Puerto Lempira

So far this week has been chock full of activities. We’ve spent several mornings working in the garden at Mama Tara’s – weeding, planting, and watering. Overnight we can see the progress of the plants; it really is amazing what a little TLC can do for them. In the garden there is a mixture of yucca, watermelon, beans, pineapple, and corn. Our poor hands were pretty much toast after a few days of hard labor in the garden – we kind of felt like city pansies. But working in a garden is so rewarding because you can actually see your progress from overgrown jungle, to weeded and clear vegetable garden.

We’ve been to Mama Tara’s a couple times in the afternoon too, to spend time bonding with the kids and to help them with their Spanish reading. It’s amazing, many of them still cannot read in Spanish; the education system here is very lacking, and without self-motivation, most children here do not get a very solid education unless they travel elsewhere to study. The home is not well taken care of, because the kids there don’t seem to have any concept of caring for nice things. There is not very good discipline there, and many of the kids don’t seem to want to help or do anything constructive with their time. It is a challenge to do so much work somewhere(Alex and Laura have told us that countless dollars have been poured into the place, but only to have the building regress to it’s current state), and have the recipients seem so… ungrateful? I’m not sure that’s the right sentiment. What the home really needs is someone there 24/7 to make sure the kids go to school, the house stays clean and livable, and discipline. The struggle is that Mama Tara is so respected that no one dares to cross her, but she will not allow any of the kids to be strictly disciplined. It’s tough when you feel like your work is not appreciated. It can be hurtful when you feel like the kids don’t love you back. James 1:27 “…look after orphans and widows in their distress…” and it’s good to remember that it says nothing about grateful and loving orphans and widows. This is the first time on my trip that I’ve really encountered - apathetic? Ungrateful? Careless? - None of these words seem to match these children at Mama Tara’s. They are beautiful, wary, and skeptical but they don’t take very good care of their things. It’s hard to feel like no one cares about your work – I’m not sure how to do anything more than to love them. And maybe that’s all I’m supposed to do.