As you may already know, helping Honduras Kids is a completely volunteer organization. The only paid staff are the Honduran Tias, Teachers and Dentist. Volunteers from all over the world supplement our staff. They come to Honduras at their own expense and are hardworking and dedicated people.
Two weeks ago we welcomed 8 new volunteers (Dan, Alison, Julie, Lisanne, Karen, Brett, Tonya and Tanya) and did our first "3 day Orientation". These volunteers will work with our children at the Jungle School and the Hogar de Amor during the school break which runs from November thru February. Tanya is a Pediatric Social Worker and Tonya is a Family Therapist so they will collaborate to give our kids some additional supports.
In our orientation we talked about the challenges and the beauty of the Honduran culture. We did an overview of child development to help everyone understand what the typical capabilities are for children of various ages. We also worked on the "nuts and bolts" of running a Vacation-Care program and the importance of "Rules, Rituals and Routines."
The theme behind our Vacation-Care program is:
We take care of ourselves.
We take care of each other.
We take care of our environment.
The children will receive enrichment instruction in reading, math and spanish, as well as classes in English and computers. The volunteers brought suitcases full of supplies from their homes in The U.S., Canada and Holland and we sorted and divided so that both the Hogar and Jungle School are well stocked.
It's important to keep a program running during the school break for a variety of reasons. One of the most obvious is that these kids have come to us lacking in some very basic educational skills. The more we can do to supplement their experience, the more potential they will have to succeed in graduating from high school and hopefully college.
Equally important at the Jungle School is that every child who attends the Vacation-Care program will receive a snack in the morning and a hot lunch during the school day. This may be their only nutritious meal. On Friday afternoons the kids receive a small bag of "Kids Against Hunger" fortified rice to take home to help feed their families.
The orientation seemed to go quite well and we appreciated the advice and support given by the current volunteers (Jesse, Josh, Patrick & Cameron & Tara) who were just ending their stay. Tia Stacy from the Hogar assisted and sat in for the training as well.
Our volunteers had the opportunity to go with Dave Ashby to deliver supplies to the Campesino community that we have helped to relocate near La Bomba. With the heavy rains and uncharacteristically cold weather, these families have very little to protect them from the elements and very little to eat.
When we look at photos of the kids in the HHK programs and when we see them in person, for the most part they are now healthy and smiling. It's hard to imagine that they weren't always this way. Visiting the Campesinos serves as a graphic reminder of how important it is to maintain the supports that HHK offers. These families lost almost everything in the course of one day - - their homes, their crops, any source of livelihood - - gone.
This is why we volunteer - - those of us in Honduras and those of us from around the world. - - - Because when we combine our energy and abilities, we can almost instantly create an improvement in someone's quality of life. Oh, and when we combine energy and abilities, we improve our own quality of life as well.
