Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Its like were in NYC!

“Oh my gosh, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH” are my screams waking up everybody in the house. A huge tarantula was on the door into the kitchen. I mean huge. More or less the size of a fist. Now, the thing is, this door separates Cristina and I from the other girls rooms. The tarantula was on the girls side of the door so, therefore I couldn’t see how hairy of nasty looking it really was. So here we are, Cristina and I on one side and the other girls on the other, trying to figure out what to do. Call Danny? Call Charlie? Smack it with a frying pan? Get the machete? Well, what if it jumps or runs? The many questions we pondered and finally decided to call Charlie. In which he tells us to Raid it. So with 6 girls screaming, videos and pictures, Shawna with the broom, I have a bucket, Cristina Raid’s it, with a frying pan in the other hand, it eventually falls off the door and starts crawling towards me. Then it starts walking up the screen along the porch as Raid is just being doused upon it. We call Charlie again, among screams and tears to tell him we can’t handle it. Finally it shrivels up and dies. Good morning neighbors!


A few weeks ago, Cristina and I headed to the municipality in Porvenir to meet a few of our kids parents to help them get birth certificates. Without a birth certificate, kids cannot go to school. So in order to help them go to school, we needed to get the right papers. The parents told us they have tried to get the papers before, but couldn’t. For some reason, they wouldn’t give them the papers. They said with us there, they would for sure give them their birth certificates. Little did we know what they meant. So, we first meet one family. Well, the process to get your birth certificate is you have to bring your “boleto” which everyone is given when they register a birth of a child. On it is a number which corresponds to what book the original birth document is in. Yes, all the documents are on a metal shelf in books. Piled one on another, falling apart, tearing, etc. Well, the mom we were with, did not have her boleto with her kids document number, the lady working was not happy. So she had to give her kids birth dates…which the mom had to struggle to remember. Well, she ended up giving the worker lady the wrong year so at first she couldn’t find them. Then we told her to try the year before and after, in which she found them. The birth certificate was then hand-written. Cost = 10 lempiras. That’s 50 cents. After talking to the mom, found out she is 27  years old, her oldest child is 8 and she has 4 kids. Then we meet with another mom, and the lady working is even grouchier then before. This mom has been back before to get a birth certificate but also doesn’t have a boleto. It was obvious because she wasn’t dressed up, isn’t considered “high-class” the worker lady didn’t treat her with very much respect. She spoke harshly in a reprimanding way. Which is what this mom has said happened before, that she has tried to get it but they would never give it to her. Which is really sad and crazy that the lady working, or whoever works that time can simply turn someone away because they don’t want to help them. Where as in the states you have a right to be served. Not here. Goes to show just how unjust the system is. So the mom said that if we were there, they would give her what she wanted. Exactly what happened. The lady had an attitude but still did it because we were there. Gringos were there. That’s sad. In this particular case, the papers the mom had were washed away and destroyed when their house was flooded by rain. So its not even her fault anyways. However, for the younger siblings, they are not registered at all. Children must be registered at the municipality within 5 months of their birth, the son is now 2 years old. Who knows what will happen now. Makes you think, are most child births at home then? If they cant afford any kind of care, they must deliver at home, right? Yikes…

About two weeks ago, Cristina and I took some girls from town to Ceiba for a special night. The kids really deserve some special time but little did we know how much they would actually enjoy it in the long run. As we walk up to their house, they were all standing outside, in their best dress, waiting for us. The smiles of their faces were something I’ll never forget. We only anticipated taking 5 girls, somehow 7 showed up. But there was no way we were going to turn anyone away. As we leave the house and I tell one of the moms we will be back around 8, the girls get giddy with excitement. One of them whispers to the other, “were going to Ceiba!” On the bus ride into town they were just starring out the window “look at this, look at that!” We get off the bus and one girl said “Wow, that was so much fun!” Maybe she had never been to Ceiba before? This was the first time any of them had been to the mall. While standing outside of the mall, one of the girls says “It’s like were in New York City!” As we walk in they all comment on the air-conditioning. Some say it feels good, some say its freezing. Then comes time for the escalators, which started a big thing. First one of the girls got scared so we had to go back down and get her. Which was fine with the other girls because all they wanted to do was ride up and down as many times as we would let them. We were planning on watching a movie at the cinema, but the only movies were playing had subtitles and not everyone could read so we had to skip that. But KFC I think took their mind off not watching a movie. I thought they would want  Pizza, something they can’t eat in Porvenir, but no, they wanted chicken…go figure. With 19 pieces of chicken, 8 drinks, 8 rolls and 8 sides of fries, they ate what they could and took the rest home for their family. Cristina and I on the other hand had one piece of chicken, shared a drink and split fries. Then, we all took pics with “abuelo” the white haired guy from KFC. After a quick icecream stop, and more escalator and elevator rides, we headed back home. 9 people into one taxi! That’s how we do it here in Honduras J It was a very successful day, the girls had a blast which couldn’t have made Cristina and I happier. Of course we arrive back in Porvenir to another power outage…typical.

Spending my birthday in Honduras was incredible. We were able to have a home cooked traditional Honduran meal, which is by far my favorite. The girls I teach English to gave me a Honduras t-shirt. The weather was perfect. Rainbows, clear mountains in the distance, shinning sun behind the clouds just bursting with color. After dinner I spent with the other volunteers in the house. They sang happy birthday, played a few songs on the guitar, we played a few games and spend the whole night talking. Then they gave me a birthday card. On the first side was a small note from each volunteer, on the inside was each Kinder kids name. If the kids could write their own name, they did, if not, they wrote it with help. I began to cry. More than anything, this was by far the best gift I could have received. It was the best gift to complete the best day. The next day was another volunteer, Shawnas birthday. So on Saturday we were able to celebrate together with a bonfire on the beach! It was perfect. Guitars, bonfire, and the night sky shinning with stars above. Its times like that were you are just thankful. Life is beautiful. Then a shooting star falls in the sky. Bright red. On fire. The coolest thing ever. Heat lightning in the distance. Perfection.