If
you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart
trouble. -Bob Hope
February
1, 2002
Dear
Family and Friends,
Last night as Shawn was trying to repair our broken fan, I told him that I would
share his great efforts in our next update letter. We often hear of
volunteers having their “defining moment” during the two years of living in
a foreign land. As I lay in bed chuckling, I wondered if Shawn was having
one of his “defining moments.” The fan has had little “oomph” for
the last few weeks and we both knew it would be a matter of days before our
precious “air mover” would stop running altogether. I knew we were in
a desperate situation when Shawn took his flip-flop and started hitting the fan
blade in an attempt to get it rotating on its own. He had resorted to
using his flip-flop after he cut himself the night before doing the same thing
using his finger on the plastic blade. Manual propelling had become our
nightly routine. The more he clobbered the fan with his shoe, the harder I
laughed. Humor is great medicine. Needless to say, we have a
shopping trip to make this week to purchase a new fan. My mom is coming to
visit us February 6th and we are going to splurge in her honor so we
all will be comfortable.
We
are looking forward to having Mom Vander Poel visit. I am excited to show
her where we live, introduce her to our
neighbors, translate Spanish to English for her, cook my famous plate of
beans, rice, corn tortillas and homemade salsa, and go on long bus rides.
It is interesting that what used to be odd to me is now becoming normal.
It will be interesting to see what my mom’s perceptions are of our little
village. Since she will be visiting for two weeks, I am thinking she can
write part of our next update letter!
[Shawn
Speaking] One of the events that will be fun for Jennifer’s mom to attend is
the inauguration of the new library on February 13, 2002.
The new library is well on its way and it appears we will
be ready for the inauguration. Yesterday after the last window was
installed and the furniture was delivered, we moved the computers into the
library. We have a lot of work to do in terms of developing the skills of
the three volunteer librarians to use, maintain, and monitor the computer usage.
The
library, I believe, will be a transforming building for this community. In
general, the Honduran culture does not involve literature, and reading for
pleasure is not very popular. The introduction of easily accessible free
reading material, especially to younger children, is going to provide Concepción
de Maria with an opportunity to increase the learning potential of its youth.
The management of this project will also serve as a test to see how much the
community cares about advancing technology and education for the youth in their
town. The project is dependent on the support, interest, and dedication of
the local people. We hope to help them develop an appreciation for the
potentials of having a modern library in their community. Many of the
community members are very excited about being able to reference information on
agriculture, mechanics, and other areas of expertise. Our day in the
library yesterday was very rewarding as we assisted three brave souls who will
be in charge of making this project successful.
[Back
to Jennifer] In addition to the library project, we will be busy with two
new committees. During the middle of January, we had a training seminar
with Peace Corps to review the first three months in our site. The three
day conference included intensive language classes, sessions dealing with safety
and security, technical training and project reporting procedures. From
our group of 60 volunteers, three people were elected to serve on the Volunteer
Advocacy Committee for the next two years. The committee deals with making
changes and improvements in “Peace Corps Honduras” for current and future
volunteers. Shawn was voted as one of the three people who will represent
our group. I was selected to be part of the Support Advocacy Group.
Nine people were chosen from our group to serve as support counselors for other
volunteers who request help adjusting to the new culture. I will be
attending a training session in March to learn more about the responsibilities.
Good thing I, myself, am finally adjusting to the culture!
Well,
an update letter wouldn’t be complete without one new food item to describe.
My summer school students (from the English class I am
teaching) like to visit on days we are not having classes to bring little
“treats” to their teacher. It is quite sweet, actually. They
love to bring me things they have made and practice saying “hello” and
“bye bye” in English. This week they brought me a huge bowl of green
mangos. I don’t know if you have ever tasted a mango, but it is a
luscious, juicy fruit when ripe, may be compared to the orange/tangerine
family of fruits without the citric acid. Notice the emphasis on “when
ripe”. Mangos are not yet ripe in our town however; my students educated
me that mangos are also eaten here when they are green. A green mango is
anything but juicy and is better described as crunchy and bitter. In
addition to eating unripe mangos, my students created a spicy vinegar sauce to
pour over the chopped-up fruit. This was the first time I had ever eaten
fruit with pepper on it. Who knows, this may be my new favorite snack in a
couple years. For now, I am still working on “acquiring” a taste for
this delicacy. Shawn was able to capture the moment on film.
If you would like to check out the photos click here!
Happy
January! Hope your year is full of fun surprises and learning experiences;
like eating peppery mangos, working on a
project that is meaningful to you, visiting with family, or enjoying the little
things in life like a fan that spins when you turn it on!
Till
next time,
Shawn-Miguel and Jennifer