Catalina, Catalina, Catalina!

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote. Where can I even begin?

The kids, I know I can always find something to say. Oh how much I love them. Its hard to even imagine how much I love them, they aren’t even my own children. Walking to their homes each morning, they see us come down the street and start running with arms wide open to us. It’s almost a game to see who they will pick that day to hold them. Their smiles and joy as we walk to Kinder together is what starts my day off right. So perfect. Then in the afternoons on Tuesday and Thursday we play with them. Sometimes to the soccer field, basketball court, or the beach. The next day all we hear is “are we going to play again today?” I wish I could find the energy to play all day, every day with them. It’s tiring. They want all your attention, 110 % of it. Last week we went to the beach with the kids and as we were playing in the water all I heard was “Catalina watch me! Watch me Catalina! Catalina! Catalina!” Every single kid wants you to hold them, play alligator with them, be their horse and run, or watch them do some amazing new trick they came up with, then 429 times over again. But, I love it. I absolutely love it. I couldn’t think of a better way to be spending my time here than this.

About two weeks ago at Kinder, we had a ton of sick kids that we had to send home throughout the day. It breaks my heart to see them coming to Kinder, sick to their stomach, throwing up, just because they ate something sour off a tree for breakfast, or didn’t eat breakfast at all. We had a few with fevers, but there was one who captured my heart, all of it. Little Jose David came into Kinder, the first time in a while. We were so excited to see his beautiful face, it wasn’t until about an hour into Kinder that we realized something was wrong. He began to cry so Janna (one of the volunteers) took him outside to hold him on the steps. She had been holding him for a while, trying to get him to eat something, not realizing how much he was burning up. He was hot all over and you could just tell in his eyes he was hurting. Since I knew where he lived, Rosa had me take him home, Anni and Ismael tagged along. We made the long trek, in what felt like 120 degree heat, holding a child with a fever who was burning up already. We got to his house, only to realize his mom was at work, and would be until 5 pm. His two oldest sisters were home, under 11 years old. I asked the oldest where I could put Jose David down, and we walked into the house, straight into his bedroom. There were two beds, one double and another smaller than a twin. I put him on the bed and asked for some water for him to try and drink. He sat up, climbed back in my arms and tried to sip some water. He was sweating he was so feverish. I asked the sister if she had any medicine or money in the house to buy medicine. She didn’t. Ismael, who came with me is 13, I asked him to ride his bike back to Kinder to ask one of the volunteers for some money to buy him medicine from one of the local Pulperias (store). While he was gone, I held Jose David in my arms, looking around the room. Walls made of cardboard. You know that cardboard your new flat screen TV comes in? You know the cardboard from that frozen box of pizza in your refrigerator that you threw away? That cardboard was being used as his wall. I held him in my arms, as tears fell down my face. It was right there that I felt like Jose David was my own child. I felt his pain, his hurt he was feeling. I just wanted to make him better. He had his hands wrapped around me, crying himself. I had to hide my tears as his older sister and Anni were still in the room with me. Ismael came back, with two Panadol, children’s pain reducer tablets. He had spend 2 lempira on two tablets, equal to 5 cents each. He swallowed the medicine and laid back in bed. He turned over, curled up in a ball, as more tears fell down his face. I rubbed his back and that weird sense came over me again as I began to feel like his mom. It was hard to leave him there. A sick 5 year old and his older sister to care for him all day. I gave her the 3 lempiras that were left from the 5 to buy the first two medicine tablets. I explained that the money was only to buy more medicine for Jose David, and if she needed anything, she knew where I lived and to please come to the house. I left Jose David on the bed as he quickly dose off to sleep. The next day I found out he was taken to the hospital. He had some kind of infection, so was taken to the hospital that night. I saw him that day, went to his house on our way to play with the other Kinder kids in the afternoon. He saw me as he came out of the house and began to cry. I picked him up to hug him and he immediately stopped. I don’t think they were tears of pain or fear, they were tears of relief. Relief that I was there, he knows I would take care of him. And that’s the story of Jose David, who stole my heart, every bit of it.

This Saturday was our kids graduation. Kinder is over L. Until February that is when the new year starts. We had twelve graduates from the class that will hopefully attend first grade next year. That all depends on if their parents send them or not. Graduation began as Rosa spoke about the year a bit. We called each child up to receive their diploma, take a picture with them, in their cap and gown and all! Then, it was performance time! They sang a goodbye song, interpretative hand motions by Rosa. Then, we had been practicing a dance with the kids so we did the dance, followed by a special Honduran folklore dance that four of the kids had learned. The most adorable dance ever. Period! We had rice and chicken to close the ceremony along with gifts and candy for the kids. The day was a little chaotic but it was a day I’ll never forget. Some of the parents had come up to us afterwards to thank us for everything we had done. It was unexpected and I had taken each word to heart. I couldn’t be more happy for those that graduated, I just hope to still see them from here on out. The ones that were too young, didn’t graduate and will be coming back next year, along with a whole new batch of kids! And Rosa is one amazing lady. We have had a few nights of amazing home cooked food, gracias to her! She has a heart for those kids and for us, it’s hard to keep up with her.

Now that Kinder is over, we have had this week of break. The weather has been amazing, a nice break from rainy season. We have been to the beach and river everyday, biking through town, cookouts and hanging out!

So, about a month ago, Cristina, Janna and I were in Ceiba doing some shopping. As we were waiting for our bus to take us back to Porvenir, one of the several hundred children selling stuff came up to us, trying to get us to buy a plate of rice and chicken. We started talking to him, Hazel, 13 years old. At the time, Janna was looking for a place to buy a cell phone, so he took us all around the bus stop to places that sold used phones. We just got to talking and said we would see him the next time we came into Ceiba, not knowing we would actually see him again. So, the next time we came into Ceiba, I was shopping in the grocery store across the street, and up comes Hazel with his little sister, Katy, 5 years old. He starts chatting away and Katy, before I know it, has become my new best friend. She tags along with me as Hazel has gone on the mission of finding me groceries throughout the store. He gives me the in and outs of what’s good to buy and not. Of course he knows what’s best, would a 13 year old know otherwise? We leave the store and head across to the market on a search of the best yucca around. Then he goes to find me a jalapeño and some lichas.  My own personal shopper! The two join Cristina and I on the bus, waiting for it to leave. Katy sitting on my lap, sharing Cristina’s ice cream and my candy, as someone comes up and asks if she is my daughter. Really? Haha.. so anyways, this past Monday we all go into Ceiba with Dany (our friend from Porvenir) to catch a bus to Rio Cangrejal. And who do we run into at the bus stop? Hazel! And who decides to join us on our trip to the river? Hazel! So we spend a great day at the river with all the gringos, Dany, and our new 13 year old friend, Hazel. I’m just waiting for the day he shows up at our house, waiting to “hang out.” Seems like a bunch of kids like to hang out with us. I wake up to my name being shouted from outside the house. Or walk out of my room as kids are climbing the tree outside to see if we are home.

This next week coming up, we have training for a new program we will be doing for vacation activities for the kids. Since they are out of school, were going to start programs of all sorts of activities for the next 3 months or so. We had an information session on Monday where about 100 kids signed up! We have one more session coming up where we will hopefully get more and more kids interested. Can’t wait to see what this will turn out like!