Honduras Mission Trip 2017 : Special Day!

Today was a special day for me. I finally got to officially meet my BECAS child. I was really hoping he would come to the church, as he always does, but I found out he lives about 25 minutes away, and because he is now in school - which is awesome, he is unable to make it. Partly because he is in school now and partly because of his disability. He was born with hydrocephalus and has not been able to walk his whole life. Because of this, he has difficulties with a lot of things. The roads here in Escuapa are extremely uneven and full of pot holes so it is extremely difficult to get around. It is a great thing that he is in school, and this is due to the BECAS program. I had talked with our coordinator Sumaya about the possibility of seeing him and she talked with the Pastor of the church about the situation. Since we were only going to be in Escuapa with the optical mission Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday morning, I would not get to see him, unless we did something today. So, she arranged to take myself and a few others to the town where he lives, La Lima. We first went to his house, and I got to meet his mother, father and older brother. I discovered that he lives in a nicer house than most of the families in the area, which was so nice to see. Still very much in poverty but an improvement on what it could be. But, his house is very difficult to get around with his wheel chair, and he often has to be carried from place to place. His mom was very happy to meet and me and very thankful for being Carlos's sponsor, so he could go to school. It means a lot to the families out there, that there are people able to help them out. After we spent some time with his parents, and walked around his house, as she showed me the areas Carlos has difficulty with, we then drove to the school where he is at. Since the roads are very bad, it is fortunate that his parents have a truck so they can drive him to school, otherwise he might not be able to go. There's no way he could do those roads in a wheel chair. When we got to the school we were immediately greeted by about 15 young children all dressed neatly in their uniforms. They were very excited to see us, especially since they were not expecting American visitors. Our translators explained to some of the teachers there who we were and that we were here to see Carlos. All the other children were outside playing, but Carlos was sitting at his desk working hard on his school work. I found out he was sick the day before and could not come to school, and was very concerned with catching up and getting good grades. He is a very hard worker, which is great to see. When our translator introduced us to him and he found out I was his BECAS sponsor, he grinned. It was such a treat to see how happy he was to meet me. Although, being 10 he was a little embarrassed at all the attention I think!! Carlos is in 5th grade, and the school goes to 6th grade. After that he will have to go to a school further away with all of the other 6th graders. There he will hopefully finish high schoo. He told me he wants to be a doctor. I have have no doubt that with his attitude he has a good chance of fulfilling that dream. We chatted for a while about his life and his mom talked about some of the difficulties. Since they have to carry him around most of the time when he is not in the wheel chair, it will become very difficult as he gets older and bigger. His wheel chair cannot handle some of the steps and bumps. The wheel chair he has is not that great, and has caused some irritation in his lower back, which proceeded to get infected. It looks pretty bad but his mom told me they took him to the doctor for it. His parents seem to care very much for him and work very hard to make sure he has what he needs. The school is a nicer school for the area, but does have a lot of uneven ground and steps. Somehow he seems to manage though. The teachers gathered up all the children so we could talk to them, so we told them who we were and why we were there. We also found out that there were at least 10 children there that were part of the BECAS program. 10 children who otherwise would not be able to go to school. Education in public schools is not super expensive, we were told about $50 per year, but the uniforms, and supplies, and shoes etc are extremely expensive and without those they are not allowed to attend school. That is what the BECAS program does, helps to provide those items so they can go. It was so great to see him and to see how dedicated he is to his school work. I believe he will do well, but not without some significant challenges along the way. I wonder how he will attend college unless he has some financial support to help, but maybe there are programs out there that can help him. Something to ponder. We said our goodbyes and headed back to the church. We had previously packed up the optical equipment and loaded the truck to take it all down to Danli to set up our optical mission there. We had lunch and then headed down the mountain to Danli Central Church. Tomorrow we will start seeing patients in Danli and I expect we might see around 150 or so, for the two days we will be there. That's all for now. Enjoy the pictures below from our visit today. Blessings Shelley