Local women share experience of mission trip to Honduras
by Kerith Nicholl
Last Wednesday's Brown Bag Lunch event at the Belleville Public Library focused on two local women's journey to Honduras.
Belleville resident Rita MacDermaid, and Foxboro resident Bonnie Hayes travelled to the village of El Porvenir in Honduras last August as part of the very first Bible study group to ever go there. Their trip lasted from Aug. 2 until Aug. 16, a total of two weeks. They applied for the mission trip through Missionary Ventures Canada, which is based in Guelph, Ont. after learning about it through their churches.
MacDermaid has been a Belleville resident for over 30 years and a member of Eastminster United Church since the mid-'70s. She is a grandmother and was the only grandmother on the mission trip, although she didn't let that slow her down.
MacDermaid has been to other Third World countries before but those trips were more vacations than mission trips. While Hayes has plans to return to El Porvenir in the summer, MacDermaid has other plans.
"I am getting married in May, but I would go again if he would go," MacDermaid said.
Hayes has lived in the area since she was a little girl. She used to attend church in Foxboro before joining Emmanuel United Church in Belleville, which she has been at for three years now. Hayes had listened to people around her talk about mission trips, so when this opportunity was brought up in church, she felt like she was being called to go.
"I work with someone who goes on these trips regularly and I had listened to her talk about it, and it was always something that I thought I wanted to do," said Hayes.
"It really felt that I was being asked to be there."
Hayes hopes that her return trip this summer will an experience that she will be able to share with her eldest son who is just finishing university. Hayes has shared her experiences on the trip with him and says that he is starting to feel the same tug that she felt when the mission trip was first mentioned to her.
"It would be a great life experience for him. He would really like to do this," Hayes said.
One thing that MacDermaid and Hayes have in common is their favourite memory of the entire trip, which is the children of the village.
"They would come running to meet you and grab your hand or want to jump up on your shoulder," said Hayes.
Although 40 per cent of children in El Porvenir do not know where their next meal will come from they were still full of joy and energy. Hayes, MacDermaid and the other people who went on the mission trip would play games with the children like soccer and Frisbee. They would also make them snacks that they have never had before such as popcorn.
"We took 1,000 pounds of craft supplies with us and spent an hour and a half in the morning and afternoon preparing popcorn and orange drink for snacks," said MacDermaid.
The women brought supplies, clothing and toys to an orphanage in the village. They also took part in building a trade school for the village. They primed and painted the interior, put a roof on and poured the concrete for the floor of the structure. The building has two bathrooms, two classrooms, a terrace and a courtyard. The trade school is for women to attend to learn basic trades such as sewing and other life skills. |
