Football - Viva Honduras

Today was the third day of football at the Olympics. Honduras played Japan. A surprise victory over Spain on Sunday gave Honduras a golden opportunity to advance to the quarter-finals ... something no one expected.

I have a TV in my house (left over from the last World Cup) and so I brought it to the school so that we could watch the game at 10.00 a.m. Some switching of internet connections and so forth and we were able to see the game. Most of the boys chose to forgo studying for ninety minutes so that they could watch. A tense time but, fortunately, Japan was already through so they did not field their best squad nor play with any degree of intensity. A 0 - 0 tie was the result. Honduras is through. All the other men's games are today as well so lots of national interest. Honduras will meet Brazil, evidently.

Pre - Harvest - 280 plants

Yesterday we cut a small bed of Moringa. This intensive method of growing Moringa has the trees planted 10 cm apart. They are then cut back to 16 cm (Santiago measured carefully). This method is supposed to yield up to 9 harvests a year. These trees are now 7 weeks old (from seed) so, as you can see in the pictures, the growth rate is phenomenal. The leaves were stripped from the stems and are now drying to make leaf powder ... a super nutritional supplement. There is a great deal of interest in Moringa right now as it is being talked about on TV and in the newspapers. We are a year or two into growing the plant so that is a great benefit. We are the current experts in the area.

Violence is so close to the surface here in Honduras. Yesterday there was a serious staff meeting as we received news that one of our 13 year old girls had been raped. Fortunately for her, it was her mother who had been raped early in the morning as she was going to have her maize ground. But, nevertheless, we will have to see what we can do to ease the pain of our student. (Note:  She was back in school today - 2 days later. I had her come to the office to offer my sympathies. How hard for a tiny little girl to walk each morning in fear. What a helpless feeling ... and what can one say?)

Post Harvest

In a personal note, I have been spending the last couple of days dealing with the logistics and memorial service for my mother who passed away Friday night. Although someone disappearing from life's view is always a surprise it was not unexpected. Still, I have been surprised at how much energy the liturgy and eulogy is taking. The staff have been very kind so that has been a lovely gift.

Off to teach English.

TTYL

BB