It’s a few weeks into our ICS placement in rural San Benito and our extra-curricular clubs are in full steam. The aim of the clubs is to increase a child’s confidence and their willingness to attend school by offering dedicated mentoring in a subject they choose.
Last week we found out that we were getting a surprise visit from Spencer Milian, Official for Security and Justice, who works in the British Embassy. All of us were so excited at the news, especially at the thought of the impact this visit might have for the community. This will be the first visit during the seven months Progressio has worked in San Benito!
It’s been two weeks in Honduras now and I’d say the majority of us are over the teething stages of learning Spanish. Obviously, we still make mistakes and sound like absolute fools every day, and will do until the day we leave but I feel like the mistakes we make are as stupid as they were in the first couple of days. Here is a compilation of all the ridiculous mistakes we have made so you don’t make the same ones.
“Estoy frio”
We have just finished painting and to get an idea about life as a woman in rural Honduras I am chilling under a palm tree with Mirza, one of our national volunteers. She is my age (23-24) and she already has a girl who is six months old. It seems that Hondurans start a family at a much younger age than in the UK, it can be as low as even 20. Mirza being a mum at my age seems incredible and unthinkable for me; but I am about to soon find out, our values and dreams are not that different.
It’s nearly 5pm, and three other volunteers and I are standing in a classroom with an excited crowd of kids around us asking questions about English, scribbling the answers down in their notebooks. English Club and the school day technically finished at 4pm, but after we packed up, the children wanted to learn more from the topic of that day (professions: what do you want to be when you grow up?). As they leave they each give us big hugs with big smiles, whilst chirping “see you tomorrow!”
When I did my first ICS cycle as a volunteer, I couldn’t believe how the world could look so different than it had 10 weeks earlier. Simply the process I’d gone through, of arriving from my life in England and starting to work in a rural community in the mountains of Honduras, opened my mind greatly, as it has continued to do each time I’ve come back.
It’s been amazing to experience such a different life.
Stories I will tell to my future children and wife.
With time running out and the departure fast approaching.
What I find interesting is the style of football coaching.
An uneven ground and two rusty goals.
Made out of a few forgotten poles.
Five footballs for a group 30 strong.
When planning sessions it’s hard to go wrong.
The focus of Progressio and Glasswing’s project in San Benito is the school Arely Azucena Melara Melgar. The goal is to improve the school both physically and in terms of school attendance and the children’s enthusiasm to learn.
To celebrate International Youth Day, our team in San Benito decided to put on a recycling event for the children in our school. International Youth Day highlights the importance of youth and the essential role they have to shape the future of their communities. We wanted to mark this by holding a fun but educational event, which focused on environmental issues.
I heard of the ICS programme through a friend, who told me the experience wouldn’t end.
All my friends would fill me with fear, now five weeks in I still can’t believe I’m here.
On the plane games were played, a night in Texas, which Is where we stayed.
With the day gone and the fast approaching night, a good night sleep for the connecting flight.
