My week as a "pharmacist" and other going ons

**Pictures at the end**

In just under 1 month I will be back stateside for a month's long vacation! Last weekend looking at my schedule up until leaving I wasn't sure I would make it, but after a mini working "vacation" I feel like I can make it.

The majority of us missionaries just spent the last week translating for a medical brigade that comes to the Trujillo area every year from Little Rock, Arkansas (and a scattering of other locations). This year there were 98 volunteers. They were a mix of doctors, nurses, various other medical personnel, plenty of non-medically employed and some teenagers. They set up 4 different clinics across multiple towns to provide whatever free medical care they can for 6 days.

Even though it was a working vacation it was great to get out to some of the surrounding areas and meet the people. It's easy to see that even though we live "simply" here at the Finca we are incredibly blessed with riches. It was a good reality check of how much better I can do to truly not just serve the poor but live among them. That hit home even more when at the end of the day we were blessed to go back to a nice bed with feather pillows, air conditioning, a pool, hot showers and incredible food. That is definitely more than we could ask for.

I spent the 6 days working in the pharmacy as a translator and also assisting with reading glasses. Towards the end of the week we were running out of the more fashionable pairs of glasses and some patients weren't happy that they had to have large ones. Some even left without any because they refused large lenses. At times it was hard to not be a bit jaded when you know some of the patients who come only see you as a rich white person there to give them free stuff, but that is definitely not everyone's story. There is a lot of gratitude as well. There was one 93 year old woman who despite barley being able to walk came in with her granddaughters. With a shaky hand she reached out for mine after giving her a pair of the strongest reading glasses we had. She took my hand and said, "May God bless you. I can now see your faces and make out the trees!" There were so many heart warming moments like that.

The last day we had a party to thank all our local volunteers and many of the kids came to who had greeted us in throngs every morning. They'd hangout by the windows all day long peaking in and asking for any little toy we might have. This year someone brought down dozens of stamps and by the end of the day every in of the "clinic"/their school was covered in the colorful designs as well as our arms.

One of the young girls (Michel) would write me notes saying I was her best friend and she'd even write in broken "Spanglish". I asked her how old she was and she told me she'd be 13 on Saturday (the day after the clinic ended). I made a point that we should give her one of the crew shirts and save her a pair of the kids sunglasses as a birthday present. The day of the party I handed out snacks to the volunteers, but she wouldn't take any until I told her it was my present to her. Then one of the teens gave her a friendship necklace and one of the older guys on the pharmacy team played her a song on guitar. By the end of the song she was in tears. A bit from all the attention, but also the affection. She gave him a big hug.

One of the local volunteers brought in his very ill 2 year old son. I think he may have severe cerebral palsy. It has led to malnutrition since he cannot chew and tends to aspirate liquids. All the doctors could do was to treat his lung infection and provide vitamins. The mom told me last year the doctors prescribed pediasure, but the problem is they cannot afford it. I would like to somehow get them pediasure or something along those lines.

Leaving those kids after just a few hours each day for a week sure makes me realize how hard it will be to leave the Farm after 2 1/2 years.

As for other things happening at The Finca we've now had our first 2 radio programs performances. The girls  went first and the boys just went this morning. I am so proud of them and inspired by their knowledge of the faith and willingness to share their love for Christ. At first some of the older teens didn't want anything to do with it even asking if it was obligatory. I told them they had to at least participate the 1st time. Those are now the ones who have really stepped up.

In the coming weeks we have some fun events coming up. This Friday some of the kids have earned a ice cream and movie night. Then on Saturday a handful of the older kids and a few missionaries are going for a boat ride to the other side of the bay to go snorkeling. At the end of the month one of our girls turns 18 so we are planning a large zombie themed party for her. Throughout all this I will be cramming to get double the work done so that all my events/activities and lesson plans are taken care of for the duration of my vacation so that a summer volunteer can take over.

I then fly out on July 15th and after a couple days in Chicago will be back in Minnesota and hope to see many of your wonderful faces!

Blessings,

Kit

 It's a small world after all! This is one of the buses that transported us to the clinics.

The pharmacy team!

Waiting to see the doctors. The local school was converted into the clinic for the week.

Kiddissa and Dr. Robbie who she helped translate for.

Dr. Ed and Jaimie

The little boy on the left (eduardo) and the little girl (blanca yolani) are siblings.

She had to try on my glasses... so Cute!

Eduardo practicing his name.

One of our many adorable patients.

Michel!!

Blanca and Maggie one of the teens who helped out.

Hard at work!

Showing off!

A break for music

Maggie and one of the many little girls her call her "mom".

Super curious!

Time for a birthday love song.

The song truly brought tears to her eyes.

Most of the volunteers at our clinic site.

Me and some of the local girls.

Juan Carlos playing drum for the radio program.

Reading their skit about the good samaritan.

The girls during the big debut of "The Finca communicates with the community".

Nahomi not shying away from the mic.

Sharing the beautiful singing voices.

Looking on as they tell jokes.

Big smiles during the final song.

Super quick update!

Just wanted to pop in and say hello! We just finished up the 1/2 way point of the school year. We now have a week's "vacation" which means instead I will be translating Sunday through Friday for a huge medical brigade from Arkansas that comes to Trujillo. We get to stay at a nice hotel in town and I think costs are covered... at least I hope so. The next month will be spent preparing for my vacation July 15th-to August 14th. I look forward to catching up with a lot of you!

An odds and ends update

Searching for inspiration

One would think by looking around at the place I live there is no lack of inspiration for writing. There is probably a lot of truth to that, but yet I have not written a proper blog for almost 2 months (if not more). Just about any of the other missionaries would say that is nothing to scoff at, but I am determined not to let this blog fall by the wayside. I have definitely let my journaling fall by the wayside, but am on a roll again having now written everyday for the past week. I guess it is one sign that I have maybe fallen into the “routine” of life here if there is such a thing.

This entry will likely just be a stream of thoughts and happenings here at the Farm. I guess I can start with some of the projects/programs/events that are being worked on here. As the leader of events and activities I am basically in charge of keeping the kids busy with fun things to keep them out of trouble.

One of those activities is the Farm Olympics. Once a month I come up with (seemingly out of thin air) at least two different competitions. The kids are on teams composed of those who live in their house. As I’ve mentioned before the houses are by gender and age. Now each house even has its own identifying color t-shirt along with the special friend (a missionary) of the house.

 Last months Olympics were definitely one of my favorite so far. We had a treasure hunt of sorts that included math, research, arts and athletics. For some their first clue was four math problems (varying in difficulty by age/grade) and the answers all equaled 1,9,6,0. The kids then had to find that number (1960 – the year our founder was born) somewhere in the Finca. The number is on Vincent’s tomb in the church. Their 2^nd clue was sitting on the tomb in an envelope. Some were led to different classrooms, the library or the school office where they each had to find an answer to various questions such as, “How fast does a Hurricane move?”, “After how many weeks is a kitten ready to leave it’s mother?”, “What is the primary use of morphine?”… all were science related in someway.

 To throw some of them off some groups were given the math portion first and others were given the research portion first. Their final clues all led them to “the place named after our foundress” (the playground). There they had to find the tennis ball marked for their house and throw it into the tire swing which proved quite difficult. This was one of the first times our oldest boys did not win or even come close.

After the scavenger hunt we headed for the beach for a sand building competition. Everyone had 15 minutes and was judged on the construction, size and creativity. It was really a blast to see how well everyone worked together. Just take a look at some of their creations (below).

Another program I am looking to get up and running is a radio program with the kids and the Catholic radio station in town. I had heard about the program from Andrea while I was interviewing. I’m told some of the kids (years ago) had a weekly on air program that one of the Franciscan sisters (who was not directly involved at the Farm) helped organize. I thought it was a great idea to practice public speaking and a bit of the technical end of radio. Then I found out one of newly hired teachers works there which is super helpful for organizing. The plan right now is for those kids that are on “green” (a.k.a. behaving well) to be involved weekly. One week will be houses 5 & 6 (the oldest kids) and the following week houses 4 & 5 (the middle aged kids). At first we are just planning on a half hour program, but want to work up to an hour. The toughest part I think will be dedicating the time to writing up a “show” every week, but also getting the kids really excited about it. I’m a bit terrified of allowing a bunch of pre-teen/teens on the open airwaves, but I am just praying that God will really lead this. I’m sure they will all be very “penosa” or shy/embarrassed, but I am really hoping that the guy at the radio station plus the new teacher will be very helpful. I want to work closely with Sor (sister) Innocencia since she is the head of our spiritual life activities. With my limited knowledge of Honduran life and my poor Spanish this will have to be a very communal effort.  

 House 1

 Margine and Yadira

 House 2

 House 3

 House 4

 House 5 & 6

 House 1

 House 1

 House 6

 House 3

 House 3

 House 4

 House 5

 House 4

 House 3

 Everyone hanging out waiting for results from the sand castle building contest.

 Yadira is growing up fast!

Residency... maybe... maybe not

Every month since December when our 90 visitor visas expired we had to come to La Ceiba to the residency office to apply for an extension of 30 days while we waited for the government to get their act together. Finally, the right papers are in. Now we are just waiting for the lady in charge to get back from lunch. If all goes well we will be Honduran residents before 5:00 p.m.

The First 6 Months in pictures!

 Enjoying a beautiful sunset on the beach near The Finca.

Santa's Workshop

Cesar dancing with his sister Jenny at his Quinceanera

Amanda showing of her black belt skills during the missionary talent/no talent show in October ('12)

 Diedre enjoying the going away dance in December.

One of my favorite pictures. Jose Manuel teaching Luz to ride bike during a rain storm.

The Notre Dame victory lift after they won the national championship.

Missionary community night: watching Olympic gymnastics.

Cati sporting sweet shades at a dance.

Some of the teens performing a dance.

Sisters Luz and Dorfa during our beach outing in December.

Luz enjoying the sand and the sun.

The House 1 girls anxiously waiting ice cream at Christmas brought my a group of American military men who visited.

Santa shows up with gifts.

Darwin making fish faces at his new gift.

Cati happily searching through her new backpack.

Santa and Sor Cristiam.

Giving a big thanks to donors at Christmas.

Dancin' Gangam Style

Kevin Mader's birthday. Cake designed by Laura Shaw.

View from the near by resort.

The resort's monkey "Chimey"

Their other monkey "Cheetah"

Decorating the house for Christmas.

New Year's Eve Mass

Behind the scenes preparations for the living nativity. This is really how angels get their wings.

The North Star

Joseph and Mary

The 3 wise "men"

Santa's elf a.k.a. Kiddissa

Shepards Emily and Kevin

Sister and Brother Nahomi and Duncan

Kevin and Emily showing off their swing dance skills.

The view at dusk

Mid-day on the beach

An intense game of cards during a relaxing retreat weekend in the mountains near La Ceiba.

Alison and Laura

Alison and Laura preparing to jump in.

Laura taking the dive 

The younger kids pose in the nativity costumes.

Luz in her angel costume

 That's better

The kids with all the shoes donated by a visiting church group.

House 2 girls leading music for Miriam's Quinceanera.

Miriam with her little brother Jose Pastor, little sister Seidy and her "cabellero" Jose Isabel.

Miriam receiving a ring from her father.

The traditional Waltz

Riccy with little Yadira

The bright smiles of sisters Kimberly and Brittany

Belkis is all smiles at the clown birthday party in February.

Yadira enjoying all the balls at the birthday party.

Erin Lucia using her painting skills.

Nahomi sporting some new tattoos.

Yadira is anxious to enter the bounce house.

Erin Marina testing out the new lion head installed by Harry.

"Judges" Erin Marina and Haydee consulting during February Finca Olympics.

Annoucning the Olympics winners.

Laura and the house 1 girls taking part in the water balloon toss.

Laura and House 1 at the "futbol" kick

Jose Manuel takes his turn.

Wilmer shows off his soccer skills.

Laura helping Yadira with the football throw.

David with Luz and Joel

Harrison with the House 5 boys

School is underway. Morning assembly kicks of the day with the school song, the national anthem and prayer.

1st grader Yensi lives next door to the farm. Her dad is a security guard here.

6th grade

Rony and Brayan hard at work.

My 2nd graders studying hard.

Rony showing of his kite flying skills.

Angel with House 3's pet squirrel "Lolo"

Brittany sporting flounder costume during TEMA (catechism class)

Brayan sporting a white tiger costume for TEMA. This was a dream come true for a little boy who is always pretending to be a tiger.

Disaster training at school... who new a week later we'd become a refugee camp.

All the teachers

A beautiful sunset looking toward The Farm.

Margine (one of our 2 psycologists/missionaries) from Nicaragua celebrating her birthday.

House 1 my "special friends" playing hopscotch.

Stations of the cross around The Farm.

House 3 wrestling with Kevin Mader.

Margine enjoying breakfast before our bi-annual cleaning day.

The radio room before cleaning day.

The kitchen before cleaning day.

Kevin cleaning the courtyard roof.

The radio room after cleaning day.

Celebrating St. Patrick's day with green pancakes, green eggs and sausage.

The many faces of Yadira :)

House 4 and 5 playing basketball with the FOCUS missionaries and Kevin.

Girls from Houses 2 and 6 as we wait for the plane to arrive.

House 4 and 5 boys, me and 2 Franciscan missionaries.

Getting a "tour" of the plane with Pilot Larry

FOCUS missionaries painting the kids' bedrooms. One of the walls in our living room is now this color. It's so pretty!

Heading to a "posa" (swimming hole in a river) with Houses 1 & 2 and FOCUS.

The walk back from the posa. You'd think these kids had never seen cows.

Dorfa keeping tabs on her sister and friend.

During our last talent show I shared the "talent" of making dirt cups.

My class the "newbies" finally got the band together.

Alison showing off her gymnastics skills.

Sara seranades everyone.

Harry and Erin Lucia share a bit of music.

Harry shares his rapping "talent".