-Daniel Saboe
I’m sitting in the San Pedro Airport right now, waiting for my flight home. I can’t believe today is actually here. This entire summer, I never felt like a student helping Honduras. I didn’t feel like, I actually was a man who had just started his life career, one that would be full of meaningful work with your friends. Now, all of that is ending and I will go back home, I will go back to school and be a student again. I will continue working with SHH, it will just be as a student again. I am more enthusiastic than ever about the coming year for SHH. We have some great projects in mind for the future that the other interns and I have researched, written about, and worked directly with for 2 months.
The SHH family is getting closer than ever. Last year, for a good portion of the year, it was difficult to see SHH beyond a service trip in Honduras and the 15 members I knew at UVA. Now I have great friends at William and Mary, Virginia Tech, and Mary Washington. I have friends in Honduras. I will truly miss being around these people so frequently. We will stay linked, not because of our proximity to one another, but through the closeness in heart and mind to a common dream- one that is quickly becoming a reality.
I said all of my goodbyes to the Copprome kids yesterday, I’ll miss them all so much. I am not one to cry because of separation with someone I love. I love the kids at Copprome. I could only smile at them and give them huge hugs, and say with confidence that I will see them again soon. They weren’t sad either, because they trust that we will be back. What did make me feel like crying was thinking of the injustice and unfairness that exists in this world, an unfairness that SHH is working to rectify. The thought came about as a result of a simple thing, a careless, senseless fight at Copprome. Thinking of my childhood, of all the things I had, of all the dreams that were within my reach if I wanted them, just makes me sad when I think of how this freedom was just given to me when these kids are denied it by chance. Yamilete is probably the sweetest girl in the world. In a home with good parents, she could enjoy life to its fullest. She has a mom, but her mom can’t support her financially. Yami told me with a big smile on her face that her mom was working all for her. Her sweetness makes her vulnerable at Copprome. With over 50 kids of all ages running around all day, and very few disciplinarians in sight. It often resembles a sort of anarchy worthy of Lord of the Flies. The physically and emotionally strong are the ones who survive. Yami is neither of those, mainly because she’s about 7 years old. When a fight breaks out, she is the one running away in tears, not even calling for help because experience has taught her it is hard to find. The fact that she doesn’t fight back means that she has kids pick on her frequently, randomly, as a simple amusement with no repercussions. There are no bullies at Copprome, there are only kids who bully others because they are bullied by others, who in turn are bullied by others… It is an endless cycle, and it is a way of life. It makes me wonder how much longer Yami can preserve her natural sweetness and innocence. It’s not fair that she is naturally like this, but fate won’t let her enjoy her gifts. It’s not fair that she can’t be with her mother because her mother doesn’t want her living in utter poverty like so many other kids. I have faith in SHH. SHH will be the one to change this. SHH has the power and the heart to do this, and I believe they are the only ones who can and are causing this change.
I said my goodbyes at Siete and Soleada yesterday too. I truly felt at home in these communities. I will miss all of my friends there, Dona Selma and her family. Her husband and her daughters. Dona Norma, Reina, Wilson, Suyapa, Don Daniel, Dona Pastora, Dona Sandra… there are dozens of them that I feel so very closer to. I have been with these people more than the kids at Copprome. It is sad that I need to leave now. I want to return as soon as I can to help. They really feel like a part of my family now. What’s amazing about this is that I know for a fact, that if I came back to Villa Soleada in 30 years, as long as I wore my black cowboy hat they would all recognize me as the “Vaquero” and they would make me feel welcome there. These are relations that will survive longer than SHH. SHH planted the seed for these relationships, and sustains it by frequent contact. But the roots of our friendships are our own, and grow deeper than SHH. We all have been working for a good cause. SHH has been working to improve people’s lives, and the people themselves are working for this even harder. We are working for a good cause greater than this though, we are working to prove something about humanity. We are working to prove that in spite of all the difficulties that we face in life, in spite of the hardships we will endure along the way, we will endure and change will come of it. We will survive, and we will grow stronger. We are working so that people will believe in hope, something that often seems to be in short supply.
I have learned so much about myself this summer. I have become more confident and independent. I have seen so many different sides of life that my perspective can encompass those of many. I have learned about the nature of SHH’s work, and service work as a whole. When people come up to me and glorify everything that I have done working for SHH has done, it feels meaningless to me. They say what I am doing is selfless, amazing, and kind. They admire the fact that I don’t make money off of it, that we are doing difficult work that needs to be done and is not being addressed. I just don’t understand why they give such lavish compliments to me anymore. This internship wasn’t selfless, I have gained so much from this internship this summer. I have awakened a part of myself that laid dormant in years past. It’s something I can’t really describe but that I feel, it’s a feeling of completeness- wholesomeness. People talk about SHH’s work like it is a miracle, and a blessing, and that I should be proud of myself for working with it. I should not be proud of myself for working with an organization that will always give more for every ounce of work you put into it. SHH is an amazing creation that will continuously output happiness to all who are close to it and its work. It’s almost like the Fountain of Youth in that the longer that I work with SHH the more I gain. I perpetually gain valuable life experiences, friendships, and family in exchange for 2 months of my summer, while researching something that I’m deeply curious about, for the benefit of people I deeply care about. I don’t understand why people think I should be proud of myself, I think I should feel blessed and lucky, but not necessarily proud. The people that we should be proud of are the one’s who are working every day out in the hot sun, and not giving up hope, and who inspire us to be better.
I am sad to leave because it will be a long time before I can live here again. The next time I will have the opportunity to live here will be after I graduate, in 3 years. Until then, I will only be able to come for a week or two to see my friends, but I will be in a hotel, not at apartment.
I feel like I have accomplished most of my original goals here, not all of them, but most of them. I have done things I was never counting on doing as well. I feel like my project was a success. I wrote a report that I was pleased with, that had useful information, and advice for SHH’s future projects. I feel like it is time for me to leave though because my work here is done. I am looking forward to going home and seeing my family and friends who I have missed very much. I am looking forward to the security and peace in the US. I am sad that I can’t bring my Honduran friends with me so that they can enjoy this security too. I was on my guard for 2 months trying to stay as safe as possible, they have been on their guard their whole lives. It’s easy to get jaded with a few weeks of uneventful life, but it’s important to never forget that life here is dangerous. I will not miss the mosquito’s here either. I will be looking forward to some of my mom’s classic cooking, however, I will let her know that if she pulls a practical joke on me by putting black beans, rice, chicken, and tortillas all on the same plate at once, I may just move out. There are some things that I am looking forward to in the U.S a lot, however, what I have to deal with in Honduras is nothing compared to everything that it has taught me about life and has given me for my own.
I encourage anyone who is reading this to consider applying for the internship next summer. Do not let self-doubt, limitations in Spanish, or the magnitude of change you’re about to experience intimidate you. You may not be ready in the United States, but Honduras changes people, and you will be able to manage yourself after a week or two here. Start thinking of a project now. Go on a service trip this winter and see Copprome and Soleada first hand, and start thinking of a creative way that you can make a difference in someone’s life. I hope that anyone who has been reading these blogs has enjoyed reading them. I have tried to be as honest as I can be to convey the situation to you effectively. I hope that all of you can have an opportunity like this someday. Thank you for supporting us this summer by following our blogs!
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
I cried today.
I met my kids from Copprome all cleaned up this morning after a walkathon here in Progreso for Copprome. They were so clean. Like normal kids ought to be.
Once everyone had congregated, the first event was the kinder kids' dance. Iloany (how I love her) taught them the hokey pokey (in English). They ended the song wiggling on the floor. It was so adorable.
Next up were the kids in escuela--elementary school. "At the hop" was what they danced to. A kind of 50s diner hands flailing dance. It was so beautiful, coordinated, happy...
I cried for joy this morning because of my kids. Seeing Gabriel and Angie, Graciela, Juan--etc. so into it... After all I'd experienced with them and learned from them in Copprome... being let into their lives.
The smile on Gabriel's face was so big.
I'll miss them. I have this report due by 10am tomorrow morning. It could help change their future.
I love my parents. I have so much of their support and they have so much confidence in me, that I believe I can do anything. I have also had more dedicated, inspiring, life moving teachers and role models than most. In Copprome, the individual attention is minimal. Parents and teachers like mine are not in any abundance. I want to change that. We are changing that here. We bring love. We bring care and attention. We bring workaholics that work for kids. We bring innovation. We bring understanding. We bring love.
This is my motivation while I write. I can't lie. I've been distracted. But now, no.
The summer has not been a balanced life. I only realized recently that when I do return to the States, I'll be returning to more than a different climate or a different mindset. A different gente.
I'm returning to life in the whole of it. Family, friends, class, men, a presidency of ESL club, my deep commitment to Copprome, to Honduras, and to SHH, my future--my present.
My past is just that. My past... I have so much to do and so much momentum and so many legs-up because I do have that past to embrace and put me where I am, to put me where I'm going. I'm mobile. I'm moving. I'm a vehicle of positive change. It's powerful. I've got a mission. I'm confident. All I need is to be focused, and know I have my life. My whole life. I hope you have felt how powerful that is. You have a life. Yes, a deadline, but like a paper, you can only do your best before time's up.
Perhaps it's a bit much, but I'm listening to Atmosphere and wow has that hip-hop set me off.
This is my energy. This is my motivation. My heart. I want to share that.
Once everyone had congregated, the first event was the kinder kids' dance. Iloany (how I love her) taught them the hokey pokey (in English). They ended the song wiggling on the floor. It was so adorable.
Next up were the kids in escuela--elementary school. "At the hop" was what they danced to. A kind of 50s diner hands flailing dance. It was so beautiful, coordinated, happy...
I cried for joy this morning because of my kids. Seeing Gabriel and Angie, Graciela, Juan--etc. so into it... After all I'd experienced with them and learned from them in Copprome... being let into their lives.
The smile on Gabriel's face was so big.
I'll miss them. I have this report due by 10am tomorrow morning. It could help change their future.
I love my parents. I have so much of their support and they have so much confidence in me, that I believe I can do anything. I have also had more dedicated, inspiring, life moving teachers and role models than most. In Copprome, the individual attention is minimal. Parents and teachers like mine are not in any abundance. I want to change that. We are changing that here. We bring love. We bring care and attention. We bring workaholics that work for kids. We bring innovation. We bring understanding. We bring love.
This is my motivation while I write. I can't lie. I've been distracted. But now, no.
The summer has not been a balanced life. I only realized recently that when I do return to the States, I'll be returning to more than a different climate or a different mindset. A different gente.
I'm returning to life in the whole of it. Family, friends, class, men, a presidency of ESL club, my deep commitment to Copprome, to Honduras, and to SHH, my future--my present.
My past is just that. My past... I have so much to do and so much momentum and so many legs-up because I do have that past to embrace and put me where I am, to put me where I'm going. I'm mobile. I'm moving. I'm a vehicle of positive change. It's powerful. I've got a mission. I'm confident. All I need is to be focused, and know I have my life. My whole life. I hope you have felt how powerful that is. You have a life. Yes, a deadline, but like a paper, you can only do your best before time's up.
Perhaps it's a bit much, but I'm listening to Atmosphere and wow has that hip-hop set me off.
This is my energy. This is my motivation. My heart. I want to share that.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Naranjo Chino
-Daniel Saboe
I just got back from a farm called Naranjo Chino. Marcio, Shin, and I took a taxi to the farm to learn about it. This place had EVERYTHING. The owner had a really nice house surrounded by all sorts of plants. They used the treads from old tires as a pot for their plants. They were growing pineapples inside, jalapeños, and red peppers. There were dozens of rows of banana trees. We got to see the difference between two rows of trees, one row had used fertilizer, one row hadn’t. I was shocked to see how much bigger the one with fertilizer had grown. It was almost double the size of the others. There were fields peppers, cucumbers, and cabbage. I got to smell the leaves of a plant used to make cinnamon. They had avocadoes growing on trees, they had fields of trees that they would let grow for 30 years, and then they would sell the mahogany. They had a tilapia farm, they had a biodigestor to produce methane for cooking. The entire set up was underground. They put the biomass into a little container, it ferments for 30 days, and provides plenty of methane gas, as well as compost that could be used as fertilizer. I was most interested in the biodigestor and the tilapia farm because I am trying to see how they can be used at Villa Soleada. I was told theres no other farm like this one in all of Honduras, that has a little bit of everything. It was inspiring to see how some of the ideas from this farm could be used at Villa Soleada in the future. If this farm wasn’t diverse enough, they had a mini zoo as well. They had all sorts of animals I couldn’t identify, everything from tropical birds, to raccoons, to a massive multi colored peacock. I was so impressed by everything I saw, I almost want to just go work on a farm now!
We’ve got 13 days left here. Time has really flown by. Everybody is really just relaxing today. We went out to the legendary 504 club last night with the newest service group. I'm really going to miss being here.
I just got back from a farm called Naranjo Chino. Marcio, Shin, and I took a taxi to the farm to learn about it. This place had EVERYTHING. The owner had a really nice house surrounded by all sorts of plants. They used the treads from old tires as a pot for their plants. They were growing pineapples inside, jalapeños, and red peppers. There were dozens of rows of banana trees. We got to see the difference between two rows of trees, one row had used fertilizer, one row hadn’t. I was shocked to see how much bigger the one with fertilizer had grown. It was almost double the size of the others. There were fields peppers, cucumbers, and cabbage. I got to smell the leaves of a plant used to make cinnamon. They had avocadoes growing on trees, they had fields of trees that they would let grow for 30 years, and then they would sell the mahogany. They had a tilapia farm, they had a biodigestor to produce methane for cooking. The entire set up was underground. They put the biomass into a little container, it ferments for 30 days, and provides plenty of methane gas, as well as compost that could be used as fertilizer. I was most interested in the biodigestor and the tilapia farm because I am trying to see how they can be used at Villa Soleada. I was told theres no other farm like this one in all of Honduras, that has a little bit of everything. It was inspiring to see how some of the ideas from this farm could be used at Villa Soleada in the future. If this farm wasn’t diverse enough, they had a mini zoo as well. They had all sorts of animals I couldn’t identify, everything from tropical birds, to raccoons, to a massive multi colored peacock. I was so impressed by everything I saw, I almost want to just go work on a farm now!
We’ve got 13 days left here. Time has really flown by. Everybody is really just relaxing today. We went out to the legendary 504 club last night with the newest service group. I'm really going to miss being here.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
4th of July Vacation
-Daniel Saboe
I just got back from a long and enjoyable 4th of July weekend vacation. We we’re in Ceiba for 2 days and on the island of Utila for 2 days. This weekend has probably been the most fun I’ve had in Honduras.
We took a bus all the way to Ceiba, and then a taxi to our hotel. The hotel was way outside the city. It had a pretty awesome deal for white water rafting. We got to our hotel around 4PM and spent the rest of the day relaxing and meeting a few other travelers. We met a group of British doctors who had just completed medical school at Cambridge. We went white water rafting with them and went to Utila together with them.
The white water rafting experience was pretty awesome. The rapids were class III-IV, so we had some pretty nice ones. We had pretty tiny rafts, with about 6 people in each one of them. There was heavy rain the day before the rafting, so the river was moving faster than usual. We had a long talk for the first major rapid we had. It was a waterfall that was more or less a 7 or 8 foot drop straight down. Our guides told us that we had the greatest chance of going overboard on this rapid. This turned out to be the case for me. I was the in the front with Cosmo. We had less space in the front, so it was difficult for me to get down. I went over, but had a good hold on the line so I didn’t float away. We later joked how Cosmo had saved my life when she pulled me overboard. Later on in the trip, Gaku, Rachel, and Amanda all fell overboard as well. We also had the chance to go swimming through the rapids. This was a lot harder than I had thought it would be. There was a strong current, that got Taylor and I trapped in a little whirlpool off the side of the river. We eventually got past it, but it was difficult swimming and we got a few scrapes on the rocks.
Later that day, we got a taxi ride to the docks to go to Utila. We met up with Alex Escobar at the docks. It was good to meet up with him. I hadn’t seen him since school ended. We got to catch up for an hour or so as we sailed over to the main island. There as a bit of a storm at the docks, so the water was a little rough. Cosmo and I were on the upper portion of the deck, the highest point up we could go. There were maybe 7 or 8 other people on top with us. Things were fine at first, but almost all of the sudden, the boat began rocking back and forth without warning. At some points, the boat reached at least a 45 degree incline. Everyone was crouched down as low as they could go, holding on to the rails, trying to sit down on the benches and not slide off. I didn’t think things could get worse, but I turned out to be wrong. I was standing holding onto the rail, and had just sat down on one of the benches, and was considering going back down. All of the sudden, there was a crash and I looked over to see one of the benches that had been welded to the metal floor panel had been ripped off and had fallen over. There had been one person sitting on the bench, who was now on the ground trying to get back up. The bench began sliding around. Fortunately, there was a fence on the top portion that was able to prevent the bench from sliding down to the previous level or off the ship. If the bench was 2 inches shorter, it would’ve gone overboard or onto the lower level. Everyone on the top deck began making there way down at this point, but not before 2 more benches were ripped off. 3 of the 6 had been ripped off. We made it down to get inside, completely terrified and drenched with sea water. Fortunately, the waves soon calmed down and no more benches were taken off. It was almost amusing to see the same boat taking us home 2 days later with all 6 benches welded onto the lower level and the top layer of the ship was duct taped off.
We reached Utila without any other major problems except a little sea sickness. We found a pretty cheap hostel, about $3 a night. It looked peaceful enough so we decided to stay. We all had rooms for 2 people. It was only at night that I realized that there was plenty of more space in the room for more guests. I found a huge cockroach in my bag who escaped and hid somewhere in the room. There was an ant infestation, with ants that looked like they should’ve belonged in the latest Indiana Jones movie. There was a hammock outside, so I baptized myself with insect repellent, grabbed my pillow, and decided to sleep under the stars. Apart from the ship that was falling apart and the insect zoo in our room, the vacation was perfect. We only had to spend one night in the hostel. The next day, we walked around town waiting for another boat ride over to our private island that Cosmo had rented for 13 of us (there were 4 med students, 6 interns, cosmo, alex, and a friend from another non- profit).
Alex Escobar and I decided to catch up by reenacting the motorcycle diaries together. We found a place where we could rent electric motor bikes. We had never ridden them before, but we decided now was the time to learn. We rented two of them, and decided to make our way across the island. There was a very pretty woman behind the counter who was helping us get ready to go. When she found out we’d never ridden an electric motor bike before she looked pretty horrified and told us how often people have crashed into the wall across the street. The streets were in bad shape and there were people everywhere in the downtown area. It wasn’t very difficult to drive. We went along a rural dirt road along a beach on the other side of the island when my bike began to die. I hobbled back with the bike, and traded it in for another one. We then went to another side of the island and began riding along the beach in the sand next to the waves. It was really an awesome experience. We made it back in one piece. I had a little bit of a dilemma after getting back. The woman told me that I must have crashed the bike because the wheel was messed up, and that’s why it was dying on me. She said the mechanic estimated a cost or about $40 to fix. I was able to talk my way out of it after I explained to her I didn’t actually crash it. Alex and I felt horrible afterwards because she was beautiful and now she was angry at us and thought we were lying to her about crashing the bike. She seemed disappointed in the end, but I didn’t have to pay for it. Alex and I decided to write a song on the ukulele dedicated to her, while we were on the island. Later everyone wrote a song together about island life to the tune of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, it’s a work in progress, and we’re not sure we want to record.
We eventually made it to our island. It was pretty huge. We had 13 people living on it for 2 nights. It was only $100 a night, total. We ended up paying maybe $13 a night each for it. It was INCREDIBLE. There were coconut trees, palms, docks, beaches, and a massive house that was incredible. There were a few other islands for sale in sight, but we were pretty isolated from society. There was a generator house on the opposite end of the island that we had to turn on at night. The island was maybe the size of a football field.
Gaku, Alex, and I had the idea that we would hunt for our own dinner. We began sharpening sticks and pieces of plastic into spears with kitchen knives and machetes. We actually made some pretty good spears. Alex and I used our snorkeling gear to go hunting in the coral reefs for large fish. We would dive and try to jab them. We were all having moral qualms about killing the fish, which was probably the reason we were just a little bit too slow every time. It was a lot of fun trying to do it anyways. Later, Gaku and I found a flounder in shallow water. I ran and got the spear and stood above it. If I chose to kill it, I could’ve. It wouldn’t have escaped. I couldn’t do it though, it didn’t feel right. I gave it to Gaku hoping he could do it instead. He couldn’t do it either. Our dinner swam away. I guess we were just having fun hunting, but we didn’t really want to do the deed and finish it off. There was really something beautiful about everything on the island. The reefs and the fish around were gorgeous. We didn’t want to do any damage to them. We snorkeled for hours around our island. I’d never been snorkeling before, but it was incredible. The snorkeling gear cost only $5 a person, and we could use it as much as wanted for 2 days. I spent a lot of time practicing songs on Alex’s ukulele, trying to write songs with him, napping on a hammock, swimming, and snorkeling. One of the main things people did on the island was just talk to each other. It was pretty common to walk across the island and see two people just talking together, very engaged. I felt like a lot of people really got closer there. I also got a good chance to climb some coconut trees there. I’ve tried to climb coconut 3 times seriously in the past. This was the first time I’d ever succeeded. I got about a dozen coconuts down for the group. We later hacked them open with our machete, poured them into a pitcher and served it to everyone for dinner. Later that night, we all decided to build a fire. We had our main island to ourselves with the house on it, but about 50 feet past our island, across a little land bridge, there was another really tiny island. The land bridge was just sand, maybe 6 feet across. We built our fire on the other island with matches, palm branches, and toilet paper. It was a pretty big fire. We cooked some marsh mellows, and just sat around it as it died down listening to music on Amanda’s IPod speakers. We had Alex’s ukulele too. For the most part, everyone just sat around not talking, just breathing in the beauty of the whole scene. I walked off to the dock at one point that was a bit further away. I brought Alex’s ukulele, and sat down on the dock with my legs off the edge, trying to play a song I’d learned. The whole scene was like something out of a story book. I was playing the ukulele on the dock in complete darkness, except for the light of the moon and the fire on the second island in the distance. The fire light shone across the water for 30 feet or so to the dock I was on. Everyone on around the fire looked carefree and peaceful. You could hear the ocean’s waves racing up onto shore and receding again. There was a strong but pleasant breeze at any spot on the whole island. It wasn’t hot at all, ever. I looked up and saw more stars in the sky than I’ve ever seen before. It was so beautiful. I realized after I left that I hadn’t worn shoes or a shirt for 2 full days. It was so relaxing there. The owner of the island told us quite accurately, this is the closest place to heaven on Earth. You couldn’t spend a full day on that island without thinking about heaven. I decided to sleep on the hammock that night. I got my bed sheets and a pillow and made my way over to the hammock. I had turned off the generator for the island so there was not a hint of light anywhere except for the crescent moon. I walked over carefully, trying to avoid rocks in the sand. There were dark trees’ silhouettes towering above, the sound of the waves and the wind continued as always. The palms leaves swayed around, and all was peaceful. If you walk a certain distance away from the house at night, you can’t see the house at all, just sand, and the silhouettes’ of palm trees. In any other case, I would’ve been paying attention to make sure I wasn’t about to get robbed, but here- we were completely isolated and safe. I hopped onto the hammock, situated between two palm trees, right on the far end of the island away from the house. The sky was decorated neatly with stars, and all around there was either the ocean or the trees.
Now we’re all back to the real world, and are ready to get back to work. We’ll be here 3 weeks more, and have a lot more to do. I’ve decided that I will only be sad to leave Honduras if I don’t finish my work. I am a bit sad in that I don’t feel like I will ever have an opportunity like the one I have right now ever again. I feel that SHH is unique in how it does its work. The freedom we have all been granted to do our work is a type of freedom I don’t expect I’ll ever encounter with any other group during my undergrad. Any other experience with SHH I feel will not be as long or as unrestricted as the one I have right now. I realize that the internship is unique and wonderful. I also realize that I will not be able to intern with SHH again because we will have a whole new wave of interns next year. If I could spend every summer like this, I would. Realistically, I need to realize, this has been one of the most empowering and amazing experiences in my life. It’s rare that people have experiences like this, so I will appreciate the one I have, recognize my time is limited here, and will do the best job I can.
I just got back from a long and enjoyable 4th of July weekend vacation. We we’re in Ceiba for 2 days and on the island of Utila for 2 days. This weekend has probably been the most fun I’ve had in Honduras.
We took a bus all the way to Ceiba, and then a taxi to our hotel. The hotel was way outside the city. It had a pretty awesome deal for white water rafting. We got to our hotel around 4PM and spent the rest of the day relaxing and meeting a few other travelers. We met a group of British doctors who had just completed medical school at Cambridge. We went white water rafting with them and went to Utila together with them.
The white water rafting experience was pretty awesome. The rapids were class III-IV, so we had some pretty nice ones. We had pretty tiny rafts, with about 6 people in each one of them. There was heavy rain the day before the rafting, so the river was moving faster than usual. We had a long talk for the first major rapid we had. It was a waterfall that was more or less a 7 or 8 foot drop straight down. Our guides told us that we had the greatest chance of going overboard on this rapid. This turned out to be the case for me. I was the in the front with Cosmo. We had less space in the front, so it was difficult for me to get down. I went over, but had a good hold on the line so I didn’t float away. We later joked how Cosmo had saved my life when she pulled me overboard. Later on in the trip, Gaku, Rachel, and Amanda all fell overboard as well. We also had the chance to go swimming through the rapids. This was a lot harder than I had thought it would be. There was a strong current, that got Taylor and I trapped in a little whirlpool off the side of the river. We eventually got past it, but it was difficult swimming and we got a few scrapes on the rocks.
Later that day, we got a taxi ride to the docks to go to Utila. We met up with Alex Escobar at the docks. It was good to meet up with him. I hadn’t seen him since school ended. We got to catch up for an hour or so as we sailed over to the main island. There as a bit of a storm at the docks, so the water was a little rough. Cosmo and I were on the upper portion of the deck, the highest point up we could go. There were maybe 7 or 8 other people on top with us. Things were fine at first, but almost all of the sudden, the boat began rocking back and forth without warning. At some points, the boat reached at least a 45 degree incline. Everyone was crouched down as low as they could go, holding on to the rails, trying to sit down on the benches and not slide off. I didn’t think things could get worse, but I turned out to be wrong. I was standing holding onto the rail, and had just sat down on one of the benches, and was considering going back down. All of the sudden, there was a crash and I looked over to see one of the benches that had been welded to the metal floor panel had been ripped off and had fallen over. There had been one person sitting on the bench, who was now on the ground trying to get back up. The bench began sliding around. Fortunately, there was a fence on the top portion that was able to prevent the bench from sliding down to the previous level or off the ship. If the bench was 2 inches shorter, it would’ve gone overboard or onto the lower level. Everyone on the top deck began making there way down at this point, but not before 2 more benches were ripped off. 3 of the 6 had been ripped off. We made it down to get inside, completely terrified and drenched with sea water. Fortunately, the waves soon calmed down and no more benches were taken off. It was almost amusing to see the same boat taking us home 2 days later with all 6 benches welded onto the lower level and the top layer of the ship was duct taped off.
We reached Utila without any other major problems except a little sea sickness. We found a pretty cheap hostel, about $3 a night. It looked peaceful enough so we decided to stay. We all had rooms for 2 people. It was only at night that I realized that there was plenty of more space in the room for more guests. I found a huge cockroach in my bag who escaped and hid somewhere in the room. There was an ant infestation, with ants that looked like they should’ve belonged in the latest Indiana Jones movie. There was a hammock outside, so I baptized myself with insect repellent, grabbed my pillow, and decided to sleep under the stars. Apart from the ship that was falling apart and the insect zoo in our room, the vacation was perfect. We only had to spend one night in the hostel. The next day, we walked around town waiting for another boat ride over to our private island that Cosmo had rented for 13 of us (there were 4 med students, 6 interns, cosmo, alex, and a friend from another non- profit).
Alex Escobar and I decided to catch up by reenacting the motorcycle diaries together. We found a place where we could rent electric motor bikes. We had never ridden them before, but we decided now was the time to learn. We rented two of them, and decided to make our way across the island. There was a very pretty woman behind the counter who was helping us get ready to go. When she found out we’d never ridden an electric motor bike before she looked pretty horrified and told us how often people have crashed into the wall across the street. The streets were in bad shape and there were people everywhere in the downtown area. It wasn’t very difficult to drive. We went along a rural dirt road along a beach on the other side of the island when my bike began to die. I hobbled back with the bike, and traded it in for another one. We then went to another side of the island and began riding along the beach in the sand next to the waves. It was really an awesome experience. We made it back in one piece. I had a little bit of a dilemma after getting back. The woman told me that I must have crashed the bike because the wheel was messed up, and that’s why it was dying on me. She said the mechanic estimated a cost or about $40 to fix. I was able to talk my way out of it after I explained to her I didn’t actually crash it. Alex and I felt horrible afterwards because she was beautiful and now she was angry at us and thought we were lying to her about crashing the bike. She seemed disappointed in the end, but I didn’t have to pay for it. Alex and I decided to write a song on the ukulele dedicated to her, while we were on the island. Later everyone wrote a song together about island life to the tune of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, it’s a work in progress, and we’re not sure we want to record.
We eventually made it to our island. It was pretty huge. We had 13 people living on it for 2 nights. It was only $100 a night, total. We ended up paying maybe $13 a night each for it. It was INCREDIBLE. There were coconut trees, palms, docks, beaches, and a massive house that was incredible. There were a few other islands for sale in sight, but we were pretty isolated from society. There was a generator house on the opposite end of the island that we had to turn on at night. The island was maybe the size of a football field.
Gaku, Alex, and I had the idea that we would hunt for our own dinner. We began sharpening sticks and pieces of plastic into spears with kitchen knives and machetes. We actually made some pretty good spears. Alex and I used our snorkeling gear to go hunting in the coral reefs for large fish. We would dive and try to jab them. We were all having moral qualms about killing the fish, which was probably the reason we were just a little bit too slow every time. It was a lot of fun trying to do it anyways. Later, Gaku and I found a flounder in shallow water. I ran and got the spear and stood above it. If I chose to kill it, I could’ve. It wouldn’t have escaped. I couldn’t do it though, it didn’t feel right. I gave it to Gaku hoping he could do it instead. He couldn’t do it either. Our dinner swam away. I guess we were just having fun hunting, but we didn’t really want to do the deed and finish it off. There was really something beautiful about everything on the island. The reefs and the fish around were gorgeous. We didn’t want to do any damage to them. We snorkeled for hours around our island. I’d never been snorkeling before, but it was incredible. The snorkeling gear cost only $5 a person, and we could use it as much as wanted for 2 days. I spent a lot of time practicing songs on Alex’s ukulele, trying to write songs with him, napping on a hammock, swimming, and snorkeling. One of the main things people did on the island was just talk to each other. It was pretty common to walk across the island and see two people just talking together, very engaged. I felt like a lot of people really got closer there. I also got a good chance to climb some coconut trees there. I’ve tried to climb coconut 3 times seriously in the past. This was the first time I’d ever succeeded. I got about a dozen coconuts down for the group. We later hacked them open with our machete, poured them into a pitcher and served it to everyone for dinner. Later that night, we all decided to build a fire. We had our main island to ourselves with the house on it, but about 50 feet past our island, across a little land bridge, there was another really tiny island. The land bridge was just sand, maybe 6 feet across. We built our fire on the other island with matches, palm branches, and toilet paper. It was a pretty big fire. We cooked some marsh mellows, and just sat around it as it died down listening to music on Amanda’s IPod speakers. We had Alex’s ukulele too. For the most part, everyone just sat around not talking, just breathing in the beauty of the whole scene. I walked off to the dock at one point that was a bit further away. I brought Alex’s ukulele, and sat down on the dock with my legs off the edge, trying to play a song I’d learned. The whole scene was like something out of a story book. I was playing the ukulele on the dock in complete darkness, except for the light of the moon and the fire on the second island in the distance. The fire light shone across the water for 30 feet or so to the dock I was on. Everyone on around the fire looked carefree and peaceful. You could hear the ocean’s waves racing up onto shore and receding again. There was a strong but pleasant breeze at any spot on the whole island. It wasn’t hot at all, ever. I looked up and saw more stars in the sky than I’ve ever seen before. It was so beautiful. I realized after I left that I hadn’t worn shoes or a shirt for 2 full days. It was so relaxing there. The owner of the island told us quite accurately, this is the closest place to heaven on Earth. You couldn’t spend a full day on that island without thinking about heaven. I decided to sleep on the hammock that night. I got my bed sheets and a pillow and made my way over to the hammock. I had turned off the generator for the island so there was not a hint of light anywhere except for the crescent moon. I walked over carefully, trying to avoid rocks in the sand. There were dark trees’ silhouettes towering above, the sound of the waves and the wind continued as always. The palms leaves swayed around, and all was peaceful. If you walk a certain distance away from the house at night, you can’t see the house at all, just sand, and the silhouettes’ of palm trees. In any other case, I would’ve been paying attention to make sure I wasn’t about to get robbed, but here- we were completely isolated and safe. I hopped onto the hammock, situated between two palm trees, right on the far end of the island away from the house. The sky was decorated neatly with stars, and all around there was either the ocean or the trees.
Now we’re all back to the real world, and are ready to get back to work. We’ll be here 3 weeks more, and have a lot more to do. I’ve decided that I will only be sad to leave Honduras if I don’t finish my work. I am a bit sad in that I don’t feel like I will ever have an opportunity like the one I have right now ever again. I feel that SHH is unique in how it does its work. The freedom we have all been granted to do our work is a type of freedom I don’t expect I’ll ever encounter with any other group during my undergrad. Any other experience with SHH I feel will not be as long or as unrestricted as the one I have right now. I realize that the internship is unique and wonderful. I also realize that I will not be able to intern with SHH again because we will have a whole new wave of interns next year. If I could spend every summer like this, I would. Realistically, I need to realize, this has been one of the most empowering and amazing experiences in my life. It’s rare that people have experiences like this, so I will appreciate the one I have, recognize my time is limited here, and will do the best job I can.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Las Brisas
-Daniel Saboe
I’ve wanted to get to work in Las Brisas for several weeks. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to walk through the entire community and create a map of it. I tried to estimate the number of houses in the community, and where they were all located. I also had to measure the school at Las Brisas in case we want to use it as a model for a new school in Villa Soleada.
I spent about an hour getting the dimensions of the school. Afterwards, I walked down every street trying to count the houses on either side of the street. It was pretty difficult to get an exact count of the houses. There isn’t a neat order to them, I felt like I was looking for houses under bushes. Some of them were quite hidden, and on several occasions, I couldn’t tell if I was looking at a house and a shed, or 2 houses. Some of the houses in Las Brisas are beautiful, and have running water in the house with showers and all. Other houses in Las Brisas have electricity, but the people are completely impoverished. I heard of 9 people living in a house that’s no bigger than my room. After several hours, I had a rough sketch of the entire community. I estimated about 200 houses. I heard there was about 40 more houses on the other side of the highway however. We were hoping to use this map to identify where certain families live, and who are community leaders.
Quick funny story. While I was making my maps, I saw a baby kitten, that was the size of a baseball. I’ve seen spiders bigger than that here. It was in the middle of the street. I decided to take a photo of it. While I did that, there were maybe 3 naked toddlers watching me mistrustfully. The moment I took the photo, one of them walked straight at me, never looking away, he picked up the kitten with one hand, and walked away with it back into his house. I thought it was hilarious. I think the kids thought that I was going to steel their cat.
Afterwards, I drove over to Marcio’s brother’s palm oil processing plant and biodigester. I got to take a hardhat tour through the factory, watch all the heavy machinery in operation. There were huge truckloads of the palm nut coming in to the factory for sale. These were then processed through huge pieces of machinery that extracted the oil that is sold. The whole plant was a complete self sustaining cycle. The parts of the nut that weren’t used for oil are digested in the biodigestor lagoons in order to produce methane gas which is burned to produce enough electricity to power the entire factory. They also use the other product of methane gas generation, which is very fine fertilizer. They sell it and use it on their land to grow other products that they sell. It was a great tour, and it really lets one see how to make the most of everything, and to not waste at all. It was very creative.
For lunch that day, I ate something I’d never had before. It wasn’t chicken, so I was automatically confused because, let’s be honest, this is Honduras (if you haven’t visited, if it’s not beans, rice, or chicken its probably foreign). I had already eaten half when I asked what it was. It was dark, tiny chunks that looked almost scaly. Marcio told me that it was a snake, a boa constrictor that they’d found in a tree and killed. I completely believed him, and everyone started laughing at me. Apparently, it was just pig heart. We began talking about delicious food there, and someone told me iguana coconut milk is delicious. I next asked, have you ever eaten snake. And they laughed at me like I was crazy. I found it difficult to explain to them that I didn’t really see the difference between iguana and snake. I also had this really delicious drink. It was fruit juice with guanavana chunks inside. I’d never had this fruit before, but it was probably the best drink I’ve ever had, period.
It began pouring rain later, so we all had some time to talk under the shed. We talked about a million and one different things. I was asked to be the godfather for one of the kids at Siete. I don’t know the kid or the mother, but I’m great friends with the father, Wilson. I would’ve been more shocked, but Megan had told us the house that she was asked to be the godmother of the same kid. I told them it would be an honor. I think it’s amazing. Supposedly, I only joined a club in college and went on a service trip in January. Now I’ll have a godchild living in Honduras. I sort of feel like that’s the whole story of SHH, this is why we’re different. We are so close to the people we work with, that it’s beyond compare to any other service group.
Today I did 23 interviews for Las Brisas with the help of a woman from Siete named Jenny, as well as with Yapa! We we’re all a great team. I asked most of the questions. Yapa took notes on the responses, because she could obviously understand way more than me. Jenny was there as a guide through Las Brisas, but also as a representative from Siete. We got some pretty amazing information from the people. There were plenty of very nice people there we got to meet. We had one guy invite us into his house out of the rain (when it rains, it pours/floods here). He gave us some drinks. We had a great talk with him. He also had some great information about the houses in Brisas for us. We heard some very sad stories also. We talked to this one woman who was 21 years old and had 2 kids, no more than 4 years old each. She was living in one of the worst houses in Las Brisas. It looked like it was made out of dried mud. It was smaller on all sides than my van is long. She had an outdoor water spout (I’ve been speaking Spanish all day, it took me way too long to remember the word for spout, I kept trying to say llave!) and outdoor latrines. Her kids were running around naked. She washed clothes for neighbors for a living when there was work. She told us that she would make 50 lempiras a week at times. ($2.50) for her and her kids. She was 18 when she had her first kid, and she had a 5th grade education. The father of the kids had abandoned them as well as the woman. During the entire interview, this woman never smiled. I got the impression that this was normally the case. She never spoke above a whisper. I couldn’t see what was holding her together. Out of all the women we interviewed today, the latest I’d heard of any of them waiting to have a kid was 18-19 years old (as young as 16). The furthest along in education any of them (men included) had was about 6th grade. Some of them had never been to school or had only 1 or 2 years. A large portion of them were illiterate. What’s craziest about this all is that, I’m beginning to feel differently about many things. When I hear about 15 or 16 year olds having kids and starting families at that age, not going to school more than 5 or 6 years, it doesn’t phase me. It’s so common place. It’s part of the culture. The kids enter the work force around that age, and they can support a family. They have no other reason to wait to have a family. In the U.S, people might wait to have kids because they can’t support them (here they can support them because they are working young), they may wait because they want to go to a university to study, almost no one here does that. Having a kid young wouldn’t upset someone’s chances of going to a school, because that chances is reserved for those with enough money to afford it. It makes perfect sense why everyone has kids so young. I don’t question it. In the U.S having a kid that young would be a disaster for your future normally, but here there’s nothing to lose.
The survey’s were very useful, and enlightening. I have some ideas for the future in this community. The people had the ideas for it. Some of them thought about free classes for adults to become literacy, sewage systems, good streets, police stations, clinics, proper lighting on the streets. There are plenty of things they need. They have the basic necessities for the most part. They have enough food, they have a roof over their heads, they have water, they have electricity. There are plenty of other things that both Las Brisas could use that the people in Villa Soleada could benefit from as well.
I’ve wanted to get to work in Las Brisas for several weeks. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to walk through the entire community and create a map of it. I tried to estimate the number of houses in the community, and where they were all located. I also had to measure the school at Las Brisas in case we want to use it as a model for a new school in Villa Soleada.
I spent about an hour getting the dimensions of the school. Afterwards, I walked down every street trying to count the houses on either side of the street. It was pretty difficult to get an exact count of the houses. There isn’t a neat order to them, I felt like I was looking for houses under bushes. Some of them were quite hidden, and on several occasions, I couldn’t tell if I was looking at a house and a shed, or 2 houses. Some of the houses in Las Brisas are beautiful, and have running water in the house with showers and all. Other houses in Las Brisas have electricity, but the people are completely impoverished. I heard of 9 people living in a house that’s no bigger than my room. After several hours, I had a rough sketch of the entire community. I estimated about 200 houses. I heard there was about 40 more houses on the other side of the highway however. We were hoping to use this map to identify where certain families live, and who are community leaders.
Quick funny story. While I was making my maps, I saw a baby kitten, that was the size of a baseball. I’ve seen spiders bigger than that here. It was in the middle of the street. I decided to take a photo of it. While I did that, there were maybe 3 naked toddlers watching me mistrustfully. The moment I took the photo, one of them walked straight at me, never looking away, he picked up the kitten with one hand, and walked away with it back into his house. I thought it was hilarious. I think the kids thought that I was going to steel their cat.
Afterwards, I drove over to Marcio’s brother’s palm oil processing plant and biodigester. I got to take a hardhat tour through the factory, watch all the heavy machinery in operation. There were huge truckloads of the palm nut coming in to the factory for sale. These were then processed through huge pieces of machinery that extracted the oil that is sold. The whole plant was a complete self sustaining cycle. The parts of the nut that weren’t used for oil are digested in the biodigestor lagoons in order to produce methane gas which is burned to produce enough electricity to power the entire factory. They also use the other product of methane gas generation, which is very fine fertilizer. They sell it and use it on their land to grow other products that they sell. It was a great tour, and it really lets one see how to make the most of everything, and to not waste at all. It was very creative.
For lunch that day, I ate something I’d never had before. It wasn’t chicken, so I was automatically confused because, let’s be honest, this is Honduras (if you haven’t visited, if it’s not beans, rice, or chicken its probably foreign). I had already eaten half when I asked what it was. It was dark, tiny chunks that looked almost scaly. Marcio told me that it was a snake, a boa constrictor that they’d found in a tree and killed. I completely believed him, and everyone started laughing at me. Apparently, it was just pig heart. We began talking about delicious food there, and someone told me iguana coconut milk is delicious. I next asked, have you ever eaten snake. And they laughed at me like I was crazy. I found it difficult to explain to them that I didn’t really see the difference between iguana and snake. I also had this really delicious drink. It was fruit juice with guanavana chunks inside. I’d never had this fruit before, but it was probably the best drink I’ve ever had, period.
It began pouring rain later, so we all had some time to talk under the shed. We talked about a million and one different things. I was asked to be the godfather for one of the kids at Siete. I don’t know the kid or the mother, but I’m great friends with the father, Wilson. I would’ve been more shocked, but Megan had told us the house that she was asked to be the godmother of the same kid. I told them it would be an honor. I think it’s amazing. Supposedly, I only joined a club in college and went on a service trip in January. Now I’ll have a godchild living in Honduras. I sort of feel like that’s the whole story of SHH, this is why we’re different. We are so close to the people we work with, that it’s beyond compare to any other service group.
Today I did 23 interviews for Las Brisas with the help of a woman from Siete named Jenny, as well as with Yapa! We we’re all a great team. I asked most of the questions. Yapa took notes on the responses, because she could obviously understand way more than me. Jenny was there as a guide through Las Brisas, but also as a representative from Siete. We got some pretty amazing information from the people. There were plenty of very nice people there we got to meet. We had one guy invite us into his house out of the rain (when it rains, it pours/floods here). He gave us some drinks. We had a great talk with him. He also had some great information about the houses in Brisas for us. We heard some very sad stories also. We talked to this one woman who was 21 years old and had 2 kids, no more than 4 years old each. She was living in one of the worst houses in Las Brisas. It looked like it was made out of dried mud. It was smaller on all sides than my van is long. She had an outdoor water spout (I’ve been speaking Spanish all day, it took me way too long to remember the word for spout, I kept trying to say llave!) and outdoor latrines. Her kids were running around naked. She washed clothes for neighbors for a living when there was work. She told us that she would make 50 lempiras a week at times. ($2.50) for her and her kids. She was 18 when she had her first kid, and she had a 5th grade education. The father of the kids had abandoned them as well as the woman. During the entire interview, this woman never smiled. I got the impression that this was normally the case. She never spoke above a whisper. I couldn’t see what was holding her together. Out of all the women we interviewed today, the latest I’d heard of any of them waiting to have a kid was 18-19 years old (as young as 16). The furthest along in education any of them (men included) had was about 6th grade. Some of them had never been to school or had only 1 or 2 years. A large portion of them were illiterate. What’s craziest about this all is that, I’m beginning to feel differently about many things. When I hear about 15 or 16 year olds having kids and starting families at that age, not going to school more than 5 or 6 years, it doesn’t phase me. It’s so common place. It’s part of the culture. The kids enter the work force around that age, and they can support a family. They have no other reason to wait to have a family. In the U.S, people might wait to have kids because they can’t support them (here they can support them because they are working young), they may wait because they want to go to a university to study, almost no one here does that. Having a kid young wouldn’t upset someone’s chances of going to a school, because that chances is reserved for those with enough money to afford it. It makes perfect sense why everyone has kids so young. I don’t question it. In the U.S having a kid that young would be a disaster for your future normally, but here there’s nothing to lose.
The survey’s were very useful, and enlightening. I have some ideas for the future in this community. The people had the ideas for it. Some of them thought about free classes for adults to become literacy, sewage systems, good streets, police stations, clinics, proper lighting on the streets. There are plenty of things they need. They have the basic necessities for the most part. They have enough food, they have a roof over their heads, they have water, they have electricity. There are plenty of other things that both Las Brisas could use that the people in Villa Soleada could benefit from as well.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Copan/ Copprome/ Movie
-Daniel Saboe
I really feel like I’m part of a community here now. It’s happened on a few occasions now… I’ll be walking down the street and I’ll see somebody I know. Having a sense of community is a really great feeling.
We went to Copan last weekend. I had such a good time. Life in Progreso is basically the real world, and Copan is the tourist world. Normally I dislike tourists and seek to separate myself from them as much as possible, however, after having lived in Progreso for a few weeks, I was very welcome to the idea of being a tourist for 2 days. Sometimes its pleasant to see touristy things everywhere you go, its artificial, but it can be relaxing every now and then.
We only had time for two activities at Copan. The first day we rented some horses around 4PM and rode up to a Mayan village for an hour or so. The people at the village spoke the ancient dialects along with the Spanish. It was a beautiful ride, my second since coming to Honduras. We road along the road with cars for a while, but then went along a river and then up a mountain. It was all very relaxing.
The village was beautiful. We were immediately swarmed by a horde of young girls trying to sell us dolls made out of corn husks. They were all a full 2 feet shorter than everyone of us. The only thing they would say was “viente” (20).They would say this in unison, in an eerie almost ghostlike voice. You would say no, or I already bought one, or thank you, but they held the dolls up to your face and kept saying “viente”. We laughed about this later.
By the time we left, it was dusk. We ended up spending a large portion of the return trip riding in complete darkness. I had been experimenting the entire ride on how to make the horse gallop. I had tried unsuccessfully by kicking with my heels, smacking its behind, and saying “hyah!” None of these methods worked. I realized later that using the lasso to whip the horse on either side repeatedly was incredibly effective. I got up to a full gallop on the way back. It was such an amazing feeling, just riding along through the darkness by a river, or down a mountain. I was fairly far ahead of the others, so I felt even more isolated. It was a very relaxing and peaceful feeling.
The next day we visited the Mayan ruins which were incredible. We also got to see scarlet mccaws up very close. I could’ve touched them if I wanted to, and there were many of them. There were plenty of spectacular views at the ruins. I really enjoyed hearing the stories and learning about the history.
I spent a lot of time at Copprome this week. I feel like I’m getting better at everyone’s names. Before this internship, I’d only spent a couple hours with the kids at Copprome. Now I can spend plenty of time and get to know each one by name. There are some very sweet kids there. We took them out to the mall today to go see a movie. It you were with the really young ones, it was difficult to keep the group together. They would look through the window into a store and run over and want to go in, or they’d want ice cream. These kids are very high energy, and they had a lot of distractions. I started out watching Wall E with Yamilet, but she decided to switch movies half way through to spend time with the other kids in the other movie. I think we got up about 5 times to go to the bathroom or to change seats.
I took a really useful trip to a water treatment plant at a poorer neighborhood that was about 40 minutes away. The neighborhood is called San Luis Catales. I hopped in a taxi with Don Daniel from Siete de Abril and our drilling contractor (for the well). We all drove over to take a look. Just learning about the details of their project really helped me a lot with my work. We got to climb up the ladder to stand on the top of the water tower. It was pretty high up, and was an awesome view. I got to see the drip chlorinator at the top of the tank, and we got to open up a trap door to see the water beneath.
I just turned in my first progress report. I only have another month left here. I’m already thinking about going home, and it’s a very sad thought. I feel like I just got here. Not including the time we were doing orientation, I’ve only been working a little over 2 weeks. I wish I could stay here for a few more months. I’m having such a good time, I’m learning new things every day, I’m becoming a part of the community here, and I’m making great friends. It’s sad to think that opportunities like this are so hard to obtatin. I wish I could do this every summer, but I know that’s not reality. I’m really trying to make the most of my time here.
I really feel like I’m part of a community here now. It’s happened on a few occasions now… I’ll be walking down the street and I’ll see somebody I know. Having a sense of community is a really great feeling.
We went to Copan last weekend. I had such a good time. Life in Progreso is basically the real world, and Copan is the tourist world. Normally I dislike tourists and seek to separate myself from them as much as possible, however, after having lived in Progreso for a few weeks, I was very welcome to the idea of being a tourist for 2 days. Sometimes its pleasant to see touristy things everywhere you go, its artificial, but it can be relaxing every now and then.
We only had time for two activities at Copan. The first day we rented some horses around 4PM and rode up to a Mayan village for an hour or so. The people at the village spoke the ancient dialects along with the Spanish. It was a beautiful ride, my second since coming to Honduras. We road along the road with cars for a while, but then went along a river and then up a mountain. It was all very relaxing.
The village was beautiful. We were immediately swarmed by a horde of young girls trying to sell us dolls made out of corn husks. They were all a full 2 feet shorter than everyone of us. The only thing they would say was “viente” (20).They would say this in unison, in an eerie almost ghostlike voice. You would say no, or I already bought one, or thank you, but they held the dolls up to your face and kept saying “viente”. We laughed about this later.
By the time we left, it was dusk. We ended up spending a large portion of the return trip riding in complete darkness. I had been experimenting the entire ride on how to make the horse gallop. I had tried unsuccessfully by kicking with my heels, smacking its behind, and saying “hyah!” None of these methods worked. I realized later that using the lasso to whip the horse on either side repeatedly was incredibly effective. I got up to a full gallop on the way back. It was such an amazing feeling, just riding along through the darkness by a river, or down a mountain. I was fairly far ahead of the others, so I felt even more isolated. It was a very relaxing and peaceful feeling.
The next day we visited the Mayan ruins which were incredible. We also got to see scarlet mccaws up very close. I could’ve touched them if I wanted to, and there were many of them. There were plenty of spectacular views at the ruins. I really enjoyed hearing the stories and learning about the history.
I spent a lot of time at Copprome this week. I feel like I’m getting better at everyone’s names. Before this internship, I’d only spent a couple hours with the kids at Copprome. Now I can spend plenty of time and get to know each one by name. There are some very sweet kids there. We took them out to the mall today to go see a movie. It you were with the really young ones, it was difficult to keep the group together. They would look through the window into a store and run over and want to go in, or they’d want ice cream. These kids are very high energy, and they had a lot of distractions. I started out watching Wall E with Yamilet, but she decided to switch movies half way through to spend time with the other kids in the other movie. I think we got up about 5 times to go to the bathroom or to change seats.
I took a really useful trip to a water treatment plant at a poorer neighborhood that was about 40 minutes away. The neighborhood is called San Luis Catales. I hopped in a taxi with Don Daniel from Siete de Abril and our drilling contractor (for the well). We all drove over to take a look. Just learning about the details of their project really helped me a lot with my work. We got to climb up the ladder to stand on the top of the water tower. It was pretty high up, and was an awesome view. I got to see the drip chlorinator at the top of the tank, and we got to open up a trap door to see the water beneath.
I just turned in my first progress report. I only have another month left here. I’m already thinking about going home, and it’s a very sad thought. I feel like I just got here. Not including the time we were doing orientation, I’ve only been working a little over 2 weeks. I wish I could stay here for a few more months. I’m having such a good time, I’m learning new things every day, I’m becoming a part of the community here, and I’m making great friends. It’s sad to think that opportunities like this are so hard to obtatin. I wish I could do this every summer, but I know that’s not reality. I’m really trying to make the most of my time here.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Summer Update
These past few weeks have been so incredible in many different ways. I feel like at this point it would be very hard to recount all the experiences I have already had, so I am just going to give a brief background of Rachel and my daily work and then a few of my favorite moments from El Progreso Summer ’08.
Rachel and I have teamed up this summer to start both a microfinance program for the women of Siete de Abril and Villa Soleada and to teach them how to make eco-friendly bags out of used chip bags. Each day that we go to work I find it inspiring, challenging, eye-opening, sad, and exciting all in one.
The first week here in El Progreso was mainly spent getting organized and researching about other MFIs in the other area. We did a lot of research on both La Finca and Adelante—two of the microfinance programs here in El Progreso. The manager of the Adelante office, Raúl, even allowed us to attend two of their solidarity group meetings.
The following week we started conducting surveys on each of the women living in Siete de Abril. Questions asked included such things as name, age, number of dependents, previous work experience, number of income sources, any chronic family diseases, etc. We typed up surveys for over 60 women and created a map of Siete de Abril with each of the women’s names so we knew where each of them lived.
Ok, now on to some of the highlights so far this summer:
- The awesome benefit concert that we went to for OYE where they had an eclectic reggae band and we danced crazily with little kids
- The old man with dreads in Tela and his little kids who were playing the bongos
- The patience that Gerson from Copprome has with Nauhn when he is trying to understand what he is saying
- Singing Mariah Carey’s “Always be my Baby” with Josúe at the top of our lungs after an awesome morning with the women of Siete
- Marcio’s pool party with awesome food, good drinks, and great company
- Laughing with Saraí and Stefani at Copprome about playing the game “Never Have I Ever”
- Carmen asking me to breast feed her baby and not understanding why it was physically impossible and how I could possibly not have kids
- Pretending to be a monkey while playing with the kids at Siete de Abril and having way to much fun being very immature
- Spending time with Yapa working on her book
- The fact that all the women who wanted to make the bags collected their own chip bags…Abby had washed all of hers out and lined them out and Olga was concerned because she only had 200! Awesome!
- Talking with Natalia, one of the women in Siete de Abril, about her experience working with La Finca. She is such a sweet woman, extremely dedicated, always on time, and really wants to help us out.
- Playing the story game about El Progreso with the interns and Cosmo in Copan at lunch....best laugh I've had in a lonng time!
- Playing soccer with the girls, even though I haven’t played since 8th grade
- Spending time with all of the interns when we are chilling at night
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