Godparenting

Here at NPH Honduras, we have godparents for just about everything. Each child can have up to 9 godparents who sponsor them through a monthly donation to the home. The children also need godparents for important events such as confirmation, quinceañeras, and graduations.

I have two sponsor children: Azucena in El Salvador and Axel here in Honduras. I met Axel on my first trip to the Ranch and was immediately smitten (I don’t think it’s a coincidence that his last name Enamorado means “in love”). He is now 12 years old. When I came this year, it took him some time to get over his shyness with me. I think he’s finally realized that I’m really staying. Normally, after 3 weeks, I would be gone already. He’s not a super high maintenance godchild, and he’s always good for a hug. On one of my free weekends, I decided to go hang out in his hogar for an evening. He asked me if I could play chess, and I said yes (meaning that I know how the pieces move, but we all know strategy is not my forte). He completely destroyed me but was really sweet about it. I only managed to take one of his pieces, and he piped up, “At the very least, you got a rook!!” One day, when I was having a bad time, I realized I was walking around with a piece of candy in my pocket. I went in search of my godson because I knew putting a smile on his face would put a smile on mine. I went to his hogar, and they told me he was in percussion class. I walked over to talleres, called his name, slid the candy across the floor to his feet, and off I went quite tickled with myself.

Two boys have asked me to be their madrinas for graduation. Fortunately, the graduations are on different days. Very early on, Yeremi asked me to be his godmother for sixth grade graduation. It was actually more like told me than asked. I asked as to my responsibilities, which he said were to show up to school and wear a pretty dress. Done and done. More recently, I was chatting with Bryan (one of my absolute faves at the Ranch) and his visiting godparents from the States. We met two years ago when he was 14; he was one of the boys who called me Geisha. He’s grown up into a great kid who has done really well in school. It actually brought me to tears when he asked me to be his madrina for his ninth grade graduation. He’ll go on to his internship in December and January and then come back to the Ranch for a year of service. From there, he’ll go to high school in Tegucigalpa. I’m so proud of him. It’s traditional to give your godchildren gifts for graduation, and I want to come up with something really special.

Now all I need to complete the set is a godchild for quinceñeras! Somehow I don’t think that will be a problem.