NYE Wrap Up

I flew back to Honduras on December 30th after promising the boys for months I would be here to celebrate NYE with them. Christmas is definitely their biggest celebration of the holiday season, but the 31st is a pretty big night as well.

Hondurans celebrate it pretty similar in many ways - staying up late, fireworks at midnight, getting dressed up, etc - but some are SUPER different and confusing.

For example several days after Christmas Hondurans make scarecrow-like dummies to look like an old man and woman. These dummies are supposed to signify the past year, so naturally (?), at midnight you burn these dummies to mean you are "getting rid of the old, and getting ready for the new". We had our past summer interns down on NYE, and we all decided it seems like the weirdest tradition, but the kids seem to get pretty excited about it. You literally fill the dummies with fireworks and then light them on fire so they "blow up". As you can see from the pictures, it almost looked like we were burning people alive.... no worries - nothing of the sort!

We had a delicious dinner of pollo relleno (stuffed chicken) with rice and tortillas. After dinner the boys took turns singing karaoke, doing skits, and telling jokes as a sort of "show". We played music and danced until late, then around midnight it was time to shoot fireworks and "burn the viejo and vieja".

An Overdue Reunion

I wanted to translate and share an incredible, beautiful story about a reunion that took eight years to finally happen. The following was written by Elvin Espinal, our assistant director here at Jovenes. 

Yesterday I set off to the city of Comayagua with five boys in order to try and reunite their families after 8 years of not seeing each other. 
Gustavo, Nixon (brothers) and Cristian, Jose Alexander and Eduardo (brothers) had spent more than eight years without seeing their families or even remembering them. Nevertheless they were excited to meet their families, and this is where the saying comes true, "blood calls to blood". 

Gustavo & Nixon's mother

Gustavo and Nixon's mother recognized them immediately, and this was a really special moment. They were happy to spend some time meeting their 3 other siblings and getting to know them. Their mother was so happy to see how healthy and happy they were, but she was especially excited to see how educated they both are. 

Jose Alexander, Eduardo, and Cristian's father

It was very exciting and special to be a part of this moment, to see the similarities of the boys' features with their parents, and to hear the gratitude of their families that the boys had been so well taken care of.  

L to R: Cristian, Jose Alexander, the boys' mother, Eduardo, and their father

Nixon (left) and Gustavo's (right) mother & 2 sisters

It was really a beautiful day. We feel that God will continue to bless us with more days like these so we can continue to reunite these boys with their families and be a center that blesses Honduran families all over. 

We arrived around 9:30 and two of our house moms, Tia Mary and Tia Daysi (our director's wife) had the opportunity to sit and talk with the families before the boys actually saw them. 
Cristian, Eduardo and Jose Alexander were also very excited to meet their mom and dad again after not seeing them for 8 years as well. The family was also very excited to spend a few moments with the boys and recuperate some of the lost time that had passed between them. 

We headed back to Jovenes excited and the boys talking about their experiences and how well their visits went. I felt proud to be part of the Jovenes en Camino family knowing it was because of our organization we were able to reunite these families. 
Jose Alexander kept smiling on the way home saying how happy he was to have seen his family. Nixon said he felt so proud to have seen his mother. These are boys who are growing up without any bad blood or hate in their hearts, but rather with values. 

*sidenote: Our current director, Ronald Millon, makes this a sort of personal mission of his while at Jovenes. Many of these boys arrived almost a decade ago and at a very young age. Because of this many do not know anything about their families, therefore JEC is making it their mission to reunite as many families as possible while helping those families overcome extreme poverty.