Summer Recap, Part 2: Honduras

Our Little Roses is the first home for girls in Honduras. It was founded and is supported by the Episcopal Church nationally and throughout the world. Our church makes two trips each year. Chris and I went at the last minute as youth leaders to fill an unexpected gap. Like many mission trips, you never know what you're going to get. Sometimes, I was disappointed because I wasn't sure that my presence there made much difference. And then sometimes, I was sweating, working hard, and building relationships that hopefully will grow over time. It was a great experience overall, and I am hopefull that it was meaningful to the girls at OLR, too.

This is from an article I wrote for the church about the trip:

One special moment from my recent trip to Our Little Roses was an afternoon with Heidy, a fair-skinned, bright-eyed young girl. She speaks no English, and I speak very little Spanish,but her big smile lets you know she doesn’t mind. One afternoon about halfway through our trip, Heidy came up to me, grabbed my hand, and pulled me over to another part of the courtyard.

“Come on,” she told me in her young voice. “Where?” I asked. “School,” she said. She was pretending to take me to her favorite places! So she picked up my bag and pulled me over to where her “school” was. We packed and unpacked my bag for school, traveled to the pool, went back to school, and even took a nap! Our pretend day took us all over the courtyard and to even bigger places in Heidy’s imagination. Other than a few words from my early high school Spanish vocabulary, we didn’t communicate verbally. Our friendship and love was created in laughter and hand-holding, pretending and imaginary games.

Children all over the world share the same desire for love and attention, and any person can make a difference. I am blessed to have been able to share that afternoon of pretending with one special girl.

Heidy is the girl with crazy-curly hair.

Maryuri was paired up with Chris during the trip. She was awesome and outgoing once we really got to see her personality.

This barrio (neighborhood) is on the river. Most of the people who live here don't work or have any income, get no public support from the government, and pretty much spend their whole lives in this slum. The water they drink from is also used by animals, so it's fraught with disease, and of course they don't have access to good medical care. Many of the OLR girls come from places like this.