uh oh gecko!

Surprise...I opened a bag of tortilla chips only to find that someone else got to them before i did.

Habitat para la Humanidad - La Ceiba, Honduras

I had one of the neatest experiences of my service this June when I worked with volunteer David Wrathall on a Habitat for Humanity project in La Ceiba. This Habitat affiliate is one of the largest and most successful in Central America, with more than 100 new houses built each year in the Department of Atlántida, on the north coast of Honduras. They receive most of their funding from the Habitat World Village program, in which groups of volunteers come to build houses, and bring donations in the form of cash and building materials. This June, La Ceiba Habitat hosted their largest group of volunteers yet, so I was asked by my project manager to assist David on the project. The work consisted of facilitating in the logistics -- housing, feeding, and transporting the volunteers around the region, teaching basic construction methods, and translating on the construction site.

There were groups from Texas and Canada working on 4 houses in 4 different communities. I worked specifically with one of the groups from Texas on the home of husband and wife, Cruz y Rosa, in the community of Bonitillo. They were currently living in a one room house, a 3-sided wooden structure enclosed on the 4th side only by a plastic tarp. When we met Cruz and Rosa, they had both quit their jobs to work on the house but still had some income from their children who lived with them. We spent a week working on the house, and during this time, the volunteers developed a nice relationship with the family and the neighborhood kids who were constantly playing around the house, observing the work of the “gringos.” I had the opportunity to talk with Cruz during the days we were working together, and shared with the volunteers all of his thoughts and feelings as he watched his home being constructed. He told me how he had dreamed of this house, and that for years, he had imagined what it would be like to sleep in a real house one day. But now that he was seeing it built, he still couldn’t believe it was really happening. At the end of the week, we took a group photo of the volunteers with Cruz, and promised that we would send him a copy. He had asked to have a photo of all the volunteers who had helped build his house as a constant reminder of how God had blessed him and his family. On that last day, as we were leaving, I told Cruz and Rosa that I would come back in a few months to check up on them, see the finished house, and bring the photo to hang on their wall. Cruz shook my hand and then quickly had to excuse himself. As he turned to go into the house, I saw the tears as he started to cry. It was the first time I had seen a Honduran man cry, and I knew then how important this work was to the people that Habitat La Ceiba serves. It’s just one example of a family who has been touched by the work of volunteers.

These were some of the beautiful children who surrounded us during the workdays...with their laughter and games.

When we weren’t working on the house, we were enjoying the natural beauty of the region – hiking and white water rafting in Pico Bonito, swimming in waterfalls, and visiting the tiny islands of the Cayos Cochinos! It was a beautiful week between the hours we sweated on the house and the relaxation we enjoyed after a long days work. Here you can see the beautiful caribbean water and the fresh lunch we enjoyed...pescado frito, casamiento, y tajaditas ricas!

Fundacion Ninos de Amor

While I was in La Ceiba, one of the volunteers from Texas, Rick, donated money for me to share with children in Honduras. So, on September 10th I went to the Casa Hogar in La Paz – Niños Del Amor (Children of Love Orphanage) to celebrate Día Del Niño with the kids. There are 22 children between the ages of 5-17 who live at the orphanage and attend school in La Paz. I made a cake, brought coke, and each child received a small gift from the funds I had been given. The mayor’s wife, my friend Amy and her daughter Jimena, and Patrick (my site mate) went with me to celebrate!

small town political activism in la paz

The taxi drivers took to the streets to protest new speed bumps that had been installed in various locations around the city. Most had been makeshift rows of dirt built by neighbors to keep speeds down where their children play, but the taxi drivers were upset and blamed their loss of profit on slower speeds. They blocked all the roads in front of the municipality and went to the mayor’s office demanding that the speed bumps be removed. Sure enough, that afternoon the speed bumps were gone...

visiting santa lucia

Any chance I get, I like to visit my first host family up in Santa Lucia, but when I heard the new baby had arrived, I had to go for a visit. I visited with Maria, my original host mom, and my favorite kids – Maynor y Naohmi. Here they are caring for their new little brother, Jeffrey!

a year in review...

Well, since I’ve been getting harassed by some of my favorite readers, I thought that it was about time to update this blog. Seeing as it has been almost 5 months I am not going to pretend to share everything that has happened in this time, but here is an overview – because you all deserve to know that I am still alive and well here in Honduras.

photo of all the volunteers in the la paz region, we received 5 new volunteers in la paz + comayagua this june.

On September 8th, I completed one year of service in La Paz, so it’s a good time for reflection as I analyze what I have accomplished during this first year and prepare myself to realize new goals for work, personal life, and my Spanish level in this second year.

I will say that this one year mark has not passed without a heightened level of stress. I’ve had some emotional ups and downs which I attribute to the Peace Corps’ defined “mid-service crisis” when a volunteer at the mid-term mark is so comfortable in their community that they become "vulnerable" causing a shift of balance in the volunteers life. So I should be on the upswing again! Also, my Aunt Barb has been ill with cancer, which in the last few weeks has spread pretty aggressively. I hadn’t realized what a stress this had been on me, but it is hard to be far away from home when family members are sick. Barb is an amazing woman – she has been a real strength in our family, so I’m praying for her that she pulls through! She has plenty of love and support from her family and friends, and since my dad’s retirement in March, he has been able to spend more time with his sister, which I know has been very important for both of them. Fortunately I have a few days available and will be visiting with her and my family this month. Under the circumstances, I am still really looking forward to this trip home – eating some good food, going shopping with mom, and visiting with Jen and her 1 yr old, Isabella.

My puppy Mia all grown up at 10 months old.

As for my health update, I’ve had a good few months, minus one horrible week in June with Dengue Fever - a tropical disease spread by a mosquito bite. Some really bizarre symptoms, too: terrible eye pain, high fever, body aches, and a not so pretty full body rash and terrible itching on hands, feet, and elbows (who comes up with this stuff?) I spent a week in bed in the dark, not able to watch TV, read, or have conversation because of the eye pain. I also had to delay my vacation back to the US until the doctors would clear me to travel. But I am up and running again…

On another note, I continue to be very successful in my work here in Honduras. In addition to completing projects in my own community, I continue to assist other volunteers around the country, I have been involved in the training of new volunteers, and have been working with the administration to update the goals of the Municipal Development project for better collaboration between Peace Corps and the communities we serve in Honduras.

Stephanie and Adrienne during a charla at the health fbt in La Paz. No we didn't plan our outfits, We're just that good!!!

As for my work…

The multi-use structure I designed in Camasca with Mike Landis was completed in May. The structure serves as a market, basketball/futbolito court, and public meeting space. I visited the project in July with my project manager and was happy to see how the built project fit onto its awkward sloping site. From a mountain top above the town, the project has changed the skyline of Camasca (though no matter how hard you squint, its still not New York). I think the most important aspect of the project is how it has changed the social life in town. It reminds me a bit of Margaret Crawford’s “Everyday Urbanism” in its flexibility of uses and in the manner that kids have found to use the space, adapting it and making it their social center.

The completed Centro Rehabilitación Integral Paceño (CRIP) was inaugurated during a ceremony in August. Some of the kids who have benefited from the center’s work participated in an exhibition of movement exercises. In the photos you can see the new ramped entry which was an integral part of the project so that the patients could enter the center of their own ability. The green spaces on either side of the building will need some time to fill in, but are cleaner now, and the removal of the Ficus Trees has stopped the damage to the surrounding sidewalks.

We also completed a Centro de Salud in Tierra Colorada, La Paz. This small 3 room structure serves rural communities in the Montecillos mountain range. In the photo are the Mayor, Project Engineer, and Regidores (town council members) in front of the completed structure.

So I reached one year successfully, marked by my second Central American Independence Day and the mayor’s 41st birthday! I celebrated the festivities with the mayor’s family, friends, other volunteers, and Roscoe the resident monkey in La Paz. We watched the parades, grilled out carne asada, and had some drinks at Amy and Jorge’s house before going out dancing. As I look back at this first year, it’s more than I ever imagined my life to be at this point in my service and I know this second year is going to go by too fast: I have wonderful friends, I can speak Spanish, I take an aerobics class every afternoon with a group of Honduran women, I have a family that cares for me when I am sick, I have continually challenging and rewarding work experiences, and I feel part of a really great community. On to the second year…stay tuned!!!

This is in Comayagua's central plaza...me with my girlfriends Amy and Gladys and their girls on the night of Dia del Nino!