ESOL Teachers’ Mission Trip to Honduras
Spring 2009
Submitted by Robin Von Allmen
There is a special place for abused and neglected children in Honduras, run by the Latin American Missionary and Bible Institute (LAMB), called God’s Littlest Lambs Residential Children’s Home. Four teachers from the Charleston County School District’s (CCSD) ESOL Program spent their Spring Break on a mission trip with St. James Episcopal Church to reach out to the staff and children at LAMB. Robin Von Allmen, Cheryll Colson, Rosemary Serpa, and Amy Badger went with to share their love of the Lord with sixty children, “armed” with dozens of activities to keep the children busy during Holy Week when the children were out of school.
The mission team collected eighteen 50-pound suitcases full of school supplies, teaching materials, craft supplies, sports equipment, and children’s literature to donate to LAMB. Teachers from the ESOL Program donated over 100 books. Hispanic students at CCSD’s Academic Magnet High School wrote and illustrated dozens of children’s storybooks. Hispanic students at Garrett Academy, CCSD’s technical/vocational high school, made posters, bookmarks, and teaching supplies for the LAMB teachers. A local carpenter, Bruce Yarnell, made 100 homemade wooden crosses ready to be decorated and made into necklaces by the LAMB children. He also donated carpentry tools.
To understand what these gifts meant to the children, one must know how the children live. Basic supplies are extremely limited. Drinking water, for example, is trucked in every other day. The children have set times when they can take baths with buckets. Schoolrooms have chairs and chalkboards, but only a few meager supplies. There are few, if any, toys. Six to eight children share a room in the cottages.
The mission team stayed at LAMB’s guesthouse, Casa LAMB, in the capital city of Tegucigalpa. Each morning they would board a van and travel thirty minutes up a mountain road to San Buenaventura where the children live, worship, and go to school.
The team worked in three groups. One group took a dozen children to a field to play kickball or soccer. Since the children have not had many opportunities to play organized sports, they had fun doing their best and working in teams to win trophies. Other mission team members set up storytelling, craft and reading centers. The children loved hearing their favorite Bible stories and doing related crafts. Most of the children took time to go through their new books, since they had not had many books in the past.
The last group of missionaries worked with a few of the older children doing carpentry, making much-needed wardrobes and shoe shelves. In the afternoons the team took time to play with the children in the nursery and to give the adult caregivers a much deserved break. Back at the guesthouse there was a Honduran dinner and time in the evenings for devotions, praise, and worship.
Inasmuch as it was Holy Week, there were some exceptional times to celebrate together. The team spent one morning touring La Conterra, a neighborhood of extreme poverty where many of the chilren at LAMB come from. The team was invited into the homes of several people who receive gifts from LAMB’s Community Assistance Program. These cases of hardship were heartbreaking and therefore, many members of the team are convinced that they should return.
If members of Carolina TESOL would like to join CCSD’s teachers on a future trip, contact Robin_vonallmen@charleston.k12.sc.us. To learn more about LAMB, go to http://www.lambinstitute.org. Although sponsored by St. James Episcopal Church in Charleston, mission teams cross denominations and cultures to make a difference.