Buenas, this is Jessie with another update! Living and working in El Porvenir, for me, is entirely exciting and fulfilling. Today, during a bit of downtime, I was reading a book called “Triumph and Hope” by Barbara Joe, a former Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras who worked on health education in two very underdeveloped parts of the country. After describing one of the many challenges she faced in her work, she was reminded of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr’s famous Serenity Prayer: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can change, and wisdom to know the difference”.

This quote strikes a particular chord with me, as our group is constantly trying to figure out what our role is here in El Porvenir. Colin, Jessica and I (Garden group…. Assemmmmmble!!) have spent copious amounts of time over the last few days –weeks? Years? How long have we been here again?- with Jose Carlo, a former agricultural extension agent who has made it his pet project to start household gardens with a number of families. When Nicole and I were here in January, he explained his great vision for this project. It is wonderful to see his plans finally taking root in the community, and at the same time it’s a little overwhelming – he plans to work with fifteen families! Jose Carlo always seems eager to work with us, and our presence here seems to be some sort of catalyst for change (a reoccurring theme throughout each of our projects, planned and unplanned). As we struggle to find the balance between learning from Jose Carlo and sharing the knowledge we have accrued through extensive research and some experience, I yearn for the wisdom to understand what I can and cannot help change here.

As we try to figure out what it means to build capacity and community (and be brave enough to attempt this with only a few adept Spanish speakers), we have our ups and downs as individuals and as a group. Yesterday, however, was a hugely gratifying day for me. What seemed like distant dreams of linking community members and institutions to work on projects in which both parties have a vested interest were realized yesterday in a meeting with the primary school. The primary school has been trying to grow vegetables for the children to eat, and failing (Each of the teachers has an assigned plot of land for their students, but none have succeeded). At an earlier meeting, the teachers requested information and help from us on nutrition, agriculture, general health, and first aid. So, instead of trying to write out what little we know about agriculture in Honduras, Colin, Jessica, and I asked Jose Carlo if he would come to the meeting to answer questions. Once he showed up, the teachers eagerly questioned him for an hour and devised a schedule for preparing the soil and planting. Jose Carlo’s enthusiasm was contagious, and we left the meeting filled with optimistic sentiment. He had given the teachers his phone number and plans to return and give more charlas on agriculture.

The most frustrating challenge for me has been the language barrier. With a year of basic Spanish instruction and a month of travelling in Latin America already this summer, I was hoping (maybe somewhat idealistically assuming) that I would have a better understanding of the language. The learning curve was sharp at first, but sometimes I feel like I’ve hit a wall. We each have our good days and our bad days- we’ll be coming out of a meeting and someone will be bursting with excitement that they understood pretty much all of what was said. On the other hand, there are some days or mornings when I can barely understand the most basic sentence. I am constantly annoyed with myself for my inability to express complex thoughts and use more than the same couple of verbs on a regular basis- something I might previously have perceived in others as a lack of intelligence or personality! My favorite activities here are ones that don’t involve much conversation, such as playing basketball with our firefighter friends, soccer with the plethora of kids running around El Porvenir, and the womens’ exercise class that Brooke just wrote about.

All in all, group morale is generally very high and we are excited to embark on the next two weeks with Rose, who just arrived last night. Que le vaya bien (go well/good luck)!