A hard time at home

During a few classes we've been giving over the past week a few of us have noticed that some children (boys mostly) bear signs of very possible 'physical' activity at home. One such child, a ten-year-old boy who attends our English and computing classes came along with a noticeable black mark around his right eye socket. A U.S volunteer noticed it at first whilst I had a kick-about with the chico. I then took note and found myself telling a Honduran volunteer the next day.

The boy (who we shall call 'Jose') lashed out at another child during the next day's class - as he has a quick temper and also knows a 'tasty' word or two in his native tongue. Both serving as signs of his home life - at that age. The other boy was fairly hurt by Jose. Turning over to me, a Honduran volunteer said 'pelea mucho este'. That roughly translating to 'this boy fights a lot'. I then said to him that we were concerned with him and his home life - I pointed to Jose's facial marks. The Honduran volunteer stepped over boldly asked Jose what was up with his face. He looked away and timidly responded that it was the 'dog'...

Another sight I noticed was when we found ourselves playing Frisbee on a field one day last week. A female volunteer went to snatch the Frisbee jokingly from a little boy. As she did the child threw his little arms over him as if to cover himself. He did it in the fashion as when you know someone's going to hit you. An obvious sign of being hit frequently - his reaction was instant.

Our project manager informed us all towards the end of the week that we can expect most children here in El Porvenir have a 'hard time' at home. This being just the tragic part and parcel of growing up in a deprived place. No different to poor and underprivileged families in the UK for instance, this is just the way it is - very sadly. All we can do as outsiders is to provide the children with a safe, fun and engaging place to be - when present in our classes. This being what the HCA so strive to accomplish...