Monday, April 5, 2010

Moving along in Honduras

Hello Everyone!!
I apologize for not writing for forever and a year, but things have been busy and I have not been thinking too much about the blog-I apologize. Things are moving right along this year as school has started, along with many projects that come with it.
As for an update on the political situation in Honduras, everything seems pretty "tranquilo" or calm. As many might know, there were protests when the new president Pepe Lobo was elected and sworn-in in January, but since then things have been better. Ex-president Zelaya is now hanging out in the DR-rumors say. One of the main things that has changed is the teacher strikes. Last year it was definitely an issue-not all teachers were getting paid, and caused many children to lose school days. I can happily say that there has not been one teacher strike so far this year, yay!! God only knows how much we need each and every day of school here in Honduras.
As for the work I am doing in the community this year, it is very similar to last year. Lots of teacher English classes and working in the elementary schools. I am focusing on literacy in the schools-there are many 3rd and 4th graders who can not read, and are not getting the special attention they need to be able to learn. I go to each school at least 2 times a week, trying to make a difference in the education of these children.
Also, after many requests from community members, I was finally able to set up a computer course for teachers with the help of a fellow volunteer. Those who know me well know that isn't my speciality, so the help from my work partner is very much appreciated.
I am still working on creating a Coaching Baseball in Honduras manual-so if anyone has any ideas or drills they think could be helpful, I'll be happy to take them!
Currently I am working towards starting up a sex-ed 4 week course for my high school students-teen or pre-teen pregnancy is an issue in my site. We are hoping to talk about the stigmas of bisexuality, being gay, and other community perceptions of getting pregnant while teaching the realities of STIs and protection.
I plan on starting up my leadership program with the high school as well, though the issue I run into is getting a community member to do this project with me. I feel that I did too many projects alone last year, and to make a project more worth while, I need to do it with someone who can continue it when I leave. This becomes an issue with many projects-and thus is one of my main goals this year.
As for what is specifically going on in Honduras, nothing super exciting-which is probably all for the best, considering we had enough of it last year. One issue Honduras is having though is the lack of water. Rainy season wasn't all that rainy-and thus citys like Tegucigalpa don't always have water (I also know of some volunteers who are taking showers with essentially bottled water because their town hasn't had water for 2 weeks). Hopefully, the dry season isn't extremely dry-maybe I should do a rain dance!
I still have to deal with piropos, or "cat calls," though they are less frequent now that I my boyfriend has moved to my site- At the moment my favorite one is "I love you gringita, give me you eyes!"
Best thing about my site at the moment: I have a beautiful river that goes along the outside of my town that I can go swimming in.
Worst thing about my site at the moment: It is super dusty due to no rain, so going running usually consists of an unhealthy intake of dust.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sara! Your boyfriend moved to your site! Thats awesome! What's next! You said much about Honduras and just a little about you! Tell me more!

Ashley

Chris said...

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