Another Week On the Job

It is hard to believe we have reached the end of our last full week in Tela, and what a busy week it was. After arriving back from Copan, we jumped right back into teaching Monday afternoon. We were all glad to get back to working with the students since it had been a while since we last taught. We were at the same school for Monday afternoon, all day Tuesday, and Wednesday morning - many Honduran schools have one group of students that comes in the morning and a completely different group that comes in the afternoon, so we were fortunate enough to be able to work with both groups at this school. Also, for the first time we worked with actual parents in the community: we normally do a teacher training at each school, and the director decided to invite parents of the students along with a few teachers. Over 40 parents showed up! It was very rewarding to see adult members of the community taking the initiative to educate themselves about HIV/AIDS.

Holding class outside!

On Wednesday afternoon, we were in for quite the surprise. We have been working with a group called Projoven that is working to unite and educate the youth of Honduras. Last Wednesday we taught them our curriculum, and we were told that this Wednesday they were going to teach us about their culture. When we arrived at the designated meeting location, we discovered that we were the guests of honor at a cultural show that showcased more than ten different cultural acts from both the city of Tela as well as more distant communities. We received a beautiful certificate recognizing our program in Honduras. The show lasted for more than three hours, and we experienced traditional dance, an acrobatic display, and two impressive break dancing groups, among other acts.

Meredith receiving our certificate

On both Thursday and Friday afternoon we taught children ranging from 12-20 at a rural school. We were pleasantly surprised to find that many of the children already had some basic knowledge about HIV/AIDS, so we were able to correct a few misconceptions as well as impart more important informations. This whole week we have been privy to another Honduran cultural event: Carnival. The festivities began last Sunday and will last through tomorrow night. The entire town is bedecked with decorations and flags, including the boulevard right outside our house. We found this out in full force when a live band played on our street corner from around ten at night until four in the morning... it was difficult to sleep, to say the least. Several nights this week we tried to attend a nearby event, but we seem to have officially entered the rainy season as we have experienced torrential downpours for the past two nights. Every night, however, we have been able to hear live music from downtown while remaining cozy and dry inside our house.

Elise and our translator Monica teaching the Day 2 curriculum

Tomorrow morning we are departing at 8:00am for the rural community of El Pital. We will be doing homestays, and most of us will experience life without electricity or running water. Many of us have been looking forward to this experience from the beginning of the program, and it is hard to believe that it is already here... these past few weeks have flown by! We will enjoy one last shower tonight before squishing into our rental van in the morning. It is sure to be an adventure!


Until next time,

Anna