Blog 6 — Changes
High school graduation feels like it happened way more than six months ago, but that doesn’t take away from the glorious memories that it brought me of my high school experience; as people say “High school is what you make of it.” High school was about cramming for a test five minutes before, playing sports, going to prom, sleeping over at a friends house, going to Friday night football games, and being part of clubs. To me being part of clubs and holding officer positions was significant because it was my way of helping out my community and my world. Yet, since graduation and my time abroad I have altered my view of myself by helping in the way the world needs me to help — not in the way I thought it did. I’ve realized my efforts to help Honduras must go way beyond just showing up, even though I believe its the most important aspect of volunteering. I believe that since I began volunteering four and a half months ago, I understand more clearly what my purpose in life is — helping those less fortunate than I — as the new experiences have inspired critical self-reflection and cultivated the right moral feelings and dispositions. I am also not surprised that spending time in developing communities such as Honduras has helped me appreciate my way of living back in the United States, and I can say with much afirmation that I no longer take things for granted.
My view about the world has vastly changed, for starters I have created a community for myself, I’ve realized how small this planet is, I’ve also learned how others live their lives. During my time in Honduras, I have created friendships with unlikely people whom I worked with at E.I.L.L and Centro De Nutricion Las Mercedes. Although it was hard at first to immerse myself into the lives of the teachers and the staff, slowly I began to matter to them and vise versa. My relationships with the eight teachers led to many wonderful memories here in Honduras. Before I left to Florida for my surgery, the teachers from all four grade levels I worked with planned an outing for me to a local restaurant and gifted me a cake as a goodbye offering. I could not have asked for a better group of co-workers and now friends. During my brief time away from Honduras, the director at the Nutricion Center found herself in Florida at a workshop competing with other organizations for funds to buy food and medication for the Center. I was able to offer her housing for a night as she had difficulty booking a hotel due to her lack of english language skills. I could not have been more pleased to welcome her to my home and introduce her to my parents and brothers, it was the least I could do after she welcomed me so warmly at the Nutricion Center and allowing me to spend time with the children.
Everywhere one goes, customs are different, meals are different and lives are different. Being in Honduras I was able to experience how a local lives and the different holidays they celebrate and modes of transportation. I was lucky enough to have been in Honduras to celebrate their independence day where schools in each town filled the streets marching and parading for hours none stop. I was also able to celebrate Día De Los Niños ( Childrens Day) with my students and the children at the Nutricion Center, where the school brought in a clown, photo booth, a bounce house, and had a bakes sale; all in honor of children throught the world. I also experienced some cultural shock when I was served sunny side up eggs and beans with tortilla for dinner, a meal that I was accustomed to see for breakfast only. I was also surprised to see that Hondurans eat heavier meals during lunch as opposed to people in the USA, whom eat a light and quick lunch to later dine heavier foods. Lastly, something that broke my heart yet inspired it simultaneously, was seeing a father biking his son to school every morning, thought the rocky dusty road that provided little to no sidewalk space for the father to bike with his son sitting on the bar handle. It was his dedication and willingness to take his son to school despite his lack of proper income (to provide a safer way for his child to go to school) that warmed my heart and makes me proud to be from Honduras.
