Alexandra Chewning, CRT member and former Peace Corps volunteer, leaves for Honduras this week to volunteer at La Estancia Santa Gertrudis this summer.
"The Estancia" is a small, local non-profit organization dedicated to improving the daily lives of Danli's most vulnerable children. The organization provides free schooling, meals, supplies, and clothing to 25 children who would otherwise not have the opportunity to access an education. The children it serves face numerous challenges such as extreme poverty, street living, malnutrition, home and community violence, and social marginalization. Although many of the students have families, few are able to provide the children with the physical and emotional care they require.
After a delayed start due to the political unrest in Honduras, Chewning was cleared for departure early this week. She brings with her donations made through CRT as well as from Tufts University’s Eliot Pearson Children’s School. Chewning said “parents had donated many gently used children's t-shirts, as well as packages of new children's underwear and socks. In all, it was about four paper grocery bags of stuff, which was perfect because I wouldn't have been able to carry much more!”
During her Peace Corps service as a Youth Development Volunteer, Chewning worked as co-administrator of the Estancia project from December 2005-December 2007. You can read about her experiences there on her blog. Good luck to Alex and thank you to all those who contributed.
I am writing you with good news: I was able to make it to Honduras! After a few weeks in limbo, my Honduran contacts let me know that the situation was at least calm enough for me to slip into the country and travel to my old town. There was a curfew enforced the whole two weeks I was there and the political situation dominated nearly every conversation ("I can't believe this is happening to my country!" / "Tell the US we didn't want Zelaya anymore; we're happy he's gone."). On a personal level, I did not encounter any problems during the trip.
My reunion with the kids I had worked with during my two years with Peace Corps was incredible. I was not quite sure how many of the 25 children I worked with would still be around, or how they would react to me a year and a half after I had essentially disappeared from their lives. (Some of the children had been so upset my last day that they did not come to my goodbye ceremony; others had cried into my dress.) The morning after I arrived in my old site, Danli, I called my former coworker and friend to let her know I was in Honduras and on my way to the school. Her excitement was clear in that 30 second phone call, and as I walked the familiar route I started shaking a bit.
When I got to the bottom of the hill, I took a deep breath and looked up at the small cement building that housed the school (what we informally referred to as "the street kids project"). I started the climb and when I reached the edge of the small grounds, I heard urgent voices: "She's coming!"
I opened the gate and was met a handful of breathless, smiling faces. I could not believe how amazing it was to see these kids, with whom I had shared so many experiences, standing in front of me. The moment was sweet and perfect. Just knowing that life had gone on, that the kids were still standing regardless of all the tiny crises they had lived, that they had continued to grow and hadn't left school yet, was incredible.
There are so many stories surrounding each of the children. During my time there, a million little traumas seemed to descend upon the families and kids. This reunion trip brought more good news than I had expected. Several of the children had continued studying, and two had even gotten scholarships to go to middle school after they "graduated" from our primary school. One of the most mischievous boys from the program, who was always one step away from abandoning school for the streets, seemed to have turned around. He beamed as my coworker described his success in the classroom and his new found good behavior. Several of the kids had experienced growth spurts while I was gone, while others seemed to have not changed at all (malnutrition?). Three of my former female students had gotten pregnant, one in a horrible situation involving incest. Another I found living in a tiny, windowless room with her 8 siblings and disillusioned mother. On one of the days I went to visit her, she had stepped out to buy tortillas and had left the newborn baby alone on a bed with a candle burning next to him. The previous night, mice had chewed the nipple of his only bottle. She had to bathe him in ice cold water because they had no electricity to boil water. Three of the school's best students were forced to abandon their schooling in order to work per their mothers' requests. They were only able to reach 3rd and 4th grades before starting work in the marketplace, pulling sacks and loading boxes for the occasional meager pay.
All in all, the school was functioning much better. The budget had finally been increased slightly, and there were two stable teachers who were clearly dedicated to the children. There seemed to be more structure, consistency, and positive energy, which is great news.
And as for the donations: THANK YOU all so much for your donations!! My counterpart was so excited to get the stuff. Honduran underwear and socks tend to be plain white so everyone was crowded around looking at the cute little frogs, stripes, superheroes, etc. that appeared on the socks and underwear :) She was also really excited to have t-shirts in so many different sizes so that each child could receive something.
Thanks again for your support!
Alex
If interested in my experience during Peace Corps, feel free to read my blog at www.akcinhonduras.blogspot.com
