Free Invitation

I'm super excited!

Monday we had an all day training at the university by a college professor about gender equality. It was very interesting and educational. I enjoyed it a lot.

Afterward I left in the same car with my boss. She asked if I am going to the retreat on Thursday and Friday. I told her it's really not in my budget right now. Everyone on the payroll for our whole organization was invited for free. Volunteers and interns are welcome, but have to cover their own costs.

I am saving every penny for a new car, so I thought it best to stay home. But the more I considered the idea, the more I realized I should go. As an outsider (one of the only North Americans) it is important that I do things like this to assimilate myself with everyone else. I already have the fact that I am a foreigner which sets me apart, so the more I can bond with my coworkers and give them a chance to get to know me, the better.

People within Impacto Juvenil know me, but I have been seeing the others from the association at our Monday morning devotional for over a year and I still don't know most of their names. Even the drivers are not sure how I fit in.  The other people with Impacto serve in only one community and I serve in several places so that is odd to them.

Just now my boss sent me a message saying that I can go to the retreat for only the cost of the tee shirt! We are leaving early (6:30 a.m.) Thursday morning and coming back Friday night. We were told to wear exercise clothes as we will be hanging out and playing games. It will be interesting to see how many of the 150 people actually go. I am super excited to be included. My boss knows I am saving for a newer car. It feels really nice that she went out of her way to help me be able to go.

Today I went to see a Honduran movie with Ana and her family. Every Tuesday movies are half price, and it so happens that Ana has Tuesdays off, so we get together on Tuesdays. Jired, her son, had the opportunity to go play soccer today, but he chose to come with us instead. I think that is super cool. Most 17 year old kids would rather hang out with their friends than their family, but Jired is different. He always puts his family first.

To be honest, I really didn't like the movie. It just wasn't my type of humor. But they all did and I understand why. The actors are people they know from tv or politics and it's all filmed in places within the city. Overall it had a good message, although it was a little foolish in the delivery. What I enjoyed most was watching all of them have so much fun.

We have cut popcorn and soda out of the budget. There was not one complaint, so Ana must have explained it to them clearly. We did each get a 50 cent ice cream cone on the way home. Turns out Isa doesn't like ice cream, so she only ate the cone. And Ana said she can figure out a way to use all of the manna packets I had, so I'm no longer carrying those around in my car.

I just remembered Erika called while I was in the movie! I forgot to call her back. I'll have to do that tomorrow. I'm so glad she is back in the habit of calling again. And she even remembers that Tuesday is my free day. That makes me smile. I bet baby Gabriela is getting big! Marjory is old enough to chat right along on the phone now, although I only understand parts of what she says. I look forward to seeing them all one day soon.

Still playing my violin. I've gotten into more challenging stuff and it's not quite as fun as it was, but I know if I work at it I will see the payoff in my playing on Saturday mornings at the dance ministry. I'm glad I have that commitment to push me through the tougher stuff.

Day of the Child and Strong Families

Wednesday we celebrated The Day of the Child in our club.

I like this photo because it's rare to catch these two smiling. They have rough lives and a genuine smile is not common.

Our club. Unfortunately the photographer (me) can never be in the photos.
(See how Michel is not smiling)

We had a piñata and I caught Michel smiling again.

These two are so cute!!
They are excited about their candy stashes from the piñata

I hope I was the only person who noticed the cake said "Happy Birthday"

 On Friday we had graduation from the Familia Fuerte (Strong Family) program. It's a great program. The moms talked about the fact that they had never thought about communicating with their kids. They also learned the difference between strong consequences and light consequences, and how to give consequences from a loving place rather than in anger. They talked with other mothers about the difficulties they face within their communities and learned about resources that are available to their families to help in the future.

 This mom shared with the group that two of her sons are being bullied horribly at school. She started out talking about how kids tease the son in the photo below for not having nice shoes. But by the end I was almost in tears as she talked about the way her younger son is hit and comes home with bruises, lumps on his head, his clothes are ripped, he is dragged around by his backpack and the teacher sits and watches all of this happen.

The mother has gone to the school but the teacher was not responsive. Next week my coworker and I are going back with the mother, a psychologist, and a lawyer to talk to the teacher.

A mom and her son and a psychologist

My coworker and I love this sweet boy. He is quiet and shy.
We learned today from his mother that he is being bullied at school

This mom is just a little excited to receive her first diploma ever

These are the kids from our club
whose mothers participated in the program

Congratulations Strong Families!

She is using the techniques she learned to raise her grandchildren

Dressed in their best clothes:

 Moms and kids:

This lady below lives in a tiny house. In total 17 people live there. Yet, when her brother and sister-in-law were both killed in a shooting outside of the city, she asked for her nephew (shown below) to be sent to live with her specifically so that he could be part of our program and receive the assistance we provide. We love having him in our club, as well as his two cousins who are also shown here with their mom. He is a sweet, sweet boy and he seems to be doing relatively well so far.

Future club members:

As a graduation gift each mother received a bag of basic supplies for her home

On Sunday at church we celebrated the Day of the Child. There was a lot of celebrating this week!

This little girl has never been out of her mother's arms.
She will do well with some more socialization

The line for the swings was long.
These kids rarely get an opportunity to swing.
There are no swingsets in private homes or at school

While it was nice to celebrate in the park in front of the church, the area is not very safe. We had to lock ourselves inside. There was a guard outside and lots of parents around.

We had piñatas, pizza, horchata (cinnamon flavored rice milk), cake and of course, Coca Cola with the cake. Plus each child got a goodie bag as they left. It was a great success!

Four piñatas and lots of pizza

In his haste to grab candy, Andy got a lot of grass too

Waiting on pizza

In my club we have started working on saying "Please" and "Thank You". Since most adults don't say please or thank you, kids don't either. Pastora Ruth's son was standing next to me as they handed out the goodie bags. Not one kid said thank you. He said he is going to talk to the leaders of the youth groups so they can start working on that in the church. But he commented that it will not be followed through with in their homes. I told him I think it's important that the kids are taught good manners because even if they don't use them at home, they will have been educated to say please or thank you when they are in other situations.