Last week was the official end to my bout of illness, which I was overjoyed about. The illness is in no way related to the project and is more a product of bad timing. I found out that I would need surgery for when I get home, but I am now able to work again on the project, which is a relief.
Going to the doctors in England is bad enough, with all the long worded medical terms that they use, however the doctor I saw in Honduras was very good. Initially the language barrier was a problem, with me trying to explain to the doctor what was actually wrong with me, which led to the doctor mistakenly concluding that I was 20 weeks pregnant, which I can laugh about now but I certainly wasn’t pleased at the time; however, having Louisa there, the only fluent Spanish speaking British volunteer, was a massive help, when translating the doctors thorough analysis.
I was most excited about working on the mural in El Tablon, which is one of the communities we have been working in. Our mural is on a wall outside the school, which provided entertainment for us when the children had the breaks, for they would come out and join us. We were told by the kids at the school that paint was a rarity for them, hence why they all rushed out in an attempt to help us. I befriended a little girl called Carol who quickly became my best friend- running to give me a hug every time she saw me, and exchanging snacks on our lunch break, where I was more than happy to trade my nachos and candy corn for some heart shaped lollipops.
The theme of the mural is about deforestation, which is a big problem in Honduras due to forest fires and the illegal logging of wood.
Last week, I celebrated my 22nd birthday; having a birthday tends to be one of those things which you either are excited for or dread. I was sceptical about having a birthday in a foreign country, away from what I know, and there was no way I could change the day on which I was born. Despite this, after being ill for the past few weeks, and predominantly housebound, my upcoming birthday was one of the things I was looking forward too. As the political situation in Honduras has deteriorated since we have been here, security has been tightened. On hearing this I was quite disappointed as to how my birthday would pan out. However, it turned out to be fun. The national volunteers stayed over on the Friday and Saturday, and we enjoyed the few days together, where the national volunteers cooked a birthday meal, and bought me a piñata, during the day on Saturday we went to the Hot Springs, which was a lovely end to the week.
Written by ICS volunteer Lynn Egharevba. Photos by Lynn Egharevba, Oisin Power, Francis Perdomo and Peter Kelly.
