“Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” – Matthew 19:14

Children’s Day at MEI

Honduras celebrates its Independence Day, called Quince Day, every September 15. As part of the countrywide celebration, there are special events for the children, including their own parades. On our island of Helene, MEI joins in the celebration with hosting a Children’s Day.

What is Children’s Day? Is it truly a recognized day in Honduras? Yes, it is! Schools all over Honduras celebrate Children’s Day. Many children enjoy this day more than Christmas. Preparation begins the day before. When the big day arrives, we start early setting up a net, tables, supplies, chairs for musical chairs and blowing up lots of balloons! Students will be dressed in their best. We have stations for a Bible story, games, crafts, Legos and just coloring. Our most popular outdoor event is water balloon volleyball. And yes, food! My job (Larry) is to cook the food. I will prepare 150 hotdogs.

Teachers in our school bring cakes; parents from each community bring drinks, chop suey, salad and all the other fixings. There is rumor we might have a scoop of ice cream this year! By all means, we will have candy. We have bought bags for each child. We will sing, bust pinatas (and water balloons), run, yell and anything you can imagine from 1 to 6 pm. Then all the adults drop from exhaustion. The children love it, we plan for it, and give to the children all we got!

We view our hosting of Children’s Day as another gospel outreach to the local children, many who also attend our Helene Christian English School (HCES). For information and an overview video on HCES, please visit our HCES page.

With the school year soon coming to a close, we could use your financial support for the 30% funding MEI supplies to pay for the local teachers and school supplies.

Thank you for your gracious donation in support of HCES.

I can hear Jesus saying those words, “Let the little children come to me…”.

Larry Benson, Executive Director, MEI