Saturday, July 31, 2010

"Summertime"



Hola! To provide an update on UPEP’s trip, this is Ben Kirby, a Civil and Environmental engineering junior and member of the UPEP Water group.

For the first time in El Porvenir, I awoke this morning to the alarm clock instead of our friendly neighborhood roosters. Realizing today is my assigned cleaning day, I got an early start, but first things first: I began brewing some Café Copan coffee while I took in the already hot and humid beach breeze. As I washed dishes and swept a few beetles off the floor, I decided to listen to music. John Coltrane’s “Summertime” was the song of choice. Being the first to rise this morning, I sat on the porch with beach in view with no one but John Coltrane for company. I found myself reflecting on the group’s experiences as our first week came to a close. I reached the conclusion that “Summertime” and our group’s experiences have several common traits:

1) Like Coltrane’s sax solos, the first week was fast-paced. For instance, our schedule on Day 5 began around 7:30am for dengue outreach with the Centro de Salud (health clinic). Paired with clinic employees, we went house to house to inspect wash basins, barrels, bottles, etc. for mosquito larvae. I was paired with Gabriel, a 22-year-old English-speaking local, with whom I have developed a fairly close bond. During inspections, we encountered two of seventeen houses with mosquito larvae, both of which tested positive, meaning the larvae’s mother mosquito carried dengue. Afterwards, UPEP members regrouped and toured El Porvenir’s municipality building on the way back to the house. The municipality’s kitchen crew was busy making lunch which emitted the enticing aroma of shrimp and spices leaving me enviously craving their food. At the house, I settled on Chef Boyardee ravioli straight from the can. A few of us took a quick beach break and cooled off in the water. In the evening, we took a ride to the colegio to meet the Junta de Agua, El Povenir’s water management group. The Junta presented two informative videos they made which discuss water conservation, water sanitation, and the town’s water system, among other themes. Afterwards, we discussed the videos and touched base with the Junta. For dinner, we ate at an open-air restaurant on the beach. To my delight, shrimp was on the menu. With my shrimp craving satisfied, we moseyed on over to the basketball court to play with Alex, the bombero, and his friend Oscar. At this point, the time was already around 9pm. After a draining game of baloncesto, the day was not yet over. We went to Nick’s restaurant for some refreshments while we checked emails and relaxed. After showering and chatting a bit, it was bed time and well past midnight. Day 5 was over.

2) Improvisation is key in both “Summertime” and our everyday projects. One unforeseen event arose when the local school teachers went on strike, effectively closing El Porvenir’s schools which we had plans to work with. Thus, we rolled with the punches, and new plans were developed. We also invited the colegio students to have a culinary and cultural exchange for dinner last night. With limited access to American ingredients, we had to choose dishes we could prepare in house. The group worked its magic, and we served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches along with banana pancakes and homemade syrup. Our improvisation continued as the students arrived, bringing blocks of ice for a traditional Honduran pineapple-based drink called “chicha.” However, the ice blocks needed to be broken into much smaller ice cubes. To break the ice, we looked for a hammer or useful tool without success and failingly attempted to break the ice by throwing it on the concrete floor. To solve this problem, we grabbed a large rock from outside instead and successfully broke the ice blocks. On the topic of breaking ice, we figuratively broke the ice after a bit of awkwardness between the colegio students, most of whom speak no English, and the UPEP members, several of whom speak only “un poquito” Spanish. Colin, a UPEP Garden group member, plugged in his iPod and proceeded to have an impromptu dance off with a Michael Jackson-idolizing colegio student named Dixon. This helped break down the language barrier and brought cheers and laughter from all present. After the dance off, we were all dancing at some points and having a good time. Jessica, also of the UPEP Garden group, further broke the ice by offering her services as a Henna tattoo artist. Seemingly every colegio student stood in line for a tattoo and being a good sport, Jessica spent most of the night inking the students. With the help of some quick thinking and improvisation, the night was a success in my book.

3) Like even John Coltrane, who mastered the technique of circular breathing, the group needs an occasional breather. This morning’s schedule had originally included an early morning mountain hike up to the town’s water tank with the Junta de Agua for inspection, cleaning, and general maintenance. However, more improvisation came as a water pipe broke near the Centro de Salud requiring the Junta’s total attention, effectively cancelling the hike. This allowed for a little breather and beach time as well as time for the writing of this blog.

As Week 2 begins, I would say all is going well. Aside from a few minor cuts, stomach aches, and pesky mosquito and ant bites, morale is high, and there is already a feeling of accomplishment but not of complacence. In the meantime, stay tuned and expect an update from Colin in the next day or two.

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