Feeding the Hungry in the Dump & the Lord's Day (Saturday & Sunday)

Saturday:

As seen on the streets of Tegu, if you look closely, he is standing on another guy's shoulders!

Today a large group was going to spend the day at the Didasko Orphanage & a small group was going to the Dump and stop by the special needs orphanage Bencoleth.

Diane and I decided that we would like to go to the Dump.  It has probably been 4-6 since I have been there.  A small group of about 17 headed out on the bus.  You may have heard about people living and working around the dump.  In the past, the conditions were deplorable.  Men, women and children scavage the trash to look for things to sell. Groups have been feeding there for years and it seems that conditions have improved even though it is still nasty and smelly.  

Bargaining for 300 bananas

We had no interpreter and had to go get 300 slices of Bologna. (It is called something different here.). We had been told to go to two different places to get the best deals.  We bought Bologna, cheese, bread, mayonnaise and cookies.  We also picked up 300 bags of water and 300 bananas.  In the past, our group has provided soap and water for hand washing.  Brett Mitchell and I decided that we wanted to buy buckets & use some soap that he had so the workers could wash their hands.

Assembling sandwiches

We then went to the bodega to make the sandwiches.  FYI: If you need to make a bunch of sandwiches, the bread bags work wonderfully.  We loaded up the sandwiches, cookies, bananas and water and headed to the dump. Before we went in, Mark Connell, a local missionary who coordinates things for us, spoke to us about what we would see.  The dump has been a very dangerous in the past and I remember we hardly got off the bus the last time I came.

Most of the group was handing the food off the back of the bus, while others handed out bags of water.  Brett and I had filled up 2 buckets and put soap in them.  I also had paper napkins, so they could dry their hands.  I enjoyed the experience and was impressed with how respectful the people were.  Most of our group got off the bus and walked around handing out water.  We had been warned not to give anything away & I had made the mistake of wearing a neon green pair of tennis shoes.  I had several people ask for my shoes, but I had so say, "necessito ".  That means I need them.  I was heartbreaking because I had planned on leaving them down here.  Those people needed them, but it would not have been a good situation to start giving things away.

Mark Connell

After the dump, out group was going to stop by Bencoleth, a special needs orphanage.  Some of our group had seen a repair that needed to be made on their playground.  While some of the big guys worked on that, the rest of us played with the kids.  Some of these "children" have been living there their whole lives.  Some of the children have mental handicaps,but others have only physical handicaps.  I see a young man sitting by a table in his wheelchair.  He is coloring a page that one of our group had brought.  Another person in our group reminded me about when we came 9-10 years ago.  I did remember him.  I sat beside him and he was listening to a little transistor radio.  I pulled out my phone and started playing some of my Zumba music.

Marvin listening to and singing music

He loved it!!  He loved to sing along.  He would usually be about a parade behind, but we really connected sitting there and singing.  

Sunday:

We got to sleep in a little later today, but we still had to be up and ready to leave for church.  We worshipped with the church in El Diamante .  That is where some of our group built 6 classrooms last year.  We have also built several homes in this community, and the church there has experienced great growth.  The worship was great as usual and what made it better is we had two baptisms. (A Honduran man & Gavin, a teenager from Foundation Christian Academy in FL). What a great way to end church!  Look closely at the pictures to see how they baptized there!

We spent the rest of the day at Valle de Angeles.  It is a neat town about 1 hour away.  There's lots of neat shops with souvenirs and restaurants.  Sunday was a great day & that means that for most of us the trip is drawing to a close and there's only 2-3 work days left.  I probably will only have 1-2 more posts until I get home.  I'm actually about to run out of steam, but I know I'll pull through and be able to complete the work that needs to be done.

Sick ninos & mas comida (Sick kids and more food)

Wednesday we had two main work groups:

1.  Dump visit/Painting classroom at El Diamante

2.  Hospital visit & Food distribution at El Diamante

Oh, there actually was another group:

Building a home at El Diamante.  This was earmarked as Jenny Lovell's house build and a bunch of her church members and friends worked on that house.

Jo Dawn's daughter, Cheyenne and I assembled the baby clothes I had bought at Goodwill in gallon size baggies with things for the family. (toothbrushes, soap, toothpaste, razors and other things we could find)   A group of about 20 stayed back a little while at the mission house to get our things together.  We also formed a bucket brigade to get about 250 food bags on the back of the bus.

My plan (which isn't always God's plan) was to go visit the new mothers at the hospital and hand out the bags we had made, but when we got there there was a Honduran group of young girls.  It was apparent that they were from a private bilingual school because we spoke to them in English.  They said they were going to see the new mothers.  They had diapers, pads, a blue baby gown and some other things.

Our group started on some other floors.    My group of about 10 went to the orthopedic floor.  The emphasis is always to try to make a relationship, not just hand them stuff.  I was very proud of Cheyenne and myself.  We went in a room of about 4 kids and a few families.  (Some don't have a mother or family member there!!!)    We spent about 45 minutes in that room.  Somehow (because I thought I was going to new mothers)  we didn't have many things for kids.  We did have just enough for that room.  (See photos)

(hospital selfie)

Cheyenne did a great job of trying to read to the little guys.  We had a book about Jonah that was in English and Spanish.  There was a boy who was 11.  The older kids don't seem as happy to see us.  I feel it's because they are more aware of there situation.  I had picked up something to give.  Do you remember color by numbers?? This was a picture that you added stickers by numbers.  He and I put that together.  Then he read the book to me about Jonah in Spanish.  After that, Cheyenne and I didn't have anymore things to give.

We went to a really large ward where all of the children had been in some type of accident.  There was man pins sticking out of the injured bone.  One of the nurses on our team said that we don't use that method in the US.  I basically walked around and talked to them in my limited Spanish. (Honestly it's gotten much better.  Even some of the "newbies" will say, "You speak Spanish don't you."  I say, "Solo un pocito!!)

On this same floor, we found a room that had about 6 babies.  From what we could tell they were babies that had been born with different issues or handicaps.  Luckily, we had baby bags for those families.  As I walked around I would ask the families if they wanted me to pray for their child.  They always said yes.  I would pray in English and after I was finished in English I would say, "En el nombre de Cristo".  In the name of Christ Amen.  Maybe someday I can learn a Spanish prayer!!!  Before we left, I even overheard Cheyenne praying with a child.  She is one awesome 15 year old girl!!!

We had spent probably an hour and a half or more visiting and we went back to find the rest of our group.  By then it was almost time to leave.  A few of our group had gone upstairs to the new mothers, but we decided not to deliver the rest of our baby bags today. (Since those others had already visited.)

(This Pedro our night guard at Villa Gracia.  He often works all night and then goes with us.  As far as I know, he only gets a food bag for his family.  We have heard he needs new glasses that cost $200.  We aren't supposed to give money, but we are checking with our leaders to find out more information. Unfortunately, there is stories of hardship wherever we go!

We ate our lunch on the way to El Diamante.  If you remember, that is the area where we went to church on Sunday.  El Diamante is like a mesa or table on top of a mountain.  That means it's flat and very windy with beautiful views.  A much easier place to hand out food than the last time.  We also eventually met up with our house build team and our dump team.  The food team successfully handed out all of our food bags too!!!  Thank you to all who gave donations.  Those small bags will feed a family of four for a month!

Later that evening I was asking Cheyenne about her day and she said, "It was okay."  I thought she meant that she didn't like it as well as building, but she told her mom how sad it was.  I guess as an adult, I have become hardened to what I see there.  I was so impressed with Cheyenne that she was able to interact with the young kids, but put her emotions aside!!  

(Torch has built many homes in El Diamante.)

Below you will see one of our sweet bus drivers, Marlon.

Jenny Taylor