SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2023: August 22

The last day of distribution always brings a moment of sadness that we have to depart for our home and we know we will miss our partners - the Rotarians and Rotaractors, who we now call our new friends.  We will miss seeing the smiling faces of the children. All of us worked for the last 12 days as one team, to see the smiles of the children. 

It is moments like this that give us happiness that we were able to come here to distribute 4000 bedkits.  

Sleeping Children always believes that children who have a good night’s sleep will wake up with a more positive outlook about life, and opportunities. 

Our last day here was also the biggest bedkit distribution with 701 bedkits being handed out.  Everyone was excited to hit that milestone, and clapped and hugged when the last child's picture for the donor had been taken.

Masud

Team Honduras

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 + SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2023: August 21

Today was a day filled with special moments.

First, we were all serenaded by a school band. September 15th is when Honduras celebrates their independence from Spain, so in preparation for this upcoming event, a school band was practicing their marching and performance.  It was wonderful to watch the young ones really get into it ... even dancing as they played. There were xylophones, percussion, horns, drums/drums/and drums.

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Second, we had several special needs children at today's distribution.  Each one came with at least one guardian, some with two.  Everyone jumped in to help get the children ready and into the photos.  I am sure that the donors who get these photos will feel truly blessed.

I was fortunate enough to be on the camera today, so got to capture the faces and characters of each of the 506 kids.  

While we have responsibility for things that happen at each distribution (and before and after), we do find humour and have some fun.  For example - so far this week we had a bunch of strangers jump into the back of one of our pickup trucks when we were stopped on a steep hill (they thought we were a community pickup); Neil got asked for his passport when he tried to buy a coffee at the local coffee shop (apparently they offer a senior's discount with ID); one of the floor signs at a distribution kept falling over in the wind so we left it lying down and a stray dog walked up to it and peed on it; and we convinced a new local volunteer that the first day you have to wear a bucket on your head.

Well, that's all for now.  Our last day is tomorrow and we have to be up and out of the hotel by 5 am for the last 701 bedkits.

Danielle

Team Honduras

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 + SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2023: August 19

How times have changed!

Sleeping Children relies on all our volunteers to help spread the word about this awesome organization. One of the ways in which we do this is by doing presentations to schools, service clubs, church groups, etc. To help us do this, in the past we would take lots of candid pictures of the local culture, landscape and the children that we would use in our presentations.

But times have changed.

Social media and the issue of respecting privacy has changed the way we photograph people. We get the parents’/guardians’ permission to take the childrens’ photos showing their faces for the SCAW donors. However, SCAW believes in respecting the dignity of all children so we no longer take candid pictures of children’s faces. Instead, we now take pictures from the side or from behind the children. I have attached two sample pictures - one of a side view of a child and one of me in my happy place with the children.

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Another awesome day in Honduras yesterday. Thanks to our donors, 410 more children had a good night’s sleep last night.

Clarence Deyoung

Team Honduras 2023

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 + SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2023: August 18

Orchid, the National Flower of Honduras and the Flame Tree.

The moist and humid environment of Honduras is ideal for orchids to thrive. The 'virgin orchid' was designated as the National flower in 1969. Its genus-species name is Rhyncholaelia-digbyana. This orchid species is green-white and grows on trees throughout the country. The flower is highly respected and protected much like the Ontario Trillium. This orchid flower has a characteristic frilled lip that makes it fluffy looking and grows up to 18 cm in diameter. Its lemon fragrance is released at night to attract the moths for pollination.

Hondurans take great pride in the national orchid flower and grow many types of orchids in their home gardens. They often share pictures with each other of their beautifully coloured orchids.

Another tree sprouting beautiful flowers the SCAW team has noticed is the African Tulip tree. Its common name is the 'flame tree' due to its bright orange-red flowers that grow in clusters. The genus-species name is Spathodea-campanulata. This ornamental tree grows abundantly throughout the country. The large flowers capture rainwater that quenches the thirst of birds and insects. 

Team Honduras 2023

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 + SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2023: August 16

Part of the distribution process is the children putting on their new t-shirt, getting a new backpack and supplies, then waiting for their turn for the donor photo to be taken.  Today there were some children waiting so I decided to talk to them about who we are and the Sleeping Children charity.  They had no idea where Canada is. I told them it is 'muy frio' (very cold) and they laughed.  I don't know if they were laughing at my pronunciation or the fact that Canada is cold.  I showed them the Canadian flag  on the arm of my SCAW team golf shirt. Some of them told me they love the flag.

The children often don't understand that they are getting the t-shirt, the backpack plus the bedkit to take home. When we hand them this big bag with the bedkit in it they are surprised and sometimes overwhelmed.  Once they understand they are leaving with it all, we get big smiles.

Looking forward to seeing more smiles.

Masud

Team Honduras 2023

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 + SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2023: August 15

Hola from Honduras!

Another early rise and off we go to the next distribution.  This school was further out/up into the hills than the distributions of the last two days. 

At first I didn't really notice how steep the hills had become because I was enjoying the lush greenery, until one of our team vehicles stopped ahead of us and we had to stop.  What an incline we were on!  We had left the paved roads already and were now on dirt roads only wide enough for one and a half cars.  We even had to take a run at it to get some traction to keep going up.  (Where is an ATV when you need one?)  Our driver, a fellow Rotarian, was skilled at judging the width of our minibus - and prevented us from going into a ditch or down an embankment. 

Upon reaching the school we recognized that this area was in dire need of our assistance, and I took a moment to reflect as I adjusted to the altitude.  While the ride was a little nerve-wracking the view from the top was 'estupendo' (wonderful)!

You could see for miles and miles over thousands and thousands of homes all leaning up against each other in the valleys and on the hillsides. 

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One of the main challenges about being so high up is the lack of available water.  All the water must be trucked up, by either the government or a private company (which is expensive to purchase).  Water is a luxury here. 

We completed the distribution and headed back into the city centre knowing that our three day total of bedkits distributed neared 1500 today.  That's 1500 children (and families) sleeping up off the floor and protected from mosquitos.

2500 more kits (and kids) to go while we are here.

Hasta luego.

Team Honduras 2023

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 + SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2023: August 14

Today, six energetic and committed Rotaractors from the Rotaract Club of Tegucigalpa participated in the SCAW distribution at Camara Junior School. This Rotaract Club has a 30+ year history of service in Honduras. Today, club members are either attending or have recently completed University.

When asked their stand-out moments from today's distribution, they responded:

• One little girl gave me such a big hug and squeeze when they received a bed kit.

• I was able to recognize the unique characters in the students by their facial expressions and poses they wanted to do for the camera.

• I had a great conversation with Masud, a SCAW member handing the bed kits to the little ones.

• Moving the bed kits from one location to another was a fun activity and I enjoyed the work.

• We had an opportunity to make a connection and interact with the students who were receiving a bed kit.

• The smallest children were so cute and funny as they tried to hold the bed kit on their way out of the school compound (see photo below).

The Rotaract Club has been involved in three more projects this year:

1. "Help us Educate" distributes school supplies to students in grades one - four throughout Honduras.

2. In southern Honduras (Marcovia, Isla Boca del Rio Vigo) they have been providing clothing and shoes, and assisting with infant care and health.

3. They are participating in a safe baby turtle release program.

These six Rotaractors and others scheduled to attend, will participate in the eight SCAW distributions providing volunteer assistance. Today their service was outstanding!

Thank you for making the day a success and helping children get a good night's sleep.

Team Honduras 2023

Rotary Club of Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 + SCAW 🇨🇦

SCAW Blog: Honduras, 2023: August 13

The SCAW team arrived safely in Honduras on Saturday, August 12th. We were given the gift of two additional hours in our day as Honduras is in a different time zone than Toronto.

Today, the SCAW team met with the Rotary Club and Rotaract (Junior Rotarians) Club members of Tegucigalpa for a pre-distribution meeting. There was a large turnout of members from both clubs (see photo below). Superior preparations have been completed by the Clubs for a successful distribution. A substantial and detailed review of finances, partnerships, and planning was provided. We recognized the tremendous amount of work and effort of the Rotary Clubs here in Tegucigalpa.

Following the meeting the SCAW team attended a Sunday Church Service and then explored a near-by shopping mall. 

In a local grocery store we shopped for water and small snacks in preparation for the first of eight distributions, beginning tomorrow. We are excited to get started. We are looking forward to putting a smile on 543 children’s faces and creating an opportunity for them to have a good night's sleep.

Team Honduras 2023

Tegucigalpa 🇭🇳 + SCAW 🇨🇦