Road Trip

Last Tuesday, we checked out of our SPS apartment and headed south to continue our whirlwind tour of MCC Honduras' partner organizations, our socios. We traveled to Siguatepeque, where we visited with PAG (Proyecto Aldea Global) and learned a bit more about what they do -- they have many projects, including community health, microcredit, and human rights education programs.

We stayed that evening in a retreat center on a hill overlooking the city. It is so much cooler up at elevation (the city sits at 1100m/3600ft above sea level), and walking outside in the morning reminded me of my family's stay up at the cabin above RMMC last summer.

Ahh, the smell of the pines in the crisp morning air...

We continued south and made it to the capital city of Tegucigalpa yet that morning. Got some baleadas for lunch (I'll have to do a post just about comida catracha) then visited AFE, the school where Kara will be teaching English. The coordinator at the school, Chris, has a fascinating backstory--she's the reason the school exists! As a young child, she happened to accompany her dad on a trip to the basurero where she saw children her age working to make a living by finding items that could be sold or recycled. She was shocked, and insisted they return and see what they could do to help. Through her persistence, her parents began teaching classes in the dump, and eventually, that effort evolved into the school AFE is today, offering primary and secondary school as well as adult education.

A few of AFE's buildings

The basurero is actually hidden behind that tree

We then got to meet Kara's host mom (who makes amazing iced fruit juice, with which she welcomed us all into her living room!) and see where she'll be living for these next months. She's got a pretty sweet commute--only about 5 minutes by rapidito!

On Thursday, we visited the MIN (Museo para la Identidad Nacional) before having lunch at Casa Quinchon, which I can only describe as a cross between Avanti F&B and a coworking space. In the afternoon, we visited ASJ, where Keyla will be working. This association works in the justice system, which too often favors the powerful, and uses the system to get justice for those who usually don't. For example, a family who has lost a loved one to a homicide is usually afraid to come forward and identify themselves in order to testify. ASJ provides a lawyer, a psychologist, and an investigator to help the individuals feel safe providing testimony, and also has a system of identity protection for the witnesses. Cases accompanied in this way are 2x more likely to result in a sentence.

That evening, we got to meet Keyla's host parents and three host siblings. The older two were already asking questions and getting to know her, and the youngest was excited to play and have a new sister (a SALTer stayed with them during the 18-19 term). I had fun drawing with her, too.

Lovely view they've got from their roof

Friday, we headed down to the southernmost department in Honduras, Choluteca. In the afternoon, we hiked with members of partner CODESO's team up to one of the water storage locations; this one provides drinking water and irrigation to about 300 people in the community. They also showed us the results of their reforestation efforts after Hurricane Mitch (13,000 trees!).

Pila de agua with filter

Joel, Carlos, Adolfo, Elmer, Pedro, Lars, Kara, and Keyla at the dam

The next morning, we met campesino-run community savings group and hiked up to one of the parcels they cultivate. I don't want to say too much here, since I'll probably do a story about this visit soon and I want y'all to read my journalism pieces. But here's a picture of the parcel, where you can see their two harvests per year: one ready for reaping soon, the other just planted.

Maiz and maicillo grow side by side as drought insurance

That afternoon, we drove back up through the rain to Tegucigalpa. We were glad to think of the crops getting watered!

Then, Sunday morning--early--Lars took Kara and me to the bus station and we started our journey to Copán... a 9 hour journey including a 1 hour layover in SPS. We were greeted in Copán by Dunia, one of our language teachers, who delivered us to our host families. I was happy to unpack and think about not moving my stuff around for the next two weeks!