Due to not having internet access for the past few days, all our devoted fans (our parents) will receive two blog posts in one day. If you have a passion for watching international weather news, you may know that the quantity of rain Honduras has received in the past week has caused massive flooding in many parts of the country. Fortunately for us, Siguatepeque has not been subject to this flooding. However, since we work for Aldea Global, we have been able to help in some of the relief work to communities that are suffering from flooding.
Yesterday, when we got to work, we attended a planning meeting right away because Aldea Global had received a request for help. As we made a list of all the things we could provide this community, Dan (with his background in Natural Hazard Mitigation) suggested that water would be of the utmost importance for this community. We next started brainstorming about where we could get filtered water for free. We remembered that CEASO, an integrated farm we visited during training, has a large tank of filtered water (runoff from their roof that passes through a carbon filter into a 2,800 gallon tank) that we would be welcome to use. So, Aldea Global rounded up every empty receptacle that could be used to carry water and off we went to CEASO. Because the truck was needed for something else, Dan and I got dropped off with all the empty bottles (each ranging from 2.5-5 gallon capacity). As it started raining again, we came up with a system to fill and transport the bottles to where they could be loaded back into a truck. When it was all said and done, we contributed over 100 gallons of water through collaboration with this other organization.
While we were filling up water bottles, other members of the Aldea Global team were buying more water, gathering up medical supplies, and generally getting everything organized for us to head out. We then traveled to a large warehouse where blankets, canned turkey, anti-bacterial soap, and all sorts of other emergency supplies are housed. Everyone formed a human chain as we passed boxes into a large truck for delivery. Once we were all completely drenched with sweat, and the truck was full, we headed to the small aldea (village) that had requested our help. At first when we got there, the situation did not appear as bad as we had expected, but once the trucks were all parked, we got out and walked around the corner. Fortunately, we were wearing our rubber boots, because we were soon standing in over a foot of water and by the water-marks on the houses, we could see that the water had been waist-high.
We handed out water to the families in this small community while other members of Aldea Global unloaded other supplies from the large truck. When the day was over, our arms and backs were a bit tired from our day of carrying water jugs, boxes, and bags filled with blankets. However, we were glad to contribute in our small way to those affected by the storm.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Cheerful in our tropical depression
Our reactions were mixed when we learned early last week that we were in the midst of a tropical depression. At first we just resigned ourselves to being drenched for an indeterminate amount of time from the persistent rains. Then, during one of the many afternoons we spent holed up inside Emily suggested that “tropical depression” need not only be a weather phenomenon that limited our mobility. Why, it could be the name of our very own tasty tropical beverage – meet the tropical depression! We`ll let you know how it tastes when it debuts. For now, we´re just stuck inside dreaming of tropical depressions, the tasty variety that is.
In all fairness, “stuck inside” isn´t an entirely fair characterization of what we´re up to these days. We`re still traveling and attending meetings with our counterparts, albeit on a limited basis due to the many floods plaguing the country. Emily is currently engaged in a few health initiatives ranging from HIV/AIDS support to self esteem development, and I´m principally a laborer, helping transport a few thousand trees a few times a week to support a reforestation initiative in our park. There´s nothing like carrying plants and pushing a wheelbarrow for hours on end to remind me I´m in good, but not great shape. Ultimately, as is the experience of most volunteers early in their service, we´re busiest getting acquainted with our community, the language, and what we may be doing in the future rather than actually “working” much in any traditional sense, although I think we´re contributing a bit. Let that be the context for this anecdote. A successful day may look something like this: a fellow volunteer who is helping form a cooperative of female hammock makers sent us an email with an enticing offer to have a hammock made in the colors of our alma mater (go Ducks!) for an affordable price, and in time for the holidays at that. Finding a hammock is, in and of itself, enough to polish the day.
We´re still living with our host family and enjoying their company. Game nights are especially fun as we get to watch the Honduras national team (La Selección) play against other teams for a spot in the world cup. Our mom is a consummate good hostess and makes sure we have soda and popcorn for each game – tasty! As is the case with many sporting events the world over, it´s encouraging to watch the entire country unite behind the national team, in spite of the many conflicts that may be barriers to communication on other days. More than a few times we´ve heard that wearing the jersey of La Selección on game day is virtually a free pass to travel anywhere in the country without incident, including areas that are traditionally dangerous even for Hondurans. Of course we´d not be interested to test this theory, but the unifying element of fútbol here in Honduras cannot be easily overstated.
As a fun way to wrap this up we´ll share a few recent experiences that have already become normal to us, but that would have been anything but when we first arrived to Honduras a few months ago. Two weeks ago we were sitting in some makeshift bleachers at the local cancha de fútbol when a horse entered the field from an adjacent dirt road, crossed the field at full gallop (we clearly heard the pounding of its hooves from 100 meters away), jumped a ditch, and continued down a road on the other side of the field, still at full gallop. Oh well, we thought, these things happen. Just the other morning when we were on our way to work in our botas de goma (knee high gum/rain boots), sombreros, and raincoats – our normal garb these days – Emily interrupted me in mid story to point out a potential perro bravo that was suspiciously eying all passersby. ¿What did we do, you ask? Well, of course we walked through the foot deep puddles in the ditch on the other side of the road to evade a sticky situation. If it comes down to it I´ve discovered I myself have a pretty intimidating bark, and we´re both capable of tossing a few rocks, although we`re definitely honing our sixth sense for problematic dogs to avoid having to exercise our own animal instincts. Last but not least, we´ve discovered that cold showers are downright intimidating when the weather´s rainy and chilly, but one must bathe. While we grow braver with each shower, I think we´ll always have a soft spot for hot water heaters and that precious commodity they produce! If you have hot water, enjoy a nice shower for us, would ya =)
As always, we hope you´re doing well. Please drop us a line when you get the chance.
-Em and Dan
In all fairness, “stuck inside” isn´t an entirely fair characterization of what we´re up to these days. We`re still traveling and attending meetings with our counterparts, albeit on a limited basis due to the many floods plaguing the country. Emily is currently engaged in a few health initiatives ranging from HIV/AIDS support to self esteem development, and I´m principally a laborer, helping transport a few thousand trees a few times a week to support a reforestation initiative in our park. There´s nothing like carrying plants and pushing a wheelbarrow for hours on end to remind me I´m in good, but not great shape. Ultimately, as is the experience of most volunteers early in their service, we´re busiest getting acquainted with our community, the language, and what we may be doing in the future rather than actually “working” much in any traditional sense, although I think we´re contributing a bit. Let that be the context for this anecdote. A successful day may look something like this: a fellow volunteer who is helping form a cooperative of female hammock makers sent us an email with an enticing offer to have a hammock made in the colors of our alma mater (go Ducks!) for an affordable price, and in time for the holidays at that. Finding a hammock is, in and of itself, enough to polish the day.
We´re still living with our host family and enjoying their company. Game nights are especially fun as we get to watch the Honduras national team (La Selección) play against other teams for a spot in the world cup. Our mom is a consummate good hostess and makes sure we have soda and popcorn for each game – tasty! As is the case with many sporting events the world over, it´s encouraging to watch the entire country unite behind the national team, in spite of the many conflicts that may be barriers to communication on other days. More than a few times we´ve heard that wearing the jersey of La Selección on game day is virtually a free pass to travel anywhere in the country without incident, including areas that are traditionally dangerous even for Hondurans. Of course we´d not be interested to test this theory, but the unifying element of fútbol here in Honduras cannot be easily overstated.
As a fun way to wrap this up we´ll share a few recent experiences that have already become normal to us, but that would have been anything but when we first arrived to Honduras a few months ago. Two weeks ago we were sitting in some makeshift bleachers at the local cancha de fútbol when a horse entered the field from an adjacent dirt road, crossed the field at full gallop (we clearly heard the pounding of its hooves from 100 meters away), jumped a ditch, and continued down a road on the other side of the field, still at full gallop. Oh well, we thought, these things happen. Just the other morning when we were on our way to work in our botas de goma (knee high gum/rain boots), sombreros, and raincoats – our normal garb these days – Emily interrupted me in mid story to point out a potential perro bravo that was suspiciously eying all passersby. ¿What did we do, you ask? Well, of course we walked through the foot deep puddles in the ditch on the other side of the road to evade a sticky situation. If it comes down to it I´ve discovered I myself have a pretty intimidating bark, and we´re both capable of tossing a few rocks, although we`re definitely honing our sixth sense for problematic dogs to avoid having to exercise our own animal instincts. Last but not least, we´ve discovered that cold showers are downright intimidating when the weather´s rainy and chilly, but one must bathe. While we grow braver with each shower, I think we´ll always have a soft spot for hot water heaters and that precious commodity they produce! If you have hot water, enjoy a nice shower for us, would ya =)
As always, we hope you´re doing well. Please drop us a line when you get the chance.
-Em and Dan
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Hair of the Dog that Bit Me
Well, we’re doing well as we near the end of our first week in Siguatepeque, which will be our home away from home for these next two years. Considering we´ve only been here for a week, we´ve already had a number of new experiences, ranging from the challening to the exciting. ¡Welcome to our life as Peace Corps Volunteers in this little nook of Honduras!
First things first. We are indeed volunteers! After wearing the name of aspirante (trainee or aspirant) for nearly three months, last Friday we attended our swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Embassy and then enjoyed an afternoon of swimming and exploring the grounds at the ambassador´s residence, although as circumstance would have it he was in the States at the time. The ambassador´s grounds have a number of toronja (grapefruit) trees, so we relished the opportunity to gorge ourselves on that sweet vitamin C.
Here are some pictures from our swearing-in:
Michael (a Youth Development volunteer) and us
First things first. We are indeed volunteers! After wearing the name of aspirante (trainee or aspirant) for nearly three months, last Friday we attended our swearing in ceremony at the U.S. Embassy and then enjoyed an afternoon of swimming and exploring the grounds at the ambassador´s residence, although as circumstance would have it he was in the States at the time. The ambassador´s grounds have a number of toronja (grapefruit) trees, so we relished the opportunity to gorge ourselves on that sweet vitamin C.
Here are some pictures from our swearing-in:
Michael (a Youth Development volunteer) and usThe Muni-D girls with our new Peace Corps shirts
Municipal Development:
Top row: Mark, Natan, Ryan, Dan, Kristin, Jessica D., Chad
Middle row: Erik, Alejandrina (the boss), Emily, Brenna, Jorge (our training director)
Bottom row: Emilie, Jessica G., Casey, Ana, Ellie
With our new Peace Corps shirts
Upon our arrival to Siguatepeque Saturday afternoon, we entered the gate of our host family´s home (per Peace Corps policy, we´ll be living with a host family for our first two months at site to acostumbrarnos – acclimate ourselves – to this new location), which seemed a sensible thing to do since we were in fact at our new residence and were tired after a few hours of continuous travel. I wasn´t able to enter the gate as quickly as Emily because the bags I was carrying were stuck together. As a result, she entered first and bore the wrath of our host family´s perra brava (vicious female dog) when she broke her chain and gave Emily a nasty bite in the calf. I don´t think we´ll soon forget that first half hour of being at our host family´s house, which included the dog biting Emily and soon being restrained by our host mom (first minute), digging out our Peace Corps issued medkit to grab bandages and stem the bleeding (first five minutes), calling the Peace Corps doctors for instructions (first ten minutes), scrubbing the wound in the shower to disinfect it (minutes ten to twenty five), and catching a cab to the hospital (at the half hour mark). Being the stalwart and strong gal she is, after arriving at the hospital she bore with good humor a second scrub of the wound, several injections directly into the wound, and two stitches. For my part, I gave her a hand massage as they delivered her injections and put the stitches in. Needless to say, it was the least I could do.
Although my harrowing tale is not nearly as harrowing as hers, my weekend didn´t pass without incident either. Here in the altiplano, which signifies high plain, (we´re at about 3,000 feet) thunderstorms arrive quickly and are quite fierce, not unlike what many of you are accustomed to in the States. Well, as I made my way home from buying groceries for the first time, I found myself huddled under the eaves of a pulpería (hole in the wall convenience store, of which there are many in just about every community) as the street was transformed into a river (sound familiar from a previous blog entry?) and as ambulances and police trucks raced by periodically, undoubtedly tending to mishaps caused by the storm. As I tried to count the gaps between thunder and lightning to judge when it was safe to dash home, it was no small challenge to distinguish between flashes of lightning and flashes from the passing emergency vehicles. Although soaked to the bone, I made it home without incident, just in time to begin our first work week with my now somewhat-hobbled wife.
The week´s highlights were many, despite a rough start. First and foremost, our host family is very kind. Our host mother, who is very good natured, had the perra brava sent to another home and served us our meals in our room for almost two solid days so that Emily could keep her leg elevated. Our host siblings are also very nice, and we have a chihuahua named Terry (the origin is terrible) who we already like a great deal. Regarding our work, in addition to reading manuals (me) and attending meetings (Emily), we´ve already traveled to some of the aldeas (small communities) where we´ll be working, all of which have their own personality and rather rustic beauty. Meeting the people of the communities is of course the greatest joy. Each time we see the wizened grins of the elderly and the timid but brilliant smiles of the kids as they peak over window ledges and through door frames, we´re impressed by the kindness and humility of our new neighbors.
One trip that will be particularly memorable was a trip we completed yesterday, under the guidance of my counterpart. We visited a community that exists deep in the national park our organization oversees where we met with a family to discuss the sustainable and responsible development of resources in the very fragile and precious section of the park where they live (because they lived there long before the territory was declared as a park, they´re entitled to stay and to some degree make use of the land). Although Emily and I are more or less along for the ride at this early stage in our service, we learned a great deal and have fond memories of meeting the family and being guests on their land. The trip to their home was, in itself, a memorable experience as we had to first summit a series of deeply riveted and rocky mountain roads in our 4x4 pickup (as volunteers we´re prohibited from driving except for in very rare circumstances, so my counterpart does the driving) before parking at the base of a mountain and starting what would become a 3 hour round trip hike. During the trip we saw a few exotic butterflies the size of my hand, one of which was cobalt blue. We also ate bananas we found in the jungle, and drank from mountain streams (yes, the very same streams we´re trying to protect). The forests in the park are naturally stratified very distinctly according to elevation, so at one point we found ourselves, in the span of 2 minutes, transitioning from highland pine forest to bonafide jungle.
Here´s a picture of Lago Yajoa, which is near Siguat, that we were able to take while on one of our "business trips."
Last but not least, we may have found a home after a good bit of questioning pulpería owners and tracking down the homes, often with the help of a willing neighbor. Details will be forthcoming if we actually get the house (we will start renting the 1st of December, si dios quiere). In the meantime, wish us luck!
I think that´s about it for now. We´ll look forward to giving our next update as the month of October moves along. We hope you´re doing well, and please keep the emails coming!
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