Santa Lucia, Intebuca, Honduras
Thursday, June 17
7:45 PM
Yeah! We arrived in Santa Lucia, site of the original Shoulder to Shoulder Clinic and where we will be living for the next few days. I won't go through the last two days of travel woes, as they are now living in the past. However, I will say that all of the students were incredibly flexible and positive in dealing with the delays and luggage issues. We are supposed to get all the luggage in tonight or in the morning. The folks who work for Shoulder to Shoulder have been fantastic at helping to find solutions to our problems. We are quite grateful to them. I wish I could convey how nice all the Honduran people who we have met have been to us -- it has been amazing.
When we arrived in Tegucigalpa, our nine friends and translators from the La Ceiba Bilingual School were on the bus. It did not take long for the students from each country to share music and stories with each other. Jimmy's IPAD that he brought has served as a great ice breaker and a fun diversion. The La Ceiba students have incredible English abilities and take their responsibilities as translators very seriously. They often come to Santa Lucia to serve as translators for the US medical students and doctors who rotate through the clinics.
We just had a welcome dinner where our students met with the directors of the schools that they will be working in over the next week or so. We will go out to four different schools in the immediate area tomorrow and begin our work, which largely consists of making relationships, assessing the needs of the schools, and playing with the students when appropriate. The food has been excellent. The dinner tonight was pasta, steamed vegetables, and homemade tortillas stuffed with melted cheese.
The clinic is quiet now as everyone except for me has gone to the local high school to play or basketball or hang out. It will be great for them to release some of their energy and travel stress.
No one has had any ailments of any sort.
To the parents out there -- your children are amazing. I'm so happy to be traveling with them and working with them. We are having a blast!
Hopefully, I will be able to get some students to make posts over the next few nights to talk about their experiences during the day.
John
We are so happy that everyone is there--and that luggage will eventually show up! Thanks so much for the post, John. You are also amazing for shepherding our group so well.
ReplyDeleteHappy to see you on line from Honduras! I know this will be a great experience for everyone. Looking forward to following the daily posts.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived and worked in Central America for a LONG time..ie. Panama...I know how challenging the environment....both physical and mental can be in this part of the world. I am so glad you have great mentors and the Shoulder to Shoulder group and staff to help you "get into" the moment of living the "latin way"...of life in Honduras, CA. Keep up the great work and remember..."que tengas un MUY buen dia!"...Practice that Spanish! It will go well with you to know this language in the future...I know of whence I speak since I am fluent in Spanish( actually tri-lingual since I also Speak German...um and some Swedish as well)_So ket those young minds of yours open up...absorb it all like a new sponge...talktalk talk!...as much and as often as you can....and most importantly..DON'T worry about making mistakes..speaking! That is how we ALL learn( from early childhood on up!)..Language art is about vocal experiemtation with new sounds and words( as both my Spanish and German teachers were always saying!)...All the best to the entire group!..Stay well and happy..oh...and Candice....take care of that knee girl!..;-)~..
ReplyDeleteCapt.Douglas J.W. Olsson
Panama Canal Operations, Panama`