I won't lie-- I had desperately missed my bed and real water pressure in the shower, but nothing could take the place of my new friends, the God-loving and unforgettable Micah Boys. After merely a week in Honduras, I have new siblings who I love as much as my brother of sixteen years. I have several "novios" who shower me with love and affection. I have best friends who despite their young ages, have lived through more hardship than I have. I have new role models who have made a bigger impact in my life than I have expected and that I could have hoped to make in theirs.
Over the course of the week, I worked alongside many of the Micah boys to help build a wall for the school of Villa Linda Miller, play with the kids of the neighborhood, repaint the exterior of the Micah House, and converse with some of the street kids of Tegucigalpa. Wednesday, when we visited the marketplace and first encountered the kids who inhaled shoe glue to get high, I had a hard time imagining that several of the Micah boys like Wilmer and Hector had been here. . .had been like this.
We got several of the glue boys at the marketplace to play soccer (jugar futbol) with us on a dirt field by the polluted Choluteca river, but sadly, this glue that controls their life, prevents them from living as children and enjoying life. Rather than set down their bottles of glue in order to run after the soccer ball, the boys would stand in front of the goal posts, bottle of glue tucked inside their shirts, inhaling as they wait for the ball to be kick towards them. Each breath is full of glue fumes, each breath quiets the hunger, the cold, the loneliness.
To look at my beautiful friends at Micah and know what they have overcome, I know that all things really are possible with God.
The boys were just great. They were all super patient with my broken spanglish and they loved having their photos taken. I am able to stay in contact with them through facebook where they ambush me on fbchat and post love poems on my wall.
Guadelupe was "like a mirage." she controlled attention and stalled our wall progress and loved taking pictures of rocks, and both chloe & i. basically unreal, so adorbs
at first, maicol and his twin brother luis, how do you deal with all that energy? it was especially difficult painting, but these two deserve to be micah boys when the time is right
on our way to amapala island, a black sand beach, kathryn and i pose with axelito, one of the youngest micah boys
many were brave enough to eat this, but i, being a chicken, ate chicken
saturday, tears were shed as we all said our goodbyes. english, spanish, no language could really express the sadness that was felt on both sides. tears though, broke the communication barrier.
i cannot wait to return to my micah boys.
no puedo esperar a volver a mis micah boys.
for more information, visit ww.micahcentral.com where you can read bios on all of these remarkable young men :)