Pre-Christmas time During the pre-Christmas period many groups, schools, clubs, companies and individuals visited us in the mornings or in the afternoons. Games were played, walls got painted and clowns came along for the entertainment. Once we even received a homemade cake with the "yo quiero ser ..." logo as well as a lovely lunch which was followed by obligatory piñata “ceremony”. For our children joining last, this was the first time that they received a Christmas present. It was a very nice experience to receive presents from other children and from people which seemed at first strangers and suddenly became family friends. The situations sums up live, it is all about giving and taking. We even dare to belief, that it helps the other children, the givers, to appreciate what they have at home in their families. The Altia business centre has a game paradise for children and invited all the inhabitants of “yo quiero ser…” for a treat. We were allowed to mingle in the "fairground" and…
Adios Engel Our five-year-old angel (Angel Aldair), who had been living with us for three and a half years, was put up for adoption. His adopting mother, who comes from Madrid, was allowed to pick him up on his birthday and we had to say "goodbye" forever. For all of us, this day was very special. On one hand, we were able to celebrate a great birthday party with cakes, piñata and a water balloon fight. On the other hand, the farewell was very difficult. Despite the certainty that he will be doing well in Spain and that he has found a loving adoptive family, it hurts us when our "yo quiero ser ..." family gets torn apart. We have no choice but to be grateful that we were allowed to accompany him for several years and we keep these beautiful memories in our hearts.
Graduation 2016 With great joy and in high anticipation did the school year 2016 finally come to an end and ALL children brought home good to very good grades. For us it is always a day full of celebrations when the children…
Long longed holiday in Santa Rosa de Copán After more than one and a half years we could finally go back to Santa Rosa de Copán and enjoy there our favourite vacation. During the time of construction of the vocational training centre, there was no running water, a lot of noise and dirt, and therefore not the ideal site for a holiday with many children. The new vocational training centre offers a lot of space, in the near future, this will then be used as an educational institution but temporarily we have transformed it into our getaway. Training premises were turned into dormitories and life has filled the new walls for the first time. We were able to spend wonderful, relaxing and happy days. The older girls helped actively in the kitchen while the older boys supported the masons with the construction of the outer wall and the little ones enjoyed the beautiful nature and freedom. We went often for walks, played a lot table games or hide and seek, spent time with the pets, organized…
It is a privilege to save childrens’ lives For many children there is no space in the Honduran society because the state often ignores the sad fates the children face on a daily base. This was also the case with the two sisters Daysi and Yossely, which are since end of April at “yo quiero ser…” (Newsletter May). Today, one year ago, Deysis‘ life has been change forever thanks to a heart surgery by American surgeons. During the last four months, she has gone through many progresses and is now able to crawl, to do acrobatic tricks alike a split and she even eats porridge. The most magnificent thing is though, that she can LAUGH, she laughs full heartedly. At the beginning, her inner light seemed to have been switched off and we were able to witness how she found to a most likely unprecedented inner glow. Also her older sister, the 4 year old Yossely, came with an empty heart to us, barely spoke and was mainly grave. We thought she might suffer from hearing problems but all medical test…
Poverty, crime and corruption dominate the country of Honduras. That’s at least how I learnt it from the media. I was though interested to find out more about a life under such cicumstances. How do those three catchwords translate into a daily life of human beings? This curioustiy made me decide to to travel for seven weeks to San Pedro Sula as a volunteer at the "Yo quiero ser ...". When I sat on the airplane somewhere between Miami and San Pedro Sula, I tried to imagine how Honduras will really be like. It arose to me, that I would encounter in Honduras many poor people. However, I could not grasp what that would really feel like and therefore did I not worry any longer what I will be faced with. Feelings of excitement and curiosity settled in. I was looking forward to leave my daily routine behind me for a while and to discover another world. For seven weeks I was allowed to experience what poverty, crime and corruption really means. The reality in Honduras was…
Arrival of the container Once again, we had the utter honour to receive a 40 foot container transport from Switzerland to Honduras, organized and sponsored by Kühne + Nagel as well as the van Kesteren Foundation. This time around the IT delivery had the highest priority, which was spaced out on five palettes, followed by the USM-furniture, bicycles, clothes, school material, diapers and many more things. The customs clearance in Honduras is every time a big challenge or moreover a nightmare. Luckily, this time around the container arrived in time, nothing has been damaged and the customs officials were to our surprise not fussy at all and worked astonishingly efficient. We would like to express our endless appreciation for all the donations we were able to receive.
Project „School helps School“ The project “School helps School” finds its roots in the vocational training centre of Schaffhausen, Switzerland, where Rainer Lenz and his apprentices took in “old” IT material, they…
New children At the beginning of the month, we grab the chance to help four siblings, Sacha (8 years old), Keysha (6 years old), Tyrone (3 years old) and Maedelle (1 year old), who were in a miserable situation. They needed a home and we had fortunately the capacity to take them in. If we wouldn’t have reacted, they would have been homeless just the following day. Their mother was unable to pay the rent due to her unemployment which counted its fifth month. Due to the financial situation did the children also suffer from malnourishment which was clearly visible. Furthermore, were the children not attending school the whole past semester which was just one more factor to get us immediately active. When children have to face such difficult circumstances we can’t look away, it always breaks our hearts seeing the children suffering under the immense struggle the parents are going through. As long as we have space within the secure walls of “yo quiero ser…”, we try our outmost to take them…
New Children The saying of Khalil Gibran “you have to wander through night, if you want to experience dawn” fits perfectly the story of our two new arrivals. The two sisters, Deysi (18 months old) and Yossely (4 years old) went through a very tough childhood. A year ago both of them came to the state care home DINAF and Deysi even had the chance to experience true family love and warmth in a foster home. They enabled her to have an open heart surgery past September, which saved her life and which actually made her start living life to the fullest. Under the momentarily circumstances, she is doing exceptionally well. She is off medication but attends regularly physiotherapeutic treatments which willeventually allow her to start crawling and developing as desired. Yossely was in the department for undernourished children because with her 4 years of age, measuring 76 cm and weighing 9.4 kg, it means that she is in a physical state of a 10 months old child. Our challenge is it now to…
New Children Two siblings, Jeimy (5 years old) and Manuel (2 years old), are our newest habitants in the children home. They enjoyed a very warm welcome from all our children and staff members. Their parents are imprisoned and the aunt was supposed to take the children into custody. Unfortunately, was she completely overwhelmed and could not handle the situation that is why she left the children at the prison. Jeimy is a very witty and active little girl. She is now attending kindergarten and she loves it. Manuel is our little sunshine; he is very content and loves to eat. Both felt right after their arrival very homey, it did not take them long to adjust to the new environment. Every evening are both of them filled with joy when they can go to their own children bed, which feels so cosy to them, because before they only had a cardboard to sleep on.
New Playground In 2013, a new wooden playground has been built for the children. Unfortunately, do the bark beetles like our playground…
The school’s Inauguration with the Japanese presence On March 7th was the official inauguration of the school Dionisio de Herrera in San Pedro Sula after the big refurbishment. As the renovation process was done with Japanese support, we were delighted to welcome the Japanese ambassador Kenji Okada, the Japanese Consul Karim Qubain, the manager of the Japanese cooperation Tsuyoschi Sasaki, the manager of TN5 Matutino Juan Carlos Sierra (TV), the members of the citycouncil Dr Jaar and lawyer Gloria Milian, as well as the local press. We are very proud, that our foundation was highly honored for the professional work concerning the accounting, transparency and reliability. Being thankful for the opportunity to successfully finish this project, we do hope that the positive feedback will open doors for future projects.
Josue is going to school Josue, who is suffering the fetal alocohol syndrome, is turning eleven this year. Due to his disability we weren’t able to find a suitable school…
Edwing’s 50th Birthday Edwing, one of our directors and father figure for the children, celebrated his 50th Birthday on February 4th. What a great opportunity for a party. The team set up a lovely lunch outside, where everyone enjoyed good food, lots of cake and of course Piñata. This time the Piñata was prepared by the adults for a change. The following sing-along party went on all afternoon with a lot of singing and dancing.
The visit of Gerard van Kesteren Again this year Gerard, his wife Teresa and his son Anthony came to visit for a couple of days. Over the years Gerard and his family became very close friends and there is always pleasant anticipation before they arrive. Gerard enjoys great popularity, as he always pampers the children. One day we visited the ongoing project of the vocational training unit in Santa Rosa. We were surprised and pleased about the good process they made, considering that most of the work is done by hand. The next day we all went to mass and enjoyed…
Still Christmas in January As most of the presents and cards of our Swiss godparents arrive a couple of weeks later, X-Mas for our children still goes on in January. For the kids this remains a memorable moment, when they realize that there a people far away, thinking and caring about them. Some of the godparents send big parcels with books, pencils, cookies and lots more. In the name of all children: Thank you so much!
Visits Again this month we had a lot of visitors. Some university and church groups came along to interact with the children. They were dancing and singing, putting on makeup and practicing performance. Besides a lot of fun, our visitors brought some snacks and of course Piñatas.
Coca Cola excursion San Pedro Sula, a very industrial city, does not have many green spots. One of the few is the mountain Meredon, with a big Coca Cola sign on top. Our goal was, to hike up this mountain and reach the sign at the top. As the kids are very active playing football and riding…
