Today we had the
opportunity to visit four homes where the bedkits were received last year.
It was
heartbreaking to see how these families lived. Nevertheless, we were greeted by
warmhearted and thankful people.
This school was a distribution site.
Many of the children have to be bussed to the site from remote areas. It could
be up to a 3½-hour bus ride to get there for some of the children. Old buses
from Canada have made their way to Tagucigalpa, the capital city where we are
staying.
The crowding in some of the homes was horrendous.
One home had 14 people living in a 2-room house. Their small kitchen was
outside. While we were there, we observed one of the daughters cooking chicken over a wood-fired stove.
This family had a rabbit, a dog and an avocado tree.
We saw a corrugated home that used
cardboard to divide up the few rooms.
At one home we visited, the family had to roll up the bedkit
every morning in order to have room on the floor.
One of the single mothers worked
cleaning the school and taking in laundry. We saw laundry hanging everywhere in
all the homes. Of course, it was all done by hand.
Dengue fever is a problem here and I
only saw a few mosquito nets, which were probably obtained from the bedkits.
Because the windows were covered only by curtains or a metal grill, the
mosquitos had easy access.
I found the pride demonstrated by these families to be very impressive. For instance, school pictures of their children were proudly displayed on the walls.
The older children helped with the
younger ones and everyone was wearing clean clothes.
This little guy was the receiver of
a bedkit. He was one of the 14 who lived in this small space.
