Graduation On The Horizon

On Monday, we had a meeting for the students who are graduating next Friday. We had more than ten students come to the meeting so that was encouraging. All of them were still one or two items short of completing the course so, in my pessimistic mind, it was still rather a tenuous number.

The major hurdle remaining was a community project that each student is to participate in. How were more than ten people supposed to have all that finished in one week? Fortunately, our Board Chairman, Chepe, met the mayor and talked with him about our program. The mayor suggested that the students come and spend a day planting trees in the tree nursery for later distribution in reforestation efforts. Hurrah! In one fell swoop, twelve students finished their projects. They were thoroughly drenched from heavy showers but we have the pictures to prove they did the job. Today, the reports of the project are being written up and, possibly, with days to spare, we will be over the magic number of ten graduates.

This week has been a continuous round of unexpected meetings and problems cropping up. My beginning-of-the-week list is still looking sadly full. However, many of the issues had positive outcomes. We heard that officials from Educatodos (the curriculum we are using) were in town for a meeting with the Mayor (our program being one of the things on the agenda). We detoured from the bank (another saga of trying to rescue funds sent from Canada) to visit with the officials. They were impressed with the numbers of students registered and graduating in such a short time (remember that, last year, the public school in Santa Cruz had two students finish Grade 7 over the course of the whole year – we will have six to eight in less than five months). Later in the afternoon, they came to see our school and were very impressed with the programming. Edel, our computer guru has worked with Reuben, a Canadian board member, to create a program that allows students access to their material but won’t allow them to wander elsewhere in the computer or modify (another word for tamper) with the integrity of the material. They even took pictures of the screens to show the folks in Tegucigulpa. That is good news for us. We have some important meetings coming up to finalize the relationship we will have with them over the next few years.

Lots of heavy rain this week so events move along in fits and starts between downpours. The rivers are bleeding brown and rising daily. The streets are also changing shape each day as new water tracks are carved into them.

The rain has also caused the internet connection to have conniptions. This has meant tenuous and frustrating communication with people in Canada.

Next week, we will also have the official opening for eleven new homes we have built for families in a neighbouring village. That will be exciting. Manuel and Chepe have been working overtime to ensure that the homes will be finished. The fuel efficient wood stoves are built but still waiting for the burner plate, the pilas (tanks for washing and water storage) are almost finished, electricity and running water are to be connected this week, septic tanks are being covered and windows are, hopefully, on the way. There are still other last minute things to be done but ... that is what the last minute is for, right?

We had a board meeting yesterday to decide the programs for each event. Hopefully we will have enough opportunities for all the important (and not-so-important) people to have their fifteen seconds of fame.

Saturday, I went out to see my man Muncho and check on progress on that project. He had a bag of seeds to show me. It was, it turns out, a type of local green. I have been inquiring about local varieties of greens with no luck for a long time. Once I asked about types of greens that are similar to Mostasa (the seed in question), the answers were quick and positive. Sigh. As is so often the case, if the question is not phrased correctly, the answer is incorrect. Now, I have a number of names to track down and find seeds. For me, it is frustrating to have to keep rephrasing the question and to waste days, weeks and months because of miscommunication.

A visitor from Canada is here to look at the property in Santa Rita and see what he can think of for utilizing it. He has lived in Peru and is a farmer so is offering some good perspectives. As well, he has enough Spanish that he can get along without my help. That is a plus this week with all that is going on.

A daughter of one of the music group delivered her first baby at twenty-four weeks. Fortunately the daughter is fine physically but the baby passed away after a few days of struggling. It is so difficult to express sorrow and condolence in my own culture and language. It is so much more difficult in another language and culture. The mother told us of the delivery and so forth last evening as we sat and waited for others to join us for a meeting.

The presence of the unknown is so much stronger here where there is no scientific answer or remedy to fix every problem. There is, for good and bad, a very real sense of the mystery of the Invisible which is encountered on a daily basis. That realization of the lack of control that we truly have over so many things is confronted regularly. Unfortunately, it is often exploited by religious leaders, charlatans and sellers of quack remedies. On the other hand, it gives people an appreciation of the Invisible and a willingness to allow life to happen without seeking control and without fear.

TTYL
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