Tour

Accompanying the learning tour last weekend was, as you may have guessed, quite informative. I hadn't gotten to visit partner org CASM (sitio en español) yet, so I was grateful to get to learn more about what my CCM compañeras who work there do. Thursday morning, we learned about Elieth's project. She and her coworkers offer services to internally displaced persons (especially kids and adolescents) who have moved to SPS and now live in bordos—communities close to the rivers. Because of their locations, these poorer neighborhoods are more prone to flooding.

Many of her coworkers have psychology backgrounds so can offer support to children and teens who have experienced violence, especially bullying they may face in school because of their economic status. Elieth is part of the the team that offers fun workshops to the children in which they learn games that help them process and regulate emotions, learn alternatives to violence, and develop self-protection skills.

Elieth teaches a member of the learning tour how to play one of the games

The Dado de Saber with the roulette wheel on top

I wish I had gotten a better picture of the Dado de Saber (🎲 of Knowledge), one of the teaching tools used in the games. To show us how the game works, Elieth had members of the learning tour come to the front of the room and learn the games as one of the children would. For example, they would spin the roulette or toss the dado, and based on the resulting color or number, the child would be asked a question or get to read a situation and then need to respond appropriately. For example, "How do you react if a classmate pushes you?" or "What are some of the consequences of bullying?" are some of the questions which give kids a safe-space opportunity to talk about these issues, practice their responses, and process past experiences.

 

The hanging flowers outside of the CASM conference room are beautiful! Also, here's a picture I took of the tour participants with Elieth's team.

In the afternoon, we visited ERIC in El Progreso where Sarah works. It was my second visit (we had gotten to visit in August during our in-country orientation tour of partners and I mentioned it briefly but not by name at the end of this post) but since the learning tour was focused on migration, it was interesting to hear a different presentation of theirs about the current context in Honduras which illuminates reasons why so many people are driven to migrate. One that stuck with me was that the country-wide 90% impunity rate rises to 97% when you look at crimes against environmental protection activists (one of ERIC's focuses is accompanying community groups who are protecting their lands and waters from extractivist activities).

On Saturday I got to learn about Rudi's project with CASM, which offers job training for returned migrants. Jill, the SALTer who worked in this digital media specialist position last year, wrote an article about this program which I encourage you to read.

In the welding workshop, we got to see some of the projects the students had created (some had actually already sold, and the CPCs even decided to purchase one of the grills). These skills enable graduates to work in talleres, start their own small businesses selling commissioned items like the ones you see here, or work in roofing.

There are several vocational tracks the students can choose to follow here, including welding, machining, electricity/AC repair, and cooking.

Students learn how to use lathes to fabricate items like screws and pulleys

The graduating culinary class made lunch for us!

Since I was due a comp day on Monday for accompanying the tour on Saturday, I decided to spend the night with Sarah in El Progreso on Sunday night (we'd talked on Thursday about the possibility of spending time together). She told me the bus route to get there (it's just a little bit further from SPS than Longmont is from Boulder), and I was able to catch the bus down easily on Sunday afternoon (¡y por tan sólo 30 lempiras!). We shopped for dinner ingredients, made ourselves some tacos, and did some watercolors, all the while having some great conversations.

Chia pudding, cinnamon-ginger tea, breakfast tacos, and good conversation... the best way to start a week that I can think of!

On Monday morning after a leisurely breakfast, I was able to visit ERIC again and pick up some materials that will hopefully help me write an article about their MCC-supported project. Caught the bus back up to SPS; stopped at the office to pick up my bike and—since I happened to be arriving just in time—stayed for cafecito with Jenny, Joél, and don Marcos; and then headed home for lunch... and a 6-hour nap!