November 18, 2007

Hello Everyone!

The adventures continue in Honduras. Aside from learning how to milk cows, planting trees at the farm, picking coffee, dodging hurricanes, and speeding through mountain hills in the back of pick-up trucks, I do have “official” tasks assigned by Peace Corps counterparts. I’ve received emails requesting more information about the type of work I do with the Peace Corps. So, here’s a little update about my development work in Gracias, Lempira. I’m currently working on six projects. However, in an attempt not to bore my bloggers, I’ve briefly commented on two of my most recent endeavors below. I’ll include more information about my official work with the Peace Corps in future updates.

The Department of Education

Each day of the workweek I collaborate with the Secretary of Education to support ongoing projects throughout the State of Lempira. My primary role is to help gather data from teachers, parents, and students to determine whether or not the Department of Education is making progress towards their established goals. Here is a brief list of our specific objectives (translated from Spanish):

• Determine the effectiveness of the annual planning process within each center of education
• Study the implication of the directive team in planning tasks and organizing curriculum
• Better understand the cohesion of class programs, objectives, content, and assessments
• Determine the capacity of the employed methodology within each center of education
• Know the relationship between the management of education centers and student attainment

As you can imagine, my first day working with the Department of Education was somewhat challenging. I had studied Spanish for nearly three months before beginning my official work in Gracias. Yet, immediately after being introduced to the Secretary of Education I was handed a one hundred-page document written in high-level academic Spanish. He requested that I become familiar with the document, prepare clarifying questions if necessary, and plan to discuss the project the following week. One month has passed since receiving the document. I’ve studied the reports thoroughly and look forward to implementing the various interviews in February (public schools are closed until the beginning of February to celebrate Christmas and New Year). I anticipate the beginning months of 2008 to be relatively slow compared to the rest of the year. Hopefully I’m able to utilize free time to study Spanish, collaborate with other Volunteers, and develop alternative side projects.

Trash Campaign

Throughout Honduras there are six general categories of development projects: Water Sanitation, Municipal Development, Business Development, Protected Areas Management, Youth Development, and Health. I’m fortunate to be located in a site containing Peace Corps Volunteers from four of the six projects. As a result, I’m able to network with Volunteers, learn about different approaches to development, and collaborate on projects outside of my focus area. Lately I’ve been working with a Business Development Volunteer, in conjunction with a Spanish NGO, to create and implement a citywide trash collection campaign. Numerous problems exist surrounding the issue of garbage in Gracias. Trash is scattered on every street in the city. It’s common to see plastic bags and aluminum cans nonchalantly tossed out of moving busses. The results are disastrous for many reasons. We are hoping that our project will be a catalyst for change in the city. In short, the project targets local businesses, individual barrios (neighborhoods), and schools within Gracias. My role is to work within schools in order to promote the trash campaign, organize youth groups to lead the cleanup effort, and provide basic education surrounding the various problems with garbage in Gracias.

The Good Stuff

Aside from work, an extraordinary amount of interesting observations, issues, and project ideas have emerged during my first four months in Honduras. I’m much more enthusiastic about documenting these types of projects, adventures, and thoughts. I’ll do my best to keep you updated! In the meantime, I hope all is well.

All the Best,
Dan