So, here I am again, writing way past
the time I should have . . . but here's a brief update of what's been
going on:
The school year here is a little
different - it starts towards the end of January or the beginning of
February, and ends in November - so November was full of
end-of-the-year busyness. All of the girls had lots of testing (and
for some, lots of re-testing=/ . . .). The girls in Segundo
Bachillerato (essentially, the Juniors) presented the small business
that they have been developing for their “practicum” to a panel of the teachers and sisters, and to some of the other classes. Their business is called “Delichips”, and will be selling
organic potato and yucca chips. It's pretty impressive: they
developed the idea, researched their market, researched the costs and
the most efficient means of production, etc. Next year, they will
actually form their business, and produce, package, and sell their
product throughout Santa Rosa.
The presentation of Delichips
One of the hardest experiences I have
had to face here so far happened during the last week of the school
year . . . The dad of one of the boarding girls was shot by a
stranger who mistook him for a former Honduran politician. He was
placed in the hospital here in Santa Rosa, so we were able to offer
the girl and some of her family a place to sleep and eat. It was
pretty difficult for everyone, and it broke my heart to see how tough
it was on this teenage girl, and to imagine how such a traumatic
experience would affect the rest of her life. But I was very glad
that we could be there for her and her family, and honestly very
impressed with her bravery. For several days, we were almost sure
that he was not going to make it, but thanks be to God, he has been
slowly but surely improving (please keep him and his family in your
prayers . . . they have a long road ahead of them still).
Of course, this month was also full of
goodbyes . . . The boarding girls left in waves: some stayed for a
week of intense cleaning (that was fun=P), a few others stayed for
makeup tests, and the seniors obviously had their graduation. The
goodbyes were a little hard, and made me realize how much I've come
to love these girls. Pardon the cliché, but as it's been said,
“parting is such sweet sorrow”.
On our 'outing' at the end of the week of chores
The graduation was beautiful, and I was
so proud of all of the girls! (I was the photographer for the event,
and my camera battery didn't have enough juice to last through the
mass and ceremony; which meant that by the end, I was running back
and forth to charge the battery during any of the less-important
moments of the ceremony. It was quite a feat if I do say so=). The
good news is that my camera lasted up to the end; the bad news is,
that's all it lasted, and at this point it won't even turn on with a
full battery=/ . . .). It was especially hard saying goodbye to the
14 boarding girls who graduated - I'm going to miss those seniors so
much next year!
The graduation mass
Graduation
These last days have been a bit of a
change of pace. With the girls gone, the school is pretty quiet.
The sisters have been traveling for meetings and family visits, so we
have even been missing several of them (we have had several visits
from sisters from other parts of the province, which has been nice).
I have had little jobs around the school to do for the sisters, but
in general my time is not quite as occupied, so I was finally able to
make a visit to the Sisters of Charity here in Santa Rosa.
Essentially, the work they do here is with small children who are
orphans or abandoned, and with children who come in to the hospital
malnourished and simply need a place to spend a couple of weeks where
they can get the sufficient care to become healthy again. Some of
the stories the sisters told me of the kids were hard to hear, but
they are doing beautiful work, and I hope I can visit them a few more
times in this vacation period.
So, here's my thought for the month:
God is amazing. We have a pretty messed up world, full of a lot of
pain, suffering, violence, injustice . . . . But God enters this
world. Through the incarnation, He – Love - came into contact with
this same suffering, took it on, and transformed it. He didn't
ignore the cross, or even wipe it out of existence, but made it into
something beautiful. My time here in Honduras has put me into more
contact than I think I have ever had in my life with the pain that
people experience in this world. Yet love, expressed even in the
simplest things – a hug for a girl going through a hard time, a
smile of a Sister to an orphan toddler, a few words of gratitude and
encouragement at a goodbye – has this amazing power to add a
transforming dimension of beauty to the pain.
Happy first week of Advent!
