The HIM Gualan Nutrition Center

Until mid March I had been living at the HIM Nutrition Center near the city of Gualan. This building was built mostly by volunteers as they came down on mission trips. I was fortunate to help hang siding and cut out for windows on my frist trip here in Oct of 2007. It is a beautiful building on an even more beautiful setting. It is the first of many buildings on what we refer to as the future HIM Campus or Compound.

A couple years ago the Mayor of the city offered to donate land to HIM, as a means to get us to move more of our operations this direction. A 17 acre site was chosen and the planning began. The site is hugged by the Rio (River) Dulce on the south side with mountains beyond it. Additionally, mountains are seen from all sides, thus this small community is called Valle Motagua. The setting really is spectacular! There was a K-5 school already present on the site which is still in operation.

The orphanage is the next building project on the site. It is well in the works with the second story having gone up just over this past week. We are hoping (keep your fingers crossed) it will be done in May. I have yet to snap a picture of it with the second story, but here are a couple from earlier this month, as the teams worked their butts off in the blazing heat!

Upon completion of the orphanage, building will continue as we add to the compound. Additional planned buildings are a single mother's home, an elderly care home, a dental clinic, a hotel or form of housing for the 10 day volunteer groups, and eventually a fence to encompass the whole area to ensure our continued safety.

Currently, one of our weekly projects at the Nutrition Center is to hold a community feeding for Valle Motagua’s poorest children. Two Chicagoland Area Rotaries as well as the Gualan Roatary have been very active in helping us carry out this mission of HIM. At the Dedication Ceremony of this building, in October, which I just happened to be here for as I was on the 10 day October trip, the representatives announced that they would be providing funds for us to do a community feed for the most needy kids of the area once a week for a year! Every Wednesday, 50-75 kids are lined up waiting to come in! It is interesting to see how excited they get over something that we take so for granted…a nourished meal. How lucky we are!

Here is a picture of the feeding. It reminds me of the semi-chaotic grade school lunches from back in the day. No food fights here though. Trust me, they'd rather eat it!

I have gotten to know many of the kids from living in the area and passing them on my daily walk. Now I see them on a weekly basis as I go out there to help prep the food and serve. They have progressed from just calling me Gringa (which means white girl) to knowing and remembering my name, which is easy for them because Kara (however spelled with a C) means “face” in Spanish.

Coming soon…what I have been so busy doing for the last month that I haven’t done any blog posts.


“Giving frees us from the familiar territory of our own needs by opening our mind to the unexplained worlds occupied by the needs of others.” - Barbara Bush