the finale

Last Thursday was the last class for the pilot course “Valores Empresariales” or “Business Values.” Each week, one of the loan officers in the Income Generation Program took turns teaching one of the 8 lessons. Each one included a devotional, some kind of activity or “dinamica,” and the main lesson, with a variety of teaching, discussion, and group work.

It has been rewarding  for me to see this project finally come to fruition. I have worked on the curriculum for awhile now, so helping my coworkers prepare for class was really good and often gave me even more ideas to add to the lesson.  Personally, it was a good way to connect with my coworkers and be more involved in the day-to-day activities of the office.

Yet the most exciting thing for me was to see the women of the bank program come out of their shells a little bit more every week. They were fully engaged in all of the material and seemed to enjoy a chance to have some fun together. Often consumed with the work of running their business and their household, it was cool to see them doing something for themselves and really soaking it all up.

The topic for the last class was “Boundaries of your Business.” The idea is that one’s business is a separate entity from themselves. The business does not have aunts, uncles and cousins asking for money. The business does not have children, nor does it get sick. Instead, the business owner must be careful to separate personal needs from the business needs; protecting the capital of the business and not diminishing the investment needed to grow.

This was a tough lesson because it directly negates what the women believe about running a business. Culturally, this idea does not make a lot of sense. If you own a business, and you have cash on hand, when your family asks for assistance, it is your duty to help. How could you turn away family in need? This idea created a lot of discussion among the women…I only wish we would have had more than an hour to discuss it with them! They were definitely considering the implications of this idea, and how it would affect them personally and in their business.

Freddy, my coworker did a really good job with the lesson. He was well prepared and did not even seem flustered when some of the women disputed the main idea of boundaries in your business. He also prepared some excellent visual aids for the lesson…complete with a bucket of little paper crabs to illustrate a story. I was so excited about his class!

So after the final lesson, we invited the women to return at 5 pm for a dinner and certificate for successful completion of the course. I was in charge of the certificates and the final verbal evaluation of the class at our closing ceremony. It was not without its glitches, and stress, but I think it turned out pretty well. Each woman was so excited to receive her certificate, and the responses from the discussion I led indicated they learned a lot to help them be better business owners. So…I think it was a success! In fact, I’ll even dare to say it was a great success…much learning and fun was had by all!

One feisty old lady who was never shy about sharing her thoughts stood up at the end and thanked everyone who helped prepare the lesson. It meant so much to her that these young guys (most of the loan officers) would take the time to prepare the lesson and show a real interest in teaching the women such important things. She was grateful for the way everything was rooted in biblical lessons and that it was good information for them personally and in their business life.  My heart was warmed by her kind words :)

 

It hasn’t always been clear what my role is here, but after this class I am feeling good about the small amount I can contribute in my time here at MCM. Maybe we won’t end up developing an official business school with 3 trimesters, offering 2 courses a month and 4 classes per week like my boss initially hoped (ambitious, I know :)…but we are at least starting small, and we were successful in offering 1 course, with a lot of important topics. I can’t even tell you how exciting it is to achieve something that seemed so difficult only 4 short months ago. It is also fun to see several of my coworkers who were afraid of teaching accomplish their task, and with great success. I keep asking if they are ready for the next time around…they claim they aren’t. But the difference now is I have full confidence in their ability to do it.

a visit from PA!

I was very honored this week to have a very special friend visit from PA! Also, her initials are PA, so the title works out nicely J I tried to give Paula a good mix of touristy activities while also showing her what my life is like here, and getting to know some of the various projects me and MCC colleagues are a part of.

Paula arrived on Sunday and we spent the day hanging out with my family, resting up after a long morning of travel, and generally adjusting to life in my house in Honduras.

On Monday we ventured out to Valle de Angeles, a touristy little town nestled in the mountains outside Tegucigalpa. It was a pretty quiet day, but we enjoyed some time to shop, catch up and have lunch together. In the evening we played Dutch Blitz with my host brothers (they have pretty much loved it from the day I taught them!) and were thrilled that team Honduras kept scoring “goals” on team USA. A bit embarrassing, since I taught Axel everything he knows :P

Tuesday morning we left early to head to Amor, Fe y Esperanza, the school where my MCC friend Johanna teaches. She gave us a great tour and overview of the ministry there. They work with children and families who live in the city trash dump…not easy work, but they have seen some tremendous change in the community there and are continually expanding their projects and programs. We had lunch at Johanna’s house and then went back downtown for the afternoon. We took in the National Identity museum (interesting, but completely in Spanish…and I got tired of translating!)…checked out the 2 main catholic churches (a requirement of any visit to Central American countries)…did a bit of shopping, and had dinner at a crepe restaurant. To wrap up the day of events, we met up with a bunch of foreigner friends and went to a free jazz concert at the National Theatre. It was a fun day, but we were pretty tired by the time we got home at 10.

Wednesday was Paula’s MCM orientation day. I let her sleep in a bit, then brought her to my office to meet my coworkers and show her the different components of MCM. After lunch, we sat in on a bank meeting (for our mutual microfinance interest :) and then Paula went to visit the after-school library program started by our Danish volunteers. Although she does not know much Spanish, she did not let that keep her from playing with the kids and even playing UNO for about an hour. In the evening we went to the Troyer’s house for a delicious dinner and good fellowship. We spent the night there and took regular showers in the a.m! (as opposed to the bucket showers Paula learned to master at my house :)

Thursday we visited ASJ (Assoc. for a more Just Society) where my MCC buddy Elise works. She did a great job sharing the work ASJ is a part of in Honduras, working to create more just systems and helping people who often have no voice with the government. We visited one of their community centers where they offer free legal advice and psychological counseling to the community. It was really inspiring and fun for both of us to learn more about what Elise does.

The afternoon of Thursday deserves its own post…so I will try to post about that soon. But, it was the last class of the 8 week training I have been working on for awhile, and then the “graduation” dinner or certificate ceremony in the evening. It was a great day, and I was so glad Paula could be here to share in it with me. I have to admit, this made her think I am very busy and always doing important things…I assured her (and now all of you) that this is not the case. I work for about 3 months without much to show for it, or at least much to keep me going, for 1 or 2 days where I feel like something is happening. I guess I’m just glad she got to witness the “something happening.” It was a really fun evening and even though Paula didn’t understand every word, she definitely could share in the general sentiment of joy and accomplishment that filled each one of the women who came Thursday evening.

Friday and Saturday did not go quite as we planned, but turned out well. We went to Picacho, the National Park across the city from where I live. We visited the zoo (a bit scary with monkeys roaming around outside their cage), checked out the view of the city, saw the large Jesus statue presiding over the mountain and had a good time together. On Saturday we spent more time with Virgil and Kathy and even made bagels from scratch! We were very proud of our efforts and enjoyed a relaxing day at the Troyer’s house.

Sunday was a bit crazy, as we went to church and then had to leave early to head to the airport. Although it was sad to say goodbye to Paula, I was ready to go home and take a nap J

I appreciate Paula’s willingness to come and visit me here in Teguc, even when her family told her it wasn’t a good idea. She was very flexible and willing to live just like I do for a week, and that meant a lot to me. It was so fun to catch up and share my experience with a great friend. I can’t thank her enough for coming!

enjoying baleadas, a Honduran essential.

making bagels! from scratch! won't my momma be so proud of me?

conocer

There is a word in Spanish that I have really come to love and appreciate. The verb "conocer" is translated to mean "to know"...but there are 2 verbs for this word in Spanish. Saber is used for knowing information. Conocer is used when you meet a new person, in general reference to knowing someone, and also used for knowing places. You don't ask someone if they've been to the Pacific Ocean, you ask if they know the Pacific Ocean. I really like the way that sounds...as if each place on the earth has a personality, characteristics that you can't just go and visit and say "Yeah, I've been there..." but you can say instead you know it, like a new friend you just met; someone you'd like to get to know better.

A few weeks ago I went to check out the festival for the Virgin of Suyapa, the namesake of our neighborhood, and of the beautiful basilica that sits at the bottom of the hill. People come from all over Honduras for this week long festival to celebrate the Virgin Suyapa of Honduras. My host family was not really interested in going, as they are not catholic, and have little interest in anything related to catholicism (lots to explore here, but we'l leave it for now). When I came home and shared about my experience inside the Basicila, and then moved on to talk about my upcoming trip to La Campa, my host mom was laughing at me and said "Charissa, you really like to conocer new places, don't you? You are always going to new places and seeing new things." My first thought was, yes, that is the life of a foreigner in Honduras. Always traveling to see another new place.

But then I thought about it for awhile longer, and realized that really is what much of my life has been about. I love knowing new places and learning new things about those places. I love knowing new people, and it especially makes a new place more meaningful for me when I experience it with people, old friends and new. I don't know what that says about me, but I realize that so much of my life has been about seeking out things that are new to me, finding new experiences and using what I know to help process the next unknown.

And so I will segue into my latest adventure to conocer a new place and give you a brief update on my weekend trip to Nicaragua!

The purpose of my 4 days in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, were to attend a regional conference for small business owners. I was privileged to attend the conference with 2 coworkers from MCM, a bank client who runs his own car-wash business, and 2 great women who work with Diakonia, another lending organization from the Christian Reformed Church here in Honduras. It was fun to travel with them and share the experiences of the conference with them as well.

a weekend in the country

Living here on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa has made me very much a city girl. It was not until I took a weekend trip to visit the western part of Honduras that I realized just how very 'urban' my Honduran experience is, compared to the very 'rural' experience of my friend Alison.

5 of us left Teguc on Friday morning to roadtrip to La Campa. Here's a little map to show you...we went from Teguc to a village about 15 km beyond Gracias. It took about 6 hours.

I was struck again and again by how beautiful Honduras is, and what a mix of contrasting regions it contains. I said to someone once that you could be dropped in one part of Honduras for a day, thinking all of Honduras is like that, and have no idea what else you're missing. There are mountainous regions like Tegucigalpa, very dry, deserty regions like Choluteca; very agricultural areas like Gracias and Olancho, beautiful lakes, and of course the tropical northern coast with sandy beaches. (to set up your personalized visit, contact Honduras Tours: charissazehr (at) gmail (dot) com :) But I digress...

We met up with Alison, our fellow MCCer, as she was translating for a medical team from the U.S. We are all so proud of her, as she really didn't speak much Spanish at all before coming 6 months ago--and now she's a certifiable translator! She rocks. From that little town, we drove to her house in La Campa and had a walking tour of town. The town has one main paved boulevard, one catholic church, 2 little hotels, and an awesome setting in a little valley. Alison works for CASM which provides a lot of food security training and agricultural development to the surrounding area of La Campa.

We had a fun time together, being a group of gringos and attracting a lot of attention (yes, way more than in Teguc!)...eating good food and thick, yellow tortillas (very different from our city-fied tortillas)...exploring some small towns, visiting microenterprises, buying some local-made souveniers like hand-made paper and red pottery...visiting a Lenca history museum, checking out the hot springs tourist stop, and generally enjoying the quiet, rural village.

volunteer

Volunteer. I use this word a lot but more and more am becoming unsure if I like the definition of this word, or what images it communicates within the community where I work.

There are several things that have been stirring all these thoughts within my brain...enough that I'm not really sure if this will even be a post that makes sense or if it is just a personal way to try and organize the shuffle of thoughts that I can't seem to articulate. First there was the Mennonite youth retreat and some awkward encounters about being a volunteer...there have been some more personal experiences of my own, here in Nueva Suyapa, and the experiences of other MCCers in Honduras...and I've recently been doing a lot of reading about the good/bad/ugly of volunteerism, thanks to some fellow SALTers in other parts of the world.

So I guess the first thing is thinking about why I'm a volunteer and what that means to me.
Then looking at reasons why I try and detach myself from preconceptions of "volunteers" and what that communicates to those in my community
And in the end, why ultimately I feel criticized by all these outside voices for being a volunteer...and from my experience why I think its really not the way they think it is...or something like that.

1) My definition of being a volunteer is easily summed up by "I work and I don't get paid." But, most days, that is not sufficient. There are many layers to this definition...I am an un-paid worker in an organization, but I have also made that decision out of a desire to work with others in a way of serving...this is not just serving the community (though on good days, I hope to do that) but also about exploring the tangible ways I live a life of serving Jesus, the one who should be the foundation and inspiration for all of this.

mennonite family

It's the first day of February! Less than 5 weeks til one of my favorite friends, Paula, comes to visit...less than 3 months til Easter week (which is a big holiday here) and about 6 more months left on my SALT term.

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend a retreat for young adults in the Mennonite church of Honduras. Lucky for me, it was just outside of Teguc, so I didn't have far to travel :) A few other MCC friends went along too, which was really fun. I wasn't sure how the whole thing would go, being that I only knew 6 other people attending the retreat...but in true Mennonite fashion, we were warmly welcomed and offered plenty of hospitality as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Friday night's worship service started around 7pm and lasted til about 11:30pm. We were instructed that devotions on Saturday morning would be before breakfast, at 6am. When this announcement was received with a round of groans, we were asked "Did we come here to sleep? Or have we come here to worship the Lord together?" ...in the rather quiet auditorium, the leader then said "Can I get an amen?!" ;) Apparently youth the world over hate getting up early. Who knew?!

So Saturday started early, which had us fighting sleep the entire day. There were devotions, breakfast, worship time and then 2 workshops. For the 2nd workshop, we (the MCCers) got to share with the country-wide leadership committee of the youth about our volunteer experience with MCC. We shared a bit about what MCC does, what service programs are available, and why we serve. It seemed like many of them were not familiar with what we shared, so it was great to be able to help connect MCC with the church in that way. Especially with the rising leaders of the Mennonite church.