Honduaras (Parte Dos)

In addition to the home construction, the other element of our work in La Esperanza was to involve ourselves in the community and get to know the people in the invasion.   Interacting with the kids and families of this community was definitely a highlight of the trip for me although sometimes the communication barrier put a lull in the conversation.   My favorite question to the kids was always "Donde es tu novia/novio?".  Asking an eight your old boy where his girlfriend was always provoked embarrassed protests along with laughter and pointing from his friends.

Every day we took the kids down to the end of the lane for a vbs type program that included singing, a story, coloring or some other activity.  For the David and Goliath story I was Goliath along with Chandler on my shoulders.   We also used party favors as horns as the kids marched around the walls of Jericho.   We also played a lot of soccer with the kids.   It was raining pretty hard one day but I had 10-15 kids who Leslie suggested I take over to the field to play soccer.  The field was soaked with huge puddles and long grass but we had fun.  I tried to use my Spanish when I heard Lisette who was on my team shout out to a teammate "primo", "primo" and then he would pass the ball to her in the center of the field.  She kept yelling it and he kept passing it so I thought "oh, "primo" must mean center the ball".  So I started yelling "primo, primo!"  to whoever was dribbling the ball up the sideline.   As soon as I started yelling "primo" Lisette started yelling at me in Spanish.  Of course, I couldn't understand her so the next time I down the field I continued to yell "primo" but every time I did Lisette would just shake her head.   She of course would still yell "primo", whenever she wanted the ball.   Maybe she just didn't want me to get the ball.   It was only the next day when I was talking with someone and they mentioned the spanish word primo.  I told them i thought it meant "center" you know to center the ball.  They then told me that "primo" means cousin.  Lisette was yelling primo because it was her cousin that was on our team and she wanted him to pass the ball.  Now it makes sense why I couldn't yell it too...

We also brought down bags of Rice and Beans from Midwest food bank which we distributed to the households along with spanish bibles and devotionals.  This was a good way to meet the parents of the kids that we had been hanging out with.

It was really great meeting the people of Honduras and also bonding with the team from Imago.  It was hard to say goodbye to all the friends we made and the people who welcomed us so warmly into their lives.

Steve Harris along with his wife Leslie led the team and he has also blogged about the experience and some emotional moments and you can read it here.