Holy Swimming Week Countdown

The stores are once again stocking plastic inflatable pools and what not as the national week of Honduran swimming is only a month away. Holy week is a holiday for most people and travelling to the nearest stretch of water – fresh or salt is an obsession. The rest of the year sees all of these places nearly barren but during that week they are packed. Vendors set up shop on small spits of river sand and beside normally deserted lakes shores. It is truly amazing.

Today is a cool, rainy day. After a week of warm temperatures and dusty streets, the mud and cool is welcome. Road repair has been going on outside our school and has brought extra dust. However, it has also made for smoother streets.

Our digital library continues to grow. Each week sees a few more books finished and ready for installing. This week we are also working on a dictionary to install alongside the lessons. Each step makes the program that much better and, in my mind, more exciting.

In my house, I have worked on having the bathroom painted. The oil paint fumes are rather staggering but, gradually they are subsiding. Fortunately, an early project to close all the holes along the tops of the walls left each room able to be sealed off and, therefore left me with one room fume free enough for sleeping. The plus side is nice, bright, clean walls – light blue with dark blue trim. Some wooden strips mounted on the walls in my kitchen means I can hang up utensils and some pans. This gets around the lack of cupboards.

The reports on the three ecocina/rocket stoves have been very encouraging. People are wanting to know where and when they can buy one. My hope in the next few weeks is to see if we can build a rocket stove in the traditional shape and with more space for firewood, a chimney and a small water heating system. If we can build one for about $60-70.00, we will be in great shape. The rocket stove does use considerably less fuel. For one of the families, it has meant having to cut wood only one day a month instead of four. So, the boys have three Sundays off. They are quite happy with that arrangement.

The students fill the school for four shifts a day – often two to a computer. It is so exciting to watch them each day.

Watched a funeral procession this morning. They had the coffin inside of a glass covered pick up bed. Much more impressive than the closed hearse system. There were not that many people walking behind the truck so the procession needed the extra help of a flashy unit in front.

Not much else to report. I will close with a small response I wrote to a discussion I was part of with two friends talking about hope and fear.

ttyl

bb