Vacation Bible School

So last week we had this special event at school where an Indian religious group from New York came to school one afternoon and set up a Vacation Bible School about Jonas and the Whale for the kids!

Until I plowed through the crowd of children in front of the door and walked in, I actually had no clue what was going on. That's how things work down here! You go with the flow, accepting everything in its time.

Anyway, the group had prepared a 'song' station, and several different craft stations for different grade levels.

They asked me to help since I speak English/Spanish, and then told me that they would separate the kids by grade.

Now, if you've ever been to a Honduran community, you will know that order is not something normally acknowledged by kids. They do their thing, run around, eat scrumptious food, and play soccer. Organizing a soccer team in itself is sometimes a grueling task.

So from right off I could tell that these people were doing an amazing thing for the kids, but they were not prepared for what they were about to experience.

The doors opened and the kids ran in, jumping and screaming. The group had set out a blue cloth for them to sit on, but the children were not having it.

The group sat all the kids down and tried to keep them quiet, but it was a lot like watching someone heard bees.

I've only been here five weeks, but I decided to try to do something about the mob. In my angriest, loudest voice, I yelled for them to be quiet, sit down and pay attention.

The room was suddenly SILENT. The moment was magical; I had actually silenced fourty-plus kids. The school director promptly came up to me and said "Please don't leave us. Stay, Emma!"

At that moment I knew that I had a special connection with this school and these kids. I love them with every fiber of my being, and I think that they know that. I'm not a lovey-dovey teacher, though. If they're out of line, they will receive a punishment.

But I think that that's exactly what many of these kids have needed; someone to draw the line, someone to say 'hey-you're doing a GREAT job today! I'm so proud of you!' Or someone to say: "Pedro-you know very well what the rules are, and if you throw another pencil you will not have recess."

Anyways, after my magical moment the kids mostly seemed to behave. They went to their stations (kind of) by grade, and made Jonas-inspired art. We played, we had snacks, and the smiles on the kids' faces were unbelievable. I had a blast because my kids' excitement was so incredibly contagious. (See Pedro's face below...)

The religious group left after a couple of hours exhausted but proud of what they had accomplished. So this being my last weekend in Honduras, I'm planning a similar fiesta for my children's home boys. We'll see how it goes! :)

Education in Honduras

This entire week is a ‘Leadership Week’ for which many SHH chapter leaders have come down to receive training regarding the development and fundraising of their individual chapters. I obviously can’t go to all of the trainings because I have to teach my kids during the day, but I usually join in on the team-building activities at night.

Last night’s topic was education. You can probably see where I’m going with this… I got so fired up I couldn’t sleep.

We watched the documentary “Waiting for Superman,” which is about the achievement gap in the U.S. Education system. I hadn’t previously watched it because I was afraid of how I was going to respond; Would I cry? Would it make me incredibly mad?

Well after the viewing we discussed how we felt about it, and I said that I realized that yes; there were many issues with the U.S. education system. But there seems to be an overwhelming river of hope flowing through American parents’ for their children’s education.

However in Honduras, this is not always the case. Many have given up on the education system down here and do not at all see it as a way to better their children’s lives. They have continuously experienced and observed poor teaching, poor funding, poor state laws regarding education….etc. etc. The list goes on.
So after realizing that disparity in hope, I realized another thing: I cannot leave my kids.

The development I have seen over the past five weeks is absolutely phenomenal. One of the SHH kids said last night that “good teachers never give up on a student.” And I have refused to give up.

No matter how frustrated I get with my kids talking out of turn, throwing things, not doing their homework, etc., I just realize I need to think more outside the box.
My latest revision is to write the directions for the homework in each child’s notebook at the end of class, and have a line for their parents’ signatures underneath.

In most cases, this has worked. But in some cases, kids will come to school with the signature but without any homework. This is due to either one of two things: illiteracy in parents or loss of hope in their children’s education.
So today Reina, one of my beautiful kindergarten girls, came to school after being absent for a week. She came to school with the signature, but without the homework. And it didn’t stop there.

We were writing big and small ‘K’s, and she refused to write even one. As much as I tried to get her to try, she kept saying “I can’t, I can’t!” She then started to cry and literally WAIL asking for her mother. I had no choice. I wasn’t going to give up on her, but I needed some outside help.

So I left my class writing their ‘K’s with an older student, and Reina and I walked hand-in-hand to her house. Her family was pretty surprised to see me, but I told them what had happened during class, and how I thought she would be more motivated if her mother or brother came to class with her; just for the day. Her mom said: ‘Oh I know; she can’t do it. That’s because she’s never actually taught anything.’

I told her mom that I had written down the letter several times and explained the lines for her. It wasn’t hard to do, she just had A) not been to school in awhile, so she wasn’t used to working and B) was mentally set on not doing it. I assured the family that yes; this was something she could definitely do. It was more of a mental block.

I will just say that I have not done something that gutsy in a loooong time. I still can’t believe I left class to go talk to a family…

But anyways; her mom sent her brother back to school with the both of us, and her brother helped Reina trace the letter while I looked over the class.

I could tell he was also getting really frustrated with her “No puedo”s, so I decided it was time for us to read a story. In that moment, Reina ran up to me and tugged on my shirt. I leaned down and she whispered in my ear: “Emma I did it! I wrote one K all by myself!”

I had tears in my eyes but refused to let them fall in front of my class. I walked over to her brother and we gave each other a high-five in triumph.

I don’t remember ever being so proud.

My point in all of this is that yes; things in Honduras do seem hopeless regarding education. But when the right people are involved, things can change. SHH has already done so much for the children of Villa Soleada, and they are learning 100% more than they used to. But another important facet in this matter are the adults in the community. Inspiring children to work is easy. But instilling faith in education in adults? That’s a completely different story. For now I’m taking it one child at a time, but through my trips down to Villa Soleada, I hope to make as big a difference as I can in the future of these kids’ education.

(Reina and Cecia!)

La Ceiba and Los Cayos Cochinos

So this past weekend I had two of the most exciting days of my life. We drove the five hours to La Ceiba/this small beach town. (We had all gone discoteca-ing the night before, so let me tell ya: waking up at 5:00 was pretty rough for everyone…) But once we got our Latin American Dunkin Doughnuts, everything was great!

We had breakfast and then went to the beach and drove jet skis. (Mom; I want one now… ) Jet ski and beach pictured below...

After jet skiing, we proceeded to drive UP the mountain next to the beach for a good fourty minutes. During which, the air seeped out of two of our tires.
But anyway; we got to our eco-hotel safe and sound. And this place was absolutely GORGEOUS. The ‘Jungle River’ hotel was this oasis on the Congrejal River in the middle of the RAINFOREST.

So we get there and then immediately are recruited to zip-line through the jungle. Pretty amazing, right? Our first line was over the incredibly strong river. I was pretty nervous, but not about to miss that kind of opportunity!

Our zip-lining led us far up into the rainforest canopy where we found a small village coffee farm! So basically, my dream of opening a coffee shop could definitely happen in Honduras...

After zip-lining, our guide showed us rocks from which we could jump into the river safely. One rock was definitely more than 25 feet above the river, so of course we all had to jump off. Twice.

I also made friends with the hotel parrot, who memorized my name and continued to screech it during the night. He also bit my finger and left a pretty big 'beak mark'.

Oh, and did I mention I fell off the sidewalk of the hotel? I zip-lined, drove a jetski, and jumped 30 feet off a rock! And then later that night I fell on the sidewalk and cut up my leg pretty badly. It was infected for a few days, but it’s getting better now. Oh, Honduras. :)

The next day we headed to Cayos Cochinos Islands at 6am. The Islands in the middle of the turquoise Caribbean have to be among the most beautiful places I have ever been.

We snorkeled in crystal clear water, met the Garifuna natives, and hiked through the jungle. (Where our guide illegally picked up a wild pink boa for us to meet, and an Australian woman walking past yelled at us.)

So after this amazing day, we get back to our car to find that not only have we left the keys in the car, but we’ve left them in the ignition with the battery running. Smart, huh? But, no big deal, because most people in this country know how to break into a car, if ya know what I mean. ;) Within thirty minutes, we had it open and the battery jumped.

We stopped at another beach (Tela) on the way home and then got back to Villa Soleada safe and sound in time for my last week here! I can’t believe my time in Honduras has almost ended, but I know that I have definitely had the time of my life!

Pasteles de Pina & Baleadas!

So last week we decided that we wanted to learn how to make the infamous Honduran meal of choice: Pastelitos de Pina and Baleadas.

We started out by heating up the sugar, some flower, and the innards of the pineapple.

We then mixed flour, salt, vegetable/corn paste, and some water to make the tortillas. As ‘gringos’/Americans, we had trouble actually making the round tortillas, though. Through all the tossing some might have actually fallen onto the floor…

The same mix was used for the pastelitos, too. We put the pineapple/sugar mix inside the tortillas and then fried them. YUMMMMMM.

We blended the red beans and fried the eggs to put inside the tortillas to make the baleadas.

BEST. MEAL. EVER. How did I contribute? I swear I made at least one tortilla…and then ate maybe six.

Mis Ninos/My Daily Schedule!

This is my fourth week teaching and OH BOY has it been a challenge.

I teach kindergarten for two hours starting at 8am and the kids are completely adorable...individually. Together they can make your head hurt for hours at a time. But that's only because they really weren't introduced to discipline in the classroom before. I have spent three weeks making them raise their hands if they have questions, stay seated, and only talk if I give them permission. If they can't follow the rules, then they have to write lines during recess. And woah buddy do they hate that.

Today German cried and screamed while writing his lines.

But nevertheless, they're seriously learning how to act in a classroom and I could not be more proud!!

The next class I have is from 11-12pm, and I teach them English. They're learning past, present, and future verbs already! After about two weeks, they learned how to be quiet, pay attention, and work. In that class I have three boys from the children's home who do their homework with me after school.

I then have a lunch break and teach English to second grade from 12:30-1:30. That might be the toughest challenge of all. The class is INCREDIBLY sweet and well-mannered, but many of them do not know how to write in Spanish. So it's hard to teach them English words when they don't know how to copy words in Spanish. But they are learning and are the absolute SWEETEST kids.


My last class of the day is from 2-3pm and they are the 'Advanced English' students. These kids are the ones who ask ME questions in English and are so incredibly curious about the English language. It's inspiring. They are also older and have become my good friends. Claudia and Glendi especially. :)

Claudia and Demaris are the two smiling, beautiful girls in this picture:

School, Painting and Pasteles

So today half of school just didn’t show up. Why? Because it’s Monday. Oh how I wish things were that easy in the states.

“Hey James: Are you going to class today?”
“Sure, but I think I’m going to sleep in until 10:30.”
“Why?”
“Well, I made brownies and watched Mad Men last night and will probably want to sleep in a bit.”

Seriously: This is the culture. Minus the Mad Men. Here the show of choice is ‘Eva’: A telenovela about an undercover witness who is a man dressing as a woman. It’s incredibly popular and one of the funniest things I’ve watched in a long time. In the last episode someone walked in on Eva changing and realized she was wearing boxers. OOPS!

After hiking the waterfall this past weekend, we helped to paint the boys’ home. Apparently it was originally going to be a home for girls, and the colors were very girly. So we used a lot of blues, yellows and oranges. It’s beautiful! I helped with the orange if you can tell from the paint all over me.

Also Kate (my housemate) told our host family yesterday that she loved pasteles de pina. (Little fried pastries with pineapple-y sauce inside.) So naturally we had a whole bucket of them for dinner that night. A bucket. And that was dinner. Was I complaining? Not really. Will I balloon in size? I sure hope not. Soccer, anyone?

Pulhapanzak Falls

8 July, 2012

I am going to start off by saying that this week was absolutely NUTS. Please prepare yourself for the following blog post. Yesterday the other volunteers and I went on our first official ‘excursion’ of the summer. We drove our old mini bus/van to Pulhapanzak Falls at the top of the mountains. So honestly the first part of the adventure was just GETTING there. We had to stop for jumper cables, just in case, and were told that we might have to get out and push if the mini bus was to get stuck while driving through the muddy, unpaved mountain roads.

We got lost several times and asked practically every cowboy living on the mountain for directions. But finally we got to the falls and this is what I saw:

“Oh! No big deal!”, I think. I can DEFINITELY do the suggested ‘through the falls’ tour. That sounds fun!

Wrong. We pay our 200 Lempiras and are escorted down a very steep hill by a man named Carlos. After trekking down the hill, THIS is what we see:

I’m awestruck by its beauty and completely mystified. Those are no little falls…
We walk down more stairs and I’m not worried because I still expect to see some kind of footpath/railing into the falls. We come to a gate directly in the water’s spray and I feel incredibly happy. …Until Carlos opens said gate and leads us down to some rocks lined up with the falls. He leads us over the rocks and into a huge pool created by the rushing water. The ‘trek’ actually becomes partially swimming and partially climbing wet and jagged rocks into and underneath of the rushing falls.

I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ve ever done anything so crazy in my entire life. It was incredibly invigorating but also had me shaking. The trek ultimately led to the ‘cave’/crawlspace behind the falls.

The whole time I was yelling at Carlos calling him loco and trying to contain my intense fear. And of course at the end of the trek we had to jump into a whirlpool of rushing water, not being able to see the rocks below. By that point I might have been breathing irregularly, but I was not going to let the opportunity to jump pass me by! So…cannonball!

Eat. Pray. Love. A "Little Suzy Cream-cheese" Moment

Today was another breakthrough! Today fifty high-school students came to Villa to volunteer for the week and to stay in our on-site ‘hotel.’ The hotel is where I’m at during a lot of my free time since it has fans and wifi. But anywho; I will say that I was skeptical about all of them coming, but it actually opened my eyes a little. Since I am one of the only gringas here, I introduced myself to everyone and let them know that I could help with anything. We played soccer (Hondurans and myself versus them) and I saw how excited they were to be helping out for the week. I became filled with their fervor.

I guess I got a little discouraged after being sick and most of the other gringas leaving to go back home. But today the high-school kids looked up to me because I was committing myself to such an experience. They’ll leave in a week, but I will be here teaching every day for 21 days after that. How lucky am I? They also gave me a free shirt; Wohoo New Jersey!

So after reading to the kids, I went home for the night and started planning out a week’s-worth of activities for my classes. And something that I realized was that what my Honduran children want most are things that are tangible. So from now on I will be bringing as many props, worksheets, and crayons to class as possible to keep them engaged. When they were coloring, they were the happiest kids alive. Now if only I can get them to hold a card above their head with a letter from the alphabet… I’ll let you know how it goes!

Another awesome thing that happened today was that a family came into Villa wanting to talk to Kelly (an SHH employee). She called me over and said that they lived a town over and wanted to learn English. So I told them that we could meet every Tuesday and Thursday after my other classes for an hour. So I’m teaching adults now, too. And they’re bringing their friends. Who would have thought? I guess I’m going to be pretty busy down here. :)

Honduras or The Hunger Games?

So I am ending my first week in Honduras, and I can’t help but think of how unprepared I am. I packed absolutely everything I could think of; from lice-protectant shampoo to workbooks for my classes. But this experience is definitely going to test me. Don’t get me wrong; I love the family I’m living with and the kids are amazing. But I am definitely going to have to figure out a way to keep 20 kindergartners in their seats and working who are used to running around. I am also in over my head when it comes to bug bites. Did I mention the giant welts all over my legs? One of the other gringas said it looked like I had some weird disease.

Because let’s face it, I run into accidents no matter where I am. During the first week I was sick. But I think my stomach is stronger now and I’ve become better adjusted to the heat and the food. Which leads me to the book I’m reading now; The 2nd in The Hunger Games Series. In comparison, I definitely live in the “Seam” of Honduras. And it’s amazing in that the families all survive off of little and expect nothing. However, also like The Hunger Games, I ran into a snake yesterday called a ‘Corral’ snake that apparently would have killed me in an instant if I had been bitten. Honduras, meet ‘Not-so-nice Honduras.’

But above everything, I have also figured out why I am here this week. While on my first night here, my house-mate asked me if I wanted to help her read to the children at the ‘Hogar.’ These are the children that used to live at the horrendous orphanage, IHNFA. I walked over to the home with her and found 13 happy boys ranging from 6-14 wanting to read before bed. Pedro, one of the six year old twins, climbed into my lap while I read. As he was falling asleep in my lap he said that he remembered me. He said that I had helped teach him English two years ago.

Now, whether or not he was actually there while I was teaching is another debate in itself. But he literally made my heart melt. On my first night, I knew exactly why I was spending my summer in Honduras. I spend most of the day with the kids at the Hogar while I’m not teaching. We read, do math, and attempt the puzzle I brought which is apparently extremely difficult. These same kids are also in my classes….and I promise I’m trying my best not to show them favoritism. :)