First Up - Honduras

In about three hours we will begin our first journey of 2012, visiting two orphanages in Honduras; Rancho Santa Fe and Orphanage Emmanuel. Our trip will last ten days beginning with a three hour drive to Chicago to catch a 5:30 AM flight, and then arriving in Tegucigalpa at about 1:30 tomorrow afternoon.

Our first stop will be Rancho Santa Fe, which is about an hour outside the capital. The orphanage is part of the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos International (NPH) network, which has operations in 9 countries. We hope to learn a great deal from this community of over 500 children. 

Girls in front of their dormitory at Rancho Santa Fe

A thriving, bustling community less than an hour from the nation’s busy capital, Rancho Santa Fe is the second oldest of the NPH homes. Over five hundred boys and girls make their home in this vast wooded oasis in the hills—while an additional one hundred youths who study and live in the capital, Tegucigalpa.

A normal morning sees groups of uniformed children making the pleasant fifteen minute walk down to our Montessori-based kindergarten and elementary school while the older youths head for the on-site junior high school and trade workshops. 

The sounds of tractors in the corn fields and restless cows and chickens drift up from the farm, from which they obtain all of their meat, milk, and eggs, as well as all the corn needed to produce the 45,000 tortillas consumed monthly. Aside from the farm, NPH Honduras also boasts a model greenhouse and vegetable gardens. In the afternoons, children are often seen helping harvest cucumbers or turning the dirt in the garden before they return to the houses to finish homework and play.

Unique to the Honduras family is Casa Pasionista, belonging to the order of Passionist Priests. Casa Pasionista is a hospice for adults living in the final stages of AIDS. Ailing parents can be with their children as their health deteriorates, comforted by the knowledge that after their death, their children will have a secure home with NPH.

Casa Eva, another special house, is a rest home for elderly adults who previously had no one to care for them until coming to NPH. These loved grandparents are included in Ranch activities and add a wonderful balance to our growing family.

Two other important components of the NPH Honduras family are located in the capital. Casa de los Ángeles provides 24-hour care for over fifteen children with severe disabilities. The children also receive physical, occupational, and speech therapy. Pasos Pequeñitos, a children’s daycare center, specifically seeks to help single mothers in difficult circumstances who need extra assistance in caring for their children.

Stay tuned for regular updates and pictures.