Land of Sun…and Sadness

Last Saturday evening, Greg, Damon and I returned from Honduras. We were bone-weary from traveling, but each of us carried in our hearts special memories of our trip.

The weather couldn’t have been nicer during our visit. Warm, spring-like days filled with bright sunshine provided the perfect atmosphere for us to interview sponsored children, their families and our agency staff about the challenges of poverty in Honduras – and believe me, these challenges are nearly overwhelming.

Several heart-rending cases cast dark shadows upon the beauty of the landscape. Perhaps the most difficult of these involved children infected with AIDS. To know these innocent young children face unimaginable suffering in the years ahead – through no fault of their own – was a reality almost too hard to handle.

But not all was grim. We were also surrounded by the evidences of the success of Children International’s sponsorship program in Honduras. Medical cases previously thought to be hopeless are now filed away in the “Cured” stack; children from impossibly poor families are going to school with their program-issued supplies and uniforms, chipping away at the glass ceiling that used to bar the less fortunate from any chance at success in life. And there were lots of smiling children.

Thanks for traveling to Honduras with us through this blog. It meant a lot to us to read your comments and hear your input. There’s lots of good stuff coming in the next few days, so please keep checking back.