Hola! My name is Meghan Hanley and my mom and I went to Honduras with the Hands to Honduras - Tela Project. This organization's main focus is to help children and families in the Tela, Honduras area. This was my second trip with the Hands to Honduras project. This year, I helped build a classroom in a rural village and two classrooms in a daycare center. I also worked building a kitchen near a school that I helped build last year.

It was great to go back to Jazmin where I worked last year. My friends from last year were asking for me before I arrived. It was really nice to see them again!

Going to Honduras has been a great experience for me. It's made me realize how fortunate I am to live here in Vermont. I appreciate all that I have living here. Their homes are very different than my home in Shelburne. Many of the homes are just pieces of scrap wood nailed together with mud filling in the cracks. They are slightly larger than sheds that many of us have in our back yards! Other "nicer" homes are one or two rooms made out of concrete blocks. On the inside of a typical house is one small room with a clay wood stove for cooking. A piece of fabric separates the kitchen from the sleeping area, which is a small area with hammocks and a couple of blankets on the floor. A refrigerator is a luxury in Tela!

I feel so lucky that I get to help the people of Tela in a small way. They do not have a lot of material things, but they seem happy and they are so friendly. They just live much simpler lives than we do. I hope to go again next year.