For GREAT pix of kids in El Porvenir, look at Charlie & Amalia's website, honduraschildren.com.  

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.

  The Campesino group that we have been working with for about a year now was recently forced off the land they have occupied for more than 6 years. We have relocated them with numerous trips of 3 pickups, to some land that we (HHK) and our partners, Amigos of Honduras are buying for them closer to the town of La Bomba.  

They and we hauled wood, zinc roofing, household possessions and chickens. Men, women and children made many trips carrying their possessions to their new living sites.

 They are eating rice, spaghetti and green bananas in an outdoor dining area under a tree and living in plastic shacks, with few possessions.  They left behind their abobe huts. They have very little, including food, and need about everything. 

When the rains start, there will be lots of wet, sick kids. In spite of the hardships, 2 little kindergarten girls looked spotless.

We have taken them fortified rice, tomato soup, folding metal beds, a roll of plastic and 40 lbs of ripe bananas. This is just a band-aid. They need wood and zinc roofing to try and protect themselves against the storms that will soon be upon us this winter. And they need more permanent housing.

  If you feel in your heart that you want to help these men, pregnant women, old people and lots of little children, please visit our website and make a contribution (fastest) or send a check made out to Helping Honduras Kids, 305 Vineyard Town Ctr #253, Morgan Hill, Ca 95037

Between the non-hurricane, the party at the Quinta Real and all of the day-2-day things . . . we neglected to say a proper THANK YOU to Veronika!  Veronika came from SLOVAKIA in July and stayed thru September.  She lived and worked with the children and staff at the Hogar de Amor and we truly appreciate her positive attitude and all of her hard work!

This photo is from Veronika's going away party.  Everyone had fun swimming at Helen's (thus, the wet hair) and then came back to the Hogar for cake! The photo below is from the Children's Day celebration on September 10th.  Children's Day is a big holiday in Honduras and Veronika got right into the spirit of things!

Thanks Veronika!  (And iHola! from the kids!!)

Our thanks go out to Doris Eggenberger, Director of Hospital Suizo-Hondureño in La Ceiba for the wonderful care that Francisco received this past week when he broke his leg. 

  Francisco was playing fútbol during recess and his legs got tangled with another boy's.  Unfortunately, this has not been our first broken bone at the Hogar, nor will it probably be our last!  We truly appreciate the generosity of everyone at Hospital Suizo-Hondureño in helping to care for our HHK children!

Julio stayed with Francisco in the ER for the entire day.  (Thanks Julio!) Francisco first got some x-rays and then Tara (volunteer from Canada), Eve (HHK board member) and Gerson & Moises (Francisco's biological brothers) came by to cheer for Francisco as his cast was put on.  We later went to a restaurant as a special treat for dinner where the boys got to watch Pokemon on one tv and Julio saw Guatamala beat Honduras in an exhibition fútbol game on the other!  (Oh well!)  

  Later in the evening, each of the Hogar de Amor kids took a turn at the microphone to voice their good wishes and appreciations to Caroline, our volunteer from England who is leaving us to continue volunteering in Peru.  Thank you Caroline - - We wish you a safe journey!! 

(Tara & Caroline, above.)

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Dave Ashby brought over some cake and ice cream and we actually got Tia Stacy and Tio Julio to stand still long enough for a photo! 

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Good morning from from La Ceiba, Honduras to all HHK supporters!

  The BIG event, the inauguration of our Hogar de Amor (Childrens Home), took place on Sept 22-23. This program is in partnership with the Lisa Lopes Foundation.

On Saturday night at the Quinta Real Hotel on the beach in La Ceiba, the celebration began at 5pm and ended about 10:30.

The VH1 Rock-Doc, The Last Days of Left Eye, was shown to honor the memory of Lisa Lopes.

 About 75 people were in attendance, including the press, national and local TV, Margie Dip the governorof the Atlantida Department, Doris Eggenberger from the Swiss Hospital here in La Ceiba, the president of the Rotary Club, Ron and Wanda Lopes and Carol Frazier of the Lisa Lopes Foundation, Eve Horowitz and Karl Ralian of HHK, Karen Scheeringa of Hearts in Motion, 5 members of the Octo Design group from Philadelphia and a host of other invited guests interested in helping children in our programs.

There was music, dancing by a Garifuna group and a delicious buffet dinner.  

A special thanks to Eve Horowitz, Ron Lopes, his LLF board members and family and Dr  Blanca Morillo and Gustavo Aguilar for helping to make this event a success.

The following day, there was a tour of our JungleSchool in the mountains and the Grandma's Kids and DayCare (under construction) on the beach in El Porvenir.

From 1-4 pm, a large group gathered at the Hogar deAmor for a BBQ lunch, a tour of the Hogar and a program put on by the children. The Hogar children did an excellent job with their dancing and singing performances, and we are very proud of them. Thanks to Cecilia Groessing and Canadian volunteer, Tara Talwar for directing the children's music & dance program.  Thanks also to Muggdy Hiza for the bus transportation.

This 2 day event marked the beginning of a collaborative program to provide a loving family environment to orphaned,abandoned and abused children from IHNFA (government  child welfare agency). There are presently 17children, 3 housemothers ('Tias'), 1 housefather ('Tio'), 1 teacher (weekday mornings) and 4 volunteers at the Hogar. The children are receiving English and sewing instruction and will soon receive computer classes. These children all arrived together to the Hogar on May 7th of this year. We are very proud to be a part of this partnership with the Lisa Lopes Foundation and in helping children at social risk.

We invite you to sponsor one of these beautiful children, volunteer or make a donation to help us provide quality care and love.

Thank you for caring,

Dave Ashby

Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 18:31:54 -0700 (PDT)

From: "David Ashby" 

Subject: Hurricane Felix (now a Tropical Storm) and our children
   

Good evening,

Many of you have probably been thinking about
Honduras, Hurricane Felix and our HHK children. Felix
formed in the warm waters off of Venezuela, just like
Hurricane Mitch in 1998. It increased in intensity
from a Category 2 to a Category 5 hurricane during the
course of a day, breaking all previous records in the
Atlantic basin. Initially, it was aimed at Guanaja in
the Bay Islands, and then it was projected to move
along the entire north coast of Honduras. It continued
to move south and finally entered Nicaragua as a major
Category 5 storm. It is now beginning to cross
Honduras from east to west in the center of the
country as a Tropical Storm.
While the winds are now not a threat, the potential
for heavy rains and flooding continues to exist.

Due to the threat of a Category 5 hurricane striking
the La Ceiba area, we moved the children from the
Hogar de Amor in Agua Caliente to the Episcopal school
here in town. They are now spending their 2nd night
there. It has been a real challenge to move this many
children, their clothing, bedding, food supplies,
cooking utensils and table top stoves and play items.
They are sleeping on the floor in classrooms along
with the 4 volunteers and 3 tias. Julio is back at the
Hogar looking after the building and its contents.

The volunteers gave the children classes this morning,
probably the only students to have classes in all of
Honduras. The kids have entertained themselves with
soccer (between rainy periods), hair braiding,
coloring and playing with some toys brought from the
Hogar and our Ceiba storeroom.

By Wednesday noon, we should know if there is no further threat (mostly flooding) and we can then prepare to return all the children to the Hogar. The children in the Jungle School had no classes today, and they will not have classes tomorrow. We thank you for your words of concern and prayers.
 

As far as we know, all of our almost 200 children are
safe. We will visit the Grandmas Kids and Campesino
Village children as soon as the storm has past.

We have received donations from some members of a US
Rotary Club and from one of our supporters in Canada,
enabling us to buy gifts for 200 children, to be given
out on or near Childrens Day this Friday (weather
permitting). We also will have some parties in various
locations, to make this Day special for the children.

Don't forget our special event on September 22-23 here
in La Ceiba, to inaugurate the Hogar de Amor
orphanage. This event is sponsored by Helping Honduras
Kids and the Lisa Lopes Foundation, and YOU ARE
INVITED. See our website for details.

Thank you for your support,
Dave
www.helpinghonduraskids.org

 Sam Burton, son of Mike Burton (of Amigos of Honduras), recently had an exciting visit to Honduras and an opportunity to see how his hard work in Utah is helping the children at the Helping Honduras Kids  Jungle School & Hogar de Amor and Las Sonrisa's Daycare!

From: Dave Riley

Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 12:34 PM

To: 'David Ashby'; Karl Ralian'; 'Eve Horowitz'; 'Reid>FitzSimons'>  

Subject: money

Great news!  Sam Burton, Mike's son that was just down there is donating more money to  Honduras.  He was very impressed that the backpacks he put together for his Eagle Scout project were being used by the kids at the Jungle School!

      He is donating:>>>>   $200.00 to Reid Fitzsimmons for Las Sonrisa's child care/nutrition center, >>>>   $200.00 for the HHK Jungle Sch, >>>>   $250.00 for the HHK Hogar de Amor.

   Thanks to Reid and David and Valerie and Carlos and Carol and Francisco and Franklin for letting him see your projects.  This is quite a young man. He got the chance to see his money actually helping people.

From: "Karl Ralian"

To: "Dave Riley",'David Ashby','Eve Horowitz',"'Reid FitzSimons'

Subject: RE: money

Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:55:59>>

Dave,
What a great email to get. Not only will the money be very welcome to the recipients, but equally as important, another young person is orienting his life in the right direction. Being outward focused rather than being self involved as so many are these days.

Well done, Sam!

Karl Ralian

From: Eve Horowitz

Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 1:24 PM

To: Karl  Ralian; Dave Riley; Dave Ashby;Reid Fitzsimmons Subject:

RE: money

Hi Dave,
That's great and many thanks to Sam and Mike!
Sam's got the right idea - - if each of us works on our "small part of the puzzle," together we start to create solutions to big problems.

 Is it possible that I can get some more info about Sam's backpack project and how he organized it so that I can put it on the HHK website?   Pix would be good too.

Sam, we truly appreciate your help!

Eve 

From: Dave Riley

To: 'Eve Horowitz'

Cc:  'MICHAEL BURTON'

Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 1:40 PMSubject:

RE: money

He did it as his Eagle Scout project… I will get details from Mike and let him describe how Sam did it…great kid!!

From : MICHAEL BURTON

Sent : Thursday, August 30, 2007 12:27 AM

To : "'Eve Horowitz'" , "Dave Riley">

CC : "Sam Burton" , "Diane Burton"

Subject : Amigos donation money

Eve,

Sam set up a cookie selling event that covered the neighborhood where we live. He sold about 50 dozen cookies,….. When people heard what his motive was, as he assembled hygiene kits, and school backpacks and learning kits, that were to be sent to Honduras for use with various needy groups, he was given donations from many people. I'm very proud of him….. 

Mike

From: Diane Burton
To: MICHAEL BURTON, Eve Horowitz
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 12:05 PM
Subject: RE: pics of Eagle Scout project

Hi Eve,
 
We do have some pictures of Sam's Eagle project in progress.  He started out by making a flyer which he and his fellow scouts delivered to the homes in our neighborhood.  The flyer explained the project and asked for donated supplies.  A list of needed items was included, as well as the date the scouts would return to pick up the items.  We were overwhelmed with the response and people's generosity.  He sorted the items in our living room.
 
Sam thought it would be good to have backpacks and bags to put all the supplies in.  Being 3 days before Valentines Day, he made another flyer that went something like this, "Don't forget your wife this Valentines Day! Sam Burton is making delicious gourmet cookies to raise money for . . ." and then explained the project.  He took the flyer to our church, where he received many orders from husbands.  Our family worked together to bake and deliver the cookies, barely finishing by Valentine's night.  Again, we were overwhelmed by the response.  He was able to buy 45 bags and backpacks and had cash donations of several hundred dollars as well.  This was a really great experience for him, as was traveling to Honduras where he saw firsthand the fruits of his labors and the great example of people like yourselves, who do so much to help others.

(From Sam's mom, Diane)

From: Eve Horowitz

To: michaeljburton, diane burton

Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 1:56 PM

Subject: RE: Fw: pics of Eagle Scout project

Hi - - This is great!  Do I have your permission to post on our website?

Thanks,

Eve

From : MICHAEL BURTON

Sent : Friday, August 31, 2007 5:36 PM

To : "Eve Horowitz"

Subject : Re: Fw: pics of Eagle Scout project

Sure……attached are a few of my favorite pics….

  These children are some of the Grandma's Kids from the mountain village of El Naranjo.  We need sponsors for the Grandma's Kids in order to provide school supplies, uniforms and nutritional support for the families.  Visit our sponsor page for more info!