Casa de Mauricio y Isaac

These are some of the photos that I took at Mauricio and Isaac's home last weekend when we went back to visit their family again. Their house has a really nice view of downtown San Pedro Sula in the first photo. The second photo is of me with Mauricio and Isaac along with their youngest brother, Jovan, and their sister, Jaimy, who is between them in age. Neither of their siblings have HIV. You can see that Isaac's 6 year old brother is taller than he is at age 10, and their 11 year old sister is taller than Mauricio at age 13. HIV really stunts the growth of these children. The third photo includes several of their younger uncles and aunts.

The first photo below is Isaac and Mauricio with their uncle Victor in front of the casa. The second photo is the oldest sister of Isaac and Mauricio, Claudia, who is 16. The third photo is of their uncle Daniel (22) who goes to school in Tegucigalpa studying to get his degree to be a social worker to help poor and needy children. He is really impressive to have such a great desire to help others at such a young age.

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The first photo below is Isaac and Victor with their house in the background. We were up the hill behind their house picking limes and sugar cane. They also have bananna trees there too. The next photo is their youngest uncle, Jonathan (11) with one of their cousins.

Eclipse

We got to see the eclipse of the Moon last night. It was very clear here so the boys got an excellent view of the full eclipse. I took these photos shortly before it was completely full. After it was full it was too dark for others to come out clear.

Josalin

The youngest and most recent addition to the Casa Corazón family passed away at the hospital yesterday morning. Josalin came to the casa on January 18th. He mother had gone into the hospital very ill and took Josalin with her because there was no one to leave her with. Her mother died in the hospital a couple of days before Josalin came here. The doctors asked us to take her in and she came to live here. She was very weak and ill for about two weeks and the doctors decided to re-admit her into the hospital. Miriam, one of the workers here, spent every day, 7 days a week, 12 hours a day with her and the other workers alternated nights staying with her. In Honduras, the hospital nurses only give medications and the family is responsible for all other care for the patient such as feeding, cleaning, etc. Josalin was very weak and could not breath on her own and eventually lost her struggle to live yesterday. Gigo, the casa's driver and handyman, drove the truck to the hospital and picked up her body in a little casket and brought her back to the casa. A service was held here for her with all the kids and workers which lasted about one hour. Then the older kids went in the van following the truck carrying her body to the cemetary about a half hour outside of San Pedro Sula where all the other children from the casa who have died are burried. There was a small service there before Josalin was burried. Everyone was very sad, especially Miriam who spent so much time with this precious little girl.
Josalin is a sad reminder to all of us of the severity of the infection that all of these kids have. She is the first child from this casa to pass away since my Godson Junior died January 28, 2004, over 4 years ago. Unfortunately over 5,800 people die every single day in Africa from AIDS, mostly due to the lack of medications available there. The children here at Casa Corazón are very fortunate to have the medications they need, some provided by the government and others paid for through donations to the casa. These medications have prolonged the lives of all of these kids and makes them seem very healthy, but for the side effects of the medications. Josalin is a sad reminder that AIDS can work very fast to kill a child or anyone and sometimes the medications are not enough once the child is ill. It is a sad reminder to the other 37 children living here of what can happen to them also and how fortunate they are to have Casa Corazón taking care of them. Please pray for the peace and comfort of all the children here who are scared because of this and for Miriam to be comforted in her sadness.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for three of the four boys in my casa. The photo is of Milton and Mauricio. Milton, the oldest boy in the casa, started 6th grade (again) and Mauricio started 5th grade. I will probably have a little more free time in the mornings now that they are not here for 5 hours each day, although I am going to miss spending time with them as I have been doing a lot lately. Especially Mauricio; he has turned out to be a really great kid and a wonderful addition to our house. I went to the casa of his grandmother with him and his brother Isaac on Saturday and met much of his family. He has 18 cousins and several uncles and aunts. He has one uncle who is younger than him, only 11 years old. It was a real return to reality here in Honduras as his family lives in very poor conditions as most of the people here do with lots of them jammed into very small casas. He is in a much better place here thanks to all the people who support Casa Corazón.



The Mother of Juan-Fernando finally came to visit him for the first time 5 months after dropping him off here. He was very timid and did not know who she was. It was very difficult for me because he wanted me to take him and sit with me but it was her time to visit with him so I wanted him to stay with her. He kept grabbing my hand and giving me looks like he wanted help. The ladies here told me that was going to happen since he thinks I am his daddy and he spends all his time with me. The girl in the photo is his oldest sister, Heidy, who is 16. Juan was very quiet the entire time they were here but returned to his playful manner right after they left.

Gustavo had a visit from his very large family last weekend also. The man is his grandfather who visits him almost every week. The older lady is his mother's sister and all of the girls are her daughters. The young boy is Gustavo's brother who also regularly visits with his grandfather. Gustavo was so excited to have all of them here at the same time and he cried when he had to go eat dinner and when they left later on.

Weekend at NPH

Words really cannot describe what a great time we had visiting NPH near Tegucigalpa this weekend. It was so nice to see Maynor and Mauricio from Casa Corazón away from the casa and enjoying a vacation for the first time that I have seen. They were so excited getting ready to go and I have never seen anyone so exticted to me on a bus as Maynor was Thursday morning. They really loved being in the outdoors, playing with a bunch of new kids, collecting fresh eggs from the chicken coops, seeing the cows and pigs, hiking up the mountains, swimming in the river by the dam, and just having the freedom to walk around outside without worries of the crime we have here in San Pedro Sula. Maynor Galvan, who lives at NPH, was also completely thrilled to have three guests for the long weekend. He loved seeing his former housemate, Maynor Madrid, for the first time in three years.

Maynor and me, Maynor and Mauricio at the dam, Maynor Galvan and Maynor Madrid

The vegetable fields, the chicken coops, and up on the mountain.

For those of you who don't know, Maynor Galvan lived at Casa Corazón three years ago. They located his biological brother who does not have HIV and moved the two of them together to NPH which is a giant, 2000 acre wooded ranch about 25 miles north of Tegucigalpa. 600 children live there, many are siblings of each other as NPH likes to bring families together to live rather than separating them.

Time flying by

The good news is that Roberto Josué has finally returned from the hospital this week after spending more than a month there. I did not get a photo of him yet, but he looks great and as chubby as ever. He really does not look like he has been laying in a hospital bed for the past 5 weeks.
The bad news is that the new baby, Josalin, replaced Josué in the hospital. They think she has Pneumonia. So Miriam is still going to the hospital every day, now just to spend the day with Josalin.


Lauren and Mark came back to visit from Ohio. Lauren lived here at Casa Corazón for about a year as a volunteer for Mercy Volunteer Corps and the two of them spent their honneymoon here this past year. They are working hard on developing the sponsorship program for the casa to match up all the kids with Padrinos and Madrinas (godfathers and godmothers) and were filming video to put together about the casa.

Thanks to my Christmas present of a new much smaller camera, I am now able to get some photos at Amor y Vida to post of the kids I regularly visit there. I have been over there a couple of times this week with Mauricio, Maynor and Jonathan.

Left: One of the newer boys at Amor y Vida is Eduin (far left), then Jonathan from my casa, then Arturo, my favorite boy at Amor y Vida and then Maynor from my casa. Right: Eduin and Jeffri at A y V.

Left: While we were there they got some new bicycles donated which they started putting together. Right: Tito, the director of Amor y Vida.

Sindy, Milton and Lauren during our Monday night in home Bible study. The boys call it our home church service.

I am taking Mauricio and Maynor to Tegucigalpa to visit NPH for the weekend. School starts on Tuesday so this will be a nice little vacation for them. They are very excited about riding the bus and going to the big ranch out in the woods to visit little Maynor who used to live here.

We've grown Again

Child number 38 has come to live in the casa. The new arrival is Josalin, a five month old girl. Her mother was sick and went in the hospital where she died a couple of days ago. The hospital asked us to take her in so she arrived yesterday and is now the youngest child here. She is in the photo with Mama Laura standing in the street front of our casa.

Casa Corazón still provides the medicines to Carlos Roberto (16) and Josué (19) who used to live here but no longer do, so they are really helping out 40 kids at this point.

Getting back into the swing of things

My first week back has been pretty busy but I am getting used to everything all over again. Milton has been doing well in our house after returning from a month and a half of staying in a house that was under construction for the Sisters of Mercy where he was working and guarding the house. He has been keeping the boys in line and making them work (probably making them do his work) but the house is clean.
I took the four boys from my house to a soccer game on Tuesday night at the stadium which is only about a mile and a half away. The local team, Marathon, won the Honduran championship in December and this was the first game of their defense of that title in the new season. They are so fanatical about soccer here they have two seasons and championships per year with only the one month break between the two. The boys thought the @16 oz. bags of water that we bought for 5 lempira (25 cents) were outrageously priced since they normally cost 2 lempira (10 cents) at the store, so they have stadium inflation of prices here too. It was a really great time and they talked about it all day Wednesday. The game ended in a 2-2 tie but they thought it was great anyway.
Roberto Josué had his operation to remove a cyst from his lungs and currently has a tube inserted in this side going to his lungs to drain liquid, but they say he looks much better and seems to be improving.
My brother sent me a photo of the snow at his house in Middleburg today which the kids and adults thought was fascinating to see, given it was 91 degrees today.

First Day

Upon my return yesterday, I was met at the airport by Masbely with Maynor and Carlos Maricio, the two 13 year olds in my house. Some things have happened and changed while I was gone.

Roberto Josué, the 20 month old, became very ill and he has been in the hospital since December 21st, the day after I left. He has some problem with his lungs and is going to have an operation soon. He must be pretty sick and needs lots of prayers. They have someone from the casa with him 24/7 in the hospital, so Miriam, the lady who works in our little house has been the full time night person. Milton, 15 year old, has taken over Miriam's duties of cooking and cleaning the casa. It obviously is not as clean as when I left due to Miriam's absence!


Gustavo has made an incredible recovery. In just 3 weeks he has grown little round cheeks and now has a ton of energy. He is walking all over the casa by himself whereas in Dec. it took him great effort just to stand on his feet holding onto a chair. He needed to be carried everywhere. Today we walked through the neighborhood, which is over a 1/2 mile walk and he was walking along with everyone. In Dec. he always went with us in a stroller. Masbely had warned us in Dec. that he was very close to death so this miraculous turnaround is wonderful. We have all been praying for him and I carried him to our church for intercessory prayer a couple weeks before I left when they thought his days were few so we are all so happy to see him in his current good health. We pray that his recovery continues.
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My return to the casa was great and I was greeted by a little mob of children piling on me. I was a little worried before returning that Juan Fernando would be upset with me for leaving him for 3 weeks. Being only 2, he did not understand that I would be back in 3 weeks and was used to having constant attention from me every day. My worries were for not because I was greeted by him running up to me yelling "Daddy" which was wonderful. Many of the other kids call me Papa and he is the only one that says Daddy so I knew he remembered. He grabbed onto me and did not let go much the rest of the day. By evening I was back to changing diapers again. He still cried a little when I put him to bed, but much less than he was back in Dec.
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The boys in my home told me the people from our church have been asking about me when they see them in the street and asking why the boys have not been in church. They are too young to go out alone at night without me. Last night the boys asked if we can go to church tonight (Friday) so I was glad that they did not lose that desire during my absence.

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Kate is here from Washington DC visiting since Dec. 31st. She leaves on Monday to return to University of Maryland where she is in school.

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After 3 weeks of being constantly on the go and visiting I need a rest here, but it looks like it will be a little while before the kids let me have any free time. It is a good feeling though that they want to spend all the day with me. Thats all for now....

I'm back

Just a quick note to say I made it back to San Pedro Sula after a great 3 week visit to Virginia. I will write more later today hopefully when I get a chance after catching up here and hopefully my computer will work faster than now. It is scanning this and downloading that after 3 weeks of no use so it is very slow.

My First Visitor

I finally had someone from the U.S. come down to visit. My friend from Norfolk, Olga, came to Honduras to go diving in the Bay Islands and tour around the country for the next 3 weeks. She arrieve 2 days before I leave and she returns to Norfolk the day before I come back here so we only overlapped a little. The kids enjoyed having a new face around and she became an instant human jungle gym.



The boys are in the photo with their Christmas presents from me, a jersey of their favorite team. Each has a different team. They were very excited last night to open their presents.

I couldn't leave out Juan Fernando so he got one of my team, Motagua, so he can be the same as Dady.


I leave today for the U.S. so I won't have any more updates for 3 weeks until my return on Jan. 10th. Merry Christmas to all.

I'm back

After a week of very bad internet service and a quick trip to NPH in Tegucigalpa, I am finally able to post again.

Our prayers for Carlos Mauricio were answered. He had an exam and tests with an Oncologist last week who told us there was an 80% chance that he had cancer somewhere around his intestines or stomach. He has a tumor that appeared on a CAT scan. After waiting for several days for the results, and much prayer and concern, the tests came back negative and he does not have cancer.

Gustavo continues to make very slow progress. He is a lot better than he was when he returned from the hospital, but still has little energy and has pains in his feet so he does not walk much. His mood has improved a lot though which is very positive for us because when he was gloomy we were worried he might give up fighting to get better. He seems to want to get better now.

I went back to NPH on Wednesday - Friday for two quick but fun days with Maynor Galván. It is a long trip, about 6 hours door to door taking two busses and two taxis, but he is always so happy to have me come to see him that it makes it all worth it. They were decorating for Christmas this week when I was there. The next photo is of their manger setup.

Merry Christmas

This is our Christmas photo taken in front of the tree the boys decorated. L to R, Jonathan (11), me, Maynor (12) and Carlos Mauricio (12).

Ricardo in the News

During Ricardo's visit here to speak at the AIDS conference, he was interviewed by the newspaper after his speach and presentation and they did a big article in the paper the next day. Here is the link for those who can read Spanish. His name was changed to Jorge in the article to protect his identity. http://www.laprensahn.com/ediciones/2007/12/01/ver_morir_a_un_nino_me_motivaba_a_recuperarme

Motagua Champions

Our team, Motagua, won the Central American championship and now moves on to face teams from the U.S. and Mexico next year in the UNCAF interclub championships. Joe is probably the only one who reads this blog who will be interested in this news.
http://www.concacaf.com/competitions/champscup/viewArticle.asp?id=4055