Many of the children at the Home are ill with runny noses, coughing, fever, etc. Two dozen persons living in close proximity tend to perpetuate the Upper Respiratory Inflammation symptoms. One, our daughter with the fractured mandible in the January auto accident, Celia, will be spending the week with her new adoptive parents in Tegucigalpa. The Texas family, finally, after six years of bureaucratic buffoonery will be finalizing the documents and returning for her in a couple of months. Yesterday, after church, Celia was telling me of her cough symptoms accompanied by the new resident, they’re the same age and have become fast friends. The new girl piped up and said when she was sick with a cough, her mother would give her raton. Raton, I said. A mouse? Yes, she said. You mean you would eat a mouse? Yes. Cooked? Yes. Your mother would skin it? Yes, and cook it and I would eat it. Would it make your cough go away? Yes. There you go, Celia. You have to go catch a mouse.

In my book, I relate the case of a woman who had her first child at the age of 13. I can’t remember if the reference appears in one of the three posted chapters on this web page, or in chapters 4, 5, or 6 that are not posted. In any case, the two male children were 3 and 1 year old. She abandoned the two boys before her husband was released from prison. The Court had awarded custody of the youngsters to Sister Edith. The husband, a drug addict, was eventually killed but not before the woman bore him two daughters. As fate would have it, the woman returned to the Children’s Home with the two little girls. Last week she abandoned them also, ages 3 and 1. Their brothers are now 11 and 9. Last week the Home also accepted a 13-year-old girl, also abandoned, when the grandmother who raised her died. The girl’s biological mother threatened to kill her daughter if the State tried to place the young lady in her custody. On occasion, I have thought of leaving Honduras, but I can’t. Sister Edith once told me: God has sent you to us, to the children. Every day I pray for guidance.

The majority of vehicles in Honduras are Japanese. On the roadways are seen occasional cars from Germany, Korea, and trucks from India. The US of Norteamerica is usually represented by a few Ford and Chevrolet cars and pickups. Honduran citizens must attend formal driving classes to qualify for a drivers license. They must pass a written test and drive a vehicle accompanied by an instructor. There are separate classes and licenses for those driving commercial vehicles and automobiles and motorcycles. When driving the country’s highways one must understand that there are no traffic police or patrolmen. It is strictly driving on the honor system. There are, consequently, many idiots who speed, drive recklessly, tailgate, cut in front of other vehicles and basically ignore the rules and reglations they were taught in driving class. In addition wandering cows  and horses can be a danger to vehicular raffic, especially at night. Driving on Honduras’ highways is somewhat like the wild west. Always assume the other drivers on the road are stupid with a machismo attitude that makes them a threat and a danger to life. And I have not even mentioned the bastids who are armed.