Work Group in El Naranjo and El Burillo

By Katie

This past week I was able to tag along with a work group that came to southern Honduras from West End CRC in Edmonton, Alberta. All in all the group included twelve visiting Canadians, four Honduran masons, four translators and a few more Diaconia and CRWRC staff. I went as one of the translators.

We spent five working days pouring cement floors in homes in El Naranjo and latrines in El Burillo. This was the fourth time a group from this church has gone to this community, so it was fun to see how the relationships they had continued to blossom. Pastor Lucio of El Naranjo explained to me how exciting it was to have them back every year and to see how much more open both sides were with each other as every year went by.

The family of Dominga and Emiliano was a recipient of a latrine. They were very involved in all parts of the project; the men and boys worked super hard to finish their latrine in one day (not to mention the two weeks they had spent prior to our arrival to hand dig the 12ish foot deep by 5ish foot diameter hole for the waste from the latrine!). Dominga was a big part of the church and worked in the kitchen to make food for the group. In this picture you can see a hammock stretched in front of them. Nearly all of the families in this community make hand-made hammocks for a company who distributes them.

Several of the houses in El Naranjo had moringa trees planted. Lisa and Gloribel (Diaconia's nurses working in the south) had done another moringa training and given the women seedlings to plant. If you look hard enough, you can see that this one was doing great!

On Sunday we took a day trip to Amapala, an island in the Pacific Ocean. We for a swim and then had a wonderful lunch prepared by a woman who is in Diaconia's health program in that community.

We had a kids' program in each of the communities for the kids and whoever else showed up. It included a short message, craft and piñata.

Here´s some of the hard-working guys in front of a nearly finished latrine. Jorge, in the cowboy hat, was the homeowner.

This is my little pal Deny. On one of the first days I drew a picture of him so that he could color it and every day after that he was always at my worksite. But he didn't say one word to me until the very last day!

Here's the group, smiling and satisfied after seeing their friends again and lending a hand in making a healthier, stronger community.