It has indeed been an interesting few days already here in Honduras, a new country for all of us - even those if us who have been on Habitat build projects before. Our trip down here from Montreal was certainly long, but relatively uneventful, we passed customs with no problems and our one group luggage arrived on time, the only thing we didn't have time for was eating. Happily for the students, we had some familiar food, meeting Luis, our Habitat leader at the Wendy's (They have Wendy's in Honduras? do you think they will have MacDonalds?) before making the trip here to Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa looked a lot bigger to me than I thought it would be, but once we came up the hill to the quiet streets where our hotel is located, it became exactly what I pictured. The hospitality is excellent and they have us all in the lower level, students have a few sitting rooms where they can relax and socialize. The internet quality is good and even if there is a glitch here and there, everyone has been able to contact home.
On our first day we visited Gracias Lempira, with Luis and our guide Max to share stories about the history of the region and local heroes as we strolled through town. We visited churches that were hundreds of years old and enjoyed some local tastings, preserves, hot sauces and popsicles before having lunch at a local artists' house. The students were impressed with his artwork, and his pet collection, friendly puppies, birds and chickens. We also hit some hot springs (which seemed unusual in such a hot place, be were still fun) and the football match on TV.
This morning Luis and Rolando took us to meet our Habitat families at the worksite - where the real magic will happen, and we were all tested in the elements. Our worksite is a Habitat community, where there are already a number of completed houses and we are currently working on eight more houses, all in a row. The houses we are working on are still at the earliest stages, the foundation. We worked on clearing the land to prepare to dig the foundation on one house and moved sand in to fill the foundation on four more houses. The families came to meet us this morning, and although they won't always be with us, a different family will be with us every day. They were welcoming and happy to meet us, I think everyone is looking forward to getting to know them better.
We visited a farm in the community and visited a home for girls, I think the home is run by the Catholic Church and although they called it an orphanage Luis explained that the girls who were there, would stay there until they turned 18 and were ready to move out on their own. This was a major place for our students, and although it was early in the trip - one I think they will all remember for a long time to come. Everyone was shy initially but within minutes were immersed in games of soccer and basketball and tag and important conversations in broken language. No one wanted to leave, as the girls thanked us for coming to visit and helping to brighten their day, I could not help but think that it was instead their positive energy that made our day. I think we will all be thinking of this visit for some time. I think Rose will tell you a little more.
There are still many untold adventures ahead of us this week, and hopefully you will be able to read some student stories through our 'group journal".
