Three weeks in...

 

It’s our third weekend here and finally I have time to write something down.  I’d been keeping a journal for the first few months of travelling but gave up due to laziness so this will be a good way to get back to writing.  We got back a couple of Thursdays ago, showed up at the Hogar and surprised the kids, who didn’t know we were returning.  It was a pretty great homecoming- the kids were really excited, especially when we told them we were staying for a year.  “How many days is that?” Francisco asked me.  I told him to guess.  “fifty! A thousand!”  When I told him three hundred sixty five he jumped up and down.  I think he thought that was more than a thousand, just cause the word is longer.  We have some work to do on the education front.  Ron, our “Volunteer Godfather,” invited us to spend that weekend at his villa in Palma Real.  Ron has more kitchen utensils than anyone I’ve ever known.  And the bed was like a giant marshmallow.  That Saturday we went to the park with all the kids and had some treats, played soccer and swam in the river.  They brought out some cakes, one saying “Welcome Back Daniel,” the other “Welcome Back Tracy.”   

This is our second term at the Hogar.  We left in April, moved to Granada, Nicaragua.  I was teaching English and Tracy worked at a Beatles- themed bar for a bit.  But our plan the whole time was to find a way back to Honduras, to the Hogar.  To stay.  Once we worked it out, we headed to Costa Rica for a week to renew our visas, then took the two day bus trip back to the north coast.  We’re back in the volunteer house in El Cacao, about two kilometres from the Hogar.  It was a bit weird coming back to a place I thought I’d left behind.  Almost more like travelling back in time a couple months then across a couple countries.  But it definitely feels good to be back, like it’s the right place for me right now. 

We dove right into the work when we got back.  Mornings we teach at the school, me with the second graders, Tracy with first.  The school is a single room building on the property of the Hogar.  We teach grades first through sixth, including all the Hogar kids and a number from the surrounding community of Agua Caliente.  There is one hired teacher, Kenia, who handles the majority of them.  The rest of the teaching staff is made up of us volunteers, placed according to need and also individual skills, Spanish abilities, etc.  There is a curriculum, text books etc.  And also tests at the end of each bimester (every two months) so there is some pressure to get the kids ready.  In second grade, we just started times tables.  One challenge is that some students just grasp it much easier than others.  I have one who is struggling with the three table, while another is rattling off his twelves at will.  Also, with very little (none) teaching experience, I’m constantly feeling my way.  I’ve got my stern face down pretty good by now though.  Over in first grade, Tracy discovered that the kids do not know how to read.  They need to be reading fairly well by second grade, so that is a definite challenge.  Anyone with ideas or experience teaching reading to children should definitely send them along.  Same for the times tables. 

One thing we noticed when we were here the last time was that after school, there wasn’t much structure to the children’s day.  So we have started a few programs in the afternoons: Organized gym class, a homework class for those who are struggling, and a sex and social education class for the older kids.  We’re starting slow with this class, right now talking mostly about self-esteem, emotions and friends.  But there is a definite need for sex education here- it takes only a stroll through any of the small towns dotting the road, noticing the very young mothers, the single mothers, the poverty, the sheer number of KIDS to see that.  And with some of the Hogar kids reaching adolescence, they’ve got plenty of questions. 

So we’ve been busy, working most days from seven to five, usually too tired to keep our eyes open much past eight.  Too busy to pay much attention to the tense political situation in the country these days.  From what I understand, the president, Mel Zelaya, was removed from office last Sunday and flown out of the country.  The replacement president is Roberto Michelletti, the former head of Congress.  Zelaya has said he’s coming back to reclaim the presidency on Saturday (today) and Michelletti says that he could face prison if he steps foot back in Honduras.  And with both sides (pro-mel and anti-mel) very passionate, there is some noticeable tension, though mostly in the cities.  Out here in the country (about 25K from La Ceiba) we don’t see much difference other than that the public schools were closed all last week, and overall I feel pretty safe.

So we’re staying put in Cacao, doing schoolwork and eating pancakes, waiting for news (which usually comes in the form of our neighbor Reid driving by in his Jeep and yelling it out to us)  Regardless of what happens politically, of who the president is, our plan is the same: keep on trucking.

 

Dan