Our experience

We are two girls who have graduated high school this last year, and we wanted to take a break before heading off to college.  We heard about Pan American Health Services, and loved the idea of helping at an orphanage.

One of our first challenges we faced was the language barrier. We had taken two years of Spanish in high school but because we hadn’t used it much, we found ourselves at a dead end when trying to talk with people. It was very difficult for the first few weeks, but were getting used to it and learning little by little.

Our project here was to start up a pre-school for the kids in the Casita Feliz, because by the time the kids were old enough to go to school, they were very behind because they didn’t have the preparation that parents usually give at home.  It’s also difficult for some of the older children in the Casita, because sometimes parents come to take their kids back into the mountains, so they can’t go to school for a consistent education.  Therefore, our preschoolers range from 3-10 years old.

Before we came we had no idea what to expect or how primitive it was going to be. Lucky for us we were able to talk with a family that had been here recently. They gave us advice and told us what to expect. Although it was really helpful, we still had a few surprises when we arrived.

The food here is very basic, because the mission provides food for all the residents in the orphanage, all the workers, and also other people in the community who need food.  A typical breakfast consists of bread, beans, and homemade cheese or eggs.  Lunch is rice with lentils, beans, and tortillas. Dinner is sometimes leftovers, or sometimes beans and tortillas. There’s the occasional vegetable as well, and we’ve been lucky enough to have oranges for dessert as well! It took some getting used to, but since we eat the same thing every day, it didn’t take long for us to grow accustomed to it! Sabbath is the best day, because we get to eat spaghetti, Honduran style! Also some days they add variety and serve different rice with chicken. We live for those days!

We were happy to discover, when we arrived, that they have internet for certain hours of the day every day of the week. It’s so nice to be able to communicate with our friends and family.

We stay in the dorm with the girls. It’s really great; sometimes we forget it’s an orphanage because it seems like a regular school dorm. The only down side is that the showers are freezing cold, but that’ll be nice during the hot months and we hear that it gets blistering hot.

One of the professors in the Adventist academy recently offered to tutor us in Spanish.  Classes are going great; we get tutored twice a week.  We also are starting up guitar lessons, taught by our Spanish tutor’s friend.  They are both very generous and kind; they’re doing the lessons for free!

The people here are very open and friendly, very willing to help you out in any way and are very personable. The people make everything worthwhile and we love it here because of them.

Lauren and Rachel