his uniform and supplies, and papers to register.