At this point I have lived at the farm for about 7 and a half months. I now find comfort and beauty in the simple life of rural Honduras. I even make pretty good tortillas from scratch. As any former international volunteer or exchange student will tell you, this level of comfort in no way removes one's old tastes for movies and fancy frozen coffee drinks. A week ago Betsy and I headed to Ceiba to collect our Honduran residency cards. While in the "big city" we celebrated our new found residency by partaking in every American activity we could find. We had Dunkin Donuts...twice, saw Thor in theaters (1st movie theater since August), ate at Pizza Hut, got ice cream (twice as well), and ate at the one legitimate Italian restaurant in Ceiba. It was amazing, we thought it could not get any better...then Thursday arrived.
Every Thursday we get mail, and this week I received a much expected package from my parents...the Harry Potter 7 DVD. As a self proclaimed Harry Potter lover/ addict, not being able to see this film since its release in November had been somewhat frustrating. Last night, myself, and fellow HP lover Betsy, and 2 other vols broke out some care package candy leftovers and watched the greatness that is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 at last. It was truly amazing, closest movie to the book yet.
In summary, american junk food and Harry Potter, no matter where one moves, never cease to be amazing!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Happy Mother's Day!
So every 2 weeks we send out an email to the parents, here is a fun one I recently wrote about our efforts as vols to help raise our 36 amazing kids here at the farm.
Dear Parents,
There is an old adage that states “It takes a whole village to raise a child.” Here at the finca, we live this adage on a daily basis. With the exception of Ted, Keenan, Nils, and Phil, who play a fatherly role, the rest of us are called to belike mothers in some form to our kids. So in the spirit of Mother’s Day, here is an update on how we are faring in our attempt to raise 36 kids here at the finca.
Alisha continues down the crazy and mysterious road that is raising a teenage boy as the encargada (person in charge of) of Arturo in Ceiba.
Amanda finds humor and joy while teaching the wonderfully awkward and entertaining fifth and sixth graders.
Betsy proves a true renaissance woman as she teaches health and computers to first through ninth grade, tackling whatever growing pains arise in her many classes.
Erin is taking a brief vacation back in the states while her teenage “daughters” Marina and Dalila continue to grow and become more and more independent in Ceiba.
Deirdre is also taking vacation, but will soon be back to take care of all our kids medical needs, delivering bandaids and meds with a smile, and if your lucky a sticker too!
Francesca finds joy in caring as social worker for our littlest girls and boys, always managing to make sure they find their constantly lost sandals and have plenty of coloring pages to color!
Georleny cares for our kids many psychological needs with a giant heart and a busy schedule.
Jacob and Rachel recently celebrated the 4th and 6th birthday of their kids Isaac and Jonah, while also finding time to take fun walks around the campo with their adorable 18 month old Ruben.
Kate, as 3rd and 4th grade teacher, is learning that multiplication tables are a fun conversation piece at any hour of the day.
Keenan faces the challenge of explaining algebra and life in general to his never dull middle school students.
Kristina continues to think up new and exciting ways of helping to develop the kids’ spirituality as the director of spiritual life.
Lily never faces a dull moment as she serves the girls of house 2 and the teenage girls of house 6 as social worker.
Mary Kate is discovering that the more she attempts to teach special ed, the more her students teach her.
Nely, as the teacher of the adorable and ever energetic first and second graders, is finding the hidden joys that accompany learning about insects and number lines.
Nils, works hard to make sure all our kids sleep safe at night as encargado of security, while also teaching our teens in the middle school the basics of science.
Phil, is enjoying a hard earned vacation after making sure every little mouth was fed for the past 7 months as the man in charge of purchasing and distributing all of our food.
Scarleth continues to meet our kids psychological needs with hard work and a compassionate heart.
Sheena, the social worker of our boys ages 10 and up, is enjoying teaching her boys the great foreign sport of basketball with our newly constructed basketball hoop.
Tami, after a brief vacation is back in action as the sub director of our school, providing our school discipline and direction guided by a kind and gentle heart.
Ted, as our maintenance man, works hard daily to make sure our kids facilities and fields are ready for whatever they need.
In summary, we are all learning the different challenges and joys that accompany the raising of children of all different ages. In turn, we would like to say thank you to you all, especially our mothers on your special day. You all have successfully raised us through each one of these phases with loving care. Thank you for your patience, support, and most of all you loving commitment to our well being. May you have a blessed Mother’s Day and find peace in the knowledge that all your children are safe and well here at the finca.
Best,
Mary Kate and the rest of the finca vols
Dear Parents,
There is an old adage that states “It takes a whole village to raise a child.” Here at the finca, we live this adage on a daily basis. With the exception of Ted, Keenan, Nils, and Phil, who play a fatherly role, the rest of us are called to belike mothers in some form to our kids. So in the spirit of Mother’s Day, here is an update on how we are faring in our attempt to raise 36 kids here at the finca.
Alisha continues down the crazy and mysterious road that is raising a teenage boy as the encargada (person in charge of) of Arturo in Ceiba.
Amanda finds humor and joy while teaching the wonderfully awkward and entertaining fifth and sixth graders.
Betsy proves a true renaissance woman as she teaches health and computers to first through ninth grade, tackling whatever growing pains arise in her many classes.
Erin is taking a brief vacation back in the states while her teenage “daughters” Marina and Dalila continue to grow and become more and more independent in Ceiba.
Deirdre is also taking vacation, but will soon be back to take care of all our kids medical needs, delivering bandaids and meds with a smile, and if your lucky a sticker too!
Francesca finds joy in caring as social worker for our littlest girls and boys, always managing to make sure they find their constantly lost sandals and have plenty of coloring pages to color!
Georleny cares for our kids many psychological needs with a giant heart and a busy schedule.
Jacob and Rachel recently celebrated the 4th and 6th birthday of their kids Isaac and Jonah, while also finding time to take fun walks around the campo with their adorable 18 month old Ruben.
Kate, as 3rd and 4th grade teacher, is learning that multiplication tables are a fun conversation piece at any hour of the day.
Keenan faces the challenge of explaining algebra and life in general to his never dull middle school students.
Kristina continues to think up new and exciting ways of helping to develop the kids’ spirituality as the director of spiritual life.
Lily never faces a dull moment as she serves the girls of house 2 and the teenage girls of house 6 as social worker.
Mary Kate is discovering that the more she attempts to teach special ed, the more her students teach her.
Nely, as the teacher of the adorable and ever energetic first and second graders, is finding the hidden joys that accompany learning about insects and number lines.
Nils, works hard to make sure all our kids sleep safe at night as encargado of security, while also teaching our teens in the middle school the basics of science.
Phil, is enjoying a hard earned vacation after making sure every little mouth was fed for the past 7 months as the man in charge of purchasing and distributing all of our food.
Scarleth continues to meet our kids psychological needs with hard work and a compassionate heart.
Sheena, the social worker of our boys ages 10 and up, is enjoying teaching her boys the great foreign sport of basketball with our newly constructed basketball hoop.
Tami, after a brief vacation is back in action as the sub director of our school, providing our school discipline and direction guided by a kind and gentle heart.
Ted, as our maintenance man, works hard daily to make sure our kids facilities and fields are ready for whatever they need.
In summary, we are all learning the different challenges and joys that accompany the raising of children of all different ages. In turn, we would like to say thank you to you all, especially our mothers on your special day. You all have successfully raised us through each one of these phases with loving care. Thank you for your patience, support, and most of all you loving commitment to our well being. May you have a blessed Mother’s Day and find peace in the knowledge that all your children are safe and well here at the finca.
Best,
Mary Kate and the rest of the finca vols
Friday, May 6, 2011
Cold Showers and Slurpees!
Here at the finca we live according to the four pillars of spirituality, service, simplicity, and community. These pillars take many forms in our daily lives, for example while we have running water, it is not heated. This translates to cold showers. I will not lie; these showers take some time to get used to, especially during rainy season in the winter time. In the true transformative spirit of the finca, these showers have recently taken on a whole new nature.
As some of you have noticed, summertime is just around the corner. This means that Honduras is currently hot. Not hot in the sense that you sweat a bit walking to the car, but HOT everywhere accept the one foot radius around your fan (if the electricity is working). There is no escaping it, and it is only going to get hotter as the summer goes on. When I was little we would go to 7-11 and get slurpees on really hot days to cool off in the summer time, sadly that option does not exist here in rural Honduras. In rural Honduras the summer slurpee takes on a different form…the cold shower. This previously somewhat undesirable element of my life is now the highlight of my nighttime routine. This cold shower makes one feel refreshed and clean in a way nothing else can. So today I give a toast the cold shower, the new slurpee of my life.
As some of you have noticed, summertime is just around the corner. This means that Honduras is currently hot. Not hot in the sense that you sweat a bit walking to the car, but HOT everywhere accept the one foot radius around your fan (if the electricity is working). There is no escaping it, and it is only going to get hotter as the summer goes on. When I was little we would go to 7-11 and get slurpees on really hot days to cool off in the summer time, sadly that option does not exist here in rural Honduras. In rural Honduras the summer slurpee takes on a different form…the cold shower. This previously somewhat undesirable element of my life is now the highlight of my nighttime routine. This cold shower makes one feel refreshed and clean in a way nothing else can. So today I give a toast the cold shower, the new slurpee of my life.
Humility, Joy, and Hope: Holy Week at the Finca
Over the past three years I have celebrated Easter in three different churches and three different countries. In 2009 I was in Rome at the Vatican and 2010 I was at the Basilica on campus at Notre Dame. This year I celebrated this most blessed of holidays here in Trujillo, Honduras. I can say with great honesty that all three experiences were truly beautiful in their own unique sense. All three places were filled with beautiful services and equally beautiful people taking part in them. Here in Honduras I discovered two elements of holy week which I had never encountered before, a true solidarity between the people and the passion and a raw excitement for the resurrection.
The first element, the true solidarity of the people and the passion, was present in the faces and raw emotions of the many participants in the events of the week. On Thursday morning, the tias (house aunts) led a special rosary (Rosario de la Aurora) here on the farm at 3 AM. We all wandered out onto the soccer field and with only the light of the stars and a few candles prayed this special rosary. The pure devotion and faith present in the faces and voices of our tias as they prayed is something I will never forget. That afternoon our Franciscan Sisters did not only get bread to recreate the last supper, they found grapes and church wine and set up a small recreation of the table at the last supper in our chapel. They would have nothing less. The next day the youth group in town acted out every station of the cross under a beating sun.
At first I was taken aback by the amount of true devotion and solidarity the people demonstrated with the passion. Then I realized that while all humans carry their own cross at some point, our neighbors and children get very little relief from their crosses at any point. In a literal sense, they carry wood to start fires to cook; but this does not begin to describe their troubles. Many of our neighbors struggle finding enough food on a daily basis. Our children at the farm live with the knowledge every day that for some reason their own family cannot care for them. Back in the states struggles are paired with resources of all forms to aid people. Here in Honduras struggles are paired with more struggles. This was a truly humbling realization.
The second element which transformed my humbling realization into an inspirational joy in my heart was the raw excitement for the resurrection. When we arrived at the packed Cathedral in Trujillo for the Easter vigil there was a tangible energy in the air. As soon as the procession arrived and the Bishop sat down, it was announced that Jesus was resurrected. The people literally started a victory chant of sorts in excitement. The cantor yelled “Jesus is risen”, and the entire comgregation replied “Jesus really is risen.” The facial expressions and pure joy in the faces of so many there warmed my heart. They not only came to church, but literally yelled and danced in excitement for the resurrection. When we returned to the finca our nuns and teens along with a few volunteers started a bonfire and sang into the night in ecstasy for the resurrection. There faces continued to glow with joy through our adorable easter egg hunt the next afternoon.
Easter is a celebration of many things, especially hope. This easter I learned that while this hope is inspirational on many levels, it is also infectious and transformative. The raw excitement and joy of the kids, nuns, and everyone present infected my heart with joy and taught me that Easter is not about a symbolic message of hope, but rather the grand celebration of the real entrance of hope into our troubled world.
The first element, the true solidarity of the people and the passion, was present in the faces and raw emotions of the many participants in the events of the week. On Thursday morning, the tias (house aunts) led a special rosary (Rosario de la Aurora) here on the farm at 3 AM. We all wandered out onto the soccer field and with only the light of the stars and a few candles prayed this special rosary. The pure devotion and faith present in the faces and voices of our tias as they prayed is something I will never forget. That afternoon our Franciscan Sisters did not only get bread to recreate the last supper, they found grapes and church wine and set up a small recreation of the table at the last supper in our chapel. They would have nothing less. The next day the youth group in town acted out every station of the cross under a beating sun.
At first I was taken aback by the amount of true devotion and solidarity the people demonstrated with the passion. Then I realized that while all humans carry their own cross at some point, our neighbors and children get very little relief from their crosses at any point. In a literal sense, they carry wood to start fires to cook; but this does not begin to describe their troubles. Many of our neighbors struggle finding enough food on a daily basis. Our children at the farm live with the knowledge every day that for some reason their own family cannot care for them. Back in the states struggles are paired with resources of all forms to aid people. Here in Honduras struggles are paired with more struggles. This was a truly humbling realization.
The second element which transformed my humbling realization into an inspirational joy in my heart was the raw excitement for the resurrection. When we arrived at the packed Cathedral in Trujillo for the Easter vigil there was a tangible energy in the air. As soon as the procession arrived and the Bishop sat down, it was announced that Jesus was resurrected. The people literally started a victory chant of sorts in excitement. The cantor yelled “Jesus is risen”, and the entire comgregation replied “Jesus really is risen.” The facial expressions and pure joy in the faces of so many there warmed my heart. They not only came to church, but literally yelled and danced in excitement for the resurrection. When we returned to the finca our nuns and teens along with a few volunteers started a bonfire and sang into the night in ecstasy for the resurrection. There faces continued to glow with joy through our adorable easter egg hunt the next afternoon.
Easter is a celebration of many things, especially hope. This easter I learned that while this hope is inspirational on many levels, it is also infectious and transformative. The raw excitement and joy of the kids, nuns, and everyone present infected my heart with joy and taught me that Easter is not about a symbolic message of hope, but rather the grand celebration of the real entrance of hope into our troubled world.
Happy Anniversary Garifuna Community!
On the weekend of April 9 and 10 we at the finca had the pleasure of celebrating a very special anniversary here in Honduras. On this weekend the garifuna population, native blacks of Honduras, celebrated the 214th anniversary of the presence of their vibrant and beautiful culture here in Honduras. Most of this population lives along the coast line, and one of the oldest establishments is down the road in Santa Fe. The church there kindly invited us to a special bilingual (Spanish and Garifuna) mass on Saturday night followed by a cultural dinner and celebration. We also were invited to a second bilingual mass on Sunday morning.
On Saturday night everyone at the finca piled into our Land Cruisers and headed down the road to Santa Fe. When we arrived the church seemed somewhat empty and somber, as we expected a large celebration. The when mass started the priest welcomed the visitors, and proceeded to offer the mass for a young woman who had been murdered in town that very morning. You could immediately identify the raw grief and sadness that was weighing down the hearts of all in the church from this small town.
The beauty came about in the service that followed. In their homilies the co celebrating priests, Father Felipe from Trujillo and the garifuna priest from Santa Fe, spoke with great grace about how the tragic events of the morning paired with the anniversary were very symbolic of the garifuna population. While this beautiful culture has always faced great adversity, it has also always proven resilient and marched on against every challenge for over 200 years. The priests then challenged the people of Santa Fe to continue to challenge their people to rise to a new level, one where the beauties of their culture overcome the tragedies. After the mass two representatives from their cultural group invited us to learn some garifuna songs and apologized that the party had been canceled.
When we returned the next morning for mass, it was as if Santa Fe had arisen from the dust over night. The church was packed, the women’s choir was ready to sing and dance, and the drums were already setting the beat. The service was truly beautiful; every voice that spoke was inspired and overflowing with pride and their rich heritage. We sang and danced in the aisles from the first hymn to till the last verse of the final song. Then afterward the entire finca, over 70 people, was invited to an impromptu lunch, using all the food from the party the night before. We enjoyed our delicious food, and then headed out.
The Garifuna community of Santa Fe truly inspired us all in their resilience, pride, and great joy for life and the liberty to live that life as they so desire. I feel blessed for haven been able to take part in their great anniversary, and look forward to hopefully visiting them many more times in the future.
On Saturday night everyone at the finca piled into our Land Cruisers and headed down the road to Santa Fe. When we arrived the church seemed somewhat empty and somber, as we expected a large celebration. The when mass started the priest welcomed the visitors, and proceeded to offer the mass for a young woman who had been murdered in town that very morning. You could immediately identify the raw grief and sadness that was weighing down the hearts of all in the church from this small town.
The beauty came about in the service that followed. In their homilies the co celebrating priests, Father Felipe from Trujillo and the garifuna priest from Santa Fe, spoke with great grace about how the tragic events of the morning paired with the anniversary were very symbolic of the garifuna population. While this beautiful culture has always faced great adversity, it has also always proven resilient and marched on against every challenge for over 200 years. The priests then challenged the people of Santa Fe to continue to challenge their people to rise to a new level, one where the beauties of their culture overcome the tragedies. After the mass two representatives from their cultural group invited us to learn some garifuna songs and apologized that the party had been canceled.
When we returned the next morning for mass, it was as if Santa Fe had arisen from the dust over night. The church was packed, the women’s choir was ready to sing and dance, and the drums were already setting the beat. The service was truly beautiful; every voice that spoke was inspired and overflowing with pride and their rich heritage. We sang and danced in the aisles from the first hymn to till the last verse of the final song. Then afterward the entire finca, over 70 people, was invited to an impromptu lunch, using all the food from the party the night before. We enjoyed our delicious food, and then headed out.
The Garifuna community of Santa Fe truly inspired us all in their resilience, pride, and great joy for life and the liberty to live that life as they so desire. I feel blessed for haven been able to take part in their great anniversary, and look forward to hopefully visiting them many more times in the future.
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