While in Canada, a friend asked me what a typical day was
like for me in Honduras. It was really hard to explain. Each day is quite
different and something new or challenging is always just around the
corner. My friend commutes ninety
minutes to work in an office where his caseload awaits. Each day is different
but not too adventuresome. Of course, there is the small matter of remuneration
difference which needs to be taken into consideration. I'll let you do that.
Yesterday morning I arrived at the office in time to get
most of the accounting done before the electricity went off. Intermittent power
is not a surprise but, generally, not too common. It is, for a computer based
school, a bit annoying. Yesterday, the power went off for the whole day.
Manuel and I then took a tour of all the plants and so
forth which had grown considerably in three weeks. Have to work on getting the
leaves harvested, dried and distributed.
Time for a new toy demonstration. My wife gave me a
gadget that cuts a pineapple into slices, cores and peels it all in one operation. I had some
misgivings as to how well it would work but we tried it on two pineapples and
it was marvelous. All the staff enjoyed watching the performance and eating the
results.
With no computer work to do, Manuel and I went to replace
a phone chip in the office phone. A power surge had ruined the first chip ...
and the phone. We got to the phone kiosk (located in a large hardware store)
only to find that we needed a photocopy of a piece of ID. No power in town ...
no photocopy ... no new chip. We detoured to look for a small fan for my house.
Found a new ironing board at the same time.
When we arrived back at the school we had a few minutes
to teach the staff how to play dominos. We learned one way to play. Will try
some other ways when there is another bout of darkness. Trying to make a long
line of dominos to topple using a shaky plastic table and miniscule dominos is
another challenge.
A board member of CPI Honduras is dying of cancer at the
age of forty. We phoned our Board chairman to see if he wanted to travel with
us to visit her. He told us to wait as he would be right there. Two hours later,
he arrived. By then, dinner had been ordered so everyone had something to eat.
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| Carlos working on new exams |
We found Gloria in a hammock at the back of the house
being attended by family. The hammock is such a wonderful invention. She was
being gently rocked and surrounded by the familiar sounds of life, family and
the yard's many singers. Although she did open her eyes briefly, we spent the
time talking with the family. Gloria has been such an energetic force in her
family, community and as part of the CPI Honduras board. It was difficult to
say good-bye.
The rest of the afternoon sped by helping some of our
interns settle in. We have, for the next six weeks, six young students doing a
practicum. In order to graduate from Grade 12 equivalent, they must find a
place to do six weeks of work in their field. There is a desperate search for
placements. Since we had a few last year, the word is out. We had hoped to stay
at two but, in the end, allowed six to be part of the program. Without power,
there isn't a great deal to do. Instead, we set them to reading "Where
There is No Doctor" and some exciting booklets on development ideas. I am
sure they were delighted. Manuel and I had seen some other students in various stores
and they were doing absolutely nothing. We will try to keep ours busy.
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| Yulissa sorting files - her school regulations say that she must keep her jacket on at all times ... + 34 today. |
Today has been almost as varied. We have electricity, so
I can spend more time at my desk.
TTYL
BB
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