Day 2 (Monday)

Mail from home is such a great way to start the day. Thanks to the family and friends that provided daily notes of encouragement and inspiration. The candy is nice too.

We started our day at Casa Hogar Vida. This 75 acre community is being developed by the Great Commission Church to provide housing for families and orphans along with a medical clinic for people infected or effected by HIV AIDS. The culture in Honduras is such that once individuals are infected with HIV AID they are cut off from society. Families can't get jobs, men very often commit suicide, leaving widows to raise children. Currently 10 individual family homes, of 70 planned have been constructed. The orphanage currently consists of 2 homes supporting 7 children each, with 8 more in the planning stages. The medical clinic should begin construction by the end of 2010.

To provide income to these families, the women manufacture jewelry, purses, and bracelets that they sell locally. The compound also has a concrete block factory that supports the construction projects at Casa Hogar Vida, and also other organizations in the area building homes.

This tract of land must have been purchased during the summer season, because when the rains come (May to October) the land turns to swamp. Our job today was spreading fill soil (i.e. rock, stones and pebbles) in an area near the playground. Besides the water soaked soil, we also found several fire ant mounds. We moved just over 2 dump loads before lunch. There was also time to play with the kids and help feed lunch at the orphanage.

During the afternoon, we visited the site of the Coffee Factory, Nutrition Center, Day Care, and Elementary school opened across town in a area built by Samaritans Purse following hurricane Mitch. Over 700 homes were built to relocate families previously living in an area flooded during the hurricane. This compound is designed to save children at risk of starvation in the local community and provide not only support for the children, but also education and counseling for the families that often don't understand the basic elements of nutrition.

The afternoon clouds and storms once again hit the area during our tour. The rains poured for several hours adding more water to the already soaked soil. Many of the team threw their socks away, rather than bring them back to the hotel.