Honduras - Post #3

Keep your eyes on the road!

Each weekday that we’ve been here, Alisha and the other wife Candy who’s on the trip, have joined in with the ‘One Egg Ministry’ at three of the local primary schools. Both Alisha and Candy have taken turns leading the devotion they present at each school before handing out an egg to each student as a snack. Andy’s wife Carmen has accompanied them, but since Carmen doesn’t drive Alisha has also had the chance to drive here – something she’s very much enjoyed doing as it’s brought back memories of Uganda. But I’ll let Alisha describe all of this for herself…

Welcoming committee.

This is my second project trip, and like the first, I came not really knowing what to expect. The One Egg Ministry is a special way in which Andy and Carmen are able to help the community children in the San Francisco area. Each morning this week I drove our group of ladies (it was fun to drive overseas again!) to three different schools. The school children at each stop waited in a large group outside, eager to see the van pull up and ready to hear the devotion. Candy and I took turns planning and teaching a 10 minute devotional and were very grateful to have Carmen as a translator. It would have been pretty ugly without her. ;) I don't relish public speaking in any fashion, but leading a short lesson for the kids seemed to be one of the needs this week so I agreed to it. The kids were very sweet and so good at memorizing scripture.

Teaching outside

After the lesson, each student received one hardboiled egg prepared by Diana (a single lady in her twenties who is salaried through the ministry). One Egg is a full-time job really, between traveling all morning to the different schools, preparing lessons, and spending the afternoon boiling and peeling 400 eggs each day - a process that takes about four hours. (The eMi team is addressing this issue as they design the kitchen on the new site.)

...and again at another school.

...and a 3rd.

For some of the children, the egg might be the only thing they eat that day. Sometimes, when the ingredients are available, the government also provides corn and beans for the children to complement the egg. The ingredients are picked up by someone who travels to the city, then given to a family volunteer at the school who cooks in their own home and then brings the food to the children – typically, this is tortillas and beans. While some days there is enough to feed the entire school a meal, on other days there is only enough for one of the classes to get to eat more than just the egg. This was very sad to witness on one of the mornings.

Even though some of the teachers are against the devotional lesson for their students based on religious reasons (there's a lot of tension here between the Protestants and Catholics), they still want the ministry to come because it means the students will be supplied with nutrition, have more energy for learning, and are less likely to miss a day of school. And from the ministry's standpoint, providing an egg has given them access to kid's hearts where that might otherwise be impossible.

Candy and I were both privileged to get to see this ministry in action and hope that through the large kitchen being designed for the new site, Andy and Carmen will be able to help more children in the area.