Not Going to the Fair

It’s become some sort of a tradition that really has nothing to do with our work. I mean, how educational is a trip to the Fair? What fun is it to see drunken guys slouched over tables, their pants wet with pee? The apathy on the faces of the people in charge of the games and rides? The complete lack of emotion when they hand you your plastic cheaper-than-cheap prize you won shooting blanks? The stink of stale beer, urine, unwashed bodies and cotton candy? Still, there is an undeniable appeal to it that makes me go year after year. Not that I’ll ever get into any of those scary rides without safety precautions. Not even the mini Ferris Wheel, despite my awe for the monstrous arms of the guy who turns the wheel manually! The colours (Pink! Orange! Yellow! Turquoise!) are just amazing and the not-so anatomically-correct “hot ladies” painted on the signs to attract the audience are almost too beautiful to be true… I LOVE the Fair that visits Copán every year. And in order not to make a fool of myself wandering around with my mouth half open in blissful wonder, I always bring along a bunch of kids. I invite them as “part of the scholarship” they receive from us, just to justify the whole thing. And truth is, the Fair is even better if you take some rascals who thoroughly enjoy risking a whiplash in the bumper cars, overdosing themselves on artificial colorants or getting dizzy and even a little scared on the Ferris Wheel.
But this year we never went. Josué, a kid with the greatest smile and cutest dimples in his cheeks who comes by our office everyday just to say hello, has been one of the lucky few always invited to the Fair. It was him who asked me weeks ago if were going again this year. "We’ll see,” I said. But then we were busy painting out of town, we took a day off, we’re doing tons of other stuff and before I knew it, the Fair was over and the grounds were abandoned but for layers of litter.
On Monday morning, after the festival of Copán was over for the year, Josué came by and hung around my desk, not looking as radiant as usual. It was only when I saw him that I realized we had missed our yearly excursion.
“We never went to the Fair, did we?” I said.
Josué was very quiet. After a while he asked:
“So you didn’t go to the Fair either?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Oh.” Josué was deadly quiet for a while. Then he said with a trembling lip. “I thought you went without us…”
Oh my God, what had I done!
“Of course not,” I assured him and it wasn’t until I solemnly swore, my right hand raised, the other one over my heart, that I would never EVER go to the Fair without inviting Josué, that the smile reappeared back on his face.
Oof…
So next year you’ll see me at the Fair again…
Carin Steen
Foto: Fair 2009, Josué in the middle

Painting in El Triunfo Part II

Yet again we were ready for a long, hot and dusty day. But the weather decided otherwise and the 1,5 hour trip to El Triunfo was wet and cold. Chilled to the bone we arrived in El Triunfo where we drove out the cold by hard physical labour. We put new screens in the windows, a new door for the latrine and a faucet inside the classroom. The furniture needed a second layer of paint and both inside and outside walls needed to be finished. But we were not alone. Although Marlen called in sick, we had the help of the teachers Alba and Maritza, and the adorable eight year old Alexander (“Chandi”). Soon we had an audience and even more help, because a bunch of girls also wanted to paint. Maritza brought us a pot of hot coffee, a neighbour pitched in with steaming elotes (corn on the cob) and Santiago, a curious kid on a bicycle, bought us cookies form the pulpería. It was hard work none the less and we didn’t finish until 5.30pm. But the job was done. The tiny school looked great with us looking as colourful as the building itself. Although we all dreamed of soaking in hot water, we skipped our plan to stop at the hot springs because it was late as it was. For now, mission accomplished…

But more work still needs to be done. We still have a few games in the making as well as a small library. There was no time to paint any murals (numbers, letters, shapes and such) on the inside walls, so I’ll do that next time I’ll be in the neighbourhood. We also plan to organize a few training sessions for Maritza and Alba as well as two young teachers from La Pintada. Hopefully I can convince them that kindergarten is all about playing, not about copying the alphabet. Still, whatever the children learn is better than nothing and I have great respect for Maritza and her friend Alba who are actually working as volunteers this year. Previously, Maritza earned a small stipend from the Municipality of Copán Ruinas (about $ 100 a month). Thing is, Maritza is a Liberal in heart and soul, and the new local government isn’t. So no more support for Maritza’s projects. That’s how things are done in Honduras. All the more reason to keep supporting this amazing woman.
Carin Steen

Painting in El Triunfo: Photos

Our helper Chandi

Marlen holding the baby girl

Estela and her family, at home (hold on to those boobies!)

Londin eating chicken soup at Maritza's.

Marlen and Kike cleaning brushes

Lourdes Estela, the baby for the first time in her father's hands.

Painting in El Triunfo Part I

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, I met an amazing woman who changed her world and who keeps working her magic, even though she looks far from a fairy. Well, a godmother fairy maybe. I’m talking about Maritza Dubon from the tiny village of El Triunfo. One of the few things worthwhile mentioning about El Triunfo is that it is located almost two hours from Copán over dusty roads, just before the bigger community of Nueva Armenia. The road to Nueva Armenia cuts right through the village and thus it sees quite a bit of traffic (at least ten cars a day). Besides that, El Triunfo is more about what isn’t there. Or it used to be, because thanks to Maritza’s tireless efforts, a lot of help has found its way to the village. For starters, the children don’t have to walk to Nueva Armenia anymore to go to school. Years ago Maritza started her own school and soon the students didn’t fit in the one-room building anymore. She then somehow got the municipality to build her another, bigger building and the former school was turned into a kindergarten. Maritza herself taught grade 1-6 while her oldest daughter Lourdes Estela took care of the fifty-odd kinder-kids. Since I met Maritza I’ve been trying to help her here and there and the bond I feel with this community only became stronger when the kindergarten was named after me. (A great honour, yes. Also a great responsibility…)
Last year we helped the kinder with supplies and games and we also went to El Triunfo one day in January to paint the school of bare cinder blocks. We didn’t have any money designated for this, so we used whatever we had and the results was bright and colourful. An improvement, but I was very aware about things that still needed to be done and that even painting was a job half done with leftovers of water based paint. So I promised Maritza I’d try to look for funds and I was very happy to tell her that I indeed had gotten 850 euros from the Dutch foundation Join!forkids to fix up the school and make durable toys and educational material. So for the last few weeks the whole Arte Acción Copán Ruinas team has been working on making all sorts of games and toys. Elsa made a fabric busy-board with buttons, zippers and clips for the tiny ones to develop their motor skills. Marlen made a huge tick-tack-toe board with round and flower-shaped pillows. Kike and Londin made some shelves that I transformed with some paint into an interactive game. A memory game, cans to run on, more shelves… What a great job we have to be able to do this for a living! We haven’t finished inventing yet, but we found a rare gap in our busy schedules to be able to all go to El Triunfo again, to paint the school, but this time for real. We were all set, the car/driver/handyman hired, the only problem was that I hadn’t been able to confirm our visit with Maritza, because cell phone communication is spotty since she lives in a place high up in the mountains with no way to charge a battery. So it wasn’t until last Sunday that I finally got a hold of her and strangely enough she asked me if I couldn’t come another day. Why? Oh, because she was about to leave to El Jaral, to the maternity clinic there.
“Oh, I didn’t know you were pregnant again,” I said, realizing that Maritza always looks likes she’s in her fifth month or so.
“No, it isn’t me. It’s Estelita. I’m gonna be a grandmother!”
Oh. I quickly remembered to congratulate her on this fact while my brain did the math: Estela can’t be much older than fifteen. In fact, she is fifteen. Damn.
Anyway, I assured her we wouldn’t cause any trouble, that she only had to tell someone to open the school for us and that would be it. Of course I ended up buying a big basket with baby stuff and in the end we gave the brand new mom, the two grandmothers and the so far nameless baby girl a ride home. Three generations filled the cabin (Estela with cotton in her ears against the “evil air”). The other grandma, us and the painting supplies in the back of the pick-up. The father of the baby (there actually is a father of the baby) had already gone home from the clinic, because he couldn’t stand standing up any longer (???? I’ve seen women sitting /laying/ stretched out /slouched on any possible surface there for days!). Anyway, it was quite special to be there to take pictures of the father laying eyes on his daughter for the first time and of the baby’s arrival home (and the young mom holding her boobies that now seem to have a life of their own).
Then, after delivering the baby and such, we finally started to paint. We laughed, we worked, we got sunburned, but by the end of the day the furniture and outer walls looked quite nice. And that was just day 1.
To be continued….
Carin Steen

Funny, tough and meaningful...

Oops! It has been a while since the last post and that while I'm almost on my way to Canada again to help prepare a new bunch of Huron students for their trip to Honduras in May. But before that, here some of the funniest, toughest and most meaninful experiences of last year's group...

Carin

Funniest…

It’s tough to pick one moment. I would say just every day trying to get the kids at one particular table in the younger class to listen. They were so high energy but at the end of the day very entertaining. Bernice

I'm going to have to go with Krystle on this and say the times that we were in our room in the dark trying to entertain ourselves! Especially trying to speak in accent. Hahaha... it makes me laugh just thinking about it. Kayleen

Oh dear, where do I start!? Either throwing bugs on Jenn (sorry, Jenn) or incessantly chasing boys at the school with absolutely no success and constantly tripping over myself while they flawlessly scamper across the mountain. Lindsay

Although not funny when it happened, looking back I guess it makes a funny story...getting trapped in the house due to the fish line across the street, resulting in both Kayleen and I sitting in the dark trying to entertain ourselves...power was out. Krystle

Breaking into my homestay with Kara after getting locked out (this involved trying to get our keys to work for a good 20 mins, yelling pitifully for Gilma our host mom to come and help us, hanging off the garage wall for about 10 mins while contemplating climbing down the face of the door, and finally deciding to jump into the back of their pick up truck from the garage wall, all while a Honduran man watched and wondered what in the world us crazy gringas were doing. After which my host mom ran out from her bedroom screaming que paso! que paso! and told us we had to much beer to drink that night and were a little crazy as a result, that there was no reason why our keys would not have worked. ) Allison H.

Going into the tourist "market" and attempting to pay 3L for something that cost 50L. Needless to say the store clerk was not very impressed. Julie

Following Tony the one-eyed man around Copan to change traveler’s cheques with Lindsay (after we convinced him that changing them with his friend on the street was not going to fly). We finally found a shady little hole-in-the-wall, quite literally because it had only one bare bulb, where an elderly man was willing to rip Lindsay off. Danielle

Funny moments, oh, there were lots of them! I thought it was pretty funny when I joined the students on their first trip to Barbasco and while returning in the back of the pick-up truck, the kids from the neighbouring village of San Rafael (who receive English classes) were yelling at us. One of the students asked me what they were yelling. It was “bye-bye!” In ENGLISH!!!! Other funny moments: one student after the other losing her flip-flop or sandal in a tropical downpour that turns the streets into rivers. And don’t ever be late, because Londin will come and get you to drag your butt all the wat to Guatemala and back! Carin

Most meaningful…

Having the opportunity to go on the community walk with the kids and them trusting us enough to let us into their homes. Bernice

Seeing the change that the kids had from when we first arrived to when we left and also the change that that the community had. In the beginning there was a lot of shyness and curiousity, but when we left the kids were always happy and smiling and the community would come around and watch us during certain activities, even kids who were not in school started joining in the activities, I loved that!! :) Seeing their faces light up when we arrived each day... And swimming in the river with the kids, I loved that too, showing them that we could have fun just like them. Kayleen

Other than every moment I had with the kids in the schools, it would have to be when the boy in my host family (who is typically extremely shy) called me over one day all excited, only to sit with me and show me his family photo album! Lindsay

Seeing the excitement in the kids when we got there to set up for the movie night. Krystle

Seeing the smiles on the kids faces everyday, seeing them enjoying the activities, seeing the progression that took place over the course of three weeks in terms of our relationships with them and the way the kids acted around us, hearing the kids say when we left for the last time that if we ever did something like this again to come back to their community, and hearing from Wendy how much Gary (the teacher) appreciated us being there and thought that we had done something really special for the kids and he noticed a difference. Also I think I will always remember the kids from Santa Cruz running towards the truck and yelling excitedly at our arrival and in anticipation of watching a movie in and with their community. Allison H.

Seeing the results after each of our activities and seeing how the children progressed throughout our short time with them. Julie

Melvin's smile while being swung in a circle. He may not have always understood what was going on and he may have drooled all over himself and he may want to be a woman when he grows up, but his smiles will stick with me forever. Or Marco wanting to be an artist when he grows up (and knowing that he has a chance to work with Arte Acción through the new training program). Go Marco! Danielle

The one-on-one attention the students were able to give the kids that they otherwise never have, the fact that they really established relationships with the children, the fact that they were able to communicate despite not-perfect Spanish, the interaction with our instructors, just to name a few thinks! I also think the final evaluation we did was important, helpful and meaningful. Carin

Toughest…

Definitely leaving the kids was the toughest moment. It was so hard to leave Copán as well. Bernice

On the last day having to leave the children and the community. Seeing them for the last time and not knowing if I would see them again. And, like Allison, hearing what Gary had to say about us after we had left our last day. Kayleen

Saying goodbye...hardest thing I've ever had to do. Both to my host family and the kids in Barbasco. Lindsay

Saying goodbye is always hard. Krystle

Adjusting to the language the first week. Julie

Leaving on the last day and knowing that it is very likely, albeit not certain, that we may not see these kids again, that our experience, however great it was, had to come to an end. Allison H.

The evangelical church service. We were all insulted when they started translating just in time for the offering and then the message about women’s' place was too much. You all know that I'm a Christian, but I couldn't take that either. Danielle

Having fourteen volunteers and an anniversary event at the same time was a tough cookie! But then again, we couldn’t have organized the event without them… But I wish I’d had more “personal time” to spend with the students. Yes, I think for me the toughest was to have so many people to attend to, so many questions to answer, but at the same time, that’s part of the fun! Carin

Our Canadian volunteers have arrived! Fourteen students from Huron University College and their professor, Wendy Russell, are now in Copán to work during three weeks at local schools. Although the trip was almost postponed (yes, swine flu issues…) the group made it to Copán and was welcomed by the first tropical downpour of the year (a month too early, but there wasn’t much we could do about that). So within hours the students saw the streets turn into rivers, eat there first dinner of beans, rice and tortillas and experienced no less that twice the power went out. Welcome!

London Ontario vs. Copán Ruinas

After 20 hours of taxi-bus-plane-plane-bus-taxi, going from -16 degrees Celsius to +16 degrees, I'm back home in Copán Ruinas from my third trip to London, Ontario. (And let me explain that +16 degrees feels awfully cold without a heater, long johns or a down parka!)

Yet again I had the chance to help prepare a group of students for their trip to Honduras this May and hanging around at Huron University College, its Rubinoff Boardroom and its food court felt wonderfully comfortable. I had some good sessions with the 14 students, all girls this time and I think I helped them visualize a bit what they can expect once working at the schools in Copan (mostly that they can expect just ANYTHING!). They seemed enthused and interested and I'm sure we'll all have a great time once here! It was also great to see some students from previous years, many of whom I'm still in touch with.

And how strange but wonderful to go from the underdeveloped tropics to the overdeveloped cold! All these cultural differences, some big but most just subtle changes in ways people behave. Saying “thank you!” to the bus driver for example. I have never seen anyone do that here in Honduras. Correction, I actually do that myself sometimes, but only when I personally pass the driver on my way out of the bus and when I’m greatly relieved to have survived a three-hour, nerve wrecking ride through the mountains of Honduras, not after traveling four blocks in downtown London! Other small culture shocks? Swiss Chalet does NOT sell cheese fondue; feeling trapped in layers and layers of extra clothes; for the price of one pack of cigarettes you can by NINE items at Dollar Store and gas stations do not sell alcohol. The trees are made of metal (but o so colourful!) and I didn’t quite get the hang of shoveling snow (to be completely honest, I didn’t even try…). Taxi drivers have funny accents and like to philosophize about God whereas traveling in a bus and inserting the ticket correctly in the right place isn’t that 0easy at all. Pancake Day is a national holiday and Canadians actually do consume maple syrup (or something cheaper that tastes like it). I somehow always happen to meet people who migrated to Canada from Holland lifetimes ago who insist in practicing their ancient Dutch with me. And although I don’t feel that “Dutch”, I must say, pancakes in Holland are better (except the ones Brian makes, of course!). All in all I had a great time, not in the least because of Wendy and Brian who let me stay in their terrific house and took such great care of me (“Where are your mittens!). Yes folks, I think I really, really like Canada…

Carin

The Canada Connection keeps on growing… Right now we have yet another Canadian volunteer, Jillian Ritchie, who works for the McKenzie College in Moncton, New Brunswick (www.mckenzie.edu, check it out!). Since classes haven’t started yet, Jillian helps out where she can (and there’s actually quite a lot to do, so we’re happy with her help!) and brought us some wonderful art supplies! Thanks!

And it won’t be long before I (Carin) set foot on Canadian (frozen!) ground again, because my trip to London is scheduled for February 19th. I’ll be there for a week to help the Huron students prepare for their trip with some workshops on the arts as a medium in community development; cultural differences; international development and also some practical stuff as how to prepare a class (the students will be working at rural schools), how to conduct an evaluation and such. It will be fun!

The students of Huron University College are getting ready for their trip to Honduras in May 2009! Read all about it at www.huronuc.ca/honduras. And just in case you didn't know, Huron is considered one of the best universities in Canada! For more information:
http://www.huronuc.on.ca/media/media_advisories/huron_university_college_tops_the_charts_in_macleans.

Community Based Learning
the experience of
Arte Acción Copán Ruinas, Honduras



For four years in a row, Arte Acción Copán Ruinas (a NGO that organizes cultural activities for young adults and children in Honduras) received students of Huron University College, from 2004-2007.
Although initially hesitant about working with a group of twelve inexperienced volunteers, the partnership has been very successful. Throughout the years, and in close collaboration with the Huron students, we have developed a format that is satisfying for all parties involved: the Huron students and professor(s), our organization and the Honduran children the students worked with.

Providing a Community Based Learning experience is not easy. All too often foreign visitors, students or volunteers are merely observers in a totally different culture, trying to apply their own experiences and values in places and situations where this might not always work. As for the receiving party, Hondurans sometimes tend to modify their behaviour to the expectations of the visitors. In order to really experience another culture, it is necessary to become part of it, and the easiest way to do so (when there’s only a short period of time) is becoming part of the daily routine, by having a job to do.

The Huron students that volunteered with our organization all conducted different kinds of workshops at rural schools. The first few years we tried to offer a program as varied as possible, but we soon found out that neither the students, nor the local children benefited to the maximum from this format. Instead, we decided to work in only three rural communities where the students taught during a 2,5 week period, in groups of max. four students. This way the students were able to build relationships with the children they worked with; to get to know the community they worked in and to understand from first hand experience the problems the locals have to deal with (lack of access, water, electricity etc.). By the end of the 2,5 weeks we organized a festive encounter between the three schools. Last year we had about 250 people present during this terrific final event. It was especially endearing to see how proud the children felt of their “own” community” and their own ”gringos”,

In our relationship with Huron, we, as in representatives of Arte Acción Copán Ruinas, have always stated clearly that our main goal is not to provide the Canadian students with a great learning experience, but our own, the children of the rural communities the students worked in. Whereas it is the Huron’s professors’ responsibility to ensure an interesting experience for the Canadian students, it is our duty that the local children benefit from the visit in a constructive way. We have been able to achieve this because the children clearly benefit not only from participating in the workshops and learning new things, but also from building relationships with “gringos” during an extended period of time. The relationship between the Huron students and local children is based on equality, friendship, respect and a mutual eagerness to learn from each other and not on the exchange of materialistic goods. This is a healthy relationship that can be used as a base on which to develop many a project.

Another important factor in the success of the mutual learning experience is the continuity of the projects, as we experienced during the last two years Huron students worked with our organization. By working in the same communities year after year, the partnership only becomes stronger. The Huron students will understand better what to expect from the experiences of previous visits and the local children will look forward to the visit of “Los Canadienses”. Unfortunately, this continuity was interrupted last year, but we hope to be able to continue working together in the future on a yearly basis, because it seems to be the perfect period of time to develop such projects and also to strengthen the relationships between Huron and the selected communities which might result in sustainable help for the children and their families. This has happened regularly so far: we still receive donations from Huron’s ex-volunteers to buy supplies for a school, or a certain family in need.

As for our own organization, we made new friends through Huron and are still in touch with many of them. Twice, we received long-term volunteers (3 months) who had visited us previously as Huron student volunteers. Besides the obvious and direct benefits our organization receives (donation of art supplies and educational materials, number of workshops and activities developed by the volunteers, cash contributions) we feel that the Huron experience has helped us to develop a format for volunteer work that functions really will for all partiers involved, and not only for volunteers from Huron.

The only remark left is that personally I’d love to see more of a cultural exchange, that is, a learning experience for both cultures about both cultures. After learning more about Canada’s First Nation communities, I was amazed by the similarities between the Honduran Maya Chortí and indigenous people in Canada, especially in the problems they face. I think the experience in Canada can be very helpful for the Honduran indigenous people, if only for the recognition of aspects of each other’s cultures and the similar problems.

Carin Steen
Copán Ruinas, Honduras, 12-10-8