October
20th, 2011
Well I got asked the randomest
question yet so far during my time here in Honduras. As I was walking back from
the school this afternoon a young kid called out to me (Mr. Gringo… funny in
itself), and when I went over to him he asked me if I was selling yo-yo’s. I
was not expecting this question because usually I get questions such as “How do
you say (fill in name here) in English?” Well it turns out that one of the kid’s
friends had told him that I was selling yo-yo’s not sure where that rumor
started but it is not the worst rumor possible I guess. It is just one of the
many common misconceptions that most Hondurans hold about us Gringos. The biggie
is that we are all related is some way, shape, or form. I have a sitemate (PC
lingo for another volunteer who lives in the same town as me but is doing a
different project) down here in my town and everyone assumes that we are
brother and sister, when we tell them that we are not then they assume cousins,
when we tell them that we are not at all related then they assume boyfriend and
girlfriend, well we tell them that is also not true they just really can not
believe it. It is rather amusing at times and it always helps to drive the
point home by pointing at another random Honduran and say “Is he your brother?”
they usually seem to understand with that. Another one that I find especially
true with the young kids is they think that names are just part of their
language. What I mean by this is the most common question that I get, as stated
above, is “How do you say (this name) in English?” When I first got here to
Honduras my response to the question was always that the names do not change,
if your name is Carlos here it will be the same in English. After a little bit
of time here I started translating names into more American versions of their
names such as Carlos to Carl. Now I have begun to just make up crazy names that
for the kids because frankly, it is a lot of fun for me and the kids find it
pretty fun as well. So for example if a kid says his name is Jose, I of course
tell him that his name is Jobro. I know that I am in a way lying to these kids
but I do not see it really harming anyone so I am okay with it.
On an unrelated note, I had my all
counterpart meeting yesterday which amazingly took about twenty minutes to
complete. I say amazingly because for some reason the meeting kept being pushed
back and pushed back like it was going to be a really long process and we
needed to sit down for hours and pound out a set of laws or something. The
reality was that all we needed to do was decided where I was going to be each
day and for how long. I was a little bit frustrated with how long the process
took to get the counterpart meeting all set up and how easy it actually was to
do once it was set up and completed. I am not sure why exactly it took so long
but I think some of it has to do with some of my counterparts not wanting to work
together which brings me to an interesting point of the Peace Corps system. One
of the greatest things about the Peace Corps is that each volunteer works with
multiple counterparts now this not only gives the volunteers some flexibility
to work in their interests and with who is willing to work with them etc. but
it also makes connections in the community.
Generally
speaking, counterparts are highly motivated and hardworking of the Honduran
community; they are usually better educated and are working towards a better
Honduras. However, one of the things that they may lack is a network (with
facebook nowadays I am not sure how this is not possible, but it is) to help
them out with their work. That is where a PCV comes in. Throughout the two
years that a PCV spends in a site as they are working with their counterparts
they are also making connections throughout the service providing community in
their site and they are introducing people who may have not met otherwise. This
is one of the greatest things about PC because after a PCV leaves the
counterparts are now left to continue on with this work alone, it is for this
reason why PC stresses sustainability. Hopefully by the time that the PCV
leaves, the counterparts are all able to continue on with their work in their
given field in a higher manner and furthermore hopefully the PCV has left a
network of highly qualified and highly motivated community leaders in their
wake. It is these community leaders who will continue to carry on with the
world and continue to improve their communities and countries.
So
now that I have my schedule set up I can now move onto the work part of this
adventure, but first I need to work out my plans with each one of my
counterparts. This step should not be as hard as the first step because it does
not require getting all of my counterparts together at one time; instead I can
go to each one of my counterparts separately and plan out the next three months
or so with them individually. I am excited about this next step in the process
because after being here almost a month and observing lots of things I have
come up with a list of different ideas that I want to do with each one of my
counterparts. So that is where I am headed.
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