Back in the USA

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I left the sunny, 90 degree heat of San Pedro Sula at 1:30 p.m. Friday and landed in Washington D.C. during a snow storm at 9:30 p.m. I went to the airport with Masbely (took the photo), Xiomara, Mauricio, Maynor, David and Juan Fernando. The photo on the right is from my parents front door this morning. The snow is supposed to continue all day until Sunday. I think I went the wrong direction. Maybe this is another one of those messages being sent to me.

Please tune back in this week as I have more photos of the kids from my last week I will post to this blog.

God Winks

Not to long ago I finished reading a book my sister gave me in August titled When God Winks At You. The author says a God Wink is when the Lord speaks to you not orally but through something that happens to give confirmation or a message to you. Sometimes just a little thing that happens to let the person know they are not alone that God is hearing them. Some people call these coincidences or other things. The book is a compilation of stories where people had thing happen that they felt were like a message from God giving them hope, confirmation or help in making decisions or all sorts of different things. I got a nice one this week.

As hard as it is going to be to leave here this week, I am pretty much ready to head home. I am going to miss all of the kids a ton, but a few in particular much more than others. I can explain my leaving to most of the kids but how do you tell your 4 year old who believes you are his father and only parent he knows that you are going to leave him in an orphanage alone. I have tried explaining my leaving to Juan Fernando a few times without much feedback other than silence. I doubt that he really understands the concept of time and when he hears his papa is going away for a long time to him that means a few days. Juan came to the casa a couple of months before his 2nd birthday and has been here over 2 years now. I adopted him or he adopted me as his own the first day he arrived and as Forest Gump says we have been like peas and carrots ever since. For a year, he would cry every time I left the casa, literally. It took a very long time for him to accept that I was not abandoning him and I am always next door from the main house where he lives. Before he could speak, he called me daddy, and after he learned Spanish he changed to calling me Pa or papa. He still is the first one to run up to me when I enter the casa each day and he spend most of his time with me. The other kids, when they want to bother him the way kids do to each other at times, will come up to me and say "mio dady" or "mio pa" which means "mine" because they know this will really get Juan mad. He is very possessive and will immediately grab me and say "no, mio." I usually take him to the supermarket with me on Tuesdays which he absolutely loves. Leaving him here is the hardest part of my leaving; lots of guilt and waking up at night thinking about it.

Well, yesterday, his family came to visit him for the first time in well over a year and a half. We found out that he has a brother who is just a year older than he is, Hector, who came with his mom, her sister and her sister's son (Juan's cousin). Juan and Hector had a great time playing with each other for about an hour. He really bonded well with his family for the first time since he got here. On her two prior visits, Juan did not know who his mother was and was not happy to be with her when she was here. I have routinely shown him photos of her on my computer from their prior visits and now that he is older when I explain who she is he understands, so I think that helped him recognize her and understand who she is. She indicated that she will be back to visit more frequently and hopefully can take him home some day before he gets too much older. When she left I really had a better feeling about his situation, not necessarily at the casa, but his life in general. He has a family and a brother very close in age and probably will join them to live with them at some point. I don't see him being here until he turns 18 like the kids who have no one or only distant relatives. I thought about the book I had read and how his family coming here was a nice God Wink to let me know things will be okay with him after I am gone. It still won't make my leaving any easier, just a little nicer knowing the family finally came back to see their little boy Juan Fernando.

The first photo below is Hector, Juan Fernando and his mother. The photo on the right is Hector, Juan, his cousin and his aunt (mom's sister).

50th Anniversary Celebration

The Sisters of Mercy celebrated their 50th anniversary in Honduras this week. Since Casa Corazón is one of their bigger projects we had the party here. First there was a formal service in the main casa. The photo on the right is Miriam who works in our house and Mauricio.

Everyone had to get dressed up for the service so the boys and I are all in our best cloths. L-R Maynor, Jaime, me, Mauricio and Jonathan. Milton is in the next photo on the right.

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After the formal part, everyone went to the park/play area where we had a lot of performances by the kids and one by the adults. Big tent to keep the guests out of the blazing sun. On the left, some of the kids waiting for the shows to start.

L - Mauricio

R - David, Carlos, Isaac, Jovel and Ester doing their dance routine. Ester was a little nervous at first, but she got more into it a little later.

The younger girls dancing on the left: Wendoly, Lucy, Dania, Digna and Rosa.

Next older girls on the right: Ester, Karla, Iveth, Escarlet singing with Isaac playing the guitar.




More dancing by: Lucy, Wendoly, Dania, Digna, Rosa and Heidi on the left.

The kids doing a little play on the right: David, Rosa, Yohana, Ater, Kenia, Karla and Jaime.

The workers were forced to do a traditional Honduran dance also (I mean forced!) L-R: Nilda, Nancy, Miriam, me, Meche, Alba, Mama and Prof. Pedro.

Some of the Sisters and associate members of the SOM with the huge cake in the office.


The older kids enjoyed dancing in the park to blasting music. The gate was open to let the neighborhood kids in also. A Michael Jackson imitator showed up and entertained everyone lipsinking and dancing to several songs.

To Vote or Not to Vote, that is the question.

Personally, I think you have to vote if you want your voice to be heard.

Tomorrow, Sunday, is election day here in Honduras. The "resistance" or "opposition" to the current coup installed government has taken the position of not voting to show their opposition. I think that is crazy and if they are for democracy and against the coup, they should be going to the polls to vote democratically to elect the candidates of their choice.

Here is a review of how we got here:

Nov. 2008: National primary election to select the two major party candidates for president, Liberal Party and Democratic Party. Pepe Lobo and Elvin Santos win as the two candidates. The presidential election is one year later, Nov. 29, 2009. Mel Zeyela was the president at the time of this primary election. He is not a candidate because Honduras does not permit the president to serve more than one term.

Spring 2009: Mel makes speeches saying the Constitution should be amended to allow the president to serve longer than one term. The Congress says we set the Constitutional Conventions and no way, we don't want this. Mel then sets up a national vote for an "opinion poll" to see if the voters want to set up a Constitutional Convention to amend the constitution. If the poll vote is yes, a question would go on the Nov. 2009 ballot for a formal vote to appoint the Constitutional Convention. This would not put Mel on the ballot for reelection this Nov. but would make him eligible to run again in 2014.

May 2009: The Supreme Court says Mel's opinion poll election is unconstitutional and cannot happen. He says tough, he will not obey the court and sets the vote for June 29th. Then the Attorney General files charges against Mel in the Supreme Court for treason, violating his oath of office, etc. In Honduras, the military is in charge of running all elections. The head of the military announced that they will follow the Supreme Courts ruling and not help out in the election. Mel immediately fires the head of the military and goes with his people and confiscates all the ballots. The case against Mel is in the investigation stage and the last week of June the Supreme Court issues an arrest warrant for the military to bring Mel to the court to testify and trial.

Here is where everything went down the toilet. The military took the arrest warrant and arrested Mel on June 28th, but rather than taking him to the Supreme Court as they ordered, they took him to the military base, put him on a plane and deported him to Costa Rica, announcing he is no longer the President. This is the Coup. The military says they do not want to take over control of the country. The Supreme Court cannot do anything because Mel is not here to testify or have a trial.

The next day, June 29th, the Congress votes to remove Mel from office and the president of the Congress, Roberto Micheletti, takes over as President per their rules of succession. He tells the world he was democratically placed in the presidency. Internationally he is not recognized and called the defacto leader of the coup installed government. Most countries break ties with Honduras and impose sanctions. Micheletti does not budge.

The president of Costa Rica is agreed on as a mediator and recommends Mel be returned to a unity government where he has limited power, not in control of the military, and he gives up all attempts to amend the Constitution. Mel agrees to this but Micheletti refuses. Finally, last month, Micheletti says he will sign the accord but it is the Congress who must vote to reinstate Mel or not, he does not have the authority for this. Mel signs. Micheletti signs. The interim governors are appointed. However, the new president of the Congress says they won't vote on the return of Mel until after the election, more than a month later. All the Congress is up for reelection also and don't want to vote for or against Mel before the voters vote on them - politics.

So here we are. The Mel supporters new motto is NO VOTE. They don't want either candidate because both have supported Micheletti since his appointment. I say that if they want democracy they need to vote. Vote for the candidate they want to be president and if they are in the majority/plurality, they will win. Although the two major party candidates were picked a year ago, other candidates could be put on the ballot up to a month ago so the "opposition" could have nominated their own candidate if they don't like the two picked last year. I think their fear is that they are not in the majority so they could not elect anyone so they have chosen not to vote. I think that is not democratic at all.

I strongly disagree with what the military did and think Mel should have been returned to the presidency and removed legitimately after trial, but this does not make the elections illegitimate. I hope after the elections they arrest and prosecute the head of the military for his actions in the coup. This might make everyone a little happier but he will probably be pardoned by the next president and the discontent will continue. Pepe Lobo, the clear leader in the polls, indicated he would probably pardon Mel for his crimes so he will probably pardon the military man behind the coup too. No accountability for serious political crimes!

But still, voting is the way to go. This is all a tough lesson for the kids to live through and shape them and their future political views.

My Last Month

The past 2 1/2 years have flown by and I am down to one more month living here at the casa. I will be returning home to Va. on Dec. 18th for Christmas and thereafter hopefully return to the world of the employeed, wage earners that is. I have been fairly employeed or occupied for the past 2 1/2 years, just not for a salary. This job has probably been more stressful than GEICO, certainly more hours because I never leave, but the rewards have been great as well.

It is going to be very difficult to leave and a big change for the casa here as well. They are trying to find someone to take over as the adult supervisor in the boys home after I leave, but don't know exactly what will happen here. Really, they need a couple adult supervisors, one for the girls house too. If no volunteers are found, hopefully they can find the funding to hire a new person to take care of the older boys.

There are lots of things that I am going to miss about Honduras and the casa, but others I will be glad to leave behind. Regardless, it will be a huge adjustment getting back to the commercialized world of 24 hour news, my paved road neighborhood and speaking English. Culture shock!

Photos from Gracias

1. Mauricio and Jonathan at a restaurant overlooking the town

2 and 3. Streets in the town

4 and 5. The boys playing in the pool. Very cold water.

These are photos taken at the old fort above the town.

These are at the hot springs.

During our hike up the mountains.

It was a sunny day but you can see the background is all cloudy after we go up rather high beyond the cloud layer.

More swimming in the pool while they set up for the concert.

The last 2 photos are at night duriing the show.

Santa Rosa de Copan

The 3rd day of our journey we traveled to Santa Rosa de Copan, a larger town on the main highway between El Salvador and San Pedro Sula. It is high in the mountains and was extremely cold when we were there. It was cloudy and rainy too. We arrived around 4 pm and left the next morning around 11 am. It was so ugly out and not much to see that I did not even get the camera out. The only photos are of our giant hotel room. Three double beds for the 3 of us. The hotel was nearly empty so they gave us the big room for the same price as the double.

Copan Day 2 Horseback Riding

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The last 5 photos are of the place we went on the horses where the women make little dolls out of corn cobs and husks and the little kids are all trying to sell them. They also have a place there where they make bags and other textiles. Mauricio is demonstrating how to do it after they showed him. The young guy with the white hat is José, our guide. He walked and ran the entire time with us rather than going on a horse too. We probably went somewhere between 6 and 10 miles with him on foot the whole time. Great exercise.

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