At the end of 2009, a bus was donated to Love & Hope Children’s Home. This was a great blessing, to be sure, but the bus was donated in Ohio, obviously very far from Central America. In order to get the bus to El Salvador, arrangements were made that it would be driven to Florida and shipped here. Once the bus arrived in El Salvador (by way of Guatemala) on November 27th, 2009, it was immediately taken into customs. The children saw it once and waved as it was driven past our old house in Nejapa, from one customs location to another.
For the next 2 years, the bus was stuck in customs. Every few weeks it seemed there was another form to be filled out, another estimated period of time until we got the bus. By the time we finally had permission to take the bus home on July 13th, 2011, we thought we no longer needed it! Our little microbus and other vehicles were sufficient for school runs.
In preparing for this school year, however, we realized that a bigger vehicle was needed to transport the kids to school everyday. Unlike last year, all but one child would be attending class in the morning. We also have a few more kids under our roof during the week who need transportation to school. The bus turned out to be the solution! However there was still a bunch of work left to get the bus running, and paperwork to be filed before we could start using it.
We went round and round with the Transportation Ministry until finally on December 14th, 2012 we got permission to drive the bus.Two days later, our microbus was in a small fender bender and was stuck at the mechanics for almost a month. Some of the kids were still in summer school for two more weeks, and a visitor was gracious enough to rent a van for one week until we could get the new bus fixed up, insured and road ready. By the time we had to turn in the rental, the new bus was ready to go! It was amazing how everything worked out just right. After three years of never knowing when or if we would ever get the bus, and then not knowing if we even had a use for it (we almost sold it!), it turned out to be just what we needed!
Somewhere along the way, the kids started calling the bus “la Plaza Sesamo” or, “the Sesame Street” bus. The name has caught on, and even the adults refer to the bus by its nickname. Everyone has a lot of ideas of how the Plaza Sesamo should be painted or decorated (there are a lot of votes for a giant FC Barcalona decal). Last week at our family meeting, the kids helped make rules for the bus like: no eating, pick-up your garbage and stay seated.
We have already been able to use the Plaza Sesamo a few times for outings and this week we started using it for school drop-offs and pick-ups. While some of the older children have expressed some sheepishness at having to go to school in a big bus, no one can deny the Plaza Sesamo is more spacious and comfortable than our other vehicles. Here’s to some sunny days in the Plaza Sesamo!