The one with all the Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!! So… my first big holiday celebrated away from home as come and gone… it was… different. Actually, it was lovely- I couldn’t have imagined a better way to spend it if it had to be spent in Honduras. My site mate’s hosted a lovely gathering, with just a few other volunteers from my training class who live near by, and a whole bunch of volunteers that I met for the first time (and a few random Americans who happened to be passing through). There were two turkeys, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, a few pies, a cake… all the trimmings! Well, almost all the trimmings…. No NHS football game, eggnog, mulled cider, scrambling to feed Nana before her blood sugar freaks out, chewing like grampy, or pictionary. But, I made “Indian” feather headbands and pilgrim hats for all who chose to wear them, we ate lots of food, we played my trivia game (complete with 4 categories- Thanksgiving, Honduras, Peace Corps and Christmas), and I met lots of awesome people (it’ll be a miracle if I can remember all of their names). OH, and I guess it’s pretty cool that my town is called Gracias (thank you), and that is where we celebrated Dia de Accion de Gracias (Thanksgiving). It was an appropriate location, for sure.

Last week I hosted my first visitors! Monica and Anna (from my Youth Development group) and Anna’s friend who was visiting from the states came and stayed with me for a few nights. It was so much fun to shout COMO ESTAN and get a proper response! We went to the hot springs, and went hiking up Mt. Celaque, the highest peak in Honduras. Yes, we made it to the tippity top….. no… just kidding… we made it to… rest area numero dos… but it was still fun! We took Freckles, my site mate’s puppy and he had a great time! Their visit gave me a chance to figure out the best places to go out to eat in Gracias (I haven’t eaten out much since I’ve been here)- We found a charming little place that also sells hand crafted pottery made right here, and met a super nice lady that makes homemade bread.

Yo Se Leer is off to a good start! I hope the older kids stay through the school vacation- they just had their graduation, though I imagine if they’ve been coming the past two weeks since school ended, they’ll continue to come until the end of vacation. Speaking of graduation… I was invited as a special guest to attend the graduation of the preparatoria class at the kinder located next to IHNFA. These are the kids I did my pre-basica English class with. What a show, it was! Presentation is everything in this culture, from decorations, to graduation caps and robes, fancy invitations and diplomas…. WOW! And, unbeknownst to me, I was invited to sit at the “mesa principal” (principal table, up on the stage, with all the important people). They called my name at the start of the ceremony, and up I went! I got to shake the parents hands and everything!

I’m also starting a support group at the youth center for young girls who are already pregnant. We’ve been doing our prevention campaign, but the reality is that girls are already pregnant, and they have to deal with it. They need support, as mental health resources are far and few between in this country. The doctor we were working with at the Adolescent Clinic called me last week and asked me if I could come to their next pregnant women’s meeting because there was such a rise in teenage attendance. I went, and invited anyone interested to come to the youth center next week for the first meeting of the support group. About 12 young girls (ages 14-20) signed up… we’ll see who shows up this week!

I went hiking the other day to find some other hot springs, and both my phone and my camera died. Completely died. It was sad. I found a cheap phone for 350 lempiras, which is maybe 15 or 20 US dollars…. Lost a bunch of numbers that weren’t saved to my SIM card, but my number is the same! As for my camera…. At least it wasn’t stolen, so I didn’t lose all the pictures on my memory card. My site made lent me her old one to use until I can replace mine, which is WONDERFUL! I am so grateful for that, as I am kind of obsessed with photographing EVERYTHING.

Jorge, our landlord, took my site mate Emina and I to his brother in law’s coffee farm… it’s about an hour away, in the department of Intibuca, out in a little aldea. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by a freshly killed chicken hanging upside down from a tree branch. We also got to pick coffee! And I got bit a lot by some little black flies that left me little blood spots all over my legs. Any photos you see from that day should be credited to the artistic work of my site mate Emina.

Oh, happy CHRISTMAS SEASON 2010!!! My Honduran nook is all decorated and ready to go- bulbs hanging from the ceiling fan, garland on the door, lights in and out of the room…. I was making some construction paper/glitter glue decorations and shared the wonder of glitter glue with my landlady Imelda, and the trabajadora Bety (a young girl that lives/cleans here… they call her the “muchacha” but I find that a bit derogatory.. Hondurans either say trabajadora or muchacha as the job title)…. They had never used it before! Cheers to Peace Corps goal number two- to foster a better understanding of Americans on the part of the people’s served!

That’s about it for life in Honduras! It’s weird to be in a tropical climate this time of year… no fallen leaves, no early morning frost, no making donuts out of your breath! It makes it hard to remember that it’s almost December… the changing seasons really keep you on track about what time of the year it is, but now I have to rely on my gut instinct that it IS in fact an appropriate time for Christmas carols and candy canes.
Love, Lisa

2 Months in Site!

Hola! I write this blog entry from my new home, a little nook in the corner of Gracias! I finally made it through five months of host families, and now I can sleep late on the weekends, mosey around and make coffee in my pajamas, and not be embarrassed about it. Little by little, I’m making my room into my home, adorning it with pictures, Christmas decorations, and awesome artificial fall leaves (thanks Mrs. Wooten!!).
Last week marked 2 months in site as an official Volunteer! They both flew by! My counterpart was saying how it feels like just yesterday we were in Teguz for the swearing in ceremony. People tend to say that life as a volunteer has its ups and downs, and sometimes time goes by like *that* but other times it crawls... I think keeping busy helps with making the time go by. Only on the weekends do I usually have hours at a time to do nothing, at which point I welcome the free time (with open arms!).

Things have been busy…. We’ve reached almost 600 high school kids with our campaign against teen pregnancy. With final exams coming up, I think we’re done with the schools until February, but we might expand to Church groups over the school vacation (the school year here starts in Feb, ends in Nov, and Dec/Jan is “summer vacation”). After the last section I did, almost have the group, about twenty 15, 16, 17 and 18 year olds swarmed me for hugs… HUGS! FROM HIGHSCHOOLERS!!! I was SO happy, I know little kids hug all the time, but to earn a hug from a teenager is quite an honor.

A local youth group at a church here in Gracias solicited my help… they sent a letter to the youth center requesting the support of the “psychologist” from the Peace Corps (I've let that one go... so they all think I'm a psychologist, it could be worse). I went last weekend to talk to the older kids about setting goals and making decisions about their future. It was a lot of fun, and at the end one of the girls stood up to formally thank me on behalf of her classmates, and told me that a lot of people come talk to them, but this time, she thinks they will actually apply what I taught them to help themselves in their futures. It was a great bunch of kids, and they meet every Saturday at this church- some are from here in Gracias and others are from outlying aldeas (rural communities). Next weekend I am going back to talk about basically the same topic, just with a younger group.

I’ve been getting all my materials ready to start Yo Se Leer next week! Thinking about how these 6 year olds can’t write their name, or even identify the letter A, puts the lapse in the education system here into perspective. These kids go to school, they just don’t learn because they are not properly taught. I am not saying I know how to teach- far from it! But I do know that memorization and regurgitation won’t get them very far. This isn’t to stereotype all Honduran teachers, I am SURE there are some wonderful teachers, who teach with their hearts. But the reality here is that teenagers can graduate from high school at 17 and be certified to teach when they haven’t themselves had adequate preparation. I love the program I’m about to start because it’s all about early intervention. Even if I only reach a handful of kids, if they are successful in the program, they will go on in school with (hopefully) less difficulties (at least in reading), less frustration, and a higher chance of staying in school longer. The longer they stay in school, the better shot they have at a better future, and the less likely they are to hang out in the streets all day, get involved with gangs and drugs and the like.

My project director is coming next week for my first site visit! Every project has a director in country, and we get periodic visits to see how things are going. I get along well with mine so I’m not too worried, but I’m a bit nervous because it’s like my first Peace Corps test! Eek! It should be fine though, being the first visit, they just want to see that I’m integrating well, and have some sort of plan for the coming months. Please note the book featured in this photo- Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day! My mom sent me some children's books in Spanish! Thanks Mom! This one was one of my favorites growing up... I made the kids at IHNFA shout terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad each time those parts came up (in Spanish, of course). They loved it to pieces.

Oh!!! I want to thank everyone from home for all their support (again)… yesterday I got three packages, filled with awesome supplies that I can use in all my projects! Thank you to everyone whose thought of me, either with a package, letter, card, email, or even a simple facebook check-in- I really appreciate it! And yes, this is a goat, hanging outside the youth center... just... chillin'. No leash. I've seen him around the neighborhood though, I suppose he must live nearby!

That is all for now... miss and love you all! OH! And if you've sent me a card at any point, please know that it has been taped up to the back of my door! :)

Pintarse la cara, Color esperanza

I can’t believe it’s already November! I’ve almost been in Gracias for two months (so close to move out day!!). Things are still going really well, a part from the recent family tragedy. This past week was definitely the hardest so far, in the 5 months I’ve been in Honduras. But, life has to go on, I know my uncle would want me to keep doing what I’m doing here. I just got back from a 3-day workshop where I got to see some of my friends from training, and meet other volunteers- it was definitely good timing, and I had such a wonderful time!

Since my last real update…. Emina, the health volunteer in my site, and I, took Gracias by storm for Global Handwashing day! We did ten charlas in two different schools (to second and third graders), the clinic, and IHNFA. It was complete with a glittery dinamica (literally, we put glitter on our hands and shook every ones hands, and showed them how germs spread), intense handwashing information, a demonstration, and a song! We also got a group of kids to come with us to the local radio station and had them sing the song over the radio! Then Emina and I talked about the importance of washing your hands and how it prevents diarrhea and all that jazz.

I met the Presidente del Congreso Nacional (President of the National Congress) at the Youth Center last week. He gave us a huge donation of several computers and desks. I still don’t know a whole lot about him, but he is pretty important in Honduran political life. He’s from Gracias too, which is why he so kindly made the donation. Camera crews were there, and the filmed a question/answer session with him and some youth who attended the ceremony. It was so nice to hear the kids speaking out about the problems in their town and how they want to take some sort of action. There are definitely some motivated youth in this country, it’s just a matter of giving them an opportunity to act.

We launched our campaign about preventing teen pregnancy! We’ve covered almost all of the classes at one of the high schools, and are hoping to get the rest of the other high school classes before final exams start (oh yeah, the school year here goes from Feb-Nov). I did my first one with one of the doctors from the clinic whose helping us out, then I graduated to doing them on my own! I’ve worked so much with little kids the past few years that I’ve forgotten how much fun older kids can be. It feels really good telling them that a girl can get pregnant her first time having sex, and having them be shocked but so relieved that someone told them. In this picture, that group is shouting out their response to a pressure frase... so one group yells out something like "everyone does it!" and then the other group responds with something like "Well i'm not everyone, i'm me... etc"... its one of my favorite dinamicas! they get so into it.

Everything’s going well with my English class… they seem to be learning… and want to sing We Are the World (in English)! Apparently there’s a Spanish version, and it’s their favorite song (mine too!).

And with the little munchkins at IHNFA.... I found out none of the 5,6 or 7 year olds can write their letters, never mind their names.. so I’ve been working with a small group of the older kids, having them trace, copy, and write their own letters and names. I just talked to the director and I am going to start Yo Se Leer, Youth Development’s literacy tutoring program… probably within the coming weeks.

The training I went to was for a program called Yo Tambien Merezco, a self-esteem, abstinence, masculinity program for boys between 11-15 years old (Yo Merezco was started for the girls, and this is the boy’s equivalent). We spent 3 days in Santa Rosa de Copan, about an hour from my site, staying at a nice hotel, getting free food, and participating in a really good workshop! It was run by 3 health volunteers (I hope sometime I get to run a workshop! Maybe one on dinamicas, or how to make up songs), and I got to meet several current PCVs along with reuniting with some of my own training group. Like I said, it was really good timing to see Stacie and yell COMO ESTAN!, stay busy learning about something I love, to have access to Café Americano, and to buy some Christmas decorations! As part of the training, we did a practica in a school- here is the picture of the group of boys I worked with, along with Jessica another volunteer, and three Honduran community members (each PCV was required to bring a community partner... Peace Corps rule... for sustainability reasons).

Moving day is coming up! This time next week I should be nestled in my little nook… my host family is taking me tomorrow to buy a mini-refre and a microwave. You can probably tell how excited I am to move out, but I want to reiterate that it’s nothing to do with my host family, they have been so wonderful- they give me privacy/space, but also talk to me and try to help me out. I’ll miss them, but I need my OWN space, even though it’s just going to be a little room, it will be my room.

That’s all for now… please keep my family in your thoughts and prayers… they are going through a really rough time…. and enjoy the crispiness that is November in New England!