Carol in Honduras

Doña Delsy and Heidi

I met the latest little person at the orphanage. This is Heidi. She came to the orphanage about two months ago at 8 months of age and was only about 6 kgs. She had multiple health problems initially and was hospitalized with pneumonia and apparently had an unusually large infestation of parasites. Poor tyke survived and is now gaining weight and loves to stand with help and is learning to give “besos” (kisses).

Dona Delsy (the director of the “hogar”) and I had a good visit and she described some of the multitude of needs at the home. She asked if we could help with providing some food- beans, corn flour and maybe some eggs and sugar, as well as helping to purchase formula for Heidi. The t-shirts that our health unit nurses donated will be distributed at the home tomorrow.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit with one of the teachers at the public school here in Copan. She was thrilled with the materials that I had for the hand washing education and invited me to spend the morning on Tuesday presenting to a number of the classes.

The treasures arrived!

After being hit by the warm moist wall of hot air at the San Pedro Sula airport, and the VERY long wait to get through immigration and customs, I was again amazed that not one but both of my bags arrived safely and apparently intact. So, there will be t-shirts for the “hogar”, and crafts to do, and educational materials to be used for classes.

What a small world! Angel (a local Copaneca) that I met on my first trip to Copan, was two seats behind me on the plane. His wife teaches at the local public school so, that’ll be one of my first stops with the germ theory/ hand washing education.

Will be on the bus in a couple of hours and in Copan in time for dinner.

Our last day in Copan and so many things to catch up on.   The “Rice Foundaiton” set up their clinic in Copan Ruinas. So, at the top of the list was to make them aware of the orphanage and see how we could best meet some of their needs.   I wanted to make sure that, at the very least, Gabrielito (the child with the infection behind his ear) and Rosa’s little guy Nelson had access to the pediatrician.   My real hope is that they might actually go to the orphanage.  Robert will speak with Dona Delsy on Tuesday and ask for her permission to explore this.

Robert and I spoke with the Pastor at the Amigos school about having the children from the hogar attend.  This school is quite strict and wants commitments for attendance for the entire year. He was hesitant to take these children on as that has been a problem with the hogar in the past.   Their Grade One class is really full but, when we described the children that we had chosen to support, they agreed to try to do their best for them.    Belkis and Eduardo (who have both been identified with probable learning problems and simply wouldn’t manage in the public school) will be attending as well as Brayan (a sweet little guy- Grade 1 student) These children will be sponsored through A Better World.

The folks at the Ixbalanque school had been unable to get in touch with the mayors wife for us to meet with her so I’ll e-mail them within the next week to get her e-mail address.

In the afternoon we took Rosa’s little guy back to the Dr.   The Dr. was really pleased with the way the lesions were clearing up.   They look like they will scar though.   So, for now, little Nelson is doing well.

Our last task was to make a last trip to the orphanage to check the tooth-brushing charts and give out finger puppets.  We also brought a supply of soap, shampoo, lice shampoo, and scabies medicine.  I’ll miss some of the wee characters there and feel strange heading back home where we seem to have so many advantages over these little people.   Robert will be staying long term in Copan and will continue to spend time at the hogar.   Christiane is on her way back to Utila.  And- I’m heading home back to my cozy house, husband and fluffy puppy.

Carol with Nelson

Gabriel and Naún

Carlos (aka Chino)

For Christiane and I, it was a laid back day.   Robert however, was up at the hogar early this morning to help get the kids ready and walk them down for church.

Tonight we made a list of what we needed to do tomorrow (our last day in Copan).   We will speak with the pasator who runs the Amigos school about some children at the hogar attending, and stop at “Aqua Pura” to see about water filters for the drinking water at the hogar.   I need to buy a supply of soap and shampoo as well.

These are some of the “faces” at the Hogar Angelitos Felices.

Gabriel

Robert with kids

Christianne with kids

First thing this morning Robert, Christiane and I made our way to Copan Green to arrange for another supply of water to be delivered to the hogar.    Telma’s nephew (who works with World Vision) will be here visiting tomorrow and we will talk with him about biosand filters that he may be able to help us with.

Jean-Mari's birthday

The afternoon was spent at the hogar where there was a celebration for Jean Marie’s birthday.   I brought the girls a notebook with a page each of the medications that there are in the school and included information on what conditions they are used for and duration of treatment etc.  I drew Dona Delsy’s attention to the child with the skin infection on and behind his ear.  She said that it started out as scabies and then he scratches and it gets to this point.   She said that they will put him on an antibiotic but I encouraged them to have him seen by a Dr.

Valentine's day cakes

There was a fun barbeque celebration at our Posada today.   The cake was marvelous- a work of art we thought.   We all enjoyed it very much.

Telma

This is our landlady Telma.   She is a tremendous source of information about the local community and where best to locate whatever we need.  She also seems to be able to diagnose most everything I talk to her about including the rashes that I show her if I take pictures of them.   She is a fabulous hostess, a keen businesswoman as well as being a terrific mother and organizer.   I don’t know what our time in Copan Ruinas would be like without Telma.

We will purchase a supply of soap, baby oil and shampoo .   I had a number of small bars of soap that I am bringing up each day but they seem to be used up really rapidly.