¡Después de un mes!

After a month, life here in Honduras is starting to fall into a regular rhythm and even the heat is beginning to feel normal! Our Water Project Team has really come together over the last few weeks, as our project was officially given the go ahead from the Canadian office and the Latin American Director came to lead a week of training for the new Honduran team members. Since this is a start-up project, there have been plenty of opportunities for learning as we work together to analyze and enter needs assessment data, develop Health & Hygiene curriculum and resources, secure sources for filter construction materials, test flow rates to develop procedures for sand-washing and installation, meet with and develop relationships with pastors and leaders in the communities, establish locations for construction and H&H lessons within the community and develop our plan of attack for the next three years! Currently, two communities have been selected as appropriate and very needy candidates for our program, they are both slums within the city, referred to here as 'bordos'. This will be the very first time that SP has done a water project in an urban slum and we are very excited to be a part of this pilot venture! The main source of income and housing supplies in these communities come from garbage collecting and you often see little horse-drawn carts around the city with bordo inhabitants carrying their 'goods'. The time that we've spent in the communities, meeting the families and seeing the distended bellies of kids suffering from parasitic infections has deepened my enthusiasm and hope for this project as I have been reminded of the reality of living in extreme poverty. Although we have not yet commenced building filters in the community, we feel very fulfilled in the work we are doing now to prepare will help lay down a solid groundwork to enable this program be one of high integrity and sustainability.

Los Bordos
The 'Filtros de Vida' TeamAspects of the filter construction/sand testing processSifting the sand
Washing the sandDemolding the filterOutside of our project, we have continued to keep ourselves busy trying to get involved in the San Pedro Sula community and get to know this beautiful land! A few weekends back, I had a wonderful opportunity to help out at a camp near the mountains and be the resident "pyro", building huge fires for the 150 campers to cook on. The scene was perfect as we had to hike through the junglish woods for a kilometre and cross through a river to get to the fire sites, where we were met with the challenge of fire-starting with damp wood and no kindling! It was cool to see the Honduran alternatives to some of our Canadian trip favourites, as they made what we would call a 'tinfoil dinner', except here the food was wrapped in a banana leaf! Awesome! Another weekend, two friends from work and I traveled to Lago Yojoa in the interior of the country, apparently the nation's only real lake. It was a gorgeous spot in the shadow of the mountains and we had a fun time sleeping in our SP Canada-provided 'mosquito tents' at the base marina of the Independance Day sailing regatta! With our see-through netted walls, headlamps and guacamole we were quite a sight, but I think we provided some good entertainment for the locals..and the machine gun clad, military attire guards that passed back and forth all night :)

Lago Yojoa In the city, we've kept ourselves busy attending Honduran soccer games, visiting local markets and one early morning I got to hike up one of the surrounding mountains to get a beautiful view of the whole city. On the way up we had an exciting sighting of a REAL TOUCAN!! My new friend, with a well-tuned ear for tropical birds (?!), heard it calling and spotted it on a nearby branch. I was pretty much over the moon at the idea of seeing a toucan in its natural environment and was once again reminded of how lovely our surroundings here are! We have also been taking advantage of this tropical setting by making fruit a VERY regular part of our daily life...so basically, I'm in heaven :) This weekend we came upon the MOTHER of all papayas at the downtown market, 12 lbs of deliciousness! We have decided that any Halloween celebration we hold will need to include papaya carving!
Our Spanish classes at a local 'Academia' have recently ended and Anthea and I were sad to leave our slightly scatter-brained, yet incredibly sweet 'maestra', Arele. We enjoyed many a hot and sometimes stormy afternoon with her, working our way through an array of 'cosas de Español' and enjoying a regular 'cafecito'. Although my ability (or inability) to communicate still frustrates me somedays, I know that my understanding and comprehension has improved- which says a lot here, where muttering, slang and consonant-dropping is rampant!
The weeks ahead hold lots of promise for more adventures, challenges and deepened relationships, big steps in our project and as always, lots of opportunities to learn and have FUN! I am feeling God's blessing so richly during this time and am so thankful for all the support, prayer and kind words I have received from home!
The beautiful view of San Pedro from the mountain top.Kara and I at first Honduran 'futbol' game!My desk at Spanish SchoolMr. ENORMOUS papaya and his little fruit friends

¡Nosotros estamos en Honduras!

We’ve finally made it to Honduras and have now spend nearly a week getting to know our new country! Currently we are living in the city of San Pedro Sula on the North Coast of the country in a valley lined by big, green, lush mountains. Although, San Pedro is the industrial capital of the country, compared to other ‘industry towns’ I’ve seen, it is pretty nice! Surrounding the city is plantation after plantation of bananas, African palm (for palm oil) and coffee. As with most Latin American countries, the huge disparity among the rich and poor is visible everywhere, with small pockets of slums in the shadows of American chain restaurants and malls.
The Samaritans Purse office here is involved in a wide range of projects that reach out to the needs of both the urban and rural communities of Honduras. They range from HIV/AIDS prevention, testing and treatment centres to school feeding programs to animal husbandry and agricultural development programs to our water, health, nutrition and sanitation program. It is very exciting to see all that’s going on and to meet the national and international staff. In an attempt to attain holistic development for the communities we work with, our water filter project is going to be combined with a health, hygiene and sanitation program. Earlier this week we were able to travel out to some of the possible communities and speak with the women about the struggles they face in their daily lives in order to understand their perspectives so that we can tailor our program to their needs. It was sooooo incredible to be able to speak with people and to know that our main objective over the next few months is to work WITH them to improve the situation! All that time in school studying about the science behind water quality, the diseases it can cause and the technologies and education to improve it and now we actually get to use that knowledge to help real people! So excited for the net few weeks as things start rolling!
As for our living situation, currently we are in a beautiful apartment near the office with two American interns, Krystal and Kara. The four of us are all around the same age and have similar interests like being active, getting to know the culture and people better and exploring this country! So far we have had a great time together! On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at a government ‘orphanage’ for girls that have suffered sexual abuse on the street or in their homes. The stories that some of the girls shared of their lives before, and since they’ve been in the home were heart wrenching. Some of the girls as young as thirteen already have children of their own that live there as well and we got to hold many a newborn baby. Together we played lots of games (some true competitors in the crowd ☺), made beaded necklaces, painted faces and just hung out. It was sad to meet face to face the victims of such abuse and tough circumstances, but so exciting and encouraging to see the tough spirit and joy still present in so many of those girls! Each day we learn of situations that make me realize how incredibly blessed I have been in my life!