Two days ago I arrived in Tegucigalpa Honduras. I am here to finish up an internship that I am doing for the Sustainable Ag minor at the U of MN with a Christian organization called Tierra Nueva (TN). The project is to work with a group of coffee farmers near Minas de Oro. They are thinking about getting Rainforest Alliance certification for their farms. This could help them get a better price for their coffee.
Yesterday was the first storm of the rainy season. It rained really hard, and was the first rain they had seen in over 4 months! It was really hot when I arrived, but it is cooler now because of the rain.
I had a really good day yesterday. In the morning I went downtown to talk with Miguel Welches with ICADE (Institute for Cooperation and Self-Development) and Rainforest Alliance. It was really helpful, and I can see where my project fits into the whole process now. He gave me some good suggestions for how I could help and use my time here wisely. We might be able to have a big meeting/training with him and all the farmers while I am here. He gave me some good documents as well.
I am staying in Teguc with the host family I stayed with when I studied in Honduras. They are so great! Dora is the mom and she watches out for me and makes sure I am taken care of (and feeds me a lot of good honduran food, que rica!). Dora takes care of babies that have been abandoned by their parents at the hospital. The government pays her a little for this, but just enough to break even. Right now she has Maria Jose who is about 18 months and full of energy! She also has three month old Moises who is tiny and so beautiful. It just melts your heart to look into his big dark eyes and see him smile back at you.
In the afternoon I went to the Diaconia Nacional (DN) and CRWRC offices and met with Ana and Dalia (and the rest of the staff too). It was really great! My understanding is that DN is basically the Honduran sister organization of CRWRC.
We talked for a long time about all kinds of things and they were very helpful. I will try to sum up: When we arrive in August they can pick us up from the airport. For the first two weeks we will have language training in Santa Lucia which is on the way to Valle de Angeles, and is also the place where the Peace Corps people get their language training. After that, in the beginning of sept the DN staff has a meeting in Teguc, so we can join them and then head out to Catacamas on the 4th of sept. We will live in a house that is owned by Doris who works for DN. I think it might be like a compound with two houses. One house is for Doris, one for us. So we will have privacy, but also interaction with a family. The house has most of the basics, including two bikes that we can use thanks to the previous volunteers. The house is on the side of Catacamas nearest to Santa Maria de Real where the DN office is, so that's good. The school that is interested in having Katie teach English is a school of the CRC church in Honduras. They teach 7 grades and classes are in the mornings. The school is a 15 minute bus ride from our house. They said it is easy to take the bus. They have one english teacher, but they are interested in having Katie teach some classes too.
I will be working on two programs: the training program for deacons and church leaders in principles of communty development, and an agriclutural/ environmental program that they want to spend more time on. They are starting a project focused on raising hogs that they want me to help out with!
In about a half hour I will head out to the Minas de Oro area in a bus.
Hasta Luego,
-Matt DK
