Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Eastern Mennonite University - Volunteers Launch Environmental Campaign

What a week!



OYE just wrapped up another group trip with Eastern Mennonite University this past Saturday. The group was made up of 19 students participating in a six week credited university program. After two weeks in Copan Ruinas, a beautiful and important historical and cultural site in Western Honduras, at a La Guacamaya Spanish School, the group dedicated a week of their program to volunteer with OYE and learn about youth development efforts and national reality with OYE.

The EMU students spent the week designing a recycling and environmental campaign at San Jose Elementary. The school, located only one block away from OYE's office, welcomed OYE's scholars and the international volunteers to supplement a program they had already started with the sixth graders around recycling. The established program involved the recycling of cans, bottles, plastic, paper, cardboard, and electronics. According to teachers the students were very involved in the endeavor and loved the hands on action of gathering and sorting the recyclable products.  There was definitely enthusiasm, and the economic incentive of receiving cash for the recycled products ensured the youth's participation; however, the teachers highlighted a lack of understanding about why recycling was important and how waste can effect the natural world. That's where OYE came into play...

The Campaign

We put the challenge in the hands of the EMU students, many of whom are education majors, to design a campaign that would engage the young students and building their knowledge and interest in recycling and the environment.

The campaign involved:

1. The creation of an environmental mural.



2. The creation and distribution of recycling receptacles that  feature smaller murals and themes about recycling.



3. Development of games and exercises to teach about sustainability and environmental degradation.



4. Writing and illustrating a unique and relatable children's story focused on recycling.



5. Hosting an environmental assembly and workshop with the students of sixth grade.


In typical El Progreso style everything came together at the last-minute. Thursday morning, the day of the assembly, the art students and volunteers put the finishing touches on the mural , the EMU volunteers laminated their children's story, we picked up bookmark prizes, and gathered everyone together at the school. Over 60 sixth graders turned out for the event, many coming to school early that day just to see what was going on. We divided the youth into six stations. Station one read the children's story, station two played a recycling trivia game with facts about recycling and the environment in Honduras, station three played environmental memory cards, station four played a timeline game about the life of a plastic bottle, station five was FACE PAINTING, and station six played a "Who am I" game with prompts like "greenhouse gas." Every 15 minutes the students changed stations until everyone had cycled through each activity.

We were lucky to have the local television station, Teleprogreso, join us at the event. It was a great chance for the community to see and meet that big group of gringos walking around all week and learn a little bit more about OYE. Thanks to the report on the nightly news EMU and OYE's message about the importance of recycling and the environment will arrive to a much larger audience.

A huge thanks to the EMU volunteers for your hard work making this a successful campaign and a great week of service and learning. Additionally, a huge thank you to all the OYE scholarship students that made this trip happen. These trips and projects are all about cultural exchange and are not possible without the hard-work and teamwork of both OYE scholars and international volunteers.

OYE is looking forward to improving its group trip program and building strong/sustainable relationships with Universities like EMU. If you know other universities interested in such programs or Alternative Breaks please pass this blog and/or OYE's contact on oyehonduras@gmail.com











Wednesday, May 15, 2013

RadioUpOnDaMic - OYE El Ritmo Transmitiendo en Vivo



RITMO ONLINE

 Yarli Yanez


En Honduras, los medios de comunicación se han caracterizado por tener poco espacio de expresión para los jóvenes, de aquí parte la necesidad de tener un espacio de expresión juvenil, donde los jóvenes puedan mostrar sus inquietudes y puntos de vista sobre problemas sociales y de esta manera expresarse para ser visibles al resto de la población.

La poca comunicación  que tienen los jóvenes hondureños y las ganas de ser escuchado nos hace saber que debemos trabajar en la expresión, OYE decide en el año 2008 apostar por una proyecto radial, ya que OYE  quiere que los jóvenes se sientan libres para hablar y explorar los temas que son más importantes para ellos, sin miedo al rechazo ó la incomprensión de otros.

Ritmo online es un proyecto de radio online, en él  participan 15 jóvenes progreseños en edades entre 15 a 24 años, que graban y editan por sí mismos los programas. Ellos buscan los medios creativos de presentar los acontecimientos y compartir ideas. Es un grupo cargado de energía que infunde a través de la radio ideas interesantes y frescas.



Transmitiendo los días martes a sábado de 9:00 am – 4 pm

Para escucharlos Radio en Vivo!
Para conocerlos: Ritmo Online Facebook

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

OYE REVISTA JOVENES - Marzo y Abril

This is the first edition of OYE Revista Jovenes that is 100% designed and published in-house. A huge thanks to the tireless efforts of graphic designer Oscar Osorio and Revista coordinator Fabiola Oro. Without the overtime and sleepless nights this giant step would not have been possible.

Saturday, May 4, 2013

OYE Racers and Fundraisers

A HUGE THANK YOU goes out to all of the runners and fundraisers that participated in and supported RACE4OYE DC today.

From left to right: Trish Ahern, Shannon Ferguson, Beli Achayra, Brian Ahern, Justin Eldridge, Nick Ojeda, Joe Eldridge, Andrew Riccio

Side note: Doesn't Justin look cold!

This supporters sacrificed their time to look for sponsors and brave the weather to run/walk for a cause. It is people like the ones featured above that have always been the bedrock of OYE's growth.

Many thanks go out to those who sponsored their efforts by donating to OYE via Race4OYE.

Donors include:
Katie Pool
Paquita and Joe Holland
Victoria Iocco
Hana Grimm
The Waeldner Family
Diana Negroponte
Reuben Snipper and Cheryl Morden
Marcy Campos
Nicole Campbell
Kity Linale de Aparicio
Iris Rothman
Julianne
Eddy Perez
Kerndt Brothers Savings Bank

Your donations were generous and plentiful and your support will be used wisely investing in the development of at-risk Honduran youth.


A Reminder: These fundraising efforts are fun and often bring together great people. The more OYE supporters that get involved the better. And, let's face it at the end of the day its a lot more fun to run a race than simply cut a check. OYE has been growing fiercely over the last few years and we need your continued support to sustain our programs. SO thank you very much for your support! We look forward to more events in the future!


It's never too late to support the runners! (click below)