Villa Vieja is a small community just outside Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. The actual site for this day's distribution of your bedkits was a small school, Policarpo Bonilla, to which children were bussed from a number of even smaller schools.
As this was the first day for a new team, our chief, El Jefe Harry Gauthier, wisely decided that we should distribute our target of 530 kits through group photographs of ten children per photo rather than the more usual groups of three. This allowed us to practice our various roles in the distribution process, organizing the groups, bringing them to and from the photo site, counting and re-counting them, etc. Those who have volunteered with SCAW overseas know that all of these functions have to be performed efficiently: for accounting purposes and to reduce the wait time for excited children.
Harry also had to plan for a delightful visit from the First Lady of Honduras, Senora Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, wife of the President. This was a very exciting time for the children, our Rotary partners, and the SCAW team. The First Lady came with many staff and a media entourage. She is well-known for her support of children's programs in Honduras and had helped the Rotary Club with this year's SCAW distributions. This was like a cabaret for the children and their families - and us. Harry gave a speech on TV after the First Lady presented him with a certificate for SCAW and hugged him.
At the end of the day, we had distributed kits to 530 children. Thirty four did not make it because of a bus problem. We will make up the numbers on a quieter day.
We took the photos inside as this is the rainy season here. Another wise decision by Harry as there was a rather heavy storm in the afternoon.
Tomorrow is another day!
Peter Adams
for the SCAW Honduras team
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