Thursday, July 31, 2008

Tugging on those heart strings

Hello all! So after a long and tiring day, I witnessed something beautiful, so beautiful in fact, that I felt like I needed to share. I only speak of the situation because of the perspective I bring, and not solely to bring up a sad subject.
Usually on Wednesday nights we have parish counsel meetings, which consist of us sitting there listening to information that only partially pertains to us, spoken very quickly in Spanish by adults in the community, over several drawn out hours. Tonight we approached the meeting hall, and found it dark. We were oh so relieved! Then, one of the women we walked with, a wonderfully welcoming person that has taken us under her wing (Isabel) took us to further investigate, by going to the another women’s home to ask the whereabouts of the meeting. Although this may seem strange to us, to just walk to someone’s home to inquire as to their whereabouts, rather then just call or whatnot, it speaks to the culture, how connected they are, their sense of community, and the like. After talking to a woman at her house, we proceeded to go to another person’s home that I had also never been to. There we found a crowd of people from the community, most of their faces familiar from nightly masses. We were ushered to the back of the house, where there was a courtyard type setup, which is common here. Isabel had us sit down and visit with the women there, and I finally discovered what we were doing in this house. One of the men that was a huge supporter of the church in various activities had recently had a stroke, and was not doing well. He was tucked in bed in a room just off the courtyard, and there were even more people there, praying, visiting, crying.
It was moving to see such support. Although families are extremely extended here, with very blurred lines, it was not only the family that was there. Friends, churchgoers, acquaintances, anyone that wanted to share a prayer or a kind word was there. It really showed me what Honduras, and Hondurans for that matter, are really about. It’s about love for one another, regardless of relations. It’s about support for those that need it. It’s about strength. It’s about being rich in all of the things that money can’t buy.
Although there were a few obvious sobs here and there, the general vibe was one of peace, or as they say, tranquilo. We stayed a bit, so that Isable and another friend of ours, Fatima, could say their prayers and pay their respects, and then silently returned to our casa.

Monday, July 28, 2008

poco mas

Saturday we went to Mojado, one of the small villages that we will be working with. There, along with the village directly adjacent to them, we do a child malnutrition program. Monthly the kids that are under five are weighed and their height is measured, and the results are tracked, and sent to the doctor at the health center in town.
Since the beginning of this project in February, there have been only two children that needed to seek medical attention, although all of the children were on the lower side of their projected weights. I think this is interesting to keep track of, and would be interesting to see what the results are over the next year that we follow this project. Part of the problem with this particular aldea (village) is that during the rainy season, it is rarely accessible by car because of the treacherous roads that are destroyed by mountain runoff, and it is roughly a 4-5 hour walk from town. There is little land available in this aldea because of its placement on the side of a mountain, and therefore with little growth, no land for livestock to roam and poor accessibility, it means that an often time there is just no food.
I think its hard for me to fathom this type of existence. So many times in the states we talk about people eating to excess and choosing the wrong kinds of food, rather than poor health due to lack of foods. The kids we met have stick thin arms and legs, the mothers roughly the same. Many of the men will leave December through April to work in the fields owned by someone in town, and that is the only source of income for many of these families with their 5 or 8 or 10 children. It is a cause I plan on putting much more effort into.
Another part of my weekend has been going to the children’s mass, which I recently returned from. There the majority of the population is under 10, and all are dressed up in their Sunday best, with their hair freshly combed and their single lempira (the currency here, one with worth 5 cents) in hand for the collection. After some readings and a simply put homily, it is time for the sign of peace, or la paz. Its my favorite part of mass for many reasons, partially because I actually know what to do, but also because of the abundance of love you receive. Children from all parts of the church, whether they know your name or not come running to give you big hugs, and if they can reach, a kiss on the cheek. It lasts just minutes, but it may be the most rewarding two minutes of the day for me. So much of the work we do isn’t rewarded, and of course, that wouldn’t be why we did it if we were compensated, but this is the ultimate reward of all, a simple, free for all type of love, that you receive just by being present, which after all, is what we are here to do.

hello again!

Life in Honduras as so far has been well, different. A couple of days ago we went to one of the small villages (aldeas) we will be serving. We went house to house, meeting people, and enjoying a cup of coffee at each stop (this is a custom for families to offer visitors a refreshment). After several stops, and a belly full of coffee, it was time to have lunch at one of the local’s houses. Lunch was rice and tortillas, which I have been told to get used to.

Then it rained. It poured. For a half hour. This normally wouldn’t have been an issue, at home. To get into this aldea, you have to cross over what is normally a stream. Until it pours, and becomes a small river, which needless to say, we were unable to cross. Apparently since the area is so mountainous, there are seven rivers that all drain into the one river that was swollen and raging in front of us. So, we waited. And waited, and several hours later, the water subsided, and we were able to leave. Only in Honduras!

We also have been going around to all of the schools in the town to meet teachers and kids, and find our placements for the year. I will be placed at Duarte, the school that is furthest away, in a fourth grade classroom. For the first several months we will be part of the class, learning, doing the lessons, taking in the Spanish and interacting with the kids. After we are more comfortable with our Spanish and interacting with the kids in the schools, we can start to teach lessons and fulfill needs that the schools have. I think it will be a great place to understand the culture more as well. Kids are the most overt about a lot of the cultural tendencies and behavior, and also the easiest to relate to, making them a great place to start in a culture unknown to me.

We also went to watch one of the outgoing volunteers give a talk along side the peace corps volunteer in our village about hiv/aids. Apparently Honduras has one of the highest rates of hiv in the hemisphere, and being health related, this is of interest to me. Because we represent the catholic church, we can only preach certain practices, but the peace corps volunteer, who has a lot of the information prepared for her by the peace corps, is able to represent their views and practices, creating a much more comprehensive presentation. I am very interested in pursuing this further and think it would be a great place for me to start into public health here. I’m sure as the days go on I will have my interest peaked towards other avenues, but I definitely think this one is something worth while.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

Hi all!

Hi everyone! I thought I would start a blog, so that way I have a place to put up pics as well as write notes and keep everyone posted on what is going on in Honduras. This will just be a short one, but I will try and post every few days with stories, and projects, as things get rolling here. Life has been great as of yet, except for the whole missing everyone like crazy thing. Every day I wake up to an adventure, whether that means just putting sentences together in spanish, or trying not to fall out of the back of the pickup on the way to one of the rural villages. I think it makes life interesting to have daily battles to conquer, it just makes you learn more. Anything worth doing will be hard, right? Well thats all for now, but I will post again soon with more of the good stuff. Love to all!