The Diplomada

November 14^th, 2011

            Alright I want to apologize for my RPF, it was really bad and I hope I haven’t lost all of my readers I am hoping that I can make up for it with this week’s RPF. I came up with a great idea in which I discuss who would play me in a movie made about my life and other details of said movie such as what it would be named, etc. I am going to put in lots of time thinking about it so hopefully it is well thought out and exciting. Also another note, if you want to “text” me download the app pingchat on your smartphone and then search for me I think my name is just Jim Hanley. So that is exciting news, looking forward to being able to communicate more with family and friends. It really is amazing that we live in a day and age when I can communicate with someone so far away from me with just the touch of a few buttons. I am not sure how the people in the Peace Corps back in the day did it, but I respect them so much more than I already did. I cannot imagine only being able to communicate with my family through letters and occasional phone calls if I was so lucky, so once again those Peace Corps volunteers who have gone before me I take my hat off to you I am truly amazed.

            Alright I want to share a funny story that happened to me this past week, it involves a language miscommunication, some mystery, and really does a nice job of pointing out some of the common issues that PCVs here in Honduras have to deal with. So please, sit back relax and enjoy a little laugh at my expense…

            It was a rainy Thursday morning here in Honduras and I was headed out to the aldeas with one of my counterparts (we will call her Mrs. Purple) and my site mate Jenna (we will call her Jenna) to give a charla about basic parenting topics to a group of women from the community. I am using the term giving a charla loosely because I was really not giving them at all instead I would sit in the back of the room and observe as I was using the opportunity to get to know the aldeas and the people. At 8:30, my phone rings and it is one of my counterparts (we will call him Mr. Brown) and he tells me that there is an emergency and that he needs me to go to Santa Rosa and pick up a diploma at a hotel so that my other counterpart (we will call her Mrs. White) could go to study in Spain. You see, there are a lot of scholarships that are offered around this time of the year here in Honduras so I was assuming that she needed this diploma for a scholarship application. Not knowing what else to do, I agreed to do it for him and went to tell my site mate my situation. I did not even have time to tell Mrs. Purple where I was going because Mr. Brown told me that I had to make the nine o’clock bus and seeing as how it was eight thirty and I was in an aldea I had to walk very quickly up a mountain back into town to get to the bus in time. I did just that, and what do you know the bus did not show up until nine thirty (should have known, buses are never on time…)

            When the bus finally did show up I boarded the bus and as I went to Santa Rosa I texted Mr. Brown asking him where I should bring the diploma once I got back into town. Mr. Brown told me I would be coming back tomorrow, this obviously confused me because Santa Rosa is only about an hour bus ride away from me and I was expecting to return before lunch that same day. As I sat very confused on the bus I slowly started to realize that I had in fact misunderstood what Mr. Brown had asked me to do however at this time I had no idea what I was really going to be doing. Mr. Brown told me that once I got there Mrs. Green would explain everything to me. Well I arrived and found Mrs. Green, she did not really explain anything to me but I did realize that I was at a training for people who work with persons with special needs. Mrs. Green lead me up to the room where the training was taking place and I sat there in a daze until it was time for lunch and I was able to talk with Mrs. Green and Mrs. White about what I was doing here and what exactly all this was. This talk was very short and I learned no new information other than learning that this was what is called a diplomada and is basically a class that goes on for six months with 2 classes every month and this class was covering topics in special education.

            Well I sat through the rest of the afternoon until afternoon snacktime (yes there is afternoon snack time, as well as morning snack time here in Honduras…) and I was finally able to really sit down with Mrs. Green and Mrs. White to discuss what I was doing there. I explained to them that I studied special education for 4 years and that I did not understand what I was doing here and why they wanted me to take this class. They told me that my spot was all paid for and that if I did not go to every single class than I would forfeit the spot as well as have to pay a large monetary fine, after all I have signed something saying just that (I did not such thing…), or so they said. I explained to them that I knew that I would miss some of the days because of Merl’s wedding and also because of different training that I have with the Peace Corps, they talked it over and decided that it was okay if I missed a few days and it was okay if I just made it to the days that I could make it to. I still was not understanding why I was in this class and how in the world I got enrolled, not to mention I did not want to be in it because there was homework. So I tried to explain to them that my spot in this class would be so much more beneficial if it was used by someone else in my community who is interested in the subject. They did not really seem to understand my logic that was I trying to use, this misunderstanding may have been due to my still evolving Spanish however.

            So it was set, I would be in this class and would come to the classes that I could make it to, but I would still be responsible for all of the homework. When I say all of the homework, I mean all of the homework as well because you see here in Honduras cheating is not looked down upon, it is seen as you helping out your friend. So when I told Mrs. White that I could help here with any questions she had in the class she promptly handed me a pen and paper and told me what pages I could find the homework on. Finally, to finish up this lovely day I was told that the class was also tomorrow, Friday and that I had to also bring a printed out copy of my resume along with two photos of myself and fill out a couple forms for the next day. At this point in the day, I was actually mad and that is rather rare from me but I was just sick of the lack of communication and surprises. I explained that I would not be coming the next day because I had a previous commitment which they already knew about and I would not be turning in all of those forms with the pictures and my resume because I did not have any place to print them out and no way of returning the forms to Santa Rosa for the next day. Now I could have in reality gotten that stuff printed out and sent to Santa Rosa for the next day but like I said I was a little angry at this point in the day and also I did not want to turn in any forms because of the fact that they told me that if I missed I would have to pay a lot of money so I did not want anything becoming official.

            Well they accepted that I would not be coming the next day and that I would not be sending the forms for the next day as well though I do not think that Mrs. Green was all that happy about it and when I finally got home for the night through some text messages I was able to figure out that Mr. Brown was also upset at me (or so I believe). I did not go the next day and did not hear anything more about the topic until today when I went to R.B.C. and talked with Mrs. White. I again explained to her that it makes much more sense for someone else who is interested in the subject from the community to take my position instead of wasting it on me and what do you know she agreed with me. Even better, she said that she knew someone who is interested and she would call Mr. Brown to see if a switch could be made. So that is more or less the full story up to this point, I am not sure what Mr. Brown is going to say or whether or not I am going to have to stay in the class. I should for sure know by this Thursday as there is a meeting with all of my counterparts and my boss (previously scheduled) in which this topic will surely be discussed. I will be sure to update everyone on this story as it develops…

            So, from that story you can see that communication here in Honduras is not the best and it certainly is not done ahead of time. If I am told something 2 days before hand that is almost a miracle, most of the time it is closer to one day before hand. Another of the issues that is really common here besides the lack of communication is the fact that people do not really think about how best to utilize the resources that are available to them. For example, I am a resource for the people here in my site and my counterparts thought it would be productive if I spent a good chunk of my time in a class learning about a subject that I already know about instead of teaching other about that subject. Another example is that they wanted to use my spot in this class on me, what a waste of an opportunity when that spot could be given to someone who is interested in the topic and would learn so much and then be able to share that knowledge in the community for years to come. I am sort of like a fruit while I am here in Dulce Nombre, I am only going to be ripe for two years and the people here need to squeeze all that they can out of me because after those two years I am gone and they can never squeeze that juice out of me again.  

P.S. That last paragraph about Honduras is by no means all encompassing, there are so many great people here who really want to work and do a great job of working with us volunteers. The last paragraph is simply more of a culturally overview of what can happen when working in this culture and what from time to time definitely does happen. So, please do not get the wrong idea of Honduras and just see that they have their flaws just like everyone else.  


P.P.S. new pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150443350407359.422760.593887358&type=1&l=0ee14885e5