Update and photos

There have been more robberies than usual lately. A friend from my previous church had a man break into her property. She found him in her back yard. She was able to get into the house and lock the door behind her. She called the police, but friends and family arrived long before the police showed up. Eventually he was arrested, which is shocking! Turned out, he was behind other robberies up in the mountains. It's funny, although I live in the midst of dangerous communities, I feel safer here than I did in the mountains.

Another woman was taken hostage (for lack of better word) by people who entered her taxi. This is a common occurrence. She was robbed and driven outside of the city where she was dumped without a phone or money to get home. She did make it home safely. The same thing happened to my friend Cynthia two weeks ago. On Monday my coworkers were assaulted on a "rapidito" (small bus). They are safe but their work phones and other possessions were stolen. Fany and I read a statistic that the bus for El Hatillo (where I lived in the mountains) has an average of 18 assaults every day. The bus is taken over by thieves who enter with guns and rob everything valuable. This, my friends, is why I cannot take public transportation. Every day there are articles in the newspaper about people who are killed if they don't do exactly as the robbers say.

Laura is back at school and doing well. We made cupcakes together on Saturday. She loves to cook.

Monday I went back to work. Three of my coworkers were in the hospital and one of our leaders is very sick too. Doña Angelica, the lady who always accompanied me to literacy class and who has been an amazing friend and mentor, suffered from thrombosis in her leg after surgery for varicose veins. I was really scared for her. She went into the hospital Thursday and was released yesterday. Another coworker had appendicitis, and a third they still haven't diagnosed but she has stomach problems.

My vote for cool project of the week went to a coworker who heard the kids complaining about how "dirty and nasty" their soccer field is. She got a can of paint and asked community members to help. Together, they cleaned up their soccer field. I love the way she empowered the kids. She gave them an opportunity to see they can make a difference in their community and gave them ownership over their soccer field by having them clean it themselves. I admire her and the work she does.

Painting the goal posts

A community working together
In the end, some received a loaf of bread for their work

Last week I got my first physical in five years. They did EVERYTHING. First I got a chest xray, then an electrocardiogram, then blood work, a gynecological exam, and a bone density test. The chest xrays show my lungs and heart are clear. The electrocardiogram showed my heart doesn't use as much force as the average heart, but the doctor said sometimes he sees that in people with a slimmer build. The gynecologist said I am very healthy. I was the only woman she saw all week who didn't have any cysts. The bone density test showed that my spine and legs are perfect, but my hip bones are starting to loose density, so I'm on Vitamin D supplements. The blood work showed my cholesterol is a little bit elevated. I've been obsessed with bacon lately, which is odd for me. The doctor told me to cut out the bacon and come back in three months. Everyone assured me that I am extremely healthy, which felt good. I was worried after not having a check up in five years, so that was a weight off my shoulders.

The coworker I serve most closely with is on vacation until tomorrow. Therefore, I had yesterday and today off. Tomorrow we get back to work with the Familia Fuerte Program. Yesterday I had to work on my resume.

When I first started serving at Impacto Juvenil we didn't have a human resources department. There were less than 100 of us in the whole organization. Now we are 150 people strong! For that reason, we've had to create things like human resources.

I hadn't updated my resume in 10 years! Not sure how I how away with that. Honduran resumes include a photo and your age. They are much longer than resumes in the US. I didn't include a photo or my age and kept it to two pages.

My friend Kim, the one who is quitting smoking in the US, is still doing well. She had a tough time on Sunday, which is normally her least favorite day of the week. Her soon to be husband leaves for work and doesn't come back until Friday night. She said she sat in the convenient store parking lot for 15 minutes with her cash card in her hand, wanting to buy cigarettes, but she left without buying them! I suggested she not leave home on Sunday afternoons from now on and she agreed that would be a great idea.

Two weeks from today I'll be headed for a quick weekend in Jamaica! I'm looking forward to relaxing in an environment where I won't have to constantly be on high alert for my personal safety. If we do nothing more than lounge by the pool and sit on the beach I will be totally content.