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!