New day, new pix!!

Hello All!!

We've had another fantastic day at Holy Cross School!! We are posting a bunch of new pics with a little bit about each one. Today we had 85 kids at VBS, and accomplished a lot at the construction site as well!! OK, here are the pix!! From bottom up -- a view of the awesome Mayan ruins at Altun Ha (Sunday). Leaving Belize City harbor on the water taxi bound for Ambergris Caye (Sunday afternoon). View from Ruby's beachfront hotel balcony... we have seven rooms there (Sunday afternoon). Holy Cross Anglican School -- about a 30 minute walk through the streets of San Pedro to a swampy area on the other side of the island (Monday). Rev Winfree and John Eick installing concrete-based sheet rock in a bathroom at the school (Monday). John McHenry (w/ guitar), Hannah Waddell, Ellen Currin, Madeleine Campbell, and lots of kids at VBS (Monday). John (Jr) and David Eick on playground with VBS kids (today). David Eick and friend (today). John Gibson and "Destiny" (today).

A word about Destiny. Destiny is a little girl just 6 years old. Destiny's height and weight are those of a three year old. Destiny lives with her three siblings, her Mom and her Dad in a 10 ft by 10 ft "home" made of very thin wood. There are no windows and only one door. She has a tin roof that covers all of their heads as they try to sleep together. To get to her house you have to walk into the San Mateo community on a thin walkway that keeps you out of the mud and muck where there are no sewer lines and drinking water flows only about half the time. There are about 1000 people living in this community, all in extremely substandard housing. Once you near Destiny's house, she has to walk across about 100 ft of elevated 1x6 planking that is suspended a foot about the water level by shoddy supports. Once she nears her front door, she has to climb up a ladder to reach it. She cannot step back down out of her "home" safely--she has to be carried, as do the other younger children. Not only this, but Destiny has been plagued with numerous medical problems. Francis and Vernon Wilson, the Episcopal Church missionaries who are in charge of developing the Holy Cross School, have overseen spending about $15,000 in Destiny's medical care. When she first came to the school, she was a very sick child. Once she was taken to a private doctor, they immediately hospitalized her where she was diagnosed with double pneumonia and tuberculosis, worms, and a number of other maladies. She has been successfully treated for all of these and is not contagious, but she still struggles and the concern is that, though very rare, she may have cystic fibrosis. Destiny comes to VBS every day and loves to be held. She does not want to go home at 11:30 in the morning when VBS ends. Nor do most of the other kids that come from San Mateo or other nearby homes that are crowded and hard to live in. They cling to us like babies cling to their mothers, and as soon as we put them down they want to be picked up again, even some of the older 10 and 11 year olds that are coming every day. Holy Cross is a beacon of hope in their lives, and we are now a small part of that light of life. Tomorrow we will all celebrate a Maundy Thursday service for the children along with the team, the Holy Cross workers, and members of the Anglican community here. We will sing songs the kids know and love, and they will receive a blessing. We know you will be with us in thought and prayer. God's blessings to all. JohnnyMac