Exhale

Most of the team left yesterday and Whitney boarded the plane back to the US today so now it´s down to Cosmo, Shin, Gaku, and I. We have some big plans for the next three days, then Shin will go home on the 7th...leaving the three of us unsupervised. Is that a good idea? Clearly not.

Yesterday we visited Nuestras Pequenas Rosas (Our Little Roses). It´s an orphanage for girls that is incredibly well-funded by Americans. They have the best of everything, and there is a large emphasis placed on education. All the girls are bilingual and the female-empowerment is through the roof! Especially by Honduran standards. They have a transition home for the girls in college, offering more independence and teaching life skills. The home really sets these girls up for success and it´s a model we hope to duplicate at Copprome. We´re going to need a lot more funding, but a lot of the girls completely fail at life after leaving Copprome. They drop out of school because it´s too hard and end up on the streets or worse. There´s a definitive need to break the cycle of poverty, but the implementation is going to be slow and difficult. No time like the present to start. :)

We have meetings with different NGO heads over the next few days. We´re still staying at Copprome, but are trying to move out as it is too difficult to strategize for SHH while 50+ kids are climbing all over the place and clamoring for attention. On Friday we will take a day of rest, then start traveling. It will be like a senior trip for Cosmo and I. Or like a Honeymoon. Six days traveling to La Mosquitia, back to El Progreso, and then 6 more days in Guatemala. From there, I will head to Managua to meet up with the Chapel mission team and Cos will return here.

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW! The woman who runs this internet cafe just bought us all key chains! We hang out here a lot so we´re good friends. What a sweet gesture...

It´s amazing how easy it is to meet people here and how often you see them all over the city. The idea of privacy is much looser here than in the States. It´s a condition that is hard to get used to at times, but I generally love it. I am slightly tired and probably a little dehydrated right now, but extremely content. Life is good. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.