October 5, 2007
Greetings From El Cacao, Honduras (actually Tupper Lake, NY at the moment):
This e-mail is being sent to friends, supporters, and those who have expressed an interest in, our children’s project in Honduras. GREETINGS also to those who have volunteered with us and future visitors or volunteers! We have just returned to the US after completing 17 weeks of operation- our last regular day of the project for this session was September 14th (a day of chaos with 70 some kids showing up by the afternoon!) followed by “el dia de beisbol” on the 22nd. We are in the US now to take care of various personal and business matters and to rest a bit. We are attaching many photos, which hopefully show our activities more effectively than words. The titles of the photo files offer brief descriptions.
Our goals have included enhanced nutrition, exposure to books and reading, English instruction, meeting new people through volunteers and visitors, meaningful play and learning opportunities, and overall offering poor village kids a chance for fun and worthwhile activities where they otherwise would just sit around. Overall this first phase of Las Sonrisas de los Niños was gratifyingly successful and we to a large degree realized our goals. There are a few specific points we want to mention:
-Our employees, poor women from the village, had been preparing breakfasts and lunches for 40+ people at times on a single gas burner, until Rafael Linares, of the Central American Spanish School, and his wife made a generous donation of a full 4 burner stove with oven!
-We finally were hooked up to electricity in late August, allowing us especially to power fans (you have to be there to appreciate how hot the building gets by the afternoon!) and computers, among many other items.
-In regards to computers, we were able to buy 3 units at very low cost from a group called Helping Honduras Kids, which runs a nearby orphanage and many other projects. There is a general belief that knowledge of English along with computers is the best way for Honduran youth to have the opportunity to be successful, and now we are able to do both.
-We were very pleased to further develop our relationship with Helping Honduras Kids (www.helpinghonduraskids.org). They have given us a lot of support and we’ve been very happy to bring some of the kids from the orphanage over to play with our kids and use our facilities, giving them a chance to have some different experiences.
-We have been neither particularly good at fundraising nor particularly aggressive in doing so, but despite this we have been very fortunate to receive a number of donations. We especially want to thank Dave Riley and a group called Amigos of Honduras, Sam Burton (a high school student who stopped by one day with his father and sent us $200!), Kim Heath Van Maren, and the Rotary Club of Tupper Lake, NY.
People living in the “first world” take many things for granted, not just material wealth but also basic experiences and knowledge. In some of the attached photos you’ll notice arts and crafts projects, which are a very basic part of growing up for us but is an entirely new concept for many of the children living in the villages. Several volunteers brought with them rather impressive amounts of materials for arts and crafts and this enabled the kids to discover a whole new world of creating things with their own hands. This was enjoyed by not just the younger children but kids in their teens as well. We were thrilled when our kids excitedly took their creations home to show their families. The same can be applied to various card and board games and, with this in mind, WE ARE ASKING that people look in their closets (and the closets of friends, neighbors, and relatives) and send us (not to Honduras but while we are in the US) the following items if you are no longer using them:
UNO cards, “dress-up” items, Monopoly, soft rag type dolls, Lincoln logs, kids DVDs with Spanish language tracks (especially sing along ones and ANY involving baseball, such as The Sandlot), anything with wheels on it that is well made (the toy cars and trucks available in Honduras are at the bottom of the exports from China and last sometimes only a few minutes or seconds!), and ANYTHING else in the category of arts and crafts, toys, and games that are not too heavy and can easily fit into a suitcase. If anyone has these items, please send them to 33 Park Street, Tupper Lake, NY 12986, and THANK YOU!
We are lucky that Miriam, our friend, primary contact in the village, local advisor, and main employee who cooks, cleans, engages the kids, plays baseball, and everything else is living in the project building with her family while we are in the US. We plan to return in 2-3 months- Reid after Thanksgiving and Patricia after Christmas, and we should have the project back in operation early in the New Year. We have learned a lot, including things we need to do such as make storage space in the building and enlarge it to allow for a computer and library area away from the very active and curious hands of the younger kids. One thing we have learned is that we need on site help so…if anyone knows anybody that might have interest in volunteering on a long-term basis as the Activity Director, LET US KNOW. We’re not sure of how we will arrange things, but we’re thinking about providing a place to stay along with meals, and maybe other inducements.
We are going to do a major overhaul our website in the near future, so please visit us from time to time at www.lasonrisa.info. Otherwise, thanks to our supporters, contributors, visitors, people that help us out in many little ways both in the US and in Honduras, and everybody taking the time to read this. SPECIAL THANKS to those who have volunteered- each of you has shared with us your unique gifts and the kids will never forget you!
Adios y Nos Vemos,
Reid and PatriciaA family we think never had a photo before Andrea's turn at the piñata
At bat Chaos at the piñata closing day
Craft time Doing the Hokey-Cokey with volunteer Tim
Doing the Tooti Ta Fernando, one of the best students in English class
A field trip to the Cacao Lagoon A field trip to a mountain stream
Face painting Kids from Agua Dulce looking serious, except note the fingers
Making headbands Music time
Making mariposas (butterflies) Perhaps the cutest kid at the project
Playing outside by the lemon tree Reid's son Will with the recently created baseball team
Reid's son and kids posing by the computer Romel on his horse
Clarisa and her baby sister at the tire swing Baseball team leaders
The truth is, some kids liked the hats more than baseball itself! Brushing after lunch
Group photo with volunteer Kayla Volunteer Sasha cooling off with some kids
July 27, 2007
Greetings From El Cacao, Honduras:
This e-mail is being sent to friends, supporters, and those who have expressed an interest in Las Sonrisas de los Niños, our children’s project in Honduras. GREETINGS also to those who have now volunteered with us and future visitors or volunteers. We have just completed our 10th week of operation (the last update was sent after the 1st week) and can pretty well say our successes have outweighed our disappointments. We have developed a pattern- the morning is devoted to what might be called the daycare portion with mostly preschool-aged kids, and in the afternoon we drive down to the town center and pick up the school-aged kids. Our daycare attendance has been as low as 4, whereas today (July 27th, 2007) we had in the mid 20s, and ended the day with a 10 week record of 45. Generally if all or part of the local school is closed our morning attendance is fairly high. The afternoon influx is usually 15 to 20, so we typically end the day with 20 to 30 kids. Recently we started picking up now and then a few preschool-aged kids from a nearby orphanage for a few hours, which seems a great opportunity for them to get out a bit.
We were finally able to acquire two bio-sand water filters (free from a group called Living Water International), so we can feel better about using the water from the local supply (what the kids drink at home anyway), but more importantly we are able to use our well water with confidence when the local supply is out, which is fairly common. We still lack electricity though our small generator is finally repaired after 6 or 7 weeks out of service. Just this week we received an estimate for installation of electric service, which was both a shock and almost anger inspiring; this is a work in progress, but something we will do sooner than later, especially because we want to get a computer center functioning (we have the chance to buy three Pentium 2 type systems for around $35 each, which is an opportunity we can’t pass up). Probably the two best things we can offer these kids in terms of any future success, besides enhanced nutrition and reading ability, are basic ability in English and computer skills
We try to maintain three local women as our paid staff and fortunately we have a list of substitutes available, which we’ve had to employ quite a bit recently as two of our regulars have been out with sick kids and one quit- her reasons had nothing to do with not enough money or the other usual concerns but simply she was too exhausted- this is hard work! We enjoyed the comment of one of our volunteers, more than half our age, who said we had more energy at the end of the day than him, though we find it hard to believe as we can barely stay awake past 8pm.
Please note we need to return to the US in late September for 2 to 3 months, and will reluctantly suspend the project while we are gone. Our ultimate goal is to have the project able to function with local management, but we are not there yet. We are attaching 15 or so photos covering the last couple of months, with the file name generally describing the photo. You’ll note we invested heavily in a pool ($5) that has become a popular activity (today we had 7 school-aged girls splashing about at the same time!).
That’s it for now- thanks again to everyone for their interest and support and donations, and especially thank you to those who have volunteered their time with us- you know the kids miss you very much and we do as well!
Reid FitzSimons and Patricia Huenemoerder
Las Sonrisas de los Niños, www.lasonrisa.info
Get ready, get set..... Laying about
Jeffery always enjoys lunch Pool time with Patricia
We got a lot of mileage from our pool that cost 100 lempiras (about $5)
Teatime with volunteer Sasha A special treat
Spoonraces Tim, volunteer from Northern Ireland, on his last day at the project
May 26, 2007
Greetings From El Cacao, Honduras:
This is being sent to friends, relatives, supporters, and people who have
expressed an interest in our kid's project in rural Honduras- WE ARE NOW
OPEN as of Monday, May 21st! After about 3 years of thought, planning, and
increasing reality, it all came down to anxiously waiting at the project
site early Monday morning wondering how many kids would show up and how it
would all go. We know that poverty here tends to create fear of new things,
especially a couple of NorteAmericanos saying bring your kids to us! We
were worried there would be poor initial attendance, and were hoping for
maybe 6 or 8 kids. By Wednesday afternoon we counted 35, varying in ages
from a few months to mid-teens, and we had a new anxiety- TOO MANY KIDS.
All in all our first week has been successful beyond our imagining, though
it's been exhausting. Perhaps the most satisfying moment was as we were
closing on Friday afternoon for the weekend a bunch of kids asked it they
could come again tomorrow on Saturday.
We were fortunate to have a young volunteer with us from Canada during this
first week, along with a young local woman from a few villages over who has
expertise with kids, and we quickly realized how valuable they are. So-
THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE EXPRESSED AN INTEREST IN SPENDING TIME WITH US, WE
NEED YOU! If possible, to those who come, bring 2 suitcases, one filled
with your things and the other filled with used children's items. We
quickly learned we need coloring books, more books for children in both
English and Spanish (there are essentially no books available in Honduras),
toys in general and especially things with wheels, dolls, balls of any type,
and if anyone has a source, chewable vitamins for kids. Old baseball gloves
would be great as well. Having people here to volunteer is the best way to
benefit the kids, however (for the first time ever!) we are soliciting
money. Our first
week's experience shows it will cost $20-$30 a week to provide milk
(something we started this first week and plan on doing everyday) to the
kids, so that's one reference for a donation amount. You are welcome to
send us much more as well! Food costs are probably
going to be much higher than we anticipated due to the higher attendance- we
are serving cereal and milk to anyone there as we open and a full lunch (we
provided around 150+ lunches the first week). There is a mention of how to
make donations on our website at
www.lasonrisa.info.
Instead of writing what transpired during our first week, we are attaching 8
photos which shows a variety of activities, except there was a lot of
baseball going on but we didn't have any particularly good pics of that.
Thanks to everyone for their support and interest, all of which helped us
get to this proud and happy moment! Please let us hear from you if you get
a chance.
Nos Vemos,
Reid Fitzsimons and Patricia Huenemoerder
April 29, 2007
Hola From El Cacao, Honduras:
This e-mail is being sent to friends, supporters, and those who have expressed an interest in Las Sonrisas de los Ni ños, our children's project in Honduras,. We've been back in Honduras for around 6 weeks now and living near the project village for about a month (this is being written April 29th, 2007). After a somewhat slow start due to illness we've made pretty good progress, to the point that we should open the project in about two weeks.
Our secure 10 by 10 foot bodega (storage building made out of block with iron bars over the windows and door) is now finished, the inside of the project building is painted, we have a little patio in front of the building, and our pila (kind of a large concrete sink with a washboard built in) is now done. Originally we planned to have our electric service in place before we opened the project, but this has proven to be a complicated process in Honduras. We decided that, since our main stove is gas and we will be open during daylight hours, we will temporarily substitute our planned refrigerator for an ice chest and use our already purchased 2,500 watt gasoline generator for occasional electrical needs, such as fans.
Otherwise we need to clean up the surrounding area, especially from the construction of the bodega and keep clearing bush, which is an endless (at times it seems almost hopeless!) endeavor and a major source of employment for the people of the village. We have been on several shopping sprees, buying everything we anticipate needing from diapers and baby bottles to kid-sized hammocks and toothbrushes. We were very fortunate that a group young people from Belgium donated some toys and puzzles that will help us get started. The one thing we lack is a water filter- although the kids routinely drink the same water we receive; we know it's not sanitary (and they live farther down from the source than us) so we are going to install a low-maintenance bio-sand filter. There is an American couple here installing these filters as a project with the Rotary Club and a group called Pure Water for the World, and they have promised us a filter in the next couple of weeks.
One thing we knew we needed but dreaded buying was a vehicle. Commonly vehicles take up the largest part of the budgets of projects such as Las Sonrisas de los Ni ños, which is something we were and are determined to avoid. With a great bit of luck, and American who had been living in the mountains and studying birds for a PhD was going back to the US and needed to get rid of his vehicle, which ended up being the coolest vehicle in the world, a Toyota Land Cruiser, the same type we used when I was in Africa. These have a reputation for low maintenance and total reliability and in this case it proved to be a 1980 Jeep-style 4 cylinder diesel with indeterminate mileage. $3000; so far running great though lacking certain luxuries such as a passenger side windshield wiper and a speedometer.
The other day, with the help of Mariam (our main contact in the village), we gathered up 5 kids to have kind of a test run of the project. Patricia was not there when they arrived but soon thereafter, as she walked back, she heard the sound of children laughing coming from the building for the first time, which was very gratifying to her. We are attaching several photos from this, and also one of some instruction in baseball with the Land Cruiser in the background.
We are fortunate that many people have expressed an interest in coming to Honduras and spending some volunteer time with us, and a few actually already have tickets in hand! We greatly look forward to meeting them and hope they will have both an enjoyable and meaningful experience. Anyone that would like to come is welcome, perhaps combining time with Las Sonrisas de los Ni ños with a vacation…as mentioned on our website ( www.lasonrisa.info ) there is everything here from river rafting to learning Spanish to tropical beaches and islands to learning SCUBA diving (supposedly the least expensive place to do so in the world is on nearby Utila island). A note to those already planning on coming- scour your closets and hit all the garage sales for children's book in English and Spanish, tennis balls (we want the kids to learn the basics of baseball without risk of a hardball to the head!), crayons, baseball equipment, dolls, and toys in general. If anyone has a source of chewable children's vitamins, they would be highly coveted.
I guess that's it for now- thanks again to everyone for their interest and support, and for taking the time to read this e-mail!!
Reid FitzSimons and Patricia Huenemoerder
Las Sonrisas de los Niños
New photos:
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April 1, 2007
Greetings From El Cacao, Honduras:
This e-mail is being sent to friends, supporters, and those who have expressed an interest in our children's project in Honduras, Las Sonrisas de los Ni ños. We are using a new e-mail address, which is a little easier to access from here as well as manage mail groupings. Hopefully we won't be blocked by too many spam filters!
Patricia and I arrived on March 19th and immediately spent the first week sick (acquired mostly in the US). We were fortunate to have been invited to stay en la casa de nuestros amigos, Rick y Digna, but feel bad we spent much of the time there coughing, shivering, and all sorts of other things. Finally we were both well enough to travel about and had a happy reunion with Rafael (Director of the Central American Spanish School), Jesus (our contractor), Miriam (important member of the village board, the Patronato), Emilio (caretaker of our project site while we were in the US), and many others. Also we saw our completed project building for the first time, and were pleased in all aspects- it's really a nice looking building with plenty of room inside plus all the plumbing works (bathroom and kitchen sinks, shower, and toilet). Miriam very kindly kept the foliage cleared around the building but our future ball field has fully re-grown.
Before I go on and before I forget, Cacao has an important geographic feature in the form of a lagoon, which includes impressive mangrove trees and eventually leads to the Caribbean. Since we were last here in November, the lagoon was used for a large portion of a Survivor type reality show produced by a Columbian TV network. It's all over now, but during the process the wooden walkway was extended to the full open portion of the lagoon and there are ancient looking Mayan sculptures (actually made out of foam) about. This did provide at least temporarily economic benefit to the area.
Two things quickly became obvious to us. First, we are good at maximizing our allowable luggage on airlines and we carried down about 300 lbs. worth of materials on each of our last two trips; we have gradually acquired a number of tools and other items, including a generator and roto-tiller (a rarity down here); we received an unexpected donation of clothes and toys from Belgium- all in all we need storage space, so as this is being written Jesus is building a 10 by 10 foot bodega out of block (it should look like a smaller version of the project building), which should be completed in around two weeks.
Second, we determined that living in La Ceiba and commuting to Cacao via "chicken bus" (a common, slightly pejorative but somewhat accurate name for the old school buses from the US that are the mainstay of the public transportation system in Latin America) on a daily basis was not going to be practical in terms of getting the project going. Hence, I am writing this at our casita (little house) as night approaches on our second night living here near Cacao. It's a nice little place with electricity and water and only a five-minute walk from the project site.
Today is Sunday April 1st, 2007, and things we need to do in the next several weeks include getting electricity installed in the project building AND getting it set up for its intended purpose, such as little chairs and tables and bright happy paint. As we're doing that, we'll start locating the kids that will benefit most, and hopefully with the next update we'll be either very close to commencing this long-planned project or perhaps actually have it running!
Thanks to everyone for their interest and support, and for taking the time to read this!
Reid FitzSimons and Patricia Huenemoerder
Las Sonrisas de los Niños