Our day started extra early so we could make it to the LAMB Institute school in Flor del Campo in time for the children’s weekly assembly. There are approximately 300 children ranging from daycare for babies to 4th grade. They all assemble on the concrete upper playground each week for a program. Several groups of children will perform for the rest of the school and visitors. This week we were treated to a puppet show by several of the kids! The audience is very well behaved with the requisite amount of squirming, whispering, and giggling you would expect from so many children. They, of course, are all adorable. This was the 4th assembly I have attended. I thought I had it down as far as what to expect and what the overall experience would be like. Naturally, I was wrong. One of the teachers stood up and showed a picture of a little girl named Emily. She went on to explain that Emily is a little girl in San Francisco (yes, our San Francisco, CA) who is very sick and needs expensive medical care (they said a $1500 treatment of some sort.) The teacher explained that Emily really needed the children’s help so they would be collecting money to send to Emily. She asked them to see if they could bring in one or two lempiras for Emily. (note: exchange rate is about 19 lemps per dollar) Then she led the children in prayers for Emily. Take a moment to think about that. These children come from poverty most of us can’t even imagine and yet they are collecting money and praying to help a child far away. The children were not shocked or baffled by the suggestion. They are being taught to give to and serve others just as we teach our children to do so. The joy and privilege of giving is not reserved for the affluent. Here is a picture of the children praying for Emily:
Next we headed into La Cantera. There really isn’t a way to describe the entire experience, certainly not in this forum. I am not sure I can even put all of it into words. The people there are the statistics of extreme poverty. We see the impoverished on TV, in magazines, in books but there is something very different when you are invited into their homes, learn their names, get to know them. Suddenly extreme poverty has a face, a name, 2 children in the yard, an aspiring student, a hopeful entrepreneur about to begin a micro business. We met the family whose home had been destroyed by fire and is being rebuilt as a joint venture between LAMB and the local government. We met the family for whom one of our teams had built a house 3 years ago. There are 11 people living there. Finally, we visited Sonya. We all gathered in her courtyard (remember, all these terms I use very loosely) on a hot, sunny morning. She was very concerned about our comfort and didn’t want us to burn in the sun. She invited us into her home and was insistent that we sit down. Once we were comfortable, she began to tell us about her family and her work. (She makes from scratch 1000+ tortillas a day to sell on the streets) Suddenly, Sonya broke down in sobs. We learned that her mother, sitting on the sofa next to us, was gravely ill. (We think she has congestive heart failure and an ovarian cyst.) She is scheduled to have surgery later this month but that is very uncertain. The doctors have told Sonya that her mother is not expected to live. They can’t affort all her medications. Sonya was bereft. By this time we were all crying. It was impossible not to be deeply moved by their pain. Fr. Jamie laid his hands on her mother and gave her a blessing. Then David told us that Sonya had an urgent request of our team -- would we please pray for her mother? We all joined hands while Fr. Jamie led us in prayer and assured them both that they would continue to be in our prayers. We left La Cantera in silence, all of us unable to speak, stunned by the entire experience.
We made our way to the nursery to see the precious babies there. It was restorative to see and play with them. A hug from a baby can be so comforting. From there we had lunch in a Honduran restaurant and then off on our shopping trip. Bonnie and I cleaned ‘em out. I have to say that it was only because we were buying items for the Art Auction to raise money for LAMB that we were able to do this. After La Cantera, I don’t think I could have done souvenir shopping for myself. As it was, it was a bit surreal.
Tomorrow – back to SBV for another day of hard work!
