Dentist

All of the kids got the treat of going to the dentist, in the casa. A group of dentists from different areas of San Pedro Sula came to the casa over the weekend to do an all day dental clinic here. They examined all the kids, cleaned, pulled and filled teeth all day long. They even treated all the ladies who work here. They have come here in the past, about 3 years ago to do the same. Dental care is far down on the list of priorities of most families in Honduras so for all the kids who arrived at the casa during the past 3 years, this was their first visit to a dentist. It really showed too. I have never seen so many teeth get yanked out. The kids are made to brush their teeth here after all 3 meals, but still there was a lot of work for the volunteer dentists. It was also quite an entertaining show for all the kids. The ones who were not currently in the hot seat were constantly spectators watching the other kids getting worked on. Public desplays of drilling and pulling were not my thrill so I took some photos to document the event and got out!

Mauricio in the paper

Mauricio was very excited because his picture was in the newspaper today. He was at the vet with the dog last week and the reporter was there doing a story about the vet and took a photo of the dog, Mau, with Mauricio and the vet. Here is the link.

http://www.tiempo.hn/index.php/secciones/el-pais/9998-animales-de-la-calle-ya-tienen-quien-los-proteja

Huelga

Huelga is the spanish word for strike. You just learned more than the public school kids did today because the school year started off on the right foot today with a strike. The teachers still haven't been paid for all of last year. Fortunately most of the kids at the casa go to private school so for them it was a normal day but the 11 kids who go to public school did not go for the first day. It is a shame that this happens every year, far too frequently.

First Day of School

Wednesday was the first day of school for most of the kids, all the ones that go to the private school La Salle. It was the very first day ever for school for Yohanna, Erick and Dulce, in the photo. They all started the first year of pre-school. Erick was afraid to go and did not want to get in the van to go. It reminded me of my first day of school years ago when I did not want to go either. He enjoyed himself though and was happy to go back on Thurs. Monday, the public schools start, so about 7 other kids will start school then. Milton and Sindy start Jr. High (7th grade), and most of the others are starting a new school, where Sindy went last year, because it is better than the school in our neighborhood (less strikes). The 1900 teachers in Honduras are still owed pay from last school year so we will see how long it takes before the first strike happens.

My Two Favorite Bears

NPH, Casa de Maynor

I went to NPH in Tegucigalpa again to visit Maynor. This time I took Mauricio and David with me. We all had a great time and got to stay longer than I usually do. We were there Wed. to Sun. School starts this week so it was a nice get away before the kids start back to school. Here are some of the photos from our trip. The first is Maynor dressed up for a traditional dance that he did with his class at a presentation. During the time off from school, the kids there take fun classes like sports, dance, judo, etc. The last day of the fun classes was a presentation from each of the classes on what they learned. Maynor was very good with the other kids dancing traditional Honduran dance.

Video of Maynor's dance. He is wearing the red belt.

Beach Photos

Here are some of the photos of our trip to the beach on Friday. We left the casa at 9am in a large bus (former school bus in the U.S.) with everyone packed in. It was a little cloudy when we got there but the water was still nice and just about everyone went swimming. After a while the clouds went away and it was a very pretty sunny day. Lunch was hotdogs which we brought with us. After lunch more swimming. We ended up staying longer than usual and didn't get back to the casa until 6pm. Everyone was wiped out by then. Brian and Mary got to join us for the trip before returning to the cold winter of NY the next day.

Beach Video

These are some video clips of our trip to the beach on Friday.

Brian and Mary's Visit

Brian and Mary from New York returned to visit the kids again. They have been regular visitors for 10 years or more. One of the things they always do it take the older kids out to lunch in town, a great treat for the kids. We went to Pizza Hut. The kids always like Pizza Hut because they have a huge play area for them to play in. The three oldest boys and eight oldest girls got to go.


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Maynor, Mary and Brian . . . . . . . . Ester, Karla, Rebeca, Alba & Gigo . . Norma, Kenia, Escarlet, Mauricio

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Escarlet, Norma & Rebeca . . . . . . . Alba & Maynor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Milton & Cindy with desert

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You can see the American commercialism here in the middle photo above, the kids are sitting in Pizza Hut with TGI Fridays out the window in the background.

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Hey Rob, Milton still has the hat you gave him!

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All of the kids are also very excited getting ready for our trip to the beach tomorrow.

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