Visitors This month, various groups of college students, church members, and even the bishop of San Pedro Sula were our guests. For this special occasion, our children performed the Christmas story in form of a play and sang some Christmas carols. The bishop was very impressed by the artistic skills of our children and promised to visit again soon.
Moreover, we visited a Christmas play at the Great Commission, where the Christmas story was performed in modern musical style. The same church group visited us on a Sunday, and even brought along a huge fairground ship. The children had heaps of fun and Santa Claus could not be missing, either.
Christmas, a family celebration Livio Augustin from Alvaschein is volunteering at our home for 2 months. He was very well received from the beginning, helping us with everything as a "Swiss" craftsman. Thanks to him, the bus and all our cars have been inspected and made roadworthy again. Tat and Tatta, Nicole, and Reto were also warmly welcomed.…
School Year Ending Talent Show Our secondary school students Deyvin and Yulissa were allowed to participate at a talent night at the end of the school year. Both practiced playing the guitar diligently during the entire school year and could perform on stage with several songs. They were very nervous; however, they managed to perform the songs flawlessly.
Graduation Ceremony Alden, Geovanni, Anahy and Wendy were honored to receive the pre-school diploma with great joy. Esteban and Fernando, too, received their primary school diploma of the 6th grade. They are the first children who are with us since the first grade and it pleased us much that they now can take the second step in their school career. It was a hard school year for all our students, but all the efforts have paid off, as all have passed the school year with good, very good and excellent grades. Maria even received a mark of 5.9 and six other students (Luz Marina, Daniel, Enrique, Kimberly, Jessica und Gabi) a mark of more…
Visit from the van Kesteren Foundation In early October, our board member Gerard van Kesteren visited us for 3 days along with three members of the board of the van Kesteren Foundation, Teresa, Hans and Nettie. For all of us, these were unforgettable days. Our kids had prepared a little dance presentation and at the end they even animated the board members to dance. Together, we picked up the children from school and Gerard has even participated at school. They brought various chocolates and all children received an envelope with a little money, so that each child may buy something. On the last night they invited us all for pizza. The Pizza Hut staff decorated the room beautifully and offered the children a piñata, which turned this evening into a big party.
Celebrations for all children's homes This year, the organization CEPUDO has organised a party for more than 20 children's homes, as it were, for 600 children. This year’s happening carried the slogan "We love Honduras", and all…
Playground What was lacking in the home was a playground where the kids can play properly. Here, some of our colleagues fabricated a playground with local wood. It includes two castles and many accessories such as swings, slides, and a climbing wall, etc. Especially the little ones spend a lot of time rocking, climbing, slipping and enjoying themselves thoroughly.
Every child takes care of a plant In order to help the children learn how to take care of something, to maintain something lovingly and, above all, responsibly, we gave every child a plant for which he or she is responsible. They have to water their plant and treat it with care. Besides, we were also able to green our home a bit more.
Dia del Niño The idea of an international Children's Day probably derives from the Geneva World Conference for the welfare of the children, which took place in August, 1925, and to which representatives of 54 different countries came together and adopted the Geneva Declaration for the…
International drawing contest As every year, our kids participated in the drawing contest which was organised by „Food for the Poor“. The juniors (up to 12 years of age) had to follof the topic of “Christ has risen” and the seniors (13 and older) had to follow the topic of the Decalogue. All the kids made huge efforts since the top prize of 500 USD was a great and very attractive incentive for everyone. Luz Marina took the junior’s topic very seriously and tried to draw Matthew 28:6 „He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay“, which she managed to do really well. She was the winner of this international drawing contest. Luz Marina wants to give the 500 USD to her mother. They are a total of 8 children (from 8 different fathers) and she wants to rent or buy a small room for her mother. Unfortunately, we cannot just give the money to her dipsomaniac mother, since she would squander it for different things. In the senior’s group, Esteban made such an…
Volunteer Months David Böhler, Karin Eggenberger, Alessandra and Raffaela Zaugg visited us during 3 to 8 weeks and assisted us in our daily lives. David painted our outer walls, Karin helped in the Sala Cuna and sewed for hours. Alessandra and Raffaela predominantly helped in the kitchen and updated our homepage, which they then translated into English. Furthermore, the young ladies also crafted the gifts for the godparents and the sponsors with the children. The children really appreciated and enjoyed the volunteers‘ presence, since there was always something to do. We went out for pizza together, visited a playground and a fairground, went for ice cream with the little ones... but, most of all, they received lots of love, attention, security and a friendly smile from the Swiss.
José Luis We’re happy to announce the arrival of our new little home resident. His name is José and he is three years old. His very young mother gave birth to the premature baby at the IHNFA. In his first…
Floods In Honduras, June is the beginning of winter and also the beginning of the rainy season. This year we noticed this fact very quickly, as it rained heavily on the first few days already. As the sewer pipes are usually congested with garbage, it takes only a few minutes to flood the entire city of San Pedro Sula. The part of the city where we live, too, has been flooded several times. Fortunately, our property lies on a higher level than the streets, which means that we have been spared so far. One day, however, the water intruded into our classroom. All the children had to react quickly and grab a broom, and thus we got rid of the water very quickly.
Recently received children Our most recent home residents, Luis and Geovanni, are feeling very well and they both were lucky to be able to abandon their survival strategies on the streets and live a “normal” childhood without having to bear the responsibility of adults. Geovanni is currently in the integration class and he is a very…
Recently received children In fact, we did not want to receive new children at the moment, but sometimes we cannot say no. One day, a mother came with her two children Luis (3) and Geovanni (6) and told us that she lived on the street since the death of her boyfriend a month ago. Afterwards we found out that her children had to go begging, and even worse, that Geovanni had to pretend to have a leg paralysis so as to evoke pity and get more money. On the first day, Luis dug in the bin and I had to tell him that he did not have to eat food out of the bin here and that he would get enough food. Both had to be treated for worms and it is visible from day to day that they are happy here in the children’s home.
First communion Our children are raised catholically, as this is demanded by the nun’s school. This means that they have religious class every Saturday afternoon and four of our girls have passed the exam and the preparation for the first communion, which means that they got…
Midsummer with basic supplies problems The month of April is one of the hottest of the year with temperatures rising over 104° F (40° C). The electricity supply, unfortunately, has problems in providing electricity as so many air conditioners and fans are switched on. This means that electricity is rationed and the Hondurans do not have electricity during an hour or more every day. In order to prevent hyperthermia, high school starts at 6 a.m. and lasts until 11 a.m. Being without electricity is inconvenient but bearable. However, we did not have water, either, for two days, which is horrible. We thus asked the fire department to fill up our water tank, which they did. So at least we had enough water to cook, shower and flush the toilets. It is only in such situations that one gets aware of the importance of basic supplies which also helps appreciating them more.
Visit from a school class Every once in a while we get visited by students from private or public schools who have to…
Second floor The second floor is slowly but surely assuming shape; the handrail, the windows, the intermediate parts and the doors have been fitted and the bathroom floor has been tiled. Building the second floor takes a long time as only Edwing and Darling are working on it.
First midterm exams in school Our 30 elementary school students and our two high school students had to study hard during a whole week for their first midterm exams. Every afternoon, they had to repeat the subject material and memorize it. It was worth the effort, as everyone passed their exams with grades ranging from good to very good.
The settling down of recently received children Briny had some difficulties adjusting to the life in the children’s home, as she did not want to observe our rules. She was very lazy and avoided all the work. After talking to her several times, we pointed out that she would get a very good chance here, but that we would not hesitate to give her spot to a different child if she…
Second floor The second floor is slowly but surely assuming shape; the handrail, the windows, the intermediate parts and the doors have been fitted and the bathroom floor has been tiled. Building the second floor takes a long time as only Edwing and Darling are working on it.
First midterm exams in school Our 30 elementary school students and our two high school students had to study hard during a whole week for their first midterm exams. Every afternoon, they had to repeat the subject material and memorize it. It was worth the effort, as everyone passed their exams with grades ranging from good to very good.
The settling down of recently received children Briny had some difficulties adjusting to the life in the children’s home, as she did not want to observe our rules. She was very lazy and avoided all the work. After talking to her several times, we pointed out that she would get a very good chance here, but that we would not hesitate to give her spot to a different child if she…
Recently received children Our “yo quiero ser…” family has grown again; our new housemates are Engell (ca. one year old), Jaklin (ca. three years old), and Briny (eleven years old). Due to this growth, the Sala Cuna, which was established last year, was refurnished and now the seven youngest children have a nice place to sleep and live there. We do not know anything about Engell’s background or his family name. He was given to the IHNFA because of unreliable parents. Jaklin was born on the island Roatan, but was given to the IHNFA because of abuse and unreliable parents. Briny, too, has the same background history as Jaklin and came to us as a very shy, introvert girl without any self-confidence. All the three of them have settled in very quickly, are very happy and the energies of our children’s home have transformed them into happy, radiating children.
Second floor In the last days and weeks, our eldest boys as well as Edwing and Darling have worked hard on the second floor on top…
