Mother´s Day and More
Trip Start
Jan 04, 2008
1
44
59
Trip End
Jul 16, 2008
Cofradia,
Honduras
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
been a very busy week. We have two new
volunteers, Jordan and Claire. Claire
has already been to the hospital once, needless to say she is not adjusting
well. We also had a French guy pop in
for a brief bit but we had to kick him out because we couldnīt stand him. Gerardoīs brother-in-law has also been
staying with us because his mother is the hospital in San Pedro Sula. Full house!
Other than
that, things have been pretty normal, just busy
Nicol (kinder) and sister Keisy (2nd)
. On Saturday we had a big Motherīs Day eventthat took a lot of preparation and planning.
Motherīs Day is a big holiday here and it is expected that the school
put on an event. We decorated the whole
school and each class had a performance to present. The 5-9 grades also formed a choir to sing
the Motherīs Day anthem. The kids all
did a really great job. My little guys
were SO shy! They got up there and
basically froze and mumbled... luckily they are cute no matter what they do. My favorite was the 4th grade who
did traditional dances with elegant costumes.
They practice a few times a week with the music teacher and they put on
quite a show. After the whole concert we
served food to the 200 people present.
What a day!
I canīt
help but make observations about the way that a culture feeds and eats. In Honduras, it is the motherīs job to watch
the weight of her family. She dishes up
each personīs plate, giving different portions to each member
Jostin and Claudia
. A cousin, Oscar, came to live with Dignaīsfamily and apparently he was pretty chubby upon arrival and she has made him
lose weight and maintain a healthy size.
It can also be a disadvantage because the some of the overweight children at our school, for instance, are still spoon fed by their motherīs, literally. The overweight children nearly, if not always, have overweight parents doing the feeding. They are also very forward about weight.
It is not uncommon to hear "Hey gordo", similar to saying, "Hey fatty". I have gained a little weight, probably less
than 10 pounds but I was a little surprised to be called "gorda", twice in one
week. In America people are not so
honest.
I will no longer be teaching 5th grade because Claire is going to teach them all day. We try to give each grade as few different teachers as possible for consistency. Now I will be doing computer class with a few of the grades. Also, we are starting a new tutoring program for the 3rd grade because they are not getting intensive English because Mirna, the Honduran owner, is teaching them due to lack of volunteers. Everyday after recess I will be pulling the same 10 kids out of class (when Mirna actually shows up to teach one) and tutor them in English. I am going to try to make it feel sort of like an English "club" and do fun activities with them instead of only textbook learning. I have the middle 10 students; Chad is tutoring the top 10 and Claire the bottom 10. Weīll see how it goes!
