This week was largely spent in the office with Rick working on financial documents and Cheryl writing lesson plans and looking for ESL activities online. Rick was suffering from a cold/flu for 4 days so he was less productive than usual. Back at la casa, el perro is causing us some grief but we're dealing with it.

Cheryl's ESL class grew from 5 to 7 this week. Members of the class are Schools of Hope (SOH) staff:

• Damaris is in her 20's and manager of the ERDO feeding program
• Delmys is a 30-year-old single mom who works with Damaris in the feeding program
• Ariel, Damaris' brother, is in his 20's, working as assistant to Victor who is the Manager of Child Care Plus
• Marvin is in his 20's and he is one of the part-time school Bible story teachers
• Claudia, sister to Damaris and Ariel, teaches the Seedlings program in the schools. She is newly married to . . .
• Edwin, who is another of the part-time Bible story teachers
• Rosa is 15, not a staff member, but goes to the same church (Victor's) as the others

Cheryl with her amazing students

 All of these young people are intelligent, motivated, compassionate Honduran citizens who have the potential to change the lives of their own families and those of the children they serve. Kathy has identified a need to offer them assistance with learning English so that they can take advantage of more opportunities within the ministry and in the larger city. Cheryl's purpose in building an English curriculum to leave here is so that anyone who has an interest in working with second language learners will be able to teach the class without any previous experience. Her hope is that this class will multiply into additional classes for community members, or through local churches, for people who cannot afford to pay for language study.

The in-school feeding program (ISFP) has been in operation for about four years. SOH  partners with 15 schools in 5 impoverished neighbourhoods on the fringes of the capital.  A collaboration between SOH team members and the school division prioritizes which schools will receive the program. Besides our program, the government of Honduras has made a commitment to provide 3 months of feeding for a segment of the population where poverty and lack of adequate food is an issue.  The government has not been able to keep that commitment in every case and so our ISFP has been able to fill some of the gaps.

The kinders receiving their morning drinks

The primary goals for the program are:

Increased cognition for the child

Children who are hungry are not able to concentrate and learn in class. This results in reduced learning and an overall inability to participate effectively in classroom activities, school sports days, and other school related functions. Feeding children on-site at school will increase their ability to succeed.

Better school attendance

Bottoms up

Children who have inadequate access to food tend to miss a lot of school due to lack of energy and nutrition-related illnesses.  In the school communities, female children are often kept at home to care for younger siblings on days their mothers can find work.  Free breakfast and/or lunch is an incentive for a child to attend and also motivates parents to send their children to school. 

Provision of basic nutrients

 Families in the targeted project areas are constantly struggling to feed their children.  It is not uncommon for children in these areas to have a breakfast of coffee and a small tortilla and not eat again until the evening.  The main meal prepared in the home is often dependent upon what has been earned that day by a parent.  Meat, milk and protein rich legumes are scarce. Provision of a protein-rich drink upon arrival at school provides a much-needed supplement to children's diets.

Almost 1,900 kids are fed through the program.  Public schools in the elementary grades run two shifts with one group of students attending in the morning and a second group in the afternoon. Therefore, the feeding program runs both morning and afternoon. (This means that before 6 am when we are walking the dog we see children heading to their bus stops.) An important component of the program is the involvement of the parents and school community to deliver the meals. SOH provides the food and often pays for the construction of a kitchen in the school, but all the labour to build the kitchen and operate the program must come from the parents and community.  We were privileged to attend the inauguration of a new kitchen at Bessy Watson school last Friday.  The program there has only been operating for one year and one of the classrooms was temporarily outfitted to serve as a kitchen while the school community organized and completed the construction of a self-contained kitchen on the school grounds. What a day of celebration they had, and the number of times they expressed gratitude to God and to the Canadian church that funded the kitchen was very touching.

There was an assembly where thank yous were given for everyone who contributed to the project

There was a special place set up for the Canadian team.

L to R:SOH Director Mizen, Manager of Child Care plus Victor Estrada, the school director,
ISFP managers Damaris and Delmys and three teachers

There are two ISF program managers - Damaris and Delmys - who work closely with a kitchen coordinator for each school to oversee the preparation of all the meals according to the standards and quantities as set by the Canadian funding organization. Both of these women live in the community and are employed by SOH. The coordinators receive an honorarium each month for their volunteer effort. Feeding the children each day can only occur if there are sufficient parent volunteers and a teacher supervisor. Mothers and grandmothers rotate each school day to come and prepare the meals.  If no volunteers show up on a particular day, no food can be served.  The ISFP staff circulate to each school throughout the day to ensure all is well and provide additional supplies as needed. 

Volunteer moms making tortillas

The first meal prepared is a hot drink that is made from cornmeal, soy and sugar with extra minerals.  It is served in a cup, looks like a smoothie, and gives the children a good shot of protein and energy.  The meal near the end of the school day consists of tortillas, rice and beans, typical Honduran fare.     

We would appreciate prayer for a water well project happening right now.  They have drilled over 500 feet and so far no water.   This project has been a long time in the planning and preparation and we are all wanting to see a successful well established.

We are very appreciative for all of you who are reading these posts! It is a huge encouragement to us and we are thinking of you every day.

Blessings,

Rick and Cheryl