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Published: March 18th 2006
Teaching school was a challenge this week as the kids were really hyper, and their teacher left the room. Yesterday I was sick most of the day but did not miss any school. My digestive system was not good and I had a bit of a fever I think because I had chills and later was sweating in bed. But I seem to be fine today. Most students get sick sooner or later and I was lucky to get by with such a mild and short case. Of course I´m not done yet!
Yesterday afternoon we saw a real tear-jerker of a video called "If the Mango Tree Could Talk", with interviews of kids 12-15 who survived the war years, and had parents, brothers and sisters, uncles, grandparents, and friends and neighbours killed, who had often to flee their homes and were afraid to go back. It was make during the violence in 1983, but they say the psychological scars are very real today. And of course many lost their homes and everything they could not carry. At times education was outlawed and people were shot for trying to educate children, the thinkin being that such persons were likely to be sympathizers of the revolutions. Now, without education diplomas, decent jobs are almost impossible to get. Oxfam and the UN were sponsors of the film.
Today we listened to a 20 minute presentation of a Mayan legend, but while I understood many words I could not quite follow the story. After school I had lunch with my Canadian friend. The food was not great but the conversation was!
Tomorrow only three of us students are off to Huehuetenango and the Mam ruins there - should be fun as long as our bus doesn´t get held up! It´s pretty unlikely but it does happen occasionally.
The trip continues to be mentally, emotionally ( mostly from safety concerns but also frustration at not being able to talk to people and join in conversations, and health worries), and physically demanding. But I do not regret coming. Beside the problems most of these people live with every day, the things we get angry or excited about seem pretty trivial. I´ve jad some good talks with my instructor about life here and there, despite the language barrier. And it´s been an eye opener to sit down with students from all over the world (Denmark, Honduras, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, and of course the USA. Several have travelled quite a bit in the world. At least one sold everything she had to be able to come here. The Honduran woman is originally from Illinois or Indiana but had basically lived in Honduras for seven years now. The only student over 40 (maybe over 30) finished here today, so
Thanks for reading these stories and pelase remember that your comments and questions are more than welcome. Hasta la vista!
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jeannette
non-member comment
hi from gerald
It's good to read your news. I envy the experiences and the travel, not the scarey stuff or the health problems. Do be safe. Every time I hear about recent historical events of great importance (the problems in Guatemala in 83) I wonder where my head was when this was actually happening. We are so unaware of the plight of so much of mankind. Do I live in a self-centered box or do we just not get honest reporting to our country? A little of both, I suspect. And a new language... way to go, Al! That would be a lot of fun. Things go well here. We hope the same for you, go well, Jeannette