Week 4 Pre FBT

Well, today I am packing for Field Base Training (FBT). We have completed four weeks here in Santa Lucia and we will spend the next 6 in Cantarranas. I will be there with the rest of the business team while the health team goes to La Paz and water and sanitation goes...I’m forgetting at the moment. I will also be staying with a new host family. After those 6 weeks at FBT everyone comes back to Santa Lucia for our last half week of training and swearing-in at the US Embassy. This week has been one of the less eventful weeks. I think that has been a good thing though. The business team this week met with several NGO’s such as CARE International. We were told about how different NGO’s are organized and what types of work they have been doing in communities around the world and specifically in Honduras. We also talked about counterpart relationships. When a volunteer goes to his/her site they are paired up with a counterpart who helps direct their work within their community. They may be the head of a co-op or an NGO or a liaison from the local municipality. They are integral to a volunteers success and to their projects. They are also usually Hondurans. So, we talked about them and what to do if things go bad. We had several volunteers come in and talk about their experiences and we were given case scenarios and advice. We also talked about work environment relationships along with gender and development topics. I will write up an issues entry a little later dealing with what I have witnessed about gender and education in Honduras so far.

As an aside and just hitting on the whole gender thing, I met the volunteer who stayed with my host mom before me. We talked and we discussed instances such as how my host mom will key into my room in order to get my dirty clothes so she can wash them before I can because it’s considered women’s work. People wash their clothes in the pilla which is like a level concrete washboard next to a water basin where all the clothe washing occurs. She will not let me anywhere near it. That is just one instance, but I will talk more about it later.

Other good news, I am finally getting better digestively, but I have contracted a bit of a head cold. Also, I just bought a cell phone down here. I have been saving up and I got one today. The thing is I don’t have any international minutes on it at the moment. But, if you call me it’s free on my end. So please find those phone cards.

Also, I have even better news. All the trainees had there second language interview. These interviews determine if your language skills qualify you for service. When I came in that first week I was a novice medium and during this week (week 4) I graduated to novice high plus. I have to get to intermediate medium to qualify and I have every confidence that I will make that. In fact I am shooting for intermediate high.

Cantarranas does not have an internet café in town. So, for now, this is my last entry unless I find one in the neighboring town during the next 6 weeks. I will be making phone calls though. I’ll talk to everyone soon!