I’ve found that it can be easy to get caught up in living this new life without necessarily taking enough time to reflect on it. On one hand, I am experiencing numerous new things while at the same time feeling so comfortable as if my life down here is just expected to be full of changes. So I will take some time now to recount the events of the past month (terrible that I have waited so long, I know) and will make it a goal to keep up with this blog more often! Hopefully by retelling some of my stories, it will be a good chance for reflection, gaining perspective, and giving appreciation.
A lot has happened in the last month. At the beginning of March, I went on a weekend getaway to the Bay Islands with my two roommates, Colin and Andrew. We left our house around 5:30 AM and after a taxi, bus, taxi, and ferry ride, we reached the island of Utila. It was absolutely gorgeous! We spent most of our time in classes and at Parrot’s Dive Shop, where we did our scuba certification. Colin’s stepbrother (Jacob) and Jacob’s dad (Stan) met up with us in Utila and we were able to have our own scuba class. It was crazy going under water the first time with all of the equipment on and I definitely had thoughts of, “What in the world made me think this was a good idea?” and “Is this equipment working right or am I going to drown?” BUT we started out in water that was only about 5 feet deep and after that initial practice it was really fun. Our instructor and dive master-in-training (Jeremy and Jeremiah) were very knowledgeable and it was obvious that they genuinely wanted us to learn and to be able to share in the amazing experience of breathing underwater. They were super encouraging even when they could only use hand signals and fist pumps underwater! I now have a PADI Open Water diving certification so if anybody is interested in organizing a trip to go diving in the future, let me know!!
Utila is a unique place considering that it is technically part of Honduras. There were countless tourists there and hardly anybody spoke Spanish (or if they did, many of them also spoke English). We ate at a lot of fun restaurants, including one with a deck sitting out on the water. After not eating much meat for a few weeks, I got my fair share of chicken while I was there, but I didn’t really eat any traditional meals. Jacob introduced me to Acro Yoga, which is basically partner acrobatics in which one person balances the other person in various body positions and poses. It seems to be more popular is certain areas of the US (not Ohio) and it was awesome! It kind of reminds me of stunting in cheerleading because it deals a lot with balance, technique, and body control. It’s definitely something that I want to get into.
Once we got back from Utila, the guys only had one week before they had to leave. We got two new roommates when we returned (Kat is 24 and is from PA, Theresa is 53 and is from Canada). Our landlords also got 2 new puppies and they are adorable. One is named Daisy and she is a pitbull/boxer mix and the other is a Chihuahua. While we were in Utila, our landlord actually installed what are called “suicide showers” because there are wires coming into the showerhead so that the water gets heated up right before it comes out. I had the treat of having hot showers in Utila and it was nice to come back to hot showers (that is, when our electricity and water are both working at the same time). Our landlord is still in the process of doing a lot of construction because there is a whole second level to the house (with a separate entrance) in which they are putting several more rooms. I wouldn’t say I have gotten used to waking up to drills in the early morning hours, but at least I have learned to fall back to sleep! Our landlord is also building a dance club in town and he took me (along with my roommate Theresa and his wife Dina) to see the construction. It looks like it will be really nice and I can see why he is never home because there is a lot of work to be done! The club sits right on the beach, so we spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in that part of town. It was fun to get to know my landlords a bit better and Dina even agreed to teach me how to cook some traditional foods.
Before the guys left, there was a goodbye party for them at the SOS. Our director and some of the kids gave short speeches to thank them and there was even cake! Best of all was the dancing… The kids had arranged a few traditional dances (Punta and Folk), wearing full costumes. It was beautiful and I got them on video. On Colin and Andrew’s last night in Tela, we went out to dinner at a restaurant called Bella Italia and then went dancing. The restaurant was located on the beachfront and we ate our meal outside by the ocean. I was definitely sad to see the guys leave, but excited for them to continue their adventures to Belize, Guatemala, and Mexico. They have been gone for a few weeks now and we just got another new roommate named Aubrey. She is 27 and from California. She seems pretty awesome so far and I’m glad to have her here. We will be getting another roommate in a few days and Theresa will be moving into her own room upstairs once the construction is finished.
Other than the living situation changing, our volunteering schedule has also been in transition over the last several weeks. One morning, Kat, Theresa, and I went to 2 community outreach programs along with two women from the SOS, Karen and Neri. Their job is to visit the 10 different communities each week and provide support for the kinder programs. The idea of a kinder is to give the children a safe place to go while their parents work. That way, hopefully the children are less likely to be neglected and end up in a children’s home. Kat and Theresa stayed at a community near the beach with Neri and I went into the mountains with Karen. Seeing that community was more of what I had expected when I came to work in Honduras because the children were much in need of basic resources. The women who run the kinder were obviously hard working and the children seemed excited to see a new face.
At first, we planned to try to start working in some of these outreach programs during the mornings, but we eventually extended our hours at the SOS instead. Two volunteers from the other HondurasChildren programs visited us a couple of weeks ago to give us advice on our schedule. We now teach a class for 3-6 year olds from 9:15-10:15 and have a class for all ages from 10:30-11:45. We have a break from 12-2 during which we can go back to our house for lunch. We have another class from 2-3:15 that is similar to the second morning session and then we have large, outdoor group activities (soccer, four-square, etc.) from 3:30-5. We also teach computer classes (basic typing for 2 people at a time) from 10:30-11 and 2-2:30. Although we have had some technical problems with getting this program running, I’ve had two pretty successful classes and the kids are picking up on the typing techniques. We plan to choose a theme for each week of classes and hope to structure our activities around those themes. This past week and a half (since we implemented the new schedule) was a “Who am I?” theme, but we seemed to lose sight of the theme partway through the week so I hope to improve on that!
In addition to learning many more of the children’s names, I have gotten to know a few of the SOS moms a bit better. One of them even said that I could come to her house to hang out and learn to cook next Monday. Although we have always been helping some of the kids with homework, I’ve noticed that several additional kids have been coming to us for help and more recently for help with subjects other than just English. One of the house moms also asked us to work one-on-one with an 11 year old child who was born prematurely and now has heart and brain problems. Her physical development is stunted and she also has problems with dyslexia. She doesn’t seem to be getting much extra help from the school, other than having different work to do. My roommate has started tutoring her, but if anybody has advice for working with a child who is struggling with dyslexia or other learning disorders, please let me know!
We made a poster for our classroom with some rules (including respect, listening, cleaning up, etc.) and turned an old box into a garbage can with a nice sign. The kids are starting to pick up on some of the rules and have begun to share with each other more and to throw away their trash. We are still getting into a rhythm with the new schedule, but another thing that makes it difficult to plan is that we often do not know how many kids (or what ages) will show up due to the strikes that have been occurring in the public schools.
Strikes have been a problem in Honduras for numerous years. Although I will only touch on the subject here, I hope to research it more and post additional information in the future. The teachers’ unions for the public schools have been on strike for several weeks now, but the kids who go to private school have been going nearly every day. Therefore, many of the kids at the SOS are falling behind academically as some of their peers continue on with their education. Although our presence and work at the SOS can supplement some of what they are lacking by not having the opportunity to attend school, it certainly is not sufficient. Our Volunteer Director sent us a link to the following website and I encourage anybody who is interested to read some of the recent articles: http://networkedblogs.com/fKa7J It is a blog written by an American woman who now lives in La Ceiba, a larger city about an hour away from Tela. The following quote from the website shines some light on how terrible this situation is:
“Somehow, sometime, the government and the political parties have to take a stand for the sake of 2.3 million public school students who are being raised in ignorance and who are being taught by example that anarchy is the answer to every problem. Too many children are being taught by their teachers' example that "me" and "my rights" are the only things that count, that personal responsibility doesn't matter, that the rights of all others may be trampled for your purpose, and that if you don't get your way, you throw a fit and set tires on fire.”
In November of 2010, I went on a weeklong Mission Trip to Mexico through Back2Back Ministries. Our group spent the week working in various children’s homes and it was interesting to discover that parents who dropped their children off at these orphanages actually retained their rights to the children and could essentially pick them back up at any time; thus, the children could never be adopted and they had not necessarily been removed from their homes. When I arrived in Honduras I knew that the children at the SOS could not be adopted, but I was not sure if they had been removed from their families or if they could have just been dropped off by a parent. I have found out some additional information on how the children end up at the SOS, but I am not sure how accurate it is and there are still plenty of questions to look into. The Instituto Hondureño de la Niñez y la Familia (IHNFA) seems to be the Honduran equivalent for a children services agency in the States. Once a child is removed from their family (due to situations of abuse, neglect, or some children may simply be orphans), IHNFA can place them in various locations. The SOS is one of the options.
As it is an international organization with several SOS sites in various countries all over the world, I am under the impression that they do not get funding from the Honduran government (unlike foster care or group homes in the States). I am amazed by how well the SOS provides for the children, some of them even have braces. I have also found out that several of the children have sponsors with whom they communicate through letters. A few weeks ago, I got to walk around to the 14 different homes helping pass out the letters, clothing, etc. that some of the sponsors had sent. Yesterday, I helped one of the older boys translate a letter into English to send to his sponsors and he seemed extremely appreciative, even referring to them as part of his family. I am not sure what type of contact is or is not allowed between the kids and their parents and it probably depends on the specific child’s situation. I have not noticed family visits occurring, but one of the older kids was talking to me about one of the younger children’s mothers coming for a visit and he said that it was typical. A couple of weeks ago we got lists of the children’s names split up by the houses they live in and I was pleased to see that the biological siblings are kept together in the same home. It is interesting to watch the dynamics between the various children because they are all one big family, but you can also see some of the biological sibling bonds playing out when they look after each other.
In Honduras, they celebrate Father’s Day on March 19th and on the 18th, the SOS had its own celebration. Even though it was one of my days off, I had gone over to the SOS to hang out with the kids and I lucked out by getting to experience the celebration. At first I was intrigued about whose fathers would be allowed to come to the SOS. When I looked at the row of about 8 men sitting along the head table, I noticed our director, one of the security guards, and the van driver and I soon realized that the children were honoring all of the father figures of the SOS. It was a beautiful celebration and I was thrilled that a group of children living without fathers was able to celebrate Father’s Day in that way. They had a big sign that said Happy Father’s Day, one of the children sang a song, they gave the men gifts, and they did several funny skits for which the children dressed up as some of the men seated at the table. And what’s a celebration without food? The house moms had prepared traditional food (fried chicken, rice, tortillas, and salad) and they were sure to make me a plate. After eating, they put on some music and our director taught me how to dance the Bachata.
There have also been some extra activities for the kids lately. One morning last week, a religious group from Canada held a presentation for all of the kids in the morning so we attended it too. They sang some songs and had a puppet show, which was pretty cool to watch. There was another day that a fire truck came to the SOS to refill the water tank because they had run out of water for some reason. Last week, a professor was at the SOS teaching the older kids how to make jelly/marmalade. They made pineapple and strawberry and they let me test some——delicious! I’m excited because my dad mailed a package with several deflated soccer balls and pumps and although it hasn’t arrived yet, I know the kids will be delighted! Soccer is huge here and they play nearly every day, but for more than 100 kids at the SOS there are only a few soccer balls and most of them are extremely old. After my first day playing soccer with the kids, I adopted their habit of playing barefoot. While playing a different running game a week ago, I ran into one of the older kids and thought that I broke my two little toes! They swelled up and one of them was bruised for several days, but they are feeling much better now. It is also cool to see different versions of several of the games that I grew up on. For example, we had a game called MASH in which you predicted who you would marry, where you would live, how many kids you would have, etc. and two of the older girls taught me that they have a very similar game here. I’ll be interested to see if I end up being a millionaire and living in England, married to one of the guy volunteers, with 3 children——seems unlikely! There are also tons of hand slapping games that are similar to those that I played at recess in elementary school, so we’ve taken turns teaching each other.
There have definitely been some kids who have tried to press my buttons at times such as fighting or play fighting each other and not listening when I have tried to get them to stop. Those frustrating moments are outshined by all of my other interactions with them. As I was leaving the SOS earlier in the week, one of the 9-year-old boys had already given me a hug and after saying goodbye to him he ran up to me again and said “Where’s my hug?” Then he walked along the inside of the fence as I walked back to my house. Partway through our walk on opposite sides of the fence, he put his arms in the air and said the word for hug (abrazo) and we gave each other an air hug with grins on both of our faces. It was one of the most precious moments and he actually “walked me home” again today——I even got another air hug.
When I say that these bright, friendly kids are perfect… I mean it. It’s difficult to picture what kinds of backgrounds they have experienced and it’s hard to imagine how these amazing creations could have ever been abused, neglected, or abandoned. I know in my head that there are countless factors that play into the maltreatment of children through my experience working for children services. At the same time, it is so hard to understand in my heart how these children could have experienced that kind of treatment. Some of them have large physical scars and some seem to be emotionally scarred as evidenced by their aggression toward the other kids, but overall they seem to be extremely well adjusted. I feel so bonded to these children and am already dreading having to leave. I often end up at the SOS on my days off because the kids are fun to just hang out with.
Last weekend, Kat and I visited the other volunteer location in El Porvenir, which is close to the larger city, La Ceiba. We waited by the highway (which is really just a busy street) to grab a bus heading toward La Ceiba. Once there, we checked into renewing our visas, bought supplies for the SOS, and did some exploring with Katlyn (one of the volunteers who had stayed with us a few days before). We ate baleadas (a tortilla with beans, a crumbly/salty cheese, and other various toppings) at a stand situated in the median of a busy street. The next day, Katlyn’s friends Danny and Christian (who are studying Ecotourism) took us to Pico Bonito National Park. After walking through the huge pineapple fields, we hiked up a steep, tree-covered mountain until we reached an incredible waterfall. We ate lunch, climbed on the rocks, and swam in the waterfall before heading back. After a long day of hiking, we treated ourselves to some topos (baggies full of frozen juice). That night, all of the volunteers ate a traditional Honduran dinner at a restaurant on the beach and a couple of us went dancing. I had fried chicken, rice, salad, and tostados (fried plantains that are a mix between french fries and chips). Their volunteer house is located right on the beach and the following day, we laid out before returning home. It was great to hear more about what they are doing at the Kinder in El Porvenir and I had some good chats with Katlyn so I’m excited to go back and visit them again!
I have definitely noticed an improvement in my Spanish and I feel more comfortable using it. I’ve found that I understand things much easier, am speaking more quickly, and am retaining new words. I have to thank one of my high school Spanish teachers (Elaine Long) because not only was she an awesome teacher, but also she made useful handouts for us. I brought several of those in addition to one of my old workbooks. I’ve been going back through the activities that we did not complete in high school and I plan to use the handouts at some point too. The kids are also great teachers and some of them are extremely patient. I am learning a lot from them and our communication seems to be much better than in my first few weeks here. When a classroom full of 3-6 year olds fails to follow my instructions, I don’t think my Spanish is to blame =)
I am so appreciative to everybody who helped make this trip possible. Several people have supported me emotionally with their words of encouragement, spiritually through prayers, or financially through generous donations. I can’t even really express how lucky I feel to have such loving people in my life.
