Buena Vista and Alfalit

By Katie

Just before Christmas Matt and I had the opportunity to do an intercambio, an exchange with another CRWRC-sponsored organization called Alfalit. We traveled with CRWRC staffers Ana and Irene to Olanchito to meet with the Alfalit staff and stopped in on some of the folks benefiting from their programs.

We went to one community called Buena Vista to hold a meeting with some of the community members. These folks will be receiving a group of the Carpenteros from Ontario who will be building latrines and visiting with some groups they provide microloans for. I don't often get to attend meetings like these, so I found it to be very interesting. The meeting began with introductions of everyone, and Irene spoke a bit about the work that CRWRC does through its partner organizations in Honduras. Ana then led a discussion on cross-cultural communication, which was really fun to listen to from the minority standpoint. They talked about what work the Canadians would be doing and a little about how they might react to certain things. The community members spent some time nailing down the logistics of where the Carpenteros people would sleep, who would do the cooking and reminders to get the sand and water prepared for the cement before the group came, and to help single mothers do the same. I had heard that this community was on-the-ball when it came to organizing themselves, and they really proved it at this meeting!