December began with an NPH Soccer Tournament, which we, NPH Honduras, had the privilege of hosting. After months of preparations, including the children hauling bags of dirt and working to help construct a new soccer field, the big week finally came. A men’s and a women’s soccer team came from each of the corresponding NPH Central American homes in Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador and Mexico to represent their countries, along with a few directors and support staff. Half of our kids moved out of their homes and into the hogars of the younger children for the week, sleeping on their cots on the floor to accommodate the several hundred extra people we had on the Ranch. After a big opening ceremony with the national anthems from each country represented and a running of the torch, the games began. Our days were very long. Games were played on two fields, men’s and women’s, from 8am until 5pm for four days. In the evenings, we had community dinners or special activities. One night each Country delegation shared their culture with the rest of us, by presenting their traditional homeland dance, with costume and all.
The Clinic staff set up a very well equipped first aid station contained inside our Micro-bus, converted ambulance, which luckily only had to make a few trips to the hospital for x-rays. Each morning our external clinic staff would hurry to get all our work done and finish with our patient consults so that we could catch as much of the games as possible. Our Honduras Boys team did very well and made it to the finals. After a very suspenseful game, they won in a shootout and after the final goal was scored, the field was immediately stormed with hundreds of children and adults. It was a very exhilarating experience as we all encircled the team and ran a victory lap around our home field. The week was concluded with an awards ceremony, fireworks, and a fiesta. Overall, the kids made fast friends with our visitors and apart from being excited to have their own space back, they were sad to see their friends go. I think it was a valuable experience for them to interact with kids just like themselves, but from other cultures and countries.
After the tournament, I had just one week to count down until a very brief but much anticipated visit home to the states. Since volunteers work every day for 2 ½ weeks straight during Christmas with the kids, we got 5 days off prior to assuming our positions as caregivers before their guardians left for vacation. I took advantage of this gifted break and added a few more vacation days on to be able to make a 6 day trip home to see my family in Utah. It was an interesting experience when I re-entered the Atlanta airport, almost exactly 1 year after I had left it, to hear English spoken all around me, and I was a little overwhelmed by all the vendors and hustle & bustle. On my first morning home I had an interview with the University of Minnesota, Doctorate of Nursing program, and after that I was able to begin my relax.
It was such a wonderful feeling to be able to curl up on the couch with a hot drink and Christmas music, and take in twinkling lights of the tree and the abundance of holiday decorations. My whole family was home together. We played board games, had a Welcome-Home Christmas party with our family friends and neighbors, went tubing in the snow, and celebrated an early Christmas, before I left on Tuesday December 20th. I even got to see my brother in action working at Best Buy. It was a dream to sleep in a bed that I didn’t feel the boards through, and eat delicious home cooked meals and baked treats. I also was able to squeeze in a visit to Salt Lake City to visit all my friends and roommates from last year. As I knew they would, the days passed all too quickly and it was time to return again to my home in Honduras. But instead of wishing that I was staying or that I was coming home sooner, my visit home somehow reinforced my confidence that I made to right decision to stay here until May. I didn’t quite feel ready to begin life again in the States and still felt the call to be here in Honduras with the kids, tackling the work that is never finished.
Christmas with the kids so far has been a wonderful event. I’m not sure if it’s just the spirit of Christmas in the air, or that the caregivers are gone and it feels much more laid back because the university and high school kids are running things, or that I am not working much in the clinic and get to enjoy just being a volunteer and spending time with my girls. Christmas Eve is the big day of celebration here. After a short Christmas pageant video done by the kids, we went down to the field by the swimming pond to celebrate the evening. The maintenance crew had strung lights all in and around the trees, so that the whole place magically twinkled. Tables were set up on the patio so that we could all share a traditional Honduran Christmas Eve dinner of tamales together. There was a dangerously huge bonfire that could have kept you warm from 30 feet away, and fireworks flying all over the place. The kids each got a chocolate bar, apple, and grapes for their midnight snack. There was an outdoor movie set up, our only male volunteer dressed up as Santa Claus and handed out candy canes, and we had marshmallows for the kids to roast over some smaller fires. When the clock struck midnight, everyone ran around sharing a Christmas hug.
I spent Christmas Eve night with the girls so that I could play Santa in the morning. By the time we finally got back to Hogar after the Christmas party, it was 1:30am, then they all piled their cots on the floor and started a movie, as promised. They woke me up at 3:30am after it finished asking “Which one do we get to watch next?” And a little exasperated, I told them that Santa would not be coming for children who were up after 4am in the morning. When I woke them up in the morning to ‘Feliz Navidad’ playing on my laptop, and told them that Santa came, I have never seen children run so fast to the main room. It was my first year playing the role of parent and setting up for Christmas, making sure that all their stockings were hung with care. Thanks to my mom, Grandmother, and a few other visitors who had donated individual and community gifts, the girls were well taken care of on Christmas. After sharing presents, the girls got dressed and picked out clothing items and/or little toys to give away. The “Orphans” of NPH on Christmas morning divided into three different groups and walked miles to three neighboring impoverished villages, to give away belongings so that others could receive gifts on Christmas as well. If that isn’t a lesson on generosity and living as a child of God then I don’t know what is? After two and a half hours of walking round trip, we finally made it back and got ready for Christmas Mass. After mass, we volunteers indulged in our own Christmas dinner party enjoying some of our favorite dishes from home. Although this was my first Christmas not spent with my family, it was a very joyous experience for me where I learned to appreciate new traditions and look beyond the importance of gift giving to the true meaning of the season.
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What a beautiful post, Heather-- thanks for sharing! I love reading along with your experiences and all the stories you share. Your gifts are being put to great use everyday there it seems. Merry Christmas and Happy 2012 to you!
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