Last Sunday, we all trekked across the street to go to church. Annie and I sat next to this girl, she was probably seven or eight, and man alive did she love to sing! She only needed to hear the first word of the song, and she would just start singing at the top of her lungs. The amazing thing was when a gringo started singing in English, she knew the English version of the songs too! Yet again reaffirming the fact that I need to learn Spanish...
After church we went down to Teguc and two groups came to shop at the Mi Esperanza store. Afterwards, we went and served pizza and cake at the Breaking Chains Homeless Shelter. This was quite the experience. This shelter is located right in the heart of the city, and many of the people - both men and women - that frequent the shelter are part of gangs. I also noticed the large number of young women who were pregnant, or who had young children running around.
Waiting in line for pizza and cake
Cute little girls - they were so happy to be eating pizza!
Steph and Christian handing out pizza and cake
It was hard to ignore the smell of glue on some of the kids, and many of the adults. They would get high in order to numb the pain of being hungry. Steph told us later that a few of the women almost got in a fight because one of the women was licking the icing off of used plates, and the others felt it was unfair. All the extra cakes were given away outside of the shelter in order to avoid an all out brawl.
I have to admit, I felt completely uncomfortable here. I honestly don't think I could work in this homeless shelter. I just felt on edge the entire time, and this was the only time I actually was scared while I was in Hondo. Don't worry - nothing would have happened to me, and I was surrounded by gringo's the entire time. I was probably scared because there were a lot of men around, and most of them were high. It also doesn't help that Hondurans don't appreciate personal space the way that Americans do, so some of them got a little too close for comfort for me. I talked to Janet about it later that evening, and she made a good point - every individual has their own capabilities, and may be better at one thing over another. I found it incredibly easy to sit with Karla and Karin, to give them hugs, and to play with Alejandro and Moises. Others may feel uncomfortable in that situation. I didn't have any second thoughts about going to Honduras in the first place, but many people wouldn't ever want to go there.
I wish I could do the type of work Amber Foster does with Breaking Chains, and I'm sad I didn't get the chance to meet her while I was there because I've heard she has an amazing story (she had to go back to the States for a wedding). I'm incredibly happy that she and other people have the passion for this type of work. Everyone deserves a fair chance at life, and she's giving chances to some of the poorest people in Honduras.
Buenas Noches
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