The Prodigal

 

Tonight, during the hour and a half each night between dinner and prayer circle where everyone hangs out outside, I played for a long time with a little boy who is new to the hogar. He is eight years old and has a smile that spreads in a long line across his face, lighting up big brown eyes, a high-pitched, excitable voice and a babyish laugh. He called me over to a corner of the porch to sit on the ground so I could watch him proudly assemble a tiny plastic top. He spun it as fast as he could a few times - "Mira! Mira!" - and then handed it to me to try. He was completely content in that moment, spinning his tiny top or watching me spin it, shrieking when it got too close to the edge of the porch, giggling every time it fell over. I could hardly believe that it was only a few days ago that I had sat with the same boy while he sobbed miserably into a plate of pancakes. 

I was one of the group who went to pick him up from one of the state-run children's homes four days ago. We picked up three new children from the home that day and he had been then one I had gotten to know the least on our trip. In contrast to the other two boys, he had been calm and unimpressed during the ride back to Amigos, half-smiling at times, but mostly quietly looking out the window. I don't remember once seeing the wide smile that has come to define his face for me now.

We arrived to the hogar as everyone does here: to the applause of the entire home gathered at the front gate. All three timidly got out of the car and walked through the crowd where they were introduced to the padrinos and madrinas, the caretakers of the boys and girls who live on-site and are with the children full-time.

I didn't see the littlest boy much that evening or the next day. At dinner in the comedor I made a point to sit with him, but he gave me a cold shoulder. At breakfast and lunch the next day I looked around to find him sitting sullenly, not speaking to the other boys around him. 

Late that afternoon, we, the new volunteers were in the midst of an orientation session when we learned that the boy had run away. It was 4:30 and we learned he had been gone about half an hour. We came out of the session to see search parties assembling. Two of the trucks full of people went out to drive in separate directions and a large group of boys and a few padrinos went out on foot. After night had fallen, the search parties began to return one by one. Staff members assembled a description of the child with photos and dropped them off at local police stations. We had to go to sleep that night not knowing where he was sleeping.

The next day, the whole home was to spend the day at a nearby water-park. Several trips with truck-fulls of kids had to be taken to get everyone there starting at 8 in the morning. I wasn't with the group that found him, but I heard later that it was wild. The whole truck full of children seemed to spot him at the same time and began screaming and pointing. He had been walking towards them down the road; when he spotted them, he darted away and one of the older boys ran after him. When they put him in the car, he was already sobbing.

Amy, our co-director, called me over to the comedor to sit with him while he ate some breakfast. I listened while she told him that he had woried us so much because he is very important to us, because we love him. Waves of sadness poured over the little guy; he didn't know where to put his face. Every time the crying slowed for a bit, a fresh wave seemed to overtake him. He had his little bundle of clothes the hogar had given him in a plastic bag (when he arrived he had nothing with him but the clothes he wore), and he took them all out, refolding them, and putting them away again. He told us he had spent the night in a nearby town, he said, and had been trying to get back to the city to his younger brother. (The younger brother is set to move to Amigos in a few days).

Amy told him that the group was going to a water-park that day and that it would be really fun. Gradually he warmed to the idea. He agreed to leave his bundle at the home and go to the water-park with the last group. While we waited for the truck to arrive, I showed him around the home. We walked up the hill to the big white cross that overlooks the whole campus, and he agreed with me that the view of the mountains was beautiful. We looked at the wide green soccer field with its rows of half-tire "stands." We slid together down Amigos' big tube slide. I realized he hadn't let himself really look around at the home, hadn't let himself begin to like it.

That day at the water-park, I watched a version of this child emerge that I had never seen before as he shrieked and played and acted like the little kid he is, instead of like a mini-adult alone in the world. Since he's been at the hogar I've loved watching him run and play with the other boys and eat good meals with that big smile on his face. That's how his face is supposed to look.

As I begin to understand a little more how important Amigos is and what it does for these kids, this little guy will always come to the forefront of my mind. He always runs up to me now at meals or out on the field after dinner, and I look for him, too. The relationships built with the kids here are what everyone says make it so special. I've got a few I'm working on, but I know this one will always be very special to me. Because he was lost, and I watched him be found.

 

 

 Joanna Gardner
Volunteer 2013-2014

 

 

 

 

Fútbol at the Hogar

Some days evenings arrive unexpectedly, and I walk out of the comedor after dinner and resignedly tie on my cleats after half-hearted appeals from the boys for futbol.  At times we can almost be indifferent to soccer’s inevitability. 

Other times the beautiful game brings an irresistible energy, and entire days seem to revolve around futbol.  Anticipation lasts from breakfast until the hour arrive.  Tengo rigio are the watchwords, echoed throughout the hogar, difficult to translate precisely but roughly expressing a physical yearning for soccer.  Legs feel agitated.  Feet grow restless.  The goals will fly thick and the tackles will be bruising.  On these days all eyes are waiting for sunset.  At Amigos, (our) real futbol is played in the evenings.

 

 

 In small groups we wander onto the soccer field, pale lights illuminating the grass from goal to goal.  Those moments before we play—spent stretching or shooting on goal, or trash-talking—are full of promise.  Each one of us has in our mind a brilliant golazo, a stellar performance recognized by the group.  A lot of respect is earned (and lost) on the soccer field. 
 

We straggle into different teams and wait restlessly.  We’re not yet in full futbol-mode.  Somebody grabs the ball and punts it into the air.  Before it even hits the ground the transition has taken place.  We’re living in the moment, a different state of consciousness where our lives away from that field might as well be a million miles away.  Maybe I exaggerate.  But what is true is that your mind doesn’t work the same way when the ball is at your feet.  Instinct and adrenaline replace words and thought.  The day and all its challenges and troubles slip away, a blessed relief from the stresses of everyday life, for both the boys and me.  Even though soccer can be a time when we channel aggression, we find some measure of peace and belonging on the field.  That’s part of why futbol is so important to the boys here.

 

Love for the game goes deep.  Interest in soccer varies amongst the kids; some rarely or never play and others don’t let a day pass without a session.  But everyone here recognizes soccer as the primary sport, not just of our home but for all of Honduras.  Nationalism and soccer are intricately tied in this country, and that affects the children living at Amigos.  A world-cup qualifier brings excitement, apprehension.  The sports sections of newspapers are devoured.  The quality of certain players is vigorously debated.  And when game-time arrives, the children of Amigos huddle around radios or televisions and join the millions of other Hondurans cheering and groaning throughout those 90 minutes.  A goal scored for Honduras unleashes chaotic bliss.  We jump out of chairs, screaming, arms extended to the ceiling.  The younger children, often unaware of what’s going on, join in the shouting and hugging, scrambling to involve themselves in the celebration.  Moments of disorderly, wonderful happiness. 

 

Soccer is part of Amigos de Jesus.  There’s a rhythm and fluidity to life here that futbol expresses so well.  The soccer field is a canvas on which the kids channel their creativity and imagination.  And it’s a joy to share their passion. 

 

Joseph Starzl

Amigos de Jesus Volunteer 2012

BECA Administrator 2013

Oscar Francisco Romero 12/17/2005 - 06/13/2013

There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day.  And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would have gladly eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table.  Dogs even used to come and lick his sores.  (Luke 16:19-21)

Oscar Francisco Romero arrived at Amigos de Jesus as Lazarus and spent the last 48 days of his life experiencing what Lazarus was given in heaven:  comfort, the care of angels, love and a life worth living.

Oscarito was brought to us on April 26 by the Missionaries of Charity, the Sisters who live the life laid out for them by Mother Teresa to care for the poorest of the poor.  They asked us to provide a permanent home for Oscarito because they knew that we would become his family for the rest of his life and would provide him with a level of care they were not able to provide.  He had been left for dead at an international border crossing and found in March of this year.  At approximately 7 years old he weighed less than 20 pounds, and dragged his emaciated body through garbage, filth, flies and dogs in search of scraps.  He was living a life worse than that of a stray dog.  No one had ever bothered to get Oscarito a birth certificate or medical care.  He had never felt love.  After the Sisters rescued Oscarito he spent a month in a run-down public hospital fighting for his life.  With nowhere to go upon release, we received a phone call at 9:00 PM asking if we could please take him first thing in the morning.  So the next day Oscar came home to Amigos de Jesus.

Amigos de Jesus undoubtedly changed Oscarito’s life.  He lived his last days clean and safe, with a balanced and nutritious diet, quality medical care, a special toy he loved, a jogging stroller he used to explore our rough terrain, and a bed of his own for sleeping.  More importantly, however, Oscarito was cared for and loved.  He was so very loved and he returned the love we gave him in abundance in spite of the fact that he only knew love for 48 days.

Though Oscarito’s life may have been changed by Amigos de Jesus, he changed ours in so many ways and changed all of us for the better. 

Oscarito changed us as he taught us to never be the rich man in Jesus speaks about in the Gospel according to St. Luke.  We were afraid to bring Oscarito to Amigos de Jesus because we’ve never had a child so sick, so disabled, so dependent for every little thing, and with so many medical needs.  We wondered if we could ignore his needs as we thought there must be someone else who could do a better job, or a place that was better equipped.  But Honduras is a place of few resources for special children like Oscarito and we are here to be friends of Jesus so we welcomed him home.

Oscarito changed David, one of our older children who will start University this year.  David, always a slightly immature young man lacking in direction but with a heart of gold, became Oscarito’s primary caregiver.  We needed someone to look out for Oscarito immediately and our madrinas, padrinos and volunteers were already stretched too far to be able to give Oscarito the one on one care he needed.  The two of them spent their days going for walks with David pushing the jogging stroller, listening to music together, and being in each other’s presence.  David kept an alarm set to go off every three hours to make sure Oscar’s meals were always on time.  He took it upon himself to make sure Oscarito didn’t get sores from being in one position for too long, was protected from the sun, and was stimulated and engaged.  He delighted in every small step Oscarito made- smiling and laughing, holding his own water bottle, climbing out of his stroller, finding ways to communicate his needs.  He worried relentlessly that Oscarito’s seizure medications were too strong, or that he wasn’t gaining weight quickly enough.  He lost sleep over his worries about Oscarito.  At 18 years old, David became Oscarito’s father and demonstrated a love and maturity David himself didn’t imagine he was capable of.

Oscarito changed our children and taught them about gifts and blessings.  Meeting him, knowing him, seeing him lose his fears and begin to smile for the first time in his life showed our children- all of whom have been through unimaginably difficult and inhumane situations in their short lives- that life is a gift, that there is always something to smile about and that we all have blessings to count.  Some of our most troubled and broken children poured love into Oscarito.  In their love and care for Oscarito they have lived the gospel:  “for whatever you did to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did to me.” (Mt 25:40) For many it was the first time they understood that they are called to use their gifts to minister to others and were able to truly experience giving unconditional love.

Each member of the Amigos de Jesus family has a story about how Oscarito has changed our lives for the better.  We are crying tears of pain that we have not had enough time to spend with Oscarito here on earth.  We share stories, we remember, we support each other and we give thanks.  All of us are so very grateful for the opportunity to have loved and to be changed by Oscarito, our little boy who is gone far too soon.

Oscarito may have spent most of his life as Lazarus but he spent the last 48 days as a son, a brother, a friend, and someone who was finally able to experience the love and joy he is now experiencing in heaven.  He touched more hearts and impacted more lives in 48 days than most of us do in a lifetime. 

Praise God for Oscarito, and may our sweet, tough, amazing little child be truly welcomed into heaven where we now have a guardian angel forever.  We miss you Oscar Francisco Romero, thank you for changing our lives.  You are so loved.

Welcome to Second Grade

Amigos de Jesús  along with BECA (Bilingual Education for Central America) now offers its’ children and children from communities in neighboring towns the chance of a lifetime – a bilingual education. In the fall of 2013 we will officially begin our partnership with BECA, and  grades K-2 will be taught by both a native English speaker and a Honduran teacher. Right now, as we await this change in education (and the arrival of new teachers) the volunteers have been asked to aid in the process and help to teach subjects or grades modeled after a typical BECA classroom. In February I was given the honor of being appointed as the English teacher for our newly formed second grade class. I could not be happier to be a part of this chapter at Amigos de Jesús  And as such thought it would be nice to share our experiences of a typical day in second grade.
 

First, I’d like to say that there is never a typical day at Amigos de Jesus and the same goes for my second grade class. As every teacher knows, you can plan every second of your “flawless” day and then something completely unexpected happens and changes everything.  My students never cease to surprise me with their ability to soak up all we learn like little sponges.  

We start our day at school together with Morning Prayer. Prayer, is one of the only times that we speak Spanish in class together. As the year progresses I hope to have them saying the sign of the cross, Hail Mary and Our Father in English. For now we pray in Spanish and they thank God for all he has given us. A 7 year-olds prayer ranges from thanking God for the trees and animals to the food that is always on the table, for their caretakers or for their best friends. It’s always a surprise. After prayer we begin our day with Morning Circle, from this point on we only speak in English. I have all of the boys and girls sit down in front of me facing the white board and they learn about the date, the weather and counting. As they become more comfortable with the basics of each subject in English we will eventually expand on each subject and thus their vocabulary will grow. The children love Morning Circle because it involves each of them, it stays relatively the same and has a series of activities to learn and reinforce new English words and phrases to use later during class time. Their favorite part of circle is singing. Right now, they know eight songs - all in English. After morning circle, it’s time to read in English at Guided Reading time.

Guided Reading is my chance to review what they remember in a fun way.  We read a book together and they tell me what's happening, make predictions and of course give me their well informed critical opinion of anything and everything they see in the pictures. In doing this, they begin to start thinking critically and use their imagination in ways they had not in their former education experience.  I often remember being read to as a child by my parents and I realize that this is something some of my students will never experience. I like to think that reading together may give them memories similar to mine and that they will one day love to read. After we read a story together it is time for them to practice reading on their own in English at Reading Centers.

Reading Centers give the children a chance to pick their favorite books and attempt to read in English. Little by little they have learned various words and get so excited when they read a word and know what it means. I get just as excited as they do and plenty of high-fives are exchanged and it seems like I always say “good job.” I hope by the end of my time here I will have the children reading and understanding small books. I have high expectations for my class and they always seem to surpass them.

After Reading Centers it’s time to practice writing. Writing block is the children’s time to write the words they have learned and try their hand at some tricky English grammar. I spend the first ten minutes teaching the children grammar that relates to the theme of the week. They then try their best to apply the rules using vocabulary they can see around the classroom. Some of my students still struggle with letter recognition in their own language, but we face our problems head on, do our best to improve and always sing a song or two.  After we learn about grammar we practice our ABCs and spelling in Word Work.

Word Work is the best part of the day for most students. They get to play fun games and play with blocks. The best part is all the games are educational but I’m pretty sure they haven't realized it yet. We practice letter recognition with puzzles and card games. We also spell words using blocks. Sometimes I’ll throw in a math game to see how much they remember. At the end of the day everyone helps to clean up and then we close our day with a prayer and thank God for the wonderful day he has given us.

This is pretty much a typical day for my Second grade class. They also have Spanish, computers, physical education, art and music throughout the week. All specials except for Spanish are conducted in English by other volunteers. This is the opportunity of a lifetime for these children and I am extremely proud to be their teacher. I am so eager to teach them as much English as possible by the time my year of service is up and can’t wait to see how they’ll improve when I come back to visit next year.

Joseph Sarappo '13
Current Volunteer

Nueva Esperanza

       For the final weekend of April, the 26th-28th, the world celebrated Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) 2013. GYSD is celebrated in six continents around the world every year on a weekend in April. It’s main goal is to “engage millions of young people, ages 5-25, especially those not usually asked to serve, in an early step on a life-long path of service and civic engagement” (http://www.gysd.org).  At Amigos de Jesus, we participated in GYSD by beginning a monthly relationship with a state run children’s home in San Pedro Sula called Nueva Esperanza (New Hope). Nueva Esperanza is a place that a number of our kids have lived at before coming to Amigos. Contrary to its name of “New Hope,” it is understaffed, under resourced, and has an institutional-feel as it is enclosed by barbed wire fences and there is not much open space in which the kids can play. Life at Nueva Esperanza is drastically different than the love-filled lives that the kids at Amigos experience.  Each month, a group of eight children from Amigos will visit Nueva Esperanza to spend time playing with, organizing games, and sharing of themselves with the children at Nueva Esperanza.

GYSD began about three weeks before the actual visit to the children’s home last Saturday. Originally, we were just thinking of taking one trip to visit Nueva Esperanza. Each week at Amigos, we have a spirituality night with the entire hogar. This particular spirituality night was all about service and sharing our gifts with others. After a reading from Matthew 25:35-40, we introduced the service trip idea to the children and broke them into groups to brainstorm what their gifts were and ways in which they could help the kids at Nueva Esperanza. Our kids responded so enthusiastically and brainstormed so many ideas that they wanted to share: games, songs, making cookies, making a piñata, writing cards, making bracelets, drawing pictures, giving of their own clothes, bringing photos of Amigos de Jesus, etc. One of the older kids even wanted to dress up as a clown to make the kids laugh and bring them candy. At the end of the spirituality night, we asked for the kids who were interested in going to Nueva Esperanza to form a line so that we could write their names down. Fifty five names later, nearly everyone who was present at the spirituality night was extremely interested in going.

Three weeks passed in anticipation. The kids asked me nearly daily if they could go on the trip and offered compelling reasons why they wanted to go: “I might have family there;” “I spent two years there and want to see if my friends are still there;” “I want to help the kids there because I know what it is like.” With the overwhelming number of kids and teens passionately interested in giving back and doing service, we decided to make the trips to Nueva Esperanza a monthly event.  The kids were ecstatic to hear this and continued to ask me when they would be able to go. In the next few weeks, the entire hogar eagerly anticipated the trip to Nueva Esperanza by coloring pictures, and writing cards with messages of love and hope to be delivered to the kids. The cards were so sweet with messages like: “I love you;” “always pray before you go to bed,” “behave well and listen to those who take care of you;” “always try hard in school;” “you are a princess.” The kids at Amigos really took a lot of thought and time creating these messages to send to their new friends at Nueva Esperanza.

The morning of Saturday April 27 began with a truck full of cards, a piñata, a soccer ball, and eight smiling children eagerly anticipating the 2 hour trip to San Pedro Sula to visit Nueva Esperanza. On the way, we stopped to pick up some treats to give out and our kids thoughtfully chose the snack that they thought the kids would like the most: little bags of marshmallows and cookies. As we passed through the large gate and barbed wired fence at Nueva Esperanza, a few little boys ran up to the car, eagerly anticipating the visitors. We looked for the person who was supposed to be taking care of the children, and could find no one. We went out back with the thirty unsupervised kids and told them a little bit about Amigos de Jesus and then the games begun.

At first, our kids were pretty shy as we began playing games like “mar/tierra” and ring toss. When I asked our kids why they weren’t playing, they said it’s because these games are for the kids at Nueva Esperanza, they get to play these games every week at the hogar. They didn’t want to take away from their fun. We then talked about sharing ourselves with the kids and getting to know the kids better as a form of service. After a little while, the kids started to warm up some more. Some organized a soccer game, others colored with some of the girls, others went to the baby room and helped to play with the babies and toddlers. The kids were so happy laughing and playing as kids should be.

 

The three hours we spent there passed quickly and before we knew it, it was time to break the piñata and say our goodbyes.  As we organized the kids from Nueva Esperanza in lines to receive their treat, our kids handed out the cards made by the entire hogar. Those who could read eagerly read their cards, and those who couldn’t were helped by our kids who could read or other adults. The cards had the photo of the Amigos sign on the front and the Nueva Esperanza kids were so curious about Amigos, asking our kids a bunch of questions about what it looks like, what life is like here. They were so grateful for our visit and said goodbye with hugs and questions of when we would return. One boy of about ten years, asked about one of our kids, Ivis, who was his friend and who had lived at Nueva Esperanza. When I told him that Ivis was doing very well with us, he asked if I could deliver him a message. He thought for a few minutes and then said with a caring face, “Take care of yourself. And your sister too. Take care of yourself.”

After our service trip, we pulled on the side of the road to have a little snack and reflect a little bit about the experience.  Each child shared what part of the day they liked best, and many commented on how they are so grateful for the life they have at Amigos. As soon as we arrived at Amigos, our kids asked me when they would be able to go again. They had a great trip serving others, and it was just another reminder to me of how truly great our kids are.

Kristin Mullen-Muhr
Amigos de Jesus Volunteer 2012-2013

Fishing with 4-year Olds

Each week in preschool Friday is set aside as a day for possible field trips (behavior and weather permitting.) Usually these trips are simply walks around the hogar. Some days we might just go to the basketball court to practice the alphabet in chalk, but when the kids have had a really great week of learning and participating we try and do something special with them.

This past week we caught word that the older boys working in agro were going to be fishing from our fish ponds. Padrino Wislon the co-director of Amigos de Jesus planned to take his son Thomas later in the day so we asked him if the whole class could go with them. He readily agreed and was excited to get to teach not just his son but the rest of the preschoolers how to fish. We ended class early and had the kids walk together to the fishery. The following pictures capture the action of our day:

 

Padrino Wilson Escoto (the director of Amigos) starting us off by tossing the net into the pond for Brayan and Thomas

 

Brayan looking a little apprehensive (and excited!) about the first catch of the day.

 

Brayan and Cindy are pulling in the net while others look on.

.

Here's Kristin and Jaime. She needed a little hug to help warm her up to the idea of fishing.

 

Cindy was so excited to get her turn fishing.

 

And so was Maynor. Look at that haul! 

 

Jaime finally decided that she wanted to try fishing too.

 

A picture of Mayor, clearly pleased with himself and having a blast.

 

 

Here is the whole class(minus me!) close to the end of our field trip. Fran from the BECA schools was visiting us that day, she helped to make sure everyone stayed safe around the pond.

 

Here are the fish we caught (plus more that some of the older boys caught before our arrival)

 



The preschoolers looking at all their fish. As we say in class: Go, prepa go!

 

All in all, we had a great day with the preschoolers. They learned a new English word - fish - and they practiced their counting skills. Before Wednesday, none have them have ever been fishing before, let alone been in the fishery. They were very excited to have caught some of the fish that would later be sold in town and it was clear to us, that they cannot wait to go back.

 

- Meaghan Ryan

Volunteer 2013

 

 

Sharing Our Little World

            Life at Amigos de Jesus is fast paced, busy, and full of children. It is very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day routine and forget about the world outside of the Amigos grounds. We teach the children in school, eat our meals with them, help with homework, and play outside until prayer circle. When we are not with the children, we are preparing lessons for school or working on other Amigos projects. We spend our weekends entertaining the children, sometimes singling out a small group with a special interest. We spend our personal time trying to think of ways to delve into the mind of one quiet child or how to tutor an intelligent child enough so he can attend university next year or how to provide educational games on the weekends without boring anyone. The hogar has become our home, the children have become our life, and I have never been happier.

            I have not been in the United States since the morning of June 30, 2012. I forget what supermarkets look like. I forget what a baseball field looks like. I forget what my bedroom looks like. I know my family through pictures on Facebook and a few Skype sessions. Before making a phone call or sending a text message on my cell phone, I must check to make sure I have enough saldo (like a pay-as-you-go plan). I hand wash my clothes when it is not raining. With cold water is the only way I know to shower. I’d rather lose power than water, and I know this because we’ve experienced both losses multiple times. Suffice it to say, I have adjusted to living in third-world Honduras and I have no complaints. Therefore, my mom’s visit to Amigos de Jesus for six days at the end of February was a monumental part of my year here because I could finally share my own little world with her.

 

            A short back story on my mother: she joined the Peace Corps at age 24 and lived in Costa Rica for two years. She speaks Spanish, she knows all about the cold showers and geckos climbing on the walls inside the house, and she knows how to use a pila. From her example, I always knew long term service was an option. With her prompting, I looked into Spanish speaking countries. My birth kept her from returning to Central America, but now I am the reason to visit again. I am surely my mother’s daughter.

 

            I spent months sending my mom emails and Facebook messages begging her to pick dates to visit, to confirm the availability with the Malvern office, and to buy her plane tickets. Once that was complete, I spent almost two months imagining what it would be like for her to finally get here. I thought about everything I wanted to show her: the walk on the dirt road to Pozas Verdes with the mountains in the distance, crossing the rio to get to Mass, the walk through the agriculture section (Agro), the chiquitos’ room (the little ones), just to name a few. Amigos has become my life and I wanted to show my mom every aspect of it, so she could see what I’m doing, what it’s like to live here, and why I’m so happy.

 

            She arrived on a Thursday, a school day, so I couldn’t leave the hogar for the airport trip. We welcome visitors by waiting by the front gate with a huge sign that says “Bienvenidos a Amigos de Jesus” and it was at this welcome, after hours of agonizing looks at the clock and my phone, checking for texts from my boss Amy, that I finally saw my mom for the first time in over seven months. I won’t lie, I ran full speed at her for a hug and surprisingly even shed a couple of tears. It’s very hard to remember the outside world when living at the hogar, and I had forgotten what it’s like to hug my mother. Within minutes we had our usual mother-daughter banter back to normal and I was introducing her to all of her nietos (grandchildren) at the hogar. A few children even took to calling her abuela (grandmother). Caterin (5) handed her flowers she had picked from the bushes.

            Since she’s my mom, I have to think she’s special. But my mom really was a special visitor for Amigos. She came to hogar able to speak Spanish and expecting, with anticipation, a cold shower in the morning. She was excited to eat Honduran food and raved about the beans, which I love and she fondly remembered from Costa Rica. She easily began communicating with those of the children who weren’t too shy to talk to “la mamá de Raquel.” Even the baby Mili, who does not warm up to new people quickly, knew that my mom was okay and climbed onto her lap later that day. My mom spent most of her time here interacting with the children. They love talking to new people and it was exciting for me to watch my mom form relationships with them, learn their names and put the faces into the stories I had been telling her. You can’t get to know Amigos unless you interact with the children and I wanted my mom to fully live the Amigos life.

 Her first true Honduran experience was her first morning when we woke up to no water. As we progress into the dry season, we will lose water more frequently for short periods of time. Lucky for my mom, we had some very dry and hot weather while she was here. When we have weather like that, we take the children to the nearby rio to swim and cool down. A trip to the rio is always a lot of fun. We walk for about 15 minutes on the dirt road and spend the afternoon sitting on the grass, trying to find shade, or splashing around in the cool water. There are always herds of cows crossing and some of the boys like to catch fish and put them in empty soda bottles. My mom spent the afternoon taking pictures and talking. She was happy to practice Spanish and spend time with our children.

         My mom is the type of person that will try anything once. When I told her some of our older boys work in Agro and milk the cows to provide milk for the hogar, she asked if I had milked a cow. I, of course, said no. She, on the other hand, said she’d love to try it. So one afternoon we met up with the Agro guys and they taught my mom how to milk a cow! Where would get this experience living in Philadelphia? I was thoroughly amused and my mom was very proud of herself for milking a cow. Then I led her directly to my house to wash her hands before touching anything.

    We hiked up to the Amigos cross at the top of our huge hill and spent some time basking in the beautiful view. Mom talked about how wonderful her trip was and we had some time with the boys who couldn’t get enough of the woman with my eyes.

            The best part about my mom’s visit was that she is so easy going and able to talk to anyone, so I didn’t need to “entertain” her the whole time. While I needed to prepare lessons for school, she sat outside and talked to the children or employees. She bonded with some of our boys and girls and observed daily life at the hogar. The Wednesday morning we left for our vacation, we went to the school to say goodbye to everyone and my mom cried as the children gave her hugs and said goodbye. They already were asking her to visit again.

        My favorite part about life at Amigos is the children. At any time, I can go outside and find one to talk to, or spend time in the chiquitos room, or watch some of the boys play soccer. Our life here revolves around the children. They are the reason I am here and the reason I will cry when I leave. To be able to share that feeling with my mom is very special to me, because it is because of her example that I chose to come here. She’s already considered selling the house in the States and moving down here.

 Rachel Severino, 2013 Volunteer