As part of a longer trip through Central America, at the beginning of October, I had the opportunity to visit the childrens home three years after my volunteer assignment. I have often asked myself how things have developed, what may have become of on or the other child, how the second floor on the main house looks like, and in general how it may all be. Despite occasional contact with Paty I wanted to see the children again and see how they have developed. Luckily, it happened that this time my sister accompanied me and so we arrived as a couple at the "yo quiero ser". As soon as we opened the door of the car, the children stormed towards us, took off our luggage, hugged us - just a stunningly warm welcome!
Some of the children, understandably the taller ones, could remember me and others did at least pretend to ;-)
During these two and a half weeks we were accommodated with a warmth, as I only knew it from “…yo quiero ser”. An extra nicely decorated room with a welcome letter, three super delicious meals a day and so many valuable insights into the lives of the kids and society in San Pedro Sula. Since there were no chefs at the time, we supported Karen in the kitchen, helped craft the Christmas cards and had plenty of time to play and laugh with the children. Paty, as always, endeavored to show us as much of Honduran life as possible: we were allowed to go to court to see how exhausting and nerve-wracking the smallest administrative tasks could be; we were introduced to Paty's goddaughter and her family, who live under the poorest conditions in a mud hut and enormously appreciate the selective support by Paty by donating diapers and food. We were even able to visit the primary school and spent a morning in class. We were invited to spend a week in Santa Rosa de Copán, where the "academia de exelencia" usually offers CPR courses for doctors and further education in medical technology as part of another project of the foundation. While we were there, a national holiday took place and we could use the whole area and all the buildings to ourselves and it turned out to be the perfect holiday accommodation. We spent a fantastic time there. The children were playing, walking and running around, all day long, helped to maintain their own coffee, banana and corn plantations and enjoyed overall the versatile activities.
On our way there, we were able to visit La Entrada, the latest project of the Foundation: a boarding school for 20 young people from poorer backgrounds, whose parents could not afford to send their children to university.
It has been enormously appreciated to see first-hand how the children developped, how they succeed in school, and how the first ones take the step of adulthood when starting college or attending vocational training. I am still convinced that these children are taking advantage of their opportunities and making a decisive difference to their destiny, which they will pass on later.
All in all, it is unbelievably great to see the foundation "…yo quiero ser" growing and offering a variety of projects to children and young people in Honduras. And just as I've come to know Paty and Edwing, they are far from tired and are pursuing other great ideas and helping to fundamentally and sustainably improve the lives of many Hondurans.
Once again I have salute in front of so much commitment and warmth, THANKS Paty, THANK YOU Edwing!