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Casa Girasol Tagebuch-Blog: Honduras: A different kind of holiday - July 2012

Casa Girasol Tagebuch-Blog

Casa Girasol engagiert sich in Honduras für Strassenkinder, Heimkinder und Müllhalden-Kinder. Wir organisieren Kurzeinsätze und Workcamps. In diesem Blog berichten wir dir aktuell von den Geschehnissen vor Ort. Besuche auch unsere Webseite für weiterführende Informationen zu unserem Engagement.

15.08.2012

Honduras: A different kind of holiday - July 2012

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

It’s holiday time again and where do I go this time?!
While I was praying and asking God to show me where He wanted me to spend my holiday I came across this website/organization asking for volunteers to help in a camp for street kids for 2 weeks and also offering a 1 week tour of Honduras. This sounded like something I was looking for: a holiday that ‘made sense’, sharing the love that I had received from God with some of the most underprivileged kids in the world. I love travelling and Honduras was a country I had never been before.
And what an experience it was! Being able to help in this camp in Honduras was a real privilege for me and I enjoyed every minute of it. Yes, it was demanding, exhausting at times, challenging but also very rewarding. 20 kids between 14 -18 years of age, all with a history of either drug abuse, having been sexually or physically abused or some kind of criminal history. They all came looking shy; some of them even hostile, hardly able to look into our eyes, embittered and not very talkative. On the first day all of them were given a personal toothbrush. This proofed to be a valuable possession to them and many kids were seen walking around with the toothbrushes sticking out either of their trousers’ back pocket or their hairdo. Some of them had never possessed a toothbrush in their life!
Unfortunately 2 kids had to leave the camp on the second day as one of them started to threaten the other kids and that could not be tolerated as it disrupted the so desired peaceful atmosphere.


2 horses, 2 dogs, some chicken and a huge area of land where the kids could run around, relax in hammocks between the trees, enjoy barbecues on an open fire, take part in a lot of competitive games, sports activities, handicrafts, singing, dancing, baking pizzas and cookies, devotional and prayer times etc, etc, etc. – all this helped the kids to open up, get involved with each other and encouraged team work. The sleeping quarters were quite creative: 4 renovated buses with 5 beds in each of them – the kids loved it!


The team was comprised of 3 Germans, 3 Swiss and 3 fulltime missionaries, and a handful of Honduran helpers. We met as a team three times a day to pray for the camp in general and for all of the kids individually. The Honduran volunteers were an immense help as they could relate to the kids so much more than us ‘outsiders’. Some of them came from a chaotic background themselves but had experienced the redeeming power of Christ and passionately desired to share that experience with the kids.
The challenging part for me was not being able to speak Spanish but the kids did not mind that too much. Hugs, personal attention, taking photographs of them, joining with them in the activities, giving a helpful hand when they were struggling with the handicrafts etc. – all that they enjoyed immensely and after a few days most of them were able to smile back openly and at the end some of them even stated that those camp days were the best they ever had in their entire lives! The word of God planted in those lives will not be in vain!


The last week the team was taken on a tour through Honduras. We were able to see the Mayan ruins in Copan, went horse riding, visited a Native American village, a coffee plantation, got on a boat trip to the jungle in Tela and had opportunity to snorkel, sun bath, shop, eat out in delicious Honduran restaurants. Free time was also spent with card games, chatting and encouraging each other in our personal walk with Christ.






All in all this was a holiday I thoroughly enjoyed and I was blessed as much as the kids were. I can only strongly recommend it to anybody who is looking for a different kind of vacation, anybody who would like to give something back to kids who haven't had the privilege to grow up in a 1st world country and in a protected and loving family. Gracias Señor!

Catherine Hunt

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