An Adventure in Culinary Management: How I organized two meals for 200 + people at the farm

On June 18, the finca celebrated a big day in its history, its 15th birthday, or in Spanish its "quince". To celebrate we had a mass, lunch, presentation, dinner, and dance, with over 200 people. All the volunteers took on different responsibilities to make this big celebration possible. As a former waitress I thought it would be fun to take on the food for the day. Although some questioned if I wanted to take on such a big responsibility, I thought it sounded fun, and in the end it was! In the process I learned a few lessons about organizing large meals in Honduras:

1. Beans are not just beans. They are an intricate part of the meal and reflection of your own person. One must care for the beans, no mattter what hour they need your attention (this includes transferring them from a freezer at 4:30 AM), without fail. If one thinks the beans have gone bad, get a second opinion, you may just be doubting your work. And lastly, when one thinks they do not have enough beans to create a quality meal, but there are no more, this is a true injustice of life.

2. To cook bbq chicken one needs chicken, grills, sauce, and a 3 liter of coke for the cooks, all ingredients proving essential.

3. Soda is much preferred to hot chocolate, even late at night.

4. Not all knives and limes are created equal, while some may serve for some, they don't for others.

5. Volunteers work great with kids, and also prove great at serving food to large crowds efficiently and with a smile.

6. If you give Hondurans a meal to cook, they will not only cook it, they will produce a meal that is truly magnificent and delicious.

I must give thanks to the many many people who helped me with all the work that went into the food, we would not have eaten such a wonderful meal without all their help!

Bienvenido Jose Manuel!

According to the bible, on Pentecost tongues of fire descended upon the apostles while gathered together in an upper room. There they were blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. In true symbolic fashion, this year on the eve of Pentecost, while most of us where gathered in the chapel in a Pentecost Vigil service, a new child arrived at the farm, Jose Manuel. Jose Manuel turned 10 on June 27, and is a bright eyed little boy. He has since moved into Casa Virgen de Guadalupe on the farm, also known as house 4, home of our boys from ages 9-12. I have had the pleasure of working with him in his Spanish and Math classes in school and must say he is a true genius of math and his great enthusiasm for learning is infectious. He and his great smile have found a new home at the finca, and we feel blessed to have him as well!

A Change of Pace and Medical Training in One!

The week of June 6 through 10 our school had a week off for the semester break, but instead of hanging out on the farm, myself, the other teachers, and the other vols that could, head into Trujillo to help out the medical brigade from Christ the King parish in Little Rock Arkansas. This amazing group of 100 plus people have been coming to Trujillo for over 15 years. This year they came with 15 doctors, and countless nurses, pharmacists, and site helpers.

We had the pleasure of staying with them for the week in the lovely air conditioned Christopher Columbus hotel, and heading out to our respective sites in local villages to translate for the doctors all week. I worked with Dr. Ed from South Carolina in the local village of Marranones. He has been working with the brigade for 3 years, and has worked with a clinic in Haiti for over 1o years. We saw people from all over with everything form high blood pressure and diabetes, to well baby checks, to patients with epilepsy. It was a true pleasure to translate for so many amazing people, work with Dr. Ed, and work with the entire team, led by our fearless leader nurse Ann, at the Marranones site.

One of my favorite moments of the week though was not at our clinic, but during our visit to the farm with the whole group. A very kind couple who have come on 12 of 15 trips with the group, named Don and Jan, asked me if I knew a girl named Jenny. They are her sponsor and wanted to meet her. Jenny happened to pass by and I introduced them. When I told her these were her sponsors she immediately gave them both a huge hug. I then took a picture of the three of them. In that moment I felt both very at home at the farm and also so grateful for all the work this amazing group of people does every year for the people of Honduras.

New Smiling Energetic Faces...times 4!

Every summer the finca is blessed with "summer vols", these are volunteers who are still in undergrad who come and help us out for the summer. They cover our work while we take vacation, help us with special summer time projects, and generally just share their amazing energy and love with our kids. They arrived mid May and have been working hard ever since. On behalf of all the finca I would just like to say thank you to Annie (Notre Dame '13), Tiffany (Florida State '13), Rose (Notre Dame '13), and Emily (Bethel College '12) for helping out with: covering 1st through 9th grade, covering special ed, helping with maintenance, helping with the brigade construction projects, covering swim and soccer practice, covering our kids houses when our house parents need a quick break, cooking meals in the volunteer house, and helping to run our medical clinic among other things. Most importantly though, these four girls gave up part of their summers to come live in remote rural Honduras and share their amazing hearts with everyone here at the finca. Their quick popularity with the kids is only a small testament to all the work they are doing for us. I hope they enjoy the rest of their summer and know how grateful we are for them!

Photo Index: Annie in Pink in 1st and 4th Picture, Rose dancing in white in 2nd picture, Tiffany in tan on right in 3rd picture

2nd Quarter Highlight Reel--Escuela San Pedro

Late June and early July is one of my favorite times of the year in sports...it's championship season. The season of NBA finals, the Stanley cup, Wimbledon, and this year the Women's World Cup for soccer. So in the spirit of this great season, here is a summary of the second quarter at our school, Escuela San Pedro, in the style of a sports highlight reel:

The big news in terms of the front office is that our beloved Honduran directora (principal) Dania had her baby at the end of May. Her and her beautiful boy are now enjoying some well deserved maternity leave. In her absence, our subdirectora, superstar volunteer Tami from California, is leading the teachers and kids flawlessly.

Our minor league players in first grade are very excitedly learning how to write simple words. Cindy and Carlos now come to after school study hour not asking to copy words, but wanting to show me all the words they can write on their own!

Top performance awards for my students go out Miss Magdalena for working so hard at learning to read on her own (she's so close now!), Mr Rony for winning the math bee for second grade, and Jose Luis and Aly from 5th grade for working so hard on learning sentence and paragraph structure.

I am sure the third quarter will bring many more highlights and smiles!

Simple Joys in Life

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!

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