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Sophie writes

...about her experience while volunteering in the Honduras Building program.

Diary Entries:

· Week 1 - Semana Una
· Week 3 - Semana Tres
· Week 8 - Semana Ocho
· Week 12 - Semana Doce - adios

Week 1 - Semana Una (30 September 2007)

Greetings from La Esperanza! I have completed my first official week of 12 weeks here on the building project. I began on day 1 by wandering the streets from 10am til 11.30am totally lost looking for my house again. The only way I found the place was by being found, I went straight past the house itself and the boy called out to me thinking I looked lost. Thank goodness, because I was looking for a pink house, when it was in fact yellow... in my defence I only saw the place at night when I arrived.... I put it down to all part of the experience and I had wanted to explore the town!

I have since settled into a bit of a routine... Wake just before 6am to the sound of roosters and dogs barking, and Honduran pop music from next door (all very reliable alarm clocks for me)... A bit of a freshen up before breakfast, which is often cornflakes with juice or banana, but preferably could be tortillas filled with cream cheese, freshly made on the fire, which is part of the outdoor kitchen, a kind of lean-to at the back of the house. At about 6.45am, dressed in my work clothes of cargo pants, tramping boots for the mud and a light coloured tshirt for the sun, I walk the short distance to the taxi stand. The rural taxi around here is a ute, with on average 12 people sitting on the back deck, paying about 50cents each for the ride. When you need to get off you thump loudly on the drivers roof or the side of the truck, you will also stop along the way to pick anyone up. Our building site is in Chiligatoro, about 25mins drive away on a dusty (in the morning) or muddy (in the afternoon) potholed road. It's a beautiful site, and every day we arrive I feel lucky we have such a wonderful setting in which to work, it's right next to a lake, with green hills and mountains surrounding us. In the morning sometimes there's fog across the lake that lifts as the day goes by to become a cloudless hot day.

There are about 7 of us volunteers, and one or two builders to show us what to do. The building we are working on is a small flower shop, part of an ecotourism venture for Chiligatoro, there are 'greenhouses' growing carnations next to us. When I arrived almost all the adobe blocks have been put up. My first two days involved digging dirt with a pickaxe and hoe, then using the spade to move the dirt away from the building. We have now started on the timber roof framing, including sawing the timber to size, notching it and cutting it back on an angle to presumably make trusses. It's slow hard work, but very rewarding, and it's great to be outside and get a bit of exercise at the same time. The sweat is literally dripping off us by just before midday when we finish, and catch another lift back into town.

Then it's a huge feed at a restaurant for lunch with all the other volunteers, including those working at the daycare and hospital. Afternoons are free, but as I have just started taking Spanish lessons once a week I can use this time to study a bit or else wander around town visiting markets, or discovering a different part of the town. Evenings I return home for a (cold, refreshing) shower in the outhouse, then dinner and an attempt at speaking Spanish with the host family. They are great, Senor Julian, Senora Ana, Franc 15 years old, Sayrah the 9 year old, and Camila the 17 year old maid. Sometimes we play cards, like we did on Friday night by candlelight when the whole of La Esperanza had a power outage from about 5pm 'til 2am. Ha but if that happened in NZ I bet you wouldn't have got the good hot dinner I still had, all cooked over the fire!

Well my first impressions include:

• Slogging it out on site with manual tools like spades, saws, pickaxes, hoes, and thinking I wish my Dad could see me; A family to get to know and understand in spanish and vice versa (gestures are allowed), I'm glad smiling and laughing are part of the universal language we all share; Sitting in the outdoor kitchen, surrounded by the smells of fresh tortillas, the smoke and the black ash drifting towards me;
• Meeting madcap volunteers from all over the world and sharing experiences together;
• Looking forward to seeing the building through to completion, putting the roof on, plastering and painting and handing it over to the women who will work in it.

Week 3 - Semana Tres (15 October 2007)

Well a quarter of my time here has passed already, it goes quickly! It has been a week of rain here, pretty much raining nonstop for 5 days, turning La Esperanza's streets into pools of mud. Unfortunately it meant 2 of our workdays did not go ahead, however we ended up joining the other building project up the road at Santa Cruz and helped up at the kindergarten. They have constructed a building which will be the kitchen and dining room for the kindy, and we helped paint the interior for a couple of days. It was great to see another project and help out there, as well as try out something different, hopefully adding to our painting skills when the time comes to paint the flower shop and cafe at Chiligatoro. One of the other volunteers here from the UK, Maureen, raised heaps of money before coming to Honduras, and a lot of the materials we were using at the kindy were direct purchases from her fundraising. Good on her; we were using rollers, paint brushes, the timber to put the doors in, the paint itself, all contributions from her and donors from the UK through her.

Other than that earlier in the week at Chiligatoro we finished the roof and started filling in the adobe brick between the top of the walls and the pitch of the roof, including shaping some of the adobe blocks with a machete to fit into the triangular spaces. The week otherwise has been falling in a similar pattern as earlier, lunch at the usual place with the other volunteers, one afternoon at INFHA, and a couple of late afternoon Spanish lessons with a local, Miguel, and a bit of indulging in the famous cakes at the Internet Cafe (I am definitely putting on weight here, even though I'm hoping my workout on the building site is compensating somewhat!)

I finished up the week of the big wet at a weekend away at Lake Yojoa, staying at DnD Brewery near Pena Blanca. I left Friday afternoon with a couple of other volunteers, and I have to say I'm most impressed with the public transport in Honduras. We arrived at the bus-stop from La Esperanza and a bus to San Pedro Sula was just leaving. We then got off at La Guama, 2 hours away, and a chicken bus was waiting to take us to Pena Blanca, from where we straight away hopped on another chicken bus to take us to DnD Brewery. All like clockwork, even the Swiss would have been impressed! (Not sure where the term chicken bus originated, either we're all stuffed inside like chickens in a battery farm, although I do notice there are people who also carry chickens on their laps in these buses too...). We stayed 2 nights at the brewery (yes it doubles as a hotel) and tried the mango ale, apricot ale and raspberry ale, all fantastic. We all agreed the blueberry soda was right up there, along with the blueberry pancakes... aaah luxury.

The biggest luxury was having hot water for the first time in over a month. Although after today's cold shower at the public baths, washing off all the dirt from working hard this morning, I have to say I even enjoyed that more than the hot shower! It's the little things in life I tell you... Particularly this morning, I was in great spirits because it was not raining, and I knew we'd get to work on the flower shop and cafe and wouldn't have to wade through mud too much... Although on my way to this internet cafe I saw a huge truck laden with timber stuck in the mud, half sunken into the street, half the load falling out the back... the mud on the streets hangs around for a lot longer than once the rain has gone...

OK well that's it for me, fingers crossed for more good weather to progress the flower shop and cafe...

Week 8 - Semana Ocho (20 November 2007)

Well, the end of week 8 means I've been here 2 months already, with only one month left to go... time has flown!

Due to bad weather again in the mountains, we did not get any work done on site at Chiligatoro, but we finished the classroom painting on Tuesday for the daycare centre, so it looks all good with a fresh coat of paint on the walls and the ceiling...

The second half of the week I spent my mornings at the hospital garden, creating a drainage ditch, removing the top layer of weeds and roots, and then hoeing the soil. Hard work, but rewarding, and the sun even came out and shone down on us... The first trees are in: avocadoes, pears, peaches and apples, and the area dedicated for the vegie garden has had calcium put down on half the area, the other half the area being where we are currently still working. The two volunteers whose brainchild this project was had the pregnant women out to water regularly, as the garden is essentially for their benefit. One of the older maintenance men came out to lend us a hoe for digging the irrigation trench, and explained how these would work. As he spoke in relatively quick Spanish I only got about half of what he was saying, and as usual made the other half up in my head (getting quite a good imagination)... as he went on his way, he left us with a poem, standing next to us in the field, his eyes bright and his voice without hesitation, he spoke about life, about the link between optimism and happiness, about the present and the future, and blessed us with his gift of prose.

One of my greatest personal achievements this week was at the daycare centre, where I managed to get Naomi, a two year old, to eat by herself. Up until this point I'd noticed if she wasn't fed by someone else, she would just wait patiently until a helper would come along and spoon the food into her mouth. I decided there were loads of kids younger than her who could do it, and it was about time she did too, so I guided her hand on the spoon over mine, scooped up some beans and rice, and brought it to her mouth. The second mouthful I helped her put the food on the spoon, and she was able to guide it to her mouth by herself. After that she was away! I was most chuffed, and figured she just needed a bit of encouragement... it did take her twice as long as anyone else to eat, but hey, a bit of practice... by the time I leave I aim to have Naomi eating like the best of them!

Friday afternoon a group of 6 of us left for Lake Yojoa, to stay at the DnD Brewery (second time for me but first time for the others). Stories of warm blueberry pancakes, cool mango ale and fresh fish from the lake was more than enough to entice them on the 3 hour journey on 3 buses from La Esperanza...

This time however, the sun shone both Saturday and Sunday, which meant we were able to go to the waterfall... very spectacular! We hired a guide and were shepherded through the mighty waterfall, clad in a very attractive attire of swimsuits, goggles and shoes (or in my case, tramping boots and socks) as the guide said it was safer so we did not cut our feet. What an experience! The water pounding down, powerfully, mercilessly, the spray even many metres away drenching us... We formed a line, all holding hands, treading carefully across the rocks as the water cascaded down upon us, whipping our breath away... To get behind the waterfull we had to jump into a pool of water, and reform our line on the other side of the bank, again, the water pounding down on us, the spray of the water misting in front of our eyes, goggles fogging up, our voices stolen away from us into the rush of wind and water, only our hands in each others creating a sense of strength and communication in the otherwise isolating conditions... Once behind the waterfall we were allowed a breather, until the wind blew another mouthful of water against us... we were lead up into a narrow space between the rocks, and then up into a cave behind the waterfall! It was amazing, we were all quiet, perched on the ledge in the dark, as our eyes tried to adjust to the light, all we could see were the forms of the other adventurers, with whispered breathless tones of the awesome experience we'd just had.

We returned in high spirits for good food, drink, card games, chilled out music and general banter al fresco style at the brewery. Sunday morning four of us girls ventured down to the canal and hired a rowboat with ideas of rowing to the lake. Amidst many peals of laughter from both ourselves and the two others and men left on the bank, we finally figured out which way the rowers should sit, which way the boat shoud be pointing, which way the oars should be slicing through the water, and which direction the lake was... despite all this, we still managed a fairly haphazard methodology, zigzagging down the river...

We left late morning, and even managed a stop for lunch at a place directly on the lake, which was beautiful and serene... we all wished we could stay there all evening or even longer... the stunning scenery of this country certainly has touched us all...

Week 12 - Semana Doce - adios (19 December 2007 )

The last week... and now it's all over... adios Honduras.

The working week was fantastic - the foreman was there everyday so we managed to progress the toilet block quite a bit. Also the weather was brilliant bar Friday, so made for a good time up in the mountains. Three days of the week I had help from some of the other volunteers who work usually at the daycare centre, but who came up to see what construction was about and for a bit of a change from the kids. I think I wore them out though... both said they felt older after the experience! I think it reminded me how absolutely knackered I felt after my first few days... We helped prepare a cimentious plaster mix to apply to the exterior of the toilet block (as it will have water exposed in this area, we used this plaster mix as opposed to the Tierra Blanca mix on the rest of the building). I didn't get to see the outdoor pila or sink adjacent the toilet block finished, but I helped lug the concrete blocks down the hill (about 15 minutes to get up the hill, fetch a block, and then carry it back down to add to the pile)...

I learnt a bit more about the materials - the adobe blocks are made locally in Chiligatoro, mud mortar mix prepared directly on site; the sand comes from Valle de Otoro, about half an hour drive away; the Tierra Blanca locally 15 minutes walk away; the concrete blocks come from La Esperanza but I don't think I saw a concrete plant there, so maybe they're actually made further away; the timber is usually sourced from local trees from the many forests around and cut on site. The builders are all local... it is only the volunteers who come from afar!

Afternoons I spent frantically finishing drawings for the casa at Yamaranguila.... I don't think I mentioned how hard it is to even source paper here... I went looking for A3 size, twice A4... which didn't end up existing even though various shops sent me from one supplier to the next, to back to the first... it is a classic Honduran trait I've realised: if they don't know the answer they don't want to disappoint you and usually tell you anything which sounds vaguely plausible, but turns out to be a wild goose chase. Also when ordering food or drinks, if you order a vegetarian pizza, they have actually said, no but how about a chicken pizza with beef?! Or like, do you have a gin and tonic, no but we have tea?!!! Like their suggestions are even vaguely like what you're after!!... Anyway, I digress... I managed to finish a set of concept drawings including site plan, floor plan, sections, elevations, perspective and a materials sheet. It's due to start construction in January and the ground is already being leveled right now. Hopefully I'll get photos to see how it progresses...

Wednesday night my roommate and I took Camila the maid at our house to a free movie night in the central park. It was the first time in 3 months I'd seen something like this come to La Esperanza and we were keen to support it. They ended up projecting onto the wall of an adjacent building, and showed 4 Honduran short films... The films were good, the third one a little edgy and alternative, showing a day in the life of a 17 year old Honduran boy, and then they showed three alternative endings to it. Quite cool... It was good that it had come to La Esperanza though, and gave us a dose of Honduran art and culture!

Friday dawned a rainy cold day, and even though as I hunkered down in the back of the truck shielding from the rain and wind, I wished that truck wouldn't stop driving... I was savouring every minute of my last ride up to the mountains. I presented Cruz the foreman with his little Christmas gift of a new tape measure, as I'd noticed on Monday that at about the 2m mark his wouldn't retract again, and at the 1.2m mark the tape measure was almost broken in two. I think he was well pleased with the gift, and spent time playing with it watching it retract all the way, then promptly hooked it onto his belt loop of his pants! When it came time to say goodbye to him, it was quite sad; as I'd been working on my own with him a lot lately I'd started feeling like his little apprentice, and although we often wouldn't talk much, he realised I was interested in construction and had started explaining why and how things were working a bit more. Good times.

Friday was a day of goodbyes, to Pablo the faithful truck driver who turned up every morning, even when the volunteers dwindled down to just me, the dairy owner by the football field who I bought my water every day for the foreman from her, the children at IHNFA... that was quite sad... as they ran toward me when I arrived for the last Friday afternoon session... all yelling Chofis! I had my favourite, Noel, on my lap most of the afternoon, he has a speech impediment but over the last few weeks we've got our own little language going, and going for piggyback rides out to the trees and wandering around together... Friday I took home some flowers for the family as my goodbye/Merry Christmas present, after which Ana came into our room with a gift, and a speech about it being an honour having me, that they wish me well and that they hope I come back to Honduras. The whole room was in tears after that one, and I was quite touched. They gave me a Pooh bear in a diving suit and said they hope it reminds me of them (!). Winnie Pooh as they call him is really big here, and lots of adults wear sweatshirts with images of him embroidered in the corner!

...Then it was time for final goodbyes, as I was leaving at 5am the next morning, and that evening going to El Fogon, the pub here, with the other volunteers as two others were also leaving... it was a good night out and sad to say goodbye to the others.

As I left La Esperanza 5am in the dark to walk to the bus stop, it felt kind of fitting to leave quietly, to gather my thoughts, and as the bus pulled out to the city, and the sun came out, I had time to reflect on my time here, my friends I have made, the Spanish I've attempted, the culture I've absorbed, the travel I've managed to do in the weekends, the adjusting to a simpler, more basic way of life, the feeling of being stress-free, of having time to think, of having time to just live and work with other people in another country, to share different experiences, to watch the kids' faces light up when I'd swing them around, their cheeky smiles, the way they'd grab you with their sticky hands but it wouldn't matter... the trust, the learning trust and believing in the locals who would pick me up and drop me to work every day, the watching of skilled trades people work, slowly, but accurately, never rushing... the living with a family again with younger children... the learning of patience! of being open and ready to accept different ways of doing things, of getting my hands dirty, my clothes dirty, and of being dirty 'cause freezing cold showers weren't an option every day, of meeting people from all different walks of life, of the food, as repetitive as it was I will miss it, the reflection of what it is I have learnt from my experience and how it will influence my life after my time here... my living away from my family, my friends, but being able to still communicate by email, by stories shared... of adapting, of relaxing, of going with the flow... of seeing poverty, of seeing love, of seeing dust, mud, rain, fog... of seeing a window into the life of those who live in Honduras and especially La Esperanza and Chiligatoro...

Adios Honduras, a part of you I will take with me in my heart... And now...onwards to the next adventures!