We also played with the kids which is always fun. Little Evelyn, now there for her second day, is really blossoming already. When we first met her she was shell shocked. Eli reported that Suzy had picked her up from INFA Saturday night. They were in church together Sunday and Evelyn was almost paralyzed with fear. Today she was bright, smiling, and playing with the children. She and I shared many hugs. Her story, as much as I know, is that she was passed around from foster home to foster home, the last one a very abusive one. She is sleeping at Suzy's house to ease the transition. After the first day at SBV she exclaimed to Suzy, "Wow! Those children don't even say bad words!" Suzy laughed and exhorted her not to teach them any! Evelyn couldn't wait to get back to SBV the next morning.
By the afternoon we had finally gotten into the swing of things. It rained on and off which slowed us down. Well, it didn't slow Casador down. He just moved his routing shop to the covered patio and kept at it. Wilmer arrived with a different type of bolt and things really got cranking. Eli and Hunter got to experience mixing concrete which is really really hard. You pile 1.5 wheelbarrows of sand + 1 wheelbarrow of gravel + 1 bag of concrete, add water and mix with shovels. It gets harder and harder as the mixing goes on. It is heavy and awkward work. We managed to get 4 posts in the ground with cross beams. The first 2 took forever and the second two, once Wilmer got on site, took about 30 minutes! I learned that there would be a change in the makeup of the crew - William is being reassigned, Abel is joing the group. This is GREAT news. Abel is fantastic. Casador and Wilmer have hit it off and are joking with each other. Casador's Spanish has come roaring back.
Tomorrow, Hunter and I go to Flor del Campo to see the school and visit La Cantera. We will get a full briefing on the CAP program and how they have benefitted from the Beans in the Bag campaign. After that, as usual, I will do my part to support the Honduran economy at Valley of the Angels. It's not that I enjoy shopping for all those beautiful Honduran crafts, it is simply the least I can do to repay the hospitality and generosity of the wonderful Honduran people. (!) They truly are lovely,lovely people.
So, off to bed. We can all barely make it till 9 before we fall into bed after a hard day's work.
Hasta manana!
Amanda
Hunter is the human seesaw! At one point he was lifting 3 children!
Our progress at the end of the day...
Mixing concrete:
Sergio - muy fuerte (very strong)
Casador showing Elias the sky!
