All the hard labor we could ask for - and then some!

Today was a very full day of work, and those of us who didn´t get enough yesterday certainly got their fill today! I thought I'd show some photos and videos of just a couple of the tasks we accomplished.

The first task was just about as simple as one could possibly be: move this giant pile of cement-grade sand from one place to another, to allow room to level a low spot behind the new dorm where storm runoff collects. Here are the "before" photos:

(big sand pile!)

(big empty space!)

and the "after" photos:

(big empty space!)

(big sand pile!)

Of course, in between those two sets of photos were several hours of back-breaking work, involving shoveling sand into wheelbarrows:

Pushing the wheelbarrows down to the new pile:

And dumping the sand on top:

What the photos don´t capture is a sort of quick sprint with the wheelbarrow in the hopes of reaching the top of the pile before dumping the sand:

With the giant sand pile out of the way, several of us levelled a couple of dump truck loads of fill sand (not to be confused with the aforementioned cement-grade sand!) into the low spot behind the dorm.

Word is that tomorrow we'll get to start tamping it all down by hand. Words cannot describe the palpable excitement we all feel about this prospect :-)

After a hard day´s labor, we were very grateful to be treated to a spaghetti dinner, Honduran style, complete with tortillas!

After dinner, Claudia, the director of El Hogar, spoke with us for a while and showed us slides and videos about the kinds of conditions in which they find the children before they come to the school. Many of the children are in extremely desperate circumstances - dreadfully malnourished, or begging on the streets, or in abusive situations, or suffering from extreme neglect. If it were possible, Claudia would save every last child in the country from these kinds of dangers. Given the resources of the school, they can currently take only 15 to 20 new children each year as the older ones graduate.

After her talk, Claudia surprised us by introducing us to the new crop of children, who were delighted to see us - and every last one of them gave each one of us a big hug! It completely melted my heart. All these children, each with a unique story of hardship and suffering, now happy, healthy, and getting a good education in a safe environment. And each one so happy to see us!

The full name of this school is "El Hogar de Amor y Esperanza", which means "The Home of Love and Hope" - and this place truly is an oasis of love and hope in a country where there is so much despair and desperation.

Signing off for today,

- Mark