Field Trips (part 2)

This next field trip was organized for our whole school. Have you ever been on a field trip for all the primary and secondary grades in a school? I hope not, because this was the most exhausting half-day of my life. Every year, similar to field day, the students get to go somewhere in the La Unión area and just play around for a half day of school. This year’s destination was the founder of our school system, Pastor Evelio’s ranch. He lives about 20 minutes outside of town in an aldea called El Filo. The reason that Abundant Life has a school in such a random and rural place (La Unión) is because this is where Pastor Evelio grew up. He knows what the circumstances are like out here and this is his way of giving back to the community he calls home.

El Filo. Since he is the founder of the whole school system, he by no means lives meagerly out here. (He actually lives in Tegucigalpa, this is just his secondary home.) His property is stunning. It is tucked away in the mountainside and stretches over a vast piece of land. It is filled with many wonders for the students to discover. I would have loved the trip more if there was some actual organization and direction for the chaperones, but there simply was not so the day unfolded in complete chaos.

We split the students into two groups – primary and secondary – and I naturally followed my students. Julio did not let go of my hand at any point during the day (it was clear where I belonged). Everyone got on busses at the school to take us up there; we only had two busses and we clearly needed three, but that was not a big obstacle (not for the smaller-than-average Honduran students we have). The younger students just piled into the seats, 4 or 5 across, while all the older ones and teachers stood in the aisles. I was thankful to be standing by the door because I was receiving plenty of fresh and moving air. Once we got there, the kids’ eyes all instantly fell upon the playground. There was no stopping the herd of them rushing off the bus to be the first ones on all the toys. We were quickly instructed to collect them all and move them to a gazebo before they broke the equipment. From there our principal directed each group with what their ‘schedule’ looked like for the day, but once he left with the secondary students, all the primary teachers were at a complete loss of what we were supposed to be doing. Thankfully a worker showed up to start our walk around the grounds.

The ranch is home to a wide variety of animals, and what little kid does not love animals? All of the animals were in cages but we saw buffalo, rabbits, donkeys, cows, sheep, and deer (I felt very bad for these guys because they were so frightened by the crowd of students that they started running around in circles like crazed animals and one even bit his tongue so badly that blood was just dripping from his mouth). With every new cage we came upon you could hear endless ooos and aaas over the animals. Those kids were so fascinated by them all! 

I have two favorite moments: 1) When we were looking at the cattle, Juan looked at me and said in his beautiful English, “Miss, is very dirty here.” Why yes Juan, cows tend to be very dirty, smelly, poopy animals. 2) A fourth grader was certain that there were dinosaur fossils on the grounds and was determined to show them to me. I had to stop him from descending a slop into the woods to find them. Our animal hike took about half an hour and I was sincerely hoping that it would exhaust the students, but I was terribly wrong.

Jake, Cassidy, Beth, Harriet, and I were in charge of the primary students and it was our job to each come up with a different whole-group game that the students could play. In hind sight, we should have each set up somewhere on the grounds and then had the grades rotate through our games (since there were five of us and five grades), but we were not that clever. Instead we just took turns playing our games while the others babysat. Jake, Harriet, and I were the only ones who managed to get students to participate in our games. It all is just a blur when I think about it.

Jake had a game of tag going on where each player had a scrap of shirt tucked into their pants and everyone was trying to rip out their competitors’ flags. The boys of course showed no mercy or restraint when chasing down the other boys. Their rounds were always very physical. The girls on the other hand, were very delicate with each other and precious to watch as they somehow managed to take each other out of the game.

Harriet planned a three-legged race. Watching this one put me in a fit of giggles. I could not help but laugh hysterically at all these little kids trying to run with one leg attached to someone else. Most of the teams could not manage more than a few steps before they ended up as a heap of students on the ground. It was a good strategy because they would surely trip other pairs so they weren’t the only ones who could not make it to the finish line!

My game started out as a race where a member from each line had to spin around a bat or stick 5 times before running down to their cone and then running back. They were all so eager to win that they forgot how to count through 5 full turns, so the game quickly fell apart. Then my time turned into playing ‘baseball’ with the boys. At first I hit the ball to them while the chased it down and threw it back to me (yes, a glorified version of ‘fetch’). Then the boys all wanted to hit so I set them up where they could hit and not lose the ball in the trees or over the fence. I threw the ball to the batter and let each one get five hits. I think our school should organize a baseball team because some of those crazies were hitting the ball quite well!

Sometime during all of this the kids ate snacks AND lunch. I cannot even remember when that happened because I never had the chance to stop moving. I was constantly chasing kids down to keep them from getting lost or destroying the property. When I wasn’t running after students, I was busy trying to keep them occupied. They never lost an ounce of energy while I was watching the clock persistently, waiting for the moment we got back on the busses, signaling the end of the chaos. The bus ride home would make adults in the States freak out. Our bus was a mix between a dance party and a zoo. Kids were hanging from the bars on the ceiling, screaming at their top of their lungs for the entire duration of the ride, feet and heads were sticking out of every window, they were crawling over the seats, and every kid started chanting for all the teachers to put on a show and dance. Needless to say, I crashed when I got home.

Well, the end is here folks! I am on the brink of the last week of school. It has been a struggle to keep all the students focused up to this point. I’m sure I was just as checked out by the end of the school year as these students are, but now that I am on the other side of it, I feel bad for what I put my teachers through. Please be praying for the sanity of all the teachers. People are on edge and are getting set off over the simplest of things. Give us strength, perseverance, and PATIENCE until that very last day. Pray for the brain power of the students. School is not over yet and they still need to work hard through their finals. Pray that they do not totally lose it and remember that they cannot give up and celebrate just yet. We are almost there! Pray that we all make it in one, happy piece.