Camp Hope Returns!

Camp Hope, our after school program, starts again this Monday, and will run for the entire school year.  The schools in Honduras run on a schedule opposite from North America, starting in February and running until the end of October. We are getting ready to have our longest program yet, as well as employing 10 youth to work with us putting on our programs.

I am really excited to see once again the energetic kids of Nueva Esperanza (the neighborhood where the program will be).  Since we wrapped up the program last November we haven’t spent much time with these kids. While I often see many of them around town, it’ll be nice to have them a regular part of my life again.

I am also really excited about the 10 youth who are going to be working with us.  Some are returning from other programs we’ve run, while some are brand new. We seen so many of them grow and are excited to see what will happen this next year.  Because of the great lack of jobs in the area, these youth wouldn’t have a job if it wasn’t for our programs. Some of them desire desperately to go to high school and later college, and be able to support themselves and their families.  We’re able to help them start making that dream a reality, and I hope in the future we can see this happen more.  It is through these dreams that the world is changed and where we can see God moving.  We pray that many more youth of Honduras will realize their dreams.

God is Very Rich

Thanks and more thanks! We are happy that you are by our side as we start this New Year together!

After a healthy and rejuvenating break with family and friends, our staff arrived back in Honduras on January 12th. During our first week back we traveled around Honduras as a team, visiting other organizations, meeting new people, learning from them and seeing the Good Works that are being done around the country.

On the first day of our trip, we found ourselves in the hands of our close friend, Pastor Kim, as we visited a children’s program in a very poor area of San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

We were escorted by throngs of barefoot children following and hollering all the way to the church. Children piled into the tiny church where we played games, sang songs and then announced it was time for food!

The floodgates opened as children clamored this way and that, pushing and hoping that their efforts would bring them closer to food. The leaders passed out the food with smiles and joy, giving each child eggs and bread.

The last child received her food and straggled out the door as Pastor Kim looked around at a job well done. I asked where the food comes from and Pastor Kim described the relationship that had been formed with a local baker donating all the bread and a dairy farm owner donating all the milk.

Pastor Kim said shyly, “Funny thing is, we never asked anyone for bread or milk. One day they heard of our need and showed up on our doorstep!”

The look on my face must have been one of bewilderment and shock as I recounted my fundraising efforts of 2009.

In broken English and always with a smile, Pastor Kim looked at me and said, “We did not find the donation. The donation found us.” , and then with an even bigger grin, “God is very rich!”

Thank you to those of you who found us. Thank you for your support!

End of 2009

We got back from our Christmas break on Tuesday, from different parts of the globe, ready and eager to pick up where things left off. It was a blessing to have some rest after months of craziness, and to be able to reconnect with loved ones.

Let me fill you in with how we finished off the year, since we weren’t able to post something before we left. Summer camp (Camp Alabanza) kept getting better and better each week, building up to the last day – which I felt was our best day of the entire camp. A huge reason for this was that our youth leaders started really excelling as time went on, especially on the final day. And of course we had amazing volunteers (Alex and Francisco) making us an all-star team.

I was glad when the third week of camp came around. Despite losing some of our volunteer help, by the third week we were in a groove. The youth leaders knew what was expected of them and the kids had a routine that they knew. We had a constant group of kids averaging in the mid 50’s.

On the Friday of the third week we had “Water Day” where we played water games, water relays and trekked to the nearby soccer field to set up a massive slip and slide made up of three huge tarps. However, my favourite activity of the day didn’t have much to do with water.

We started off the day with a big game of modified Fear Factor, where teams competed against each other for points by eating the grossest foods available to us in Copan Ruinas. I love doing these Fear Factors, and each time I do one I try to out-do the previous ones in grossness. This one was definitely one of the better ones. New to the menu, and one of the worst ones I’ve ever come up with, was a milkshake made up of various candies, chips, a banana flavoured soft drink and pork rinds. Just the smell of it made me want to vomit.

Of course the game always devolves into all the kids shouting for the leaders to compete against each other. The best part of the whole game was at the very end when all the left over foods were put in the blender and mixed into the foulest smelling milkshake ever made. Francisco downed his whole cup, forever creating a name for him here.

The last week of camp was great as well, though extremely busy with all the things needing to be wrapped up. I was a little hesitant to go to the local water park on the last day of camp, with the large number of kids that we had. But we decided to go ahead with it, placing a huge amount of responsibility and trust in our youth leaders to make sure the day went smoothly and everybody stayed safe.

Despite it being a little cold, the day went perfectly. We couldn’t have been happier with our youth, they really stepped up, eliminating a lot of stress and actually allowing us to have some fun with the kids. There were no injuries and no major discipline issues. It was so much fun and a great way to end off an awesome camp. It was sad to say goodbye to the kids, they were an amazing group with lots of personality. I really felt like I grew close to them. I’m already excited for the next year summer camp with the kids, and hopefully someday an afterschool program in the area.

Then it was a few quick days of cleaning up, youth evaluations, celebrations, tying up lose ends and saying goodbyes. We said goodbye to Francisco and Alex who had been with us since September, helping run an afterschool program and a summer camp, and helping grow and refine UrbanPromise Honduras. They will be missed, but their impact on our organization and us will be felt for a long time.

Now we’re back and starting to plan for our full year afterschool program in Nueva Esperanza, hiring youth leaders for the program, looking to expand with a youth resource center and catching up with friends and the community. What an amazing year this has been, to think this time last year UrbanPromise Honduras was still being formulated in our heads. Just shows you what can happen when you take risks for God. Thanks to His faithfulness and to all of those who chose to risk with us by supporting the work that was yet to happen, we’ve been able to together touch countless kids, youth and families in Honduras. Glory to God!

May God continue to be glorified here and back home this new year.

S-K-I-T

Say ’s-ay’ (s in Spanish) at Camp Alabanza and you’ll have a large crowd of kids chanting in seconds as they join in and continue the chat for a skit (“S-K-I-T”). This might progress into pleas for ‘Hombre de Duct Tape’ (Duct Tape Man), ‘Capitana Honduras’, or ‘Incredibile Chico’ (IC). Last week, we were visited by both Hombre Duct Tape and IC. Hombre de Duct Tape saved the day when Matt ‘lost his eye’, while IC made a quick intervention when some kids were fighting over a soccer ball. Good thing we have super heros at camp.

Our first ‘Friday Fun Day’ was carnival day. It was as I remembered it as a kid, clutching prizes and food, running smiling and laughing from booth to booth, only this time I was not the kid. Instead, I had one of the best seats in the house, watching the action and seeing the smiles close up from my perch at the face painting station. We had everything from fishing, to ballon animals, hoop tosses, to apple bobbing.

Apple bobbing was definitely a big hit, especially because the kids got to keep the apple after the game. And so, we had about 70 kids, quickly moving from station to station collecting tokens for
prizes (dried beans) and carrying bitten apples in ziploc bags. To hear the shrieks of joy that day was really something. Spirits of both kids and leaders stayed high, despite one of the coldest days in Copan (that’s right, cold here is possible), and the involvement of a ’semi’ leader dunk tank.

And finally, props to the youth leaders, who helped make that day so memorable for the kids. Even with only two weeks of summer camp and their involvement in a program that is totally foreign to most Hondurans, the leadership that these youth show is amazing. Imagine what next year will be like!

Words from a Volunteer

Looking into the depth of their eyes, we have found hope, trust, an amazing ability to love, and a desire to be loved.  It is in this moment, when words are not necessary.  Only here with a simple glance the words of the soul speak louder than any voice.  At “Camp Alabanza” (“Praise” in English) God has given us the opportunity to hear this call.  It is here where children can be children, where social status doesn’t exist, where race carries no meaning in their minds, where imagination has no limit, and a child’s worship flows like a river through the streams of the heart.

In Luke 18:16 Jesus said, “Don’t stop them” referring to the children.  That’s what I saw on Monday the 23rd.  Kids from different areas of Copan coming to the site of our second Vacation Camp Program, ready to start “Camp Alabanza”.

Pretty soon the place was full of laughs, screams, running legs, hugging arms, giggling faces, and a lots of love.  This is what “Camp Alabanza” is about.  Having fun, worshipping the Only One who can bring peace, joy, love and life to our hearts.

Every moment, minute, and second at “Camp Alabanza” is priceless.  Somehow even when we think only we are giving something, we are not.  On the contrary they too bring so much to our hearts.

To Him Be the Glory

Belky – Volunteer from Tegucigalpa, Honduras

When I Grow Up

In 1893, Chicago enjoyed the honor of hosting one of the largest public gatherings of all time, the Chicago’s World Fair.  Under the leadership of architect David Burnham, the Chicago’s World Fair welcomed a record attendance of 27 million (equivalent to about half the US population) and brought together America’s most elite engineers and architects for the construction of what would become known as “The White City”. The Fair introduced many household names such as Quaker oats, Hershey’s chocolate, the Ferris wheel and Aunt Jemimah’s pancake mix.

The Chicago’s World Fair was grander than anything the American public ever dreamt possible. Never had a public exhibition brought together so many people, so many countries, ignited such creativity, and generated so much revenue in such a short amount of time.

The foolish leader and creative genius, David Burnham, that dreamed all of this possible said,

“Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.”

Last week the children of Camp Hope sat patiently as Mr. Matt explained the next activity. Ready to go, with pencils in hand, they listened as he asked them to complete the sentence, “When I grow up…”

“Doctor…teacher…mommy…veterinarian…president…gardener…” one after another they drew, wrote and shouted into the air! It was music to our ears!

Then came the response of 12 year old Patricia…“I want to work with kids, and I want to be like Mr. Matt, Ms. Kourtney and Ms. Rachel…”

What grand plans! The children of Camp Hope are teaching us a lesson! Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood! How awesome it is to watch hope develop and see their dreams grow!  Camp Hope, our first and very successful after-school program, sadly came to a close this week. We went out on a high note though, holding an all-parent dinner as well as finishing the last day with a trip to a local Water Park! Honduran public schools will have their “summer” vacation from November-January, so we are now preparing and gearing up for our first 4-week Public School Vacation Camp!

Thank you, thank you, thank you for those connected within our community. Thank you for impacting the lives of children in Copán Ruinas and inspiring the dreams they were meant to dream!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Probably my favorite part about working with kids is getting to hang out with them after the program ends for the day.  There’s no schedule to be on, no lesson I have to worry about how to communicate in Spanish, no madness of keeping the peace between kids. When the program aspect is over relationship building can flourish with these kids, figuring out what makes them tick and just having fun.

This past weekend we took out a group of older girls from Camp Hope. I was excited for this trip because there is a butterfly house in town that I’d been trying to find an excuse to visit, and I assumed these girls would be able to share my love for fluttering creatures.  The butterfly house itself was rather small and almost disappointing.  And one can keep kids occupied with butterflies for only so long, even when they land on you and it’s magical. The best part of the whole event was reading about the hundreds of types of butterflies found in Honduras, some of the rarest can go for $900.

After an hour or so I asked myself two questions. One: What are we going to do with these girls now that they’re bored with this butterfly house? And two: How do I find a $900 dollar butterfly? So I asked the girls. They didn’t know or care about the butterfly, but they did want to go over to Kourtney and Alex’s house. Simple enough, so that’s what we did.

We came up with the idea of cooking peanut butter cookies, but weren’t totally sure how peanut butter would go over with Honduran taste buds. However, the girls were insistent that they loved them.  By the time we were finishing the cookies, lunchtime had arrived and we couldn’t just eat cookies for lunch. We hadn’t expected for the day to go so long, so we really didn’t have much to offer them… Except peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Better than nothing, right?

Not according to Hondurans. The girls managed to force down half a sandwich, I think mostly just to not be rude. I was wondering that if they couldn’t handle a peanut butter sandwich, what chance do cookies have? But on the other hand, how can a child not like a cookie? That goes against the secret child code, that they like and will eat anything with sugar in it.

I wish I could describe the disappointment that spread across the faces of these precious girls when they took that first bite of those peanut butter cookies. There are not English words to do it justice. So I’ll use a Spanish word, which is one of my favorites: “Huacala!”  Just the sound of that word sounds gross. These poor girls, who were starving, had to force their way through a horrible peanut butter sandwich, to finally get to eat this wonderful cookie they had spent so much time and effort on, only to find it tasted horribly of peanut butter as well. I can just imagine what was going through their heads, “What’s wrong with these white people? All their food tastes like terrible peanuts.”

It’s all good though. They spotted some oranges and nearly trampled each other to gorge themselves on something familiar.  After entertaining us with some skits, they left for home. Over all it was a really fun day. When we hang out together its hard to not have fun, even if you have to eat gross and extremely disappointing food.

Nosotros Tenemos Gozo!

During Bible class, the kids were learning about joy. Matt came up with a brilliant game involving a large purple die and prizes wrapped up, appearing to be all different types of goodies, but that were really all the same item. If the die rolled to a 2,3,4, or 5 then the kid chose a prize from the center pile but wasn’t allowed yet to up-wrap the newly acquired goodie. However, if a 1 or 6 was rolled then they could choose to either take someone else’s prize or just take one from the center.  If the prize was taken from another kid, then that kid would say “Yo tengo gozo” (I have joy), and roll again to get a new prize.  We played this game for several rounds, all the while trading our ‘gifts’ with others for packages that were sometimes smaller or looked less interesting.  At the end of the game, they all opened up their gifts, revealing an equal prize in each.  The lesson?  We can choose joy in every situation.

The kids really understood this concept.  Now, when the kids share with one another, after giving the object, they say “Yo tengo gozo”. The other day, as we were eating snack, one little boy said “Yo tengo gozo” and offered me a banana from his table.

The kids have so much joy in their hearts.  What an amazing gift from God.

Building a Community

The past few weeks have brought us into a world of connections and networking.  On September 21^st our third volunteer arrived to Copan.  Francisco Obando, from Toronto Canada, adds more life and experience to our team.  The following weekend we all had the opportunity to attend a conference here in Honduras to which many different types of organizations from all different parts of Honduras attend with the purpose of sharing the work being done for the development of this country.  We made some significant connections that will serve to help us learn and grow as we pour into Honduras.  Immediately after the Honduran conference, Blair traveled back to the States to be part of the Missions Week at Baylor University.  During his time there he had the opportunity to speak in several different classes, sharing our work and our vision for Honduras, tapping the interest of future summer interns.

Through all these events and through the daily conversations we have with kids and families, the UrbranPromise Honduras community continues to grow and deepen.  The building of community is the heart of the work in which we daily invest ourselves.  Some moments the work is tiresome, the days are frustrating, and the situations are discouraging.  But we have only to look around us and see this amazing group of people that are becoming the family of UrbanPromise Honduras and we are filled with motivation, life and determination to press hard and smile continuously.  Helping with homework, playing soccer, and attending conferences are the tangible ways that we live out what makes life real and meaningful: the growing and nurturing of a community full of trust and love.  Witnessing that community come into reality is a great joy and a true honor, and we share that with you.

Discovering Camp Hope

Once a week at Camp Hope, we have Discovery class.  Discovery can encompass a wide variety of activities, but the main goal is to get the students thinking outside the box.  This week was the students’ first experience with Discovery and we did the “Tallest Tower” challenge.  The students broke into groups of 2 or 3, were given simple supplies, and were told to build the tallest tower they possibly could that stood on its own using only the supplies given to them.

At first, the students looked at the paper, tape, popsicle sticks, and straw, and then looked at me with completely blank faces.  “Build a tower?  But we don’t know how!”  I told them to just start experimenting and doing whatever they could to turn those things into a tower.  Pretty quickly, the class of older students got to work tearing and rolling up the paper, taping things together, and hiding their designs from the competition.  When it came time to measure, each group in the older class had a free-standing tower.

For the younger class, this task was a little more daunting.  The blank faces didn’t change as quickly, and one young boy, Milton, looked up at me and said, “I can’t build a tower,” in a tone that suggested the task was ridiculous.  I knelt down next to him and assured him that he could, but he continued to insist that it was impossible.  He and his partner, Alduvin started to fold the paper with doubtful looks on their faces, and each time I passed by them, Milton looked up at me and reminded me, “I can’t build a tower!”.  Each time, I affirmed that he could.  Eventually, Milton and Alduvin had a design in progress that was standing on its own and climbing at the same steady rate as Milton’s confidence.  By the end, Milton was beaming as he looked around the room, noting that his tower was significantly taller than the others.

When it came time to measure all the towers, Milton and Alduvin’s tower was the tallest in the younger class, and even taller than the tallest from the older class.  As I announced this, Milton’s eyes widened and his grin broadened.  At closing, he made sure everyone knew that his tower had been the tallest of them all, very proud of his great accomplishment.

As he walked out the door at the end of the day, I looked down and said, “See, Milton, you can build a tower.”  He smiled back and me and said, “The tallest one!”