Playa, brisa y ....

Por Sandra Erika Gómez O.

El pasado sábado 28 de Junio, en medio de una visita maravillosa a El Progreso, de un grupo de personas de Dumbarton United Methodist Church, tuvimos un día de playa, brisa y mar, que marcó la fin

alización de la primera fase del programa de capacitación para el liderazgo de los jóvenes de OYE. Con un grupo nutrido de 60 personas y en un bus que en ocasiones parecía que volaba, nos fuimos para Tela, a un rincón conocido como Miramar. En este sitio pasamos todo el día y pudimos todos disfrutar de este escenario de blanca arena, mar cristalino y largas caminatas, juegos y risa en el que nuestros becados y becadas se divirtieron de lo lindo, y en el que nuestros visitantes pudieron hablar y conocer más de cerca la realidad de los jóvenes progreseños. En el registro del día, unas cuantas fotografías que nos ayudarán a recordar esta excursión como un día en la vida de OYE inigualable.

 

Knitting in Los Laureles

Greetings! It's Alissa again, and I'm here to share more about the work I'm doing here at OYE. Besides working in the Nutrition Center, I am also teaching knitting to children and youth in Los Laureles at the Centro de Investigacion Escolar -- an study center in the old COPPROME building.

The classes started three weeks ago and have progressed amazingly! Last Friday, I let some of the students take their knitting home with them rather than me taking it and bringing it back the next time. Thus, when I arrived for my class on Wednesday morning I had no idea what I would find... To my great surprise, the first three students to walk in (two girls and a boy) all had made significant progress on their projects. They had knit at home until they ran out of yarn! I am soooo impressed by how well they, and all the others, are progressing. In only two or three weeks of classes, many of them have completely mastered the basics of knitting. In addition, new students continue arriving to each class wanting to learn. So far, there have been a total of 30 students who have come to learn. The largest group I have had at any one class is twelve, which is kind of hectic but definitely still fun.

 

Besides the great knitting progress that is going on in Los Laureles (the name of the neighborhood where I hold my classes), I am also enjoying getting to know the students. Today was a smaller group, only 7 students, so after getting the new girls started there was plenty of time to chat with everyone and get to know them better (and in the process practice my Spanish more). We talked about families, and one girl reported that she has 32 aunts and uncles and 100 cousins! We talked about favorite holidays, and I learned that most families make tamales for Christmas. We talked about school and what subjects everyone prefers. All in all, it was a wonderful morning of knitting and deepening connections with the students.

Mornings in the Nutrition Center

Greetings! My name is Alissa and I am the newest OYE volunteer. I am from Kansas and attend American University in Washington, D.C. I arrived last week and will be here until the end of July. While I am here, I will be working Mondays through Fridays for a few hours in the morning and a few hours in the afternoon in a number of different locations. Today I want to write about the Nutrition Center where I am currently working in the mornings.

The Nutrition Center is a place where they take in severely malnourished children and help them to recuperate. The children are usually there for three to six months, although it varies for each child. It is only a program of recuperation, so after the children are better they go home to their families. While they are in the center, their caretakers (usually mothers) must come periodically to see them and also to learn how better to take care of them so that they do not fall into malnutrition again immediately upon returning home. Also, the children come back periodically after they have completed the program for check-ups.

On a regular day at the center, I arrive with Reto around 9:00. For the first hour we just play with the children. There are about 25 kids there, so there is never a shortage of kids to give attention to. Most of the kids are 4 or younger, but there are a couple of special cases who are older. They are all adorable and a joy to play with. After playing, they eat lunch, so my job is feed some of the ones who need help. Then they all go to the bathroom and have a bath before taking a nap. Usually Reto and I stay for awhile longer after they go to sleep and chat with the women who work there before we head back home for lunch.

The truly difficult part about the work of this center is that it is not permanent. While the lives of children are being saved as they are nourished in body and in spirit at the Nutrition Center, they ultimately must leave -- either back to a life of poverty or to an orphanage -- and there is no guarantee that they will remain healthy and happy.

Yesterday I went with a group from the Nutrition Center to visit the homes of some children who were there in the past. The homes were in two communities outside of El Progreso -- Flores de mayo and Siete de abril. In both places, we saw houses constructed out of corrugated tin and in some cases cardboard. The poverty there was truly astonishing, although I am told there are places outside of Tegucigalpa that are even worse. The hardest part for me, however, was when I returned to the Nutrition Center after the visits. I looked at a serious-faced little boy I am getting to know at the center and I pictured him as one of the children in one of those communities. I imagined him standing sadly at the door, not recognizing the people who had loved him for many months at the center, just staring blankly at the people visiting as some of the children had done yesterday. For me, returning to the center after visiting these communities emphasized the faith one must have for this type of work. In the end, we must send the children back to their homes and have faith that our work is not in vain and that the love we give them at the Nutrition Center will positively impact their lives.

Our job is to plant seeds. After that, it is not up to us. We must plant so that others may water and that eventually the seeds will grow. I love this idea, and think it is very important to remind us that while what we do here is not everything, it is something.

Hear the Rhythm of OYE at OYE el Ritmo

On Saturday night, OYE celebrated it's third anniversary with an event we called, OYE el Ritmo, or Hear the Rhythm. 

The event took place at La Casa de la Cultura.

We held a press conference to kick off the event. OYE Director, Sandra Erika Gomez Osorio, and OYE co-founder, Ana Luisa Ahern both spoke about the history of OYE, scholarship recipients told about their experiences with OYE, and Volunteer Coordinator, Erin Coutts, explained the OYE volunteer program and thanked volunteers for all they give to OYE.

OYE el Ritmo began with a presentation of awards to OYE's most valuable supporters throughout the past three years, Eduardo Umanzor, John Keleher, the local advisory committee, Sor Teresita, Casa de La Cultura, and Care Honduras.

   

The rhythm of the night began with a dance competition with participants from 5 local high schools. Congratulations to the team from Instituto Notre Dame! 

Two scholarship recipients contributed their musical talent to the event. Dunia Pordomo, an OYE scholarship recipient for all three years of OYE's program, sang four solo songs and Oscar Ramos played the base guitar in his church's band.

      

Estrellato, a group of young boys from San Pedro Sula ages 16-21, played a few of their own songs and then covered songs from Enrique Iglesias and Mana to steal the hearts of the high schoolers in the audience. They signed autographs after the show.

Montuca Sound System, a reggae and rock band from San Pedro Sula, closed the night with songs like "Welcome to San Pedro" (altered to "welcome to Progreso" for the event), "Un Poco de Amor" and music from Manu Chau and Bob Marley.

While all this was going on, what did the OYE Staff, volunteers, and students do?

They sold tamales, baleadas, and fruit.

AND DANCED!

News from the Nutrition Center

I  have been enjoying my time at the Nutrition Center the most. So, three weeks ago I brought a Swiss girl, Bigna, who is working at COPPROME to come work with me at the Nutrition Center in the mornings. She was really impressed during her first visit. I could see in her eyes what she felt because I had the same feelings on my first day working with the babies. At first, it is really shocking and depressing to see such malnourished babies. One of the saddest things that I have realized is that the babies don't get enough love in their homes. They deserve all the love and food that children need to grow, but they just don't get it. So that is what we try to give them at the Nutrition Center.

Since I've been working there, several babies have left the center, including my favorite boy, Nelson. He is the one who threw up AND peed on me in the same day. He is also one of the babies living with AIDS. I am worried that he is going back to live with his mother because he will not get the same type of care that he gets from the women at the Nutrition Center. I am sad that I did not get to say goodbye before he left, but I will think about him often and I wish the best for his future.

ALSO, I'M FAMOUS! All over Progreso people recognize me as "the tall gringo who was on the television." While I was working at the Nutrition Center one day, a camera crew from the local television station came to interview the staff because a new boy, Jason, had just left the hospital and entered the Nutrition Center. It was a big deal that Jason was well enough to leave the hospital, but he is still very small. Although Jason had been in the newspaper for a month before my television debut, that day "the tall gringo at the Nutrition Center" was the main attraction. Now, wherever I go people treat me like I'm a celebrity.

Signed,

Reto