Literacy Class #4

Today we brought a dry erase board up the mountain to the literacy class. Doña Angelica, my coworker who turned 60 a few weeks ago, insisted on carrying the box up the mountain.

When we got to the other side we noticed they had cleaned up and burned the garbage and the dry brush/grass. I was surprised! I thought for sure they would wait for Doña Angelica to do it. It looked great. And someone hung a "Congratulations" sign in the tree, which I thought was really funny.

Usually we take things at a comfortable pace in the class. But today I wanted to finish with the first lesson. It's supposed to be done in about 8 hours so if we had finished today, we would have been right on schedule.

We didn't finish. I think it's because we also spend extra time in the bible and in prayer. But that's what feels right to me. The students seem to love it, so I don't plan to start rushing things. The person who showed me how to teach told me that we need to customize everything to fit our needs. She said there is no wrong way as long as they are learning. I feel great about how things are going so far.

Erika was really well behaved this week! Every time she got bored she walked over and helped her mother. It was perfect. She didn't disrupt the class at all and her mother can use the extra help. At the end of the class I hugged her and told her she did very well.

Even Doña Angelica could see the difference. Doña Angelica has known Erika since Erika was little. She said she has never seen Erika so well behaved. I was expecting Doña Angelica to disapprove because I didn't give a big lecture and crack down on the whole class. Instead she told me I did a great job by pulling  Erika aside and talking to her privately.

I have a feeling that Erika's mother talked to her too. I respect the way these ladies parent. They are more "old school" like me, and work hard to teach their kids to respect others. I rarely see parents like them. They may not know how to read and write, but they know how to raise respectful kids. 

We did have two little incidences in class today. There is always one dog that comes and lies on the floor in front of the door. Today two dogs came. First they were fighting. Then one kept having bad gas. He has so thin. Half of his hair was falling out. You could see every bone in his body. It was sad. And on top of that he smelled bad. The students complained about the smell so the owner tried to shoo him out. But the other dog was lying in front of the door so he didn't dare to leave. The owner picked up a stool and started trying to push him with the stool, but he wouldn't go so she became a little more forceful. She never really hit him with the stool, but he began to yelp, at which point I stepped in and said the dog can stay but lets have him go to the other side of the room. So he went and laid down away from the people and we were fine.

Beating, stoning, kicking animals is extremely common in Honduras. Kids learn to do it at a young age from watching adults. It's sad, and it won't happen on my watch. If we can teach people to clean up their land, we can also teach them to treat their animals better.

The other incident was a little more heavy. We heard quite a bit of gunfire today. I had never heard gunfire in that area before. It wasn't close. It was on the other side of the mountain. Some of the ladies were clearly concerned. I pretended not to notice. I didn't want them to think that I am not comfortable being there with them.

One of the ladies had to miss class today. I figured out what each of them are good at and assigned them to go work with the woman who missed class on the thing that they are best at. They love the idea of teaching each other. I told them this is part of being a community - supporting one another and working as a team. This class is so much more than literacy!

At the end of the class Doña Angelica and I stood at the top of the mountain. We looked down and could see that security had not come yet to pick us up. Usually we always wait for security at our pick up spot. But today we waited at the top of the mountain until we saw the truck coming. Then we ran down to meet them.

Things at the office are different too. It's been this way for about two weeks. There are military police hanging around. They are kind of hidden, but they are there. Personally, I don't like that we need them there. But I do think it's a good thing.

Here's a cute photo I took today. She was really eyeballing the stickers I gave to her mom, so I stuck one on her forehead. She looked at me like I was nuts, so I took this photo so she could see it. Everyone loved looking at the photo. Moments like that remind you that sometimes the simplest things are the best.