The Latest

Everything here in Talanga is good. Its hot and its been hot but everyone tells us we will be complaining of the cold in a few months. Things have been busy as we been getting started on some projects. I've been going to our women's domestic violence support group every week, as well as to school in the mornings and to visit the internos at the Casa Pasionista, a home for people living with HIV/AIDS. Next week, I start at a second school, the kindergarten in Nuevo San Diego, where I'll be assisting the teacher, probably once a week. Tomorrow is our first day of Kids' Club, a small program we are doing with the neighborhood kids who hang out at our house. I'm not sure how many kids we'll get but the idea is to give them a couple hours of structured, educational fun every weekend. I also hope to restart the baseball team that past volunteers have coached in the next couple weeks. On Monday, I'm driving out to a clinic in Guimaca, about a half hour drive from Talanga. Past volunteers who were nurses have worked there and they have expressed an interest in having a social worker so I hope to get a good feel of what its all about and what I could do there. As a group, my roommates and I have a couple of larger projects we will be doing together throughout the year. We have gotten started on the planning stages for one of them, Comedor Infantil. Its a program that will provide lunch every day for street kids and children of single mothers. Right now, we are talking to local business people about getting involved and drafting a grant to get support from outside agencies. We hope to have the program started sometime in October but its important to build it up correctly so that it will be sustainable after our year is done. Though projects are starting to take off, as always, much of my time is spent playing soccer in the street, visiting my host family and hanging out on the neighbors' stoops.


Some things I've learned during month one in Honduras.

- Desfiles (parades) always come first.
- While driving the truck, always keep your eyes open for tumulos (speedbumps), especially when the truck bed is full of people.
- Always keep your kitchen stocked with cookies and soda, because you will have unexpected visitors and you need something to offer them.
- If you are going to drop by someone's house, be prepared to eat a full meal.
- The best way to beat the heat is in the hammock or in the river, not in front of the fan.
- Geckos and cockroaches are essentially harmless, but ants will get you.
- When in doubt, use sunscreen.
- Everyone can dance, how well is a minor detail.
- It is worth getting up early to do laundry... its cooler then and it has all day to dry.
- Certain Spanish words are more accurate than their English translation.
- Everything is easier when you tell yourself "poco a poco" (little by little).