Personal Narrative: My Honduran Family

We were leaving after eating dinner with the young Honduran girls, when they came running over to give each of us a hug and say goodbye. I barely knew these kids, but it meant the world to them that we wanted to share a meal together. It was humbling to see that the breaking of bread and sharing of stories, something I took for granted my entire life, could mean so much to these soon to be amigos.

The children at the orphanage run by Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH), meaning Our Little Brothers and Sisters in English, were the most caring people I’ve met. I had the chance to develop intimate relationships with them on a mission trip to Honduras with my church. I left the country for two weeks over the summer preceding my sophomore year. Going in, I was a little nervous, having only taken one year of Spanish during my freshman year of high school, but during the trip I developed a passion for learning the language along with a love of the culture of my Honduran brothers and sisters.

Although the orphans all had heartbreaking pasts, you would never know it. Their positive
outlook and endless energy really put my life into perspective and encouraged me to do a lot of mental and emotional growth during these two short weeks. Coming from America, NPH seems like a tough environment, but in Honduras the kids are grateful to simply have a safe place to live. Despite their circumstances, the children made the best of what was handed to them and were the most loving people you could ever meet.

My time at the orphanage made me revisit my values and inspired me to be ambitious and to take advantage of every opportunity.
The children strived to do their best in school, like Juan and Javier, who had grown up in the orphanage and currently serve as two of the shelter’s volunteer physicians. Their passion, determination, and hard work helped them get to where they are today. In my life, having grown up with a professor as a father and nurse as a mother, the importance of persistence and working hard have cultivated who I am. The people I met at the orphanage made me more aware of the importance of education, commitment and hard work. Following the trip, I jumped on the chance to take college classes in high school along with putting the work into getting a job that I have learned to love. The residents at NPH motivated me to make the most of these options and try my hardest to
succeed.

Through this mission trip I also learned the importance of being grateful and giving back to my community. Despite all of the hard work Javier and Juan put into achieving their goals, they still credited their success to NPH. Both of them felt compelled to give back to the orphanage for helping them when they needed it the most. I have been taught that being thankful and being charitable are important parts of life, but I never truly understood their necessity. Its significance was really emphasized after observing the dedication of these two volunteers. Seeing the community at NPH influenced my decision to join service clubs such as Key Club and FCCLA, at school and to increase the amount of volunteer work I do in my free time.

My family has helped to shape me into the person I am today, but I attribute a lot of my morals to the experiences I had at NPH in Honduras. Now, it is a lot easier to go from working with customers at my job to assisting the Key Club in highway clean-ups, all while maintaining my focus in school. My experiences in Honduras have changed my life now, and I cannot wait to go back to see what new doors will open.