Since being in Honduras, I've had the privilege of learning so much from a culture more beautiful than I could describe. Based in a small village within Yamaranguila, we are a mixture of UK and Honduran volunteers all with different but equally valuable skill sets, collectively working together for change. With such common goals to us UK volunteers, the youth of Yamaranguila are and continue to be inspiring colleagues to work with.
Over the past three weeks, our work in Yamaranguila has focused on improving the local community centre and planning and delivering three workshops on entrepreneurial skills to the young people of the community.
Es increíble cómo pasa el tiempo tan rápido en este hermoso lugar. Hemos tenido mucho trabajo operativo como de planificación, el proyecto marcha muy bien. Pero en esta ocasión quiero escribirles y compartirles acerca de nuestros voluntarios británicos y como ha sido su trabajo en la integración del equipo, la comunidad y con el proyecto, desde la perspectiva catracha.
This week we again went out for a walk around the local communities but this time we were completing surveys to find out the reach of the library we are renovating and how much interest there is surrounding it. This in itself was rewarding. Many of us UK volunteers are now at a point where we are happy to ask questions in Spanish and are able to write down the answers of what the locals say, proving how quickly you can pick up a language and begin to understand it in such a short space of time!
This week in La Esperanza we’ve been renovating the library and workshop room, the amount of work we have needed to do is testament to how badly the centre needs us, and needs our work.
Nuestra Experiencia
Nuestra aventura empieza con la estadía en Santa Lucia, lugar en el que damos inicio al proceso de conocimiento del Proyecto 'LENCAS EN ACCIÓN', que tiene como objetivo empoderar a las mujeres Lencas de la comunidad de La Esperanza, Intibucá, para fortalecer sus habilidades de emprendedurismo y además apoyar en la capacitación de jóvenes para que desarrollen habilidades mediante procesos formación que servirán para sus vidas y el trabajo.
Our preconceptions of Honduras were tainted by what we hear in the news and in documentaries. It is renowned for its gang wars, political strife, and poverty, and flying into Tegucigalpa only confirmed what we had first thought. However, what had not crossed our minds was how beautiful the country could be; the striking green mountains mixed with the pure white clouds and blue skies.
On our way to the first location for training, Santa Lucia, we were struck by the poverty of the country: tiny houses, tinned roofs, and roaming hungry dogs.
In your final year at university you can be forgiven for thinking that if you don’t want to apply for a graduate scheme at a huge accounting company, law firm or insurance company then there’s not much else for you. Such is the ubiquity of recruitment fairs put on by these organisations and the constant reminders by staff and university-generated emails that you should be applying for graduate schemes well before you graduate, it can all be a bit depressing if that’s not really what you want to do.
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.
Although most of us accept the idea of climate change, it still seems to be a somewhat abstract concept in people's minds, particularly in the western world. We often associate it with an indefinite future of melting glaciers, dramatically rising sea levels and an atmosphere filled with dark smog; these apocalyptic images seem so distant from our current reality that it's easy to continue with our everyday lives, seemingly unaffected by global temperature changes.
