Water

One lady carrying buckets down to be filled. Two ladies carrying full buckets back to their homes.

Water, most of us take it for granted. Living in the United States, we think nothing about it. It is available whenever we want for whatever we want. We can get clean safe drinking water anytime of the day. We can, and do, take hot or cold showers daily, or more often if so desired. We use water to wash our dishes, clothes, pets, and cars, and to water our lawns. I guess the closest I have come to not having water, was when we moved to California in 1992 during a drought. We could not water our yards and had to plant drought resistant trees. When I first started coming to Honduras, I still had hot running water in which to take a shower. There is running water at Casa de Esperanza, my house, and the dorm. Not that I would drink the water from the tap for any reason. Most water in Honduras is not purified and makes Hondurans sick. It would surely make me sick. I never really thought about the difficulties of someone not having water. Even when I saw people bathing and washing their clothes in a river. Thousands of people in Honduras do not have running water. And for those that do, generally, the water just runs for two hours a day. People own huge water tanks and turn the water on and let it run for the whole two hours and collect it in their tanks. People save for years in order to have enough money to have running water in their homes, only to find out that does not include the piping that runs to their house. Those that have water, do not have hot water, not even warm water. In town a restaurant may have two faucets, but no water ever comes out of the hot side. There is only cold water availables, so water does not flow from the faucet marked hot.

Since I have been in Honduras full time, I have realized the difficulties for people not having water. There is the river, which usually involves a lengthy walk. The other day while we were building the kindergarten in Nuevo Oriental, the water truck came. There was a lot going on that day, with the building team and Magi boxes were being distributed. (Yes, they were for Christmas, but they were on that container that did not get here until January4.) The water truck drove into the village and began to honk. People dropped what they were doing and scattered in all directions. I dropped what I was doing and stood amazed at what was happening. People, young and old alike, were running to their homes and were returning with containers of all shapes and sizes, the biggest being 55 gallon drums. A water hose was connected to the truck and everyone began to fill their containers. The water truck waited until everyone that brought containers had filled them before leaving. I watched as people walked up the hills carrying their buckets, taking great care not to spill a single drop. A gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. This was a heavy load for most. The 55 gallon drums were filled with water, but left at the bottom of the hill. After people got their smaller containers home, they returned to take another load of water from the drums. I was not able to stay around and see how long it took to get all those drums emptied. The water those people took to their homes will have to suffice for 3 or 4 days as the water truck only comes twice a week. I still wonder how they bathe. I guess they still have to walk to the river. This time of year the rivers and streams are getting low and will get a lot lower before they start filling again.

These are some of the lucky ones; some villages don't have a water truck at all.

Terri

Sights in the City

Tegucigalpa is a city of a million and a half people, more or less. We have to go there frequently. Some of the things we see in the city are hard to imagine, unbelievable and,at times, heartbreaking.

The Honduran ladies that work at Casa de Esperanza are hard working ladies and live a hard life. Dilcia and Reina are two of the ladies that work here. They are sisters. They get up at 4:00 a.m. to take care of things at home and then ride a bus for two and a half hours to get here. And we think we have a long commute when we have 30 minutes in our air-conditioned cars with our favorite CD playing. Once they get here, they cook and clean and take care of kids and anything that needs to be done. Always with a smile on their faces. They are a grateful for a job. At the end of a long work day, they have to ride the bus another two and a half hours to get home to kids and chores. Reina has not worked here very long and was having to spend 25% of her pay on bus fare. Friday is payday and she will see a pay raise. The Walnut Creek group left some money to buy a new bed for Dilcia's family as there was five of them sleeping in one bed. The bed was purchased and delivered. Dilcia told us they could not use the bed because one side kept falling. Yesterday, we took Dilcia and Reina home so we could fix the bed. It took us fifty minutes in the car. Then the walk to their houses was similar to the hike in the Smoky Mountains. I had already worked out once yesterday. They were home much earlier than normal and kids came running out to meet them. So sweet. Marc quickly got the problem fixed and Dilcia and Reina and most of their kids walked us back down the hill.

Last summer Marc met some people that live on El Hatillo that are trying to start a children's home. El Hatillo is where many of the rich Hondurans live. Our summer groups also stay in a nice place there. These people found out a need they could not fix and called Marc for help.
We drove up there today and in there, surrounded by wealth, was this house that was just about to collapse. As we talked to David and Janet, we found out the neighbors have repeatedly tried to run this lady and her children from their home, even though they have lived there for 17 years. Her children are not allowed to play with the other children. David and Janet said they could come up with the money if we build the house. They are more than willing to help build, they just did not know where to buy the materials. Soon Rosie and her kids will have a new house with a good roof and no holes in the walls. We were amazed that this lady was living like that and no one had helped her. It amazes me that, in the summer, we drive near that house everyday and had never seen it.

We were meeting some friends for lunch today, while we were in the city. When we eat in a restaurant, we cut our meals in half and then ask for a box. We then find someone on the street that is hungry and give them the box. Today, our friends did the same thing. We took all the food with us, as we went to finish our errands.

In Tegucigalpa, there are many street kids. Some live on the streets all the time. Some are out during the day trying to earn money for their families to have something to eat. Many little kids try to wash our windshield to earn just the smallest amount of money. We came upon five little boys with their squeegees. Marc handed him some of the food and the others came running. One little guy had facial deformities. They asked if we wanted our windshield washed and we said no. We handed them all the food and told them to share. They ran across the street, opened the food, divided it, and rapidly devoured it. One of these little boys was really small. In the United States, I would have guessed him to be 5 or 6. Due to malnutrition and other things, kids are smaller here, so he was probably 8. Still awfully young to be on the street. He was just the filthiest little thing I think I have ever seen. The light turned green and we drove on. I cannot get that little guy out of mind. I hope he has a safe, warm place to sleep tonight.

Terri

The Biggest Kid of All

Guess who got on the trampoline today? No, it was not me.

I was walking outside and I heard Marc say, "ok, I will get on." I took off running as fast as I could to get my camera. I would say that little sprint was well worth it to capture this Kodak moment. The kids were clapping and saying Marco. Marco. Marco.

He was only able to jump a few minutes. Hey, what can I say? I didn't even get on. It does look fun though, doesn't it? Who knows, maybe I am next.

Terri

Belated Christmas Present

Marc and I have a friend in Nashville that gave a check for Christmas for the kids. Jen and Karen had some friends that did the same thing. Since others had provided Christmas, all of us decided to get something big, really big, that everyone would enjoy. The decision was made to buy a trampoline. It was purchased in Florida and put on the container that was suppose to be here before Christmas. Things being as they are in Honduras, of course, that container did not get here before Christmas. In fact, it is the one we unloaded in the dark and the rain Thursday night. The two huge boxes of trampoline did not get out here to Casa de Esperanza until Friday afternoon and we were somewhere else building on the kindergarten. The boxes were put inside the dorm.

Yesterday afternoon, Marc and Kameron assembled the trampoline. The instruction booklet was only 20 pages long. But what man needs an instruction booklet. There were not any spare parts when they finished and the trampoline looked like the one on the box. Marc even said he expected it to take a lot longer than it actually did.

It was Sunday afternoon I was curled up in the dorm with a book. Around 3:30, I heard all kinds of screams and squeals of delight. I knew, without a doubt, the trampoline was finished. I rushed out with my camera and there were the first group of four kids jumping on the trampoline. I am not sure who was more excited, Marc or the children.

Everyone took turns and trampoline jumping until it was time for showers. They were all ready to get on it again this morning, when they got up.

Terri

A New Table

The children at Casa de Esperanza were all eating at little tables. Most of the kids had outgrown those little tables. Marc decided to build a table bigger than the ones at which they had been eating and not quite as big as an adult table. He also decided to build one long table instead of several shorter ones. Marc built the table with plans to use some wood dough to fill in some spots, sand it and paint it. All that building was too much excitement for some of the kids. They so wanted to help. And, of course, Marc let them, taking the opportunity to teach them how to do a few things. Oh my. They used enough wood dough for thirty tables and sanded and sanded and sanded. The kids had so much fun. Then it was painted a nice shiny brown. Everyone was so excited. They wanted to take it over to the house and eat off of it long before the paint was dry. Marc would barely touch it to see if it was dry. Everytime, that it was not ready to move, there was just a bit of disappointment. At long last, it was completely dry and ready to move. Everyone wanted to help move it and I think everyone did help move it.

Now at every meal, the kids are enjoying eating at their new table. Aren't they cute?

Terri

Welcome Back to Honduras

Other than my house not being finished and living in the dorm, it has been a welcome back to Honduras week. It has been windy, cold and rainy and we have been without electricity for two days. Last night we unloaded a container in the rain and dark. I was so cold and could not wait to get home into dry clothes. I didn't think a shower was possible because no electricity means no hot water. When we got to Santa Ana, we were so thankful to see lights. I got a shower and shortly thereafter, we lost electricity again. I always think of those who must work outdoors and get soaked and have no water and electricity to which to go home, that have gaping wholes in their walls, that have dirt floors that become mud floors in the rain. People that have no blankets. If they are cold, how do they ever sleep?

This morning we found a tree on the roof of Gayle's house and a broken water pipe that had drained two of the water tanks. We were scrambling to get the pipe fixed. The tree did get removed from the roof and I only hope the pipe is fixed. We discovered these two lovely things, as we were trying to load the truck to get started on a building project. At long last, a kindergarten class room is being built in Miredad Oriente, the upper part of Nuevo Oriental. We had to get people to the airport and the bus station and I had to get someone at the airport. I drove all over everywhere by myself and did very well. I had an errand to run and there was a wreck in front of the place where I needed to park. I went into the next block and parked. I was told I could not leave my car there. A security guard directed me to a place that would have surely been illegal in the states. He spoke no english and asked me how long I would be gone. In spanish I said 10 minutes and took off running. I am sure he got big laugh at the crazy gringo.

I did get to work on the kindergarten for a short bit. Two walls are up.

The electricity was off all day in Santa Ana so the pump could not work to pump water into our tanks. Water ran out at Casa de Esperanza. Hopefully, tomorrow will be back to normal with water and electricity.

It Is What It Is

As we sat in the Houston airport yesterday morning there was all kinds of new year things on CNN.

People were emailing in their new year's resolutions, the best news stories and the worst news stories were being replayed, etc. One list that came up was a list of words and phrases that were being banned because of overuse. On that list was "it is what it is". I cannot abandon that phrase because I live in Honduras. Many times we are told wood for a house will be delivered at 10:00 and it shows up at 3:00. You either live with it and say "it is what it is" and doing something else until the wood shows up or you stress and have a stroke. For example, a container was suppose to be ready to unload today. Of course, it wasn't. It is what it is. Hondurans live like that and it is no big deal. Because I live here, I have had to learn to adapt to "It is what it is".

When we left to go to the states, we contracted some work to be done on our house while we were gone. The walls were to get stucco and the floors were to get tile, and some other improvements as well. Deadline January 1, when we returned.

We had an uneventful trip home, which is always a good thing. I was so ready to be in my house and sleep in my sweet bed last night and see my gorgeously beautiful remodeled home. Oh, the anticipation. We hauled all of our luggage down the hill and unlocked the door. What we found was a very messy work in progress, totally unlivable. We turned around and hauled all our stuff back up the hill and moved into the dorm. Oh well, "it is what it is".

This morning when we asked about how much longer, we were told the classic line right out of "The Money Pit", only two more weeks. Yea right. It is what it is.

Living in the dorm might present a few challenges, but it is what it is. And, I find no reason to complain since I have a bed to sleep in and food to eat.

Terri