Torsalo

The week is, I think, winding down. The Vice-Minister of Education had her assistant send me an email at 11.30 p.m. last night asking if she could visit today. Fortunately, I check my emails as I eat breakfast (a litre of milk tea - African habit and green porridge - Moringa powder added) at 6.00 a.m. The Minister was leaving Copan in the morning so we had a few hours to get things ready.

Finally, after nearly three years of asking, we have had a visit. That is exciting. The Vice-Minister has been most helpful and receptive to our ideas. She talked to students who were studying and Yeni and the staff gave her a lovely sales pitch. After we had looked at the program for some time, we looked at the development booklets we are creating and had a quick plant tour. The Vice-Minister went home with Chaya, Moringa and Stevia.

 

Carol reading a story with her mom. Her mom has already taught her to read, write and do simple sums. Her mom is getting a chance to study with us.

Keysi and her baby pay us a visit

The head of Cortes region and entourage

On Wednesday, we had another important visitor. The Head of education for the Cortes region (which includes a huge area), came to see our school and to go visit the container school in Las Delicias. She was scheduled to come at 8.00 a.m. We waited until 3.00 p.m. for her to finally come. Edel, had a contact with the group of people she was with so was able to track her progress - sort of like following Santa on Christmas Eve.

The trip to Las Delicias went well and after showing them to the highway, we waved them on their way. Hopefully there will be some positive results from all our efforts this week.

Now for the gory story hour. Manuel has had a pain in the neck for a few weeks (besides me). The last three days it has started oozing a bit. I was worried it was a boil and told him to treat it with hot compresses of water and vinegar. Well, yesterday morning I sent him to the doctor. The doctor examined him and found that he had three Torsalo larvae growing on his neck. The doctor offered to remove them surgically. As near as I can figure, that was too much of a decision and Manuel came rushing back to the school. The doctor accosted me last evening and asked where he had gone and why he had left without paying the consulting fee. We straightened that out and now I await news of how things are going on the larvae removal front.

Tomorrow is the start of the annual fair. Preparations are feverish in the town centre. The new central park is only a couple days away from being complete. It is looking great. I will try and get a schedule of the week's events before the week is over. That is a novel idea I know but ... one that I am actually pursuing with diligence this year.

 

Elia Del Cid, the Vice Minister of Education for Honduras talks about Hay Basket cooking - with help from Yeni and Edel

The major focus this week has been filling out the needed paper work for registration and school permits. What a huge hassle that is. However, we are nearly done and the staff has done a sterling job sorting it all out.

That is about it.

TTYL

BB