El Fin

I am so sad to be leaving Honduras today. The more I think about it, the more I wish I could spend my summer down here. If only money weren’t an obstacle.

Learning about the CCD

Tourists for a Day

Outside of the Honduran history museum

Today was our last full day in Honduras, so we spent the day relaxing and exploring Tegucigalpa.

Government Meetings, We’re Kind of a Big Deal

Tegucigalpa. The city is massive!

Today was incredibly long, and we spent the entirety of our day in meetings.
First we went to the U.S. Embassy, where we spoke with the US AID Education representative who, as it turns out, is a former AU student.

[En Transito] a Tegucigalpa!

CCD Bus

More space than the last van we rode in

I was so sad when we had to leave OYE this morning. I’m going to miss everyone so much, and I cannot wait to return. Not sure when, but I know I will be back eventually. The Christian Commission for Development showed up with a school bus to drive us to Tegucigalpa. The drive was much easier this time because we had more space to spread out in…and because we made several stops along the way.

Final Dia Con OYE

OYE student panel

Learning a dance in gym class

In the morning we visited Notre Dame, the private high school in Progreso. Notre Dame is also the best high school in all of Progreso. When students receive scholarship from OYE to attend the school, OYE pays half the scholarship and the school pays the other half. We had a chance to talk to some of the OYE students who attend Notre Dame. Then we watched a gym class learn a dance, which we ended up jumping in on and learning with them. It was so much fun!

Back to Juan Ramon Morales!

Panel discussion with La Perla teachers

This morning we toured La Perla, the European Union school in Progreso. This time we were able to go inside the classrooms and speak to the teachers. A few of them spoke to us when we first arrived at the school. When we toured the school we had a chance to check out the computers the students get to use. It was great that they have access to resources like that! The point one of my participants made though was that they have no internet access, meaning they can’t learn how to research or access databases. The primary skills they learn on the computers are technical ones – how to use Word, Excel, etc.

Si Se Puede!

Students marching against the de-centralization bill

Chanting

Gathering in the center of Progreso

We weren’t able to tour any schools this morning. All the public schools are closed due to a teacher’s strike. This ended up working out well for us because all the public school students were protesting in the middle of Progreso and we were able to see the protest. It was such an incredible experience. We stood on the corner and yelled “Si se puede!” (yes we can) at the students. They fed off our energy too. Whenever we got excited and yelled something they would chant and yell more. In the US students skip school, skip class and take their education for granted. Here students have no class and they are fighting for their right to have an education. The government in Honduras wants to privatize education for grades 9 through 12. If they do this, the majority of people in Honduras won’t be able to afford a high school education. We stood in the center of Progreso for a while to watch the protest. We were able to talk to the students and ask them questions about the protest. It was also quite scary at moments – military guards with huge guns stood at various points throughout the square. Needless to say, we didn’t stay there for too long.

Yoga on Top of Myan Ruins, No Big Deal

I’m so happy to be back in Honduras. The moment we stepped off the plane into the warm Honduran sun I knew it had all been worth it. All the planning and preparation we had done was worth it just to be back here. In the airport we were greeted by Leo, Luis and Javi! I was so excited to see them again! We also met Michael, OYE’s volunteer coordinator who we had been corresponding with to plan the trip. With him was Ana Luisa Ahern, one of OYE’s founders and two interns who were working on a project in a local community. We immediately loaded up the cars and drove to Copan, which took all day.

Adios, Honduras

Tela in the early morning

So pretty

Vamos a la Playa

This morning we spent a few hours planning out our Alt Break trip proposal for March. I can’t wait to come back! We’re going to organize so many amazing panels and speakers. Best of all, we’ll be able to travel to Copan, the old Mayan ruins in the west of Honduras. I am so excited to see that!! I really hope our trip gets approved because I can’t wait to return. I’m so ready to get home and write out everything! After planning we headed over to the OYE offices to continue our discussion with Luis. Mostly we talked about the Golpe that occurred last year. Luis and Kat showed us the magazine OYE printed during the coup. They tried to be really objective about it, using only a timeline of facts and pictures from both sides of the protest, but people were still offended by the magazine. Kat said she even lost a few good friends because of it. One of the positive things to come from the coup was that it inspired people to fight for something, and it pointed out many of the problems in Honduras. Luis told us how the military tried to take away a radio announcer in Progreso and the whole town stood out in the streets to stop them. Finally the military threw him out of the car just so they could leave. It’s inspiring to see people come together like that during a time of so much uncertainty and so many atrocities.