The Construction Has Begun

Good Morning from Honduras.  I just wanted to give a quick update in regards to the construction project for Carlos and Cindy. As I mentioned in my last post it will take about $1,400 to add a living room, kitchen, and bathroom onto the little building where they live.  I'm excited to tell you that we have raised $2,400 for the project.

Big thanks to all of you who have contributed, so many friends from Cardinal Health, Tennessee, Florida, Mattoon, and Family members made contributions, I'm very grateful.

I spoke with Carlos a few days after I posted the story and told him to get started, as we had already received $600, he was so excited and grateful for the support.  He's excited about the additional space and he's even more excited about the fact that he's providing for his sister.

Some of the materials have been purchased and the work has begun.  Here are some pictures.

Bags of concrete. 

Rebar

Digging the footers for the foundation.

More photos to come. 


As for the surplus of money I will keep you posted.  I have a friend who needs a bathroom, his family is currently using what looks like a tent, and Carina and I are discussing other families that need help.


Sincerely,

Michael, Carlos, & Cindy










 

Can you send me $10 for Carlos & Cindy?

In my May post I wrote about Yeltsin, the scholarship student at one of our high schools that suffers from KTS.  If you remember he was not attending school because his arm was so heavy he was not able to sit upright in a chair.  At the time we were waiting to hear from Healing The Children and Boston Children's Hospital to see if they would accept the case.

Well I have some great news to share, Boston Children's Hospital accepted the case and in September Yeltsin flew to Boston in order to have his arm amputated.  He has been living with a host family and many have donated their time to ensure Yeltsin makes it to his medical appointments and rehabilitation.  He did have to return to the hospital after his initial surgery because there were issues with the wound healing correctly, however I have been told he is in good spirits.  

Yeltsin landed in Boston as a New York Yankees fan but quickly realized that Boston was no place for a Yankees fan.   The former Bishop of Juticalpa, Honduras, Boston native, & Red Sox fan Maurus Muldoon has been one of the key contributors to Yeltsin's adventure.  Bishop Muldoon told me he received a late night phone call a few weeks from the hospital, it was Yelstin, just wanting to congratulate the Bishop on the Red Sox victory.  Big thanks to Healing The Children, the staff at Boston Children's Hospital, and all the volunteers who have made this possible.

Before, Yeltsin with his father in Honduras. 

After, Yeltsin with his new Red Sox shirt & having dinner with some friends in Boston.

A surprise visit from the New England Revolution Soccer Team & Bishop Muldoon

Thankfully Chicago Children's Hospital didn't accept the surgery.....I would have hated for Yeltsin to spend his life as a Cub fan, life is tough enough.  Here's a picture of my parents and their long time friends, Don & Carol Portugal at a Cardinals playoff game a few weekends ago. GO Redbirds!!!

Here in Honduras, Futbol is all the buzz!  Hondurans like to see Honduras win and Mexico lose. Here is a picture of Carina and I watching the Honduras / Jamaica game at her friends house a couple weekends ago.

I'm living in a different home this year. Last year I lived with the other volunteers but with the wedding in November I went ahead and found a house to rent so I wouldn't have to move once we got married. The house is great, however I don't have running water. Some neighborhoods in Juticalpa have constant running water while others do not. The city turns on the water in my neighborhood about twice a week, and that is when everyone fills up their water storage tanks (pilas). 

So, how does life work without running water? Well for one you buy a plastic container and put it next to your sink so you have water for dishes and cooking. I bathe outside next to the pila, kind of like a bucket bath, and I make sure I always have plenty of purified drinking water.

My outdoor shower.

Drinking water.

I hung a hammock recently, I will get a lot of use out of this. Most homes here don't have yards but some have outdoor covered living areas like this, either in front of our behind the house.

Our friend Laura got married earlier this month, here are a couple pictures from her wedding.

Our wedding plans our coming along. We have the Priest, the church & Guillermo (our wedding planner), I guess the rest will fall into place. Carina is in the capital city of Tegucigalpa today with her aunt shopping for the material for her dress. Her aunt will make the dress. Here is a picture of us sampling the food for the reception & cake shopping. The owner of the bakery was taking a nap (on the floor of the bakery) when we stopped by, guess she wasn't quite done with her siesta because she didn't get up, she just rolled over and started talking cake.

Now for Carlos (age 23) and his sister Cindy (age 14). 

My friend Carlos called me a few weeks ago and asked if we could talk. I have known Carlos and his sister Cindy since I started dating Carina, Carlos is a teacher at one of the schools where I volunteer and Carina's parents have "adopted" Cindy. She goes to Carina's house after school and on the weekends, she will help Carina's mother around the house, cooks, and joins the family for meals. It has been a great way for Cindy to earn money, it gives her a place to go, and she has been the beneficiary of several of Carina's old dresses, shoes, and jewelry. 

Meet Carlos (in his white uniform) & his cousin. 

Meet Cindy -

About 10 years ago, Cindy and Carlos' mother passed away. Their father was in the picture while their mother was alive but once she passed he found another wife and has since moved to another town where he has a new family, leaving Carlos to raise Cindy. Carlos has served as big brother & "father". Thanks to some women in community (like Carina's mother), Cindy does have female role models, but of course nobody can replace your own mom. 

I was well aware of their story because Carina and I had discussed their situation in the past. The thing that Carlos brought to my attention during our conversation was their living situation. Carlos and Cindy don't have a house, they live in a small building (about 8 X 20 ft). Inside the building are 2 rooms where they each have a bed, however there is no place to study, to read, to cook, go to the bathroom, or to relax. A 23-year-old man and 14-year-old girl basically living on top of each other. They do have a water tank outside where they can take a bucket bath but I'm not sure what they do for a toilet. I didn't want to ask, because I was afraid I would embarrass Carlos, I'm assuming they go outside or use a neighbors toilet.

Building where they live. 

Cindy's bed & their table for eating. 

Carlos' bed and their refrigerator.

A corner for the stove and cooking area.

Carlos approached me to see if I knew anybody who could pay for the materials to add a room onto their "house", this extra room would serve as a living room and kitchen, as you can see from the photos they currently keep their refrigerator, stove, and table next to their beds. After visiting the home and seeing how small the building was, I asked Carlos to send me the cost of the building materials for a living room, small kitchen, and bathroom. Carlos, his cousin, and their friends will do the construction themselves, they just need the money to buy the materials. 

Carlos e-mailed me the cost of the materials for a living room, kitchen and bathroom. For $1,400 he can buy enough sand, concrete mix, block, steel, wood, nails, and screws to construct these additional rooms. Can you help? 


If I could get everyone who reads my blog to send me $30, $20, or even just $10 we could help Carlos buy these materials. Materials are not expensive here in Honduras. If all you are able to donate is $5, then please send $5, Carlos needs it. Every $5 will help as he buys blocks or bags of concrete. If you can help (and I hope you can), please use the PayPal link below or write a check to Michael Freesmeier and mail it to the address below, my sister can deposit checks into my account.  

Click Here to pay via PayPal

Or

Mail Check To -
Elizabeth Freesmeier
7244 Althorp Way
Nashville, TN 37211


I don't believe it's possible to help everybody, first a person has to decide that they want to help themselves. If one hand is giving & the other hand is only receiving then we aren't really helping people. This is not the case with Carlos and Cindy, they are certainly the kind of people that are willing to help themselves. Carlos and Cindy both work, both attend school, and both have a great attitude about the life God has given them. 

I don't know Carlos' exact salary but I'm confident that as a teacher at the private school where he works he makes about $325 a month. That gives you an idea of why it's so difficult to save for things like construction materials.

I will send updates in the next couple of weeks in regards to the money that has been raised and what we still need. I will also send pictures as they purchase materials and start construction. I'm counting on you.... THANKS!!

the ring, 2 San Jose's & 20 gallons of motor oil

I'm back in Central America, and back to the blog.

I returned to the U.S. for the month of July and had a great time catching up with friends/family & sleeping in the air conditioning. Attended my families annual Orange Beach, AL vacation, traveled to NYC to see my brother & Suzanne, attended my Godson's Baptism in Tampa (photo with Walker Kennedy Kleman below), & met some friends in St. Pete Beach for my bachelor party, yep bachelor party (see below). Always great to be back in the U.S. but after 5 weeks I was ready to return to Central Amercia, it was a long time away from Carina.

Walker and I sending Carina an e-mail in our matching shirts.

I was also able to spend time with my little brother Seth (Big Brothers Big Sisters) when I was back.  I started mentoring Seth when he was 6 years old, he is a freshman in high school this year and only a few inches shorter than me.  Time flies.  He went with me and my family to the beach and I also took him to an amusement park in Kentucky one day. He has become a really neat young man, mentoring is a cool experience!  I purposely asked a girl with an iPhone to take this pic so she would understand how to work my iPhone, she still couldn't figure how to hold it upright.  I think she rode the Kentucky Rumbler a few too many times!!

I drove to Chicago to attend the Baptism of Carina's niece (Kathryn) and nephew (Anthoni).  Carina has a huge family and many of them live in Chicago.  I have been to see them several times, they are always very good to me. (The wife beater didn't appear to show through my shirt when I was at the house getting dressed, what a look!)

I flew back to Honduras on Aug 1 and returned to my volunteer position with the Olancho Aid Foundation. We had 7 long-term volunteer teachers arrive on Aug 7th, they are a great group of people.  I did an orientation with them for 4 days which included a hike to Mountain Boqueron, always a hit with the volunteers.  We take a guard with us to the mountains, just to be safe, 8 gringos in the mountains alone could be problematic.  I took the opportunity to practice my shooting.

Carina joined us on the hike.

On Aug 24th I traveled to Costa Rica by bus to attend a language school for a month.  I have been in San Jose, Costa Rica for the past 2 weeks and starting Monday I will be in Samara, Costa Rica (the schools beach campus) for an additional 2 weeks.  My Spanish is improving and Costa Rica is a beautiful country. In San Jose my host family was a real sweet retired couple, Olga and Geraldo.  They provided me a room, cooked me breakfast and dinner, and also helped me navigate my way around the city.   There were a lot of college students from Germany at the school, some studying Spanish as a 4th language.  I was the only student staying with my host family, but one night a German girl traveled through and stayed at the house as well.  She was suppose to arrive on a Tuesday evening but she didn't show until Wednesday (3 days before her luggage).  I spoke with her on Wednesday and asked what happened with her original plan to arrive on Tuesday, she told me that she did in fact arrive in San Jose on Tuesday, however not San Jose, Costa Rica....San Jose, CALIFORNIA.  She booked her flight to the wrong country, the wrong country.  She had to purchase a same day flight from San Jose, CALIFORNIA to San Jose, Costa Rica....ooop$.  In all my travels that's the first time I have heard of that.  I did accidentally go to O'Hare instead of Midway one time, if you ever do that there is a shuttle for airline employees that they apparently let Cardinal Health employees ride, I guess they felt bad for me.

My school.

Friday I took a bus and ferry (6 hours) in order to get to Santa Teresa, Costa Rica (Surfers Paradise) where I'm relaxing for the weekend. You should have seen all the stuff the passengers were bringing with them from the city of San Jose, I guess that's there opportunity to shop, there is not much shopping here in Santa Teresa. One guy had 20 gallons of motor oil. Santa Teresa is a small beach community located on the West Coast of Costa Rica. I'm staying in a little cabin directly on the Pacific Ocean.  No paved roads, very few automobiles, mostly bikes, ATV's, and surf boards, it's very relaxing, shirts and shoes are rare.   I arrived at 8:00 pm, just as the USA / Costa Rica futbol game was starting.  The whole country was watching the game (tough loss for U.S.)  The place I'm staying doesn't have a front desk, it's the kind of place where the owner walks you to the room and gives you a key.  I tried calling the owner of the cabin as I was approaching the town but she wouldn't answer, so the bus driver dropped me off at the local grocery store and one of the employees called the owner for me.  She sent some guy to the grocery store to pick me up and give me a key to the cabin. Today I take a bus/ferry to Samara where I will continue my Spanish courses. There are a lot of surf board rental shops in Samara, so I'm hoping to surf in the afternoons.

20 gallons of motor oil.

View from the ferry.

 Cabin on the beach.

Town of Playa Santa Teresa, Costa Rica.

As for Carina, she is doing great.  Busy as ever, working during the day, English classes every afternoon, and studying at a university on the weekends to complete her teaching degree, she will be finished in May.  We have been discussing marriage and a date for months now, but I wanted to buy the ring in Nashville from my friends who own a jewelry store, so my July visit gave me the opportunity to make that purchase.  Carina had told me one time that she would love to get married at the little chapel in the school where she works, however the chapel only holds about 40 people so that won't be possible.  I did feel it would be a great place to propose.  Directly outside the doors of the little chapel are the beams I was scrapping and painting in June 2011 when I spotted Carina and asked to be introduced to her.  Anyway, on August 20th I purchased candles and rose pedals, placed them all over the chapel and I went to pick Carina up from her English class.  I previously asked our IT guy (Oscar) to call Carina and let her know that she needed to stop by her office and re-set the internet (our server is located near Carina's office).  So when I picked her up from class she informed me that we needed to stop by her office and reset the server.  We walked into the school together, she noticed the candles and rose pedals and quickly realized what I was up to. So it's official, she said yes, actually she said "si amor"!  We are getting married November 30th 2013 in Juticalpa, Honduras.

I always like sharing the creative Honduran work ethic.  Check out the 2 guys on the bicycles, this is teamwork.  Apparently they work in construction and needed to get 30 ft of rebar to the worksite.

So the Central American Adventure continues.   Enjoy the beginning of the new seasons back in the U.S. Fall and Football.

Grandma, Jose Carlos & KTS

It's May and it's still HOT!  There are a few radio stations in town that play North American music and one of them frequently plays "The Heat Is On".  That was the St. Louis Cardinal's theme song one season in the 80's & when I hear it I'm reminded of my days as a kid going to Cardinal baseball games with my family at Bush Stadium, sitting in the hot summer sun and humidity.  So it's a very fitting song for this time of year here in Honduras.  Thankfully we don't have the extreme humidity that some areas of the U.S. experience, but it is still very HOT!  These days I pray that the rainy season arrives soon.  I was told it rains all of May, which would have been a nice break from the sun, I was told wrong.

With the dry season comes a lot of wildfires.  Many of these wildfires cause power outages.  Some of the power outages last an hour and others last a day or two.  When the electricity goes out so does the water.  The combination of no water, no fans, no lights, can make for some trying times.  I have certainly learned to appreciate running water.  I guess it's all relative, when I visit the homes of some of our students, I see that they get by without electricity and running water on a day to day basis.  I guess I can handle a couple days.   Next time you flip that switch or turn that handle be grateful for the luxury that follows and if your cable bill is more expensive than your water bill, I have good news for you, your rich!  I was at the gym the other night when the lights went out, nobody skipped a beat, they just went on working out in the dark as usual, so I did the same. Here is a picture from the gym.

Most of the plants and trees are awaiting the rain as well.  Things are dry.  The acacias tree is the one thing that does bloom this time of year.  It's beautiful and is a nice reminder that everything isn't dead.

I traveled to St. Louis a couple weeks ago to attend my Grandmother's funeral (my father's mom).  She was 92, had a great life, a huge family, tremendous health, and even stronger faith.  She was a really neat lady.  The visitation and Mass were both very nice but the thing I thought about the most during my time in St. Louis was the importance of family.  It was a nice reminder to not take family for granted.  My grandparents had 8 children, 26 grandchildren, and enough great-grandchildren to field a soccer team.  They didn't escape this place without struggles, many I'm sure, but through good times and bad, family was always a priority, maybe not more of a priority than bridge club but they certainly kept their faith and their family at the top of the list.  I guess driving to Daytona Beach in the 50's and 60's in a station wagon with 8 kids before the interstate system will either increase your faith in God or causes you to walk away from it. I hope my generation is as committed to their family and faith as my 2 grandmothers were.  Here's a recent picture of my Grandma Freesmeier with my cousin Kathleen.

The funeral services took place over mother's day weekend so we ended the weekend by celebrating my Mom and remembering my Grandmothers.  It turned into a very nice weekend, lot's of family, lot's of laughs and even more food, just the way Grandma & Mema would have wanted it.

Last summer I told my grandmother that I would not have a mailing address here in Honduras because they don't have a postal service, so there is no need for an address.  She couldn't believe this.  She had a hundred questions..."how will you get your bills", "how do you send someone a letter", but she was most concerned about invitations to parties.  Well I thought of Grandma the other night.  I was at Carina's house and her cousin stopped by to drop off an invitation (pictured below) to a birthday party.  That's what they do, they hand deliver all invitations, and as you can see they put a lot of thought and time into them.  Grandma didn't  like the idea of not having a postal service, but the idea of hand delivering invitations, another excuse to visit friends and family...that she would have loved!

Pictured below is 5 year old Jose Carlos.  He is one of Carina's many Godchildren.  Carina and I had discussed enrolling him at Santa Clara Bilingual Elementary School next year but we weren't sure if it was possible.  Based on his family situation we both felt this would be a great opportunity for Jose Carlos and his education.  However, we discovered there weren't any scholarships available and we weren't sure how we would pay for it.  As we were discerning on whether or not we should enroll him we also learned that the kindergarten class for next year was quickly filling up.  Without giving it anymore thought, we completed his registration, submitted his birth certificate, and he was officially enrolled.  The following day when I arrived to work and opened my e-mail I had a message from my good friend Tim Kleman in Tampa, FL.  He wanted to know if I needed anything and if so, how he could help.  God always has a plan.  I informed Tim about Jose Carlos and our need for financial assistance, Tim and his wife Krista are now paying for Jose Carlos to attend school at Santa Clara Bilingual Elementary.  Really a great opportunity for this little guy...Thanks Tim & Krista!!

Also - A special thanks to my Uncle Rick, his fiance Olivia, as well as my Aunt Janet & Uncle Bob.  They have all been sponsoring Sofia who attends our special needs school, Escuelita Nazareth.  Sofia is deaf and is able to attend school each day because of the scholarships being provided.  Here is a picture of Sofia.

I will end this post with a very unique story about another scholarship student and his friends in Washington. I have been working with his generous friends for the past 5 months.  They are paying for Yeltsin (pictured below) and his sister Lidenis to attend Cardenal Rodriguez High School (1 of the 2 Olancho Aid High Schools).   Yeltsin has spent a lot of time in Washington receiving medical treatment for Klippel Trenaunay Syndrome (KTS). KTS is a medical condition in which the veins and the lymph vessels do not join together normally. This causes the blood vessels and the lymph vessels to not form properly. This also causes hypertrophy (overgrowth) of the part of the body affected by KTS.  His arm has become so heavy it's painful for him to sit upright in a chair and is preventing him from attending school.  

Yeltsin's group of supporters in Washington are in contact with Healing the Children and are hoping they can find doctors to sponsor the surgery that he needs in order to have his arm amputated. They have been told that the only hospital capable of handling this disease and surgery is Boston Children's Hospital.  If anyone has connections with Boston Children's Hospital or Healing the Children please let me know.  We are hoping to send Yeltsin to the U.S. as soon as possible.  The sooner he can have the surgery, the sooner he can receive a prosthetic arm, and the sooner he can return to High School.  Thanks to the great people in Washington who care so much for Yeltsin, he is lucky to have you in his life. 

If you or someone you know are able to sponsor a child please visit www.olanchoaid.org or e-mail me for details, mfreesmeier@olanchoaid.org. Scholarships range from $25 to $100 per month.