Monday, November 28, 2011

The Knot & Tying it in Honduras

La Feria en La Ceiba, May 2011.
Today while searching "Wedding Checklist" I came across a website with 3 main, highly stylized pages:  The Knot, The Nest, and The Bump.  Everything a type-A woman of the western, English speaking world needs to plan every last detail of her linear steps from singledom to motherhood.  I simultaneously "ooooooh"ed and cringed.

As some of the 99% are occupying Wallstreet and beyond, and questioning our chosen forms of commerce and oppression, I'm downloading Excel spreadsheets that contain every triviality imaginable, related to consumer-style weddings.  It's the infection of consumerism in every part of our lives, every celebration we have.  Christmas, Halloween, Easter, Valentine's day...buy, buy, buy!

Problem is, how do I seperate the triviality from the necessity?   Ask me to get a spoiled or fearful horse into a trailer, I'm your girl.  Ask me about wedding traditions and expectations, do's and DO NOTs...well I'm a wedding virgin with very little experience in this girly realm.  Do I REALLY need a "going away" outfit with accessories?  Do I have to get the groom a gift (isn't that me???). Seriously.

Fortunately, Humberto and I are going to be celebrating this big event with our friends and family in Honduras. There are just some extravagances that won't be possible here....whoopy!  There will however, be other adventures I am sure.  For example, I fully plan to put  "Donkey ride to the church."  in the transportation section of our budget.

The adventure continues. ¡Viva la revolucion!



Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Entering gang territory trumps printer ink

The contrast between a wealthy neighboorhood and a poor one, in my community of Santa Rosa de Copan

Here at work, truck and meeting room sign-out is a mystery that, in my opinion, could be solved with Outlook calendars.  Also, sometimes, there's no ink for the printer and one has to scramble for budget to get the money to print stuff, months after you discovered there was no ink.   Furthermore, the culture is such that when they give feedback, people almost NEVER say anything about what they think is unnecessarily beaurocratic or complicated.  They will just say it's all in the hands of God (or the Boss, who is often a close proxy).  This all goes against the Learning Org principles I learned back in Canada in my cushy government job.

But really, this blog post is not about my petty concerns about truck sign-out and printer ink.  Last week we had a staff retreat where we had a chance to get to know eachother, learn some stress management techniques, and share about our work.  My colleagues blew me away with the kinds of work they do, under extremely stressful and risky situations.

I never knew about or understood the AIDS/HIV education and support that three of my ASONOG colleagues give to vulnerable people in urban slums of San Pedro Sula. It was touching and heart wrenching.  While I'm shaking my fist about not having a truck to get to a meeting about raising chickens, my colleagues are organizing workshops for families who are living with AIDS/HIV in slum-like conditions, three-hours away from their own homes and families.  For less than $5/person, they travel to the site, rent the venue, organize the meals, provide the materials and connect with people who have very little support for their very serious condition.

First however, they have to go door to door in the slums and seek participants for these workshops.  Confidentiality is a top priority.  Many people are reluctant to get involved because they will be associated with the disease.  Some wives are HIV positive and haven't told their husbands.  Some husbands are HIV positive and haven't told their wives. Many children are positive, and their parents ensure they adhere to their daily doses of anti-viral medications, and the children don't know why they are taking this medicine, daily.


They contrasted urban poverty with rural poverty.  It's a whole different ball game in the cities. The risks of entering some of these communities are very real.  In one community, my Honduran ASONOG colleagues had to know the protocol of entering the neighbourhood with the truck headlights on.  If they had not known this, they would have been sending a very wrong signal in gang territory.  Nuances.  Many of the gang members' families live in these poor neighbourhoods.  It is not work for the faint of heart.

My colleagues spoke of the risks and the stress of their work, but also about how satisfying it is to support these people of greatest need. They frequently travel away from Santa Rosa de Copan to the large urban centre of San Pedro Sula for days or weeks at a time, lliving in a cheap hotel and eating at low-budget restaruants.  They spoke of how some of their interview questions can be extremely sensitive, because when there is not a scrap of food in the hovel, where the toilet sits in the middle of the kitchen, they have to ask, "How many times a week does your child receive: milk, fruits and vegetables, meat...?".  So hard.    They spoke of one workshop they put on for the children.  They brought milk and cornflakes for a snack.  The kids all lit up.  They had never had milk and cornflakes before, and it was a huge treat.



Monday, November 7, 2011

Five of Life's Little Surprises

Trailride with Humberto, western Honduras highlands. Nov. 6, 2011. Photo Credit: Brian Atkinson www.brianatkinson.ca


 Today's little blog share comes from a weekly electronic newsletter I subscribe to   (The 77% Weekly   The 40/52-weeks-a-year, spiritual-religious newsletter.)

 This week's newsletter was an excercise that I've filled out and shared below about time travel to a younger, surprised self. 

Imagine you could travel back in time to visit yourself at half your current age.  That is,  today you go back to talk to you when you were half your age.
  
I want you to think about how you at half your current age reacts to finding out how your future unfolds.

What five things about you NOW would be most surprising to you THEN?  
  1. ___________________________
  2. ___________________________
  3. ___________________________
  4. ___________________________
  5. ___________________________   
I doubt any of us would have predicted our lives to be exactly (or even remotely) as they currently are.   


We delude ourselves, wanting to believe that things do not change so much. But, they do. We do. All things change - including us.  
(Moreover, those people who you stopped talking to a few years back, they too have changed.)


My five things about me NOW that would be most surprising to me THEN (if I travelled back to myself at age 16):

     1. I'm something called a 'professional agrologist' instead of a vet.
     2. I can play guitar and sing infront of audiences, and love it.
     3. I have yet to own any pets in my adult life (except for an ill-fated fish and a borrowed bird that was somewhat less ill-fated).
     4. I embrace femininity and enjoy dressing up in high-heels, makeup and nail polish occasionally.
     5. The love of my life is both younger and shorter than me, and we speak Spanish to eachother 100% of the time. 

What are your life's surprises?  Have you let go of some of your life dreams to make room for others? I still wonder about the life of a vet sometimes and I'm thrilled I can play guitar! The love of my life is pretty sweet too! ;)