This is a letter I translated for our director on this weekend's past visit to Choluteca. Three boys had the opportunity (thanks to some of my favorite people) to go and visit their families for the first time in many years.
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On Friday, August 26th, my family and I, together with Emelet and one of the drivers, Israel, headed towards the south zone of Honduras with the idea of looking for Merlin and Nery’s family and Dennis’ mother.
We arrived around 8 PM to Choluteca, where we stayed in a preacher’s house who lives in this area. Brother Carlos Rivera and his family opened the doors to their home that night and shared coffee with us the next morning.
The next day, Saturday, we left very early to head towards Corpus. Corpus is a very beautiful community, with stone streets and houses with tile roofs. This community is where Merlin and Nery’s family lives. We arrived at 7:30 in the morning to the central park in Corpus. There we were waiting for the mother and two younger siblings.
One day before we had agreed with Merlin and Nery’s family to meet in this place. There were many hugs and lots of happy faces. Later Mrs. Elba, the boys’ mother, invited us to visit her house. Her little house was located in the middle of a mountain between lots of trees and banana branches. The home was very humble, made of blocks of “adobe”, *****(teja) roof, and parts of the house made of plastic. Where there were holes in the roof, the family had placed blocks so the wind would not uncover the roof. There were also small doors and a dirt floor. Inside the house there was only two beds. The plastic seats we sat in were borrowed from the neighbors.
Mrs. Elba has four children total, three boys and one seven-year-old girl. Two of these boys are with us at Jovenes, Merlin and Nery. The other two live in the house with Mrs. Elba in Corpus. The mother suffers from the same sickness as Merlin, epilepsy. One of her other sons, Pedro, also suffers with epilepsy.
Mrs. Elba invited us into her house and offered us a coke she had purchased on credit from a little store close to her house. There was no sign in the kitchen that she had cooked that day or the day before. It seemed like it had been many days since they cooked in this home. It was also strange that Mrs. Elba and her sons hadn’t seemed to have drank coffee either, which is a common and traditional breakfast in our small towns here in Honduras.
In order to reach Mrs. Elba’s home we had to pass over many broken branches after passing through a small area where mules grazed. We had the opportunity to also meet the boys’ grandmother. She greeted and shared many memories with us, including how Merlin used to sleep with her when he was little. She was amazed at how much he looked like a man that day. Mrs. Elba informed us that she had an appointment that day in the hospital in Choluteca, but she wouldn’t be able to go because she did not have enough money to pay for the visit.
In August, Mama Lisa had left Merlin $10 as a gift. He still had 100 lempiras left, and his brother also had 50 lempiras he had earned from selling bracelets. Together they were able to pay for her appointment at the hospital.
Many say that illnesses such as Merlin’s are hereditary. Almost all believe that Merlin inherited his illness from his mother, but as we have looked back to his past, we have realized that most of it probably came from the malnutrition his mother suffered growing up on that mountain. There was an extreme lack of food and nutrients in their home from extreme poverty and misery.
Merlin and Nery also suffered from hunger. In Merlin’s case, this lack of nutrients left him suffering with epilepsy attacks and now has to take medication daily. Merlin has recuperated physically like many of our young men here at Jovenes, but unfortunately this problem affected his brain. While we can all recuperate physically, once it starts to affect the brain, the damages are irreversible. We have done all we can do here at Jovenes; the only thing left would be a miracle from God.
For Merlin and Nery it was very sad to see the condition of misery their mother and siblings live in. That day these brothers gave thanks to God for Jovenes en Camino where they have food, education, health, clothes, and house parents that love and take care of them. My wife, Daysi, asked them if they wanted to stay a few days with their mother and siblings, and they immediately answered no. We returned from Corpus at 10 in the morning that day. Later we directed ourselves towards the city of Choluteca to look for Denis’ mother.
Merlin and Nery are very appreciative of the brothers and sisters who collected the gas and food money to send them to visit their loved ones. Thank you to Mama Lisa, Papa Steve, and the rest of the group for having made this dream come true for these two brothers.
