Let Freedom Ring

Pictures From Field Based Training




Things are a changin’ here in Langue. I was finally able to move out of my host families place and into my own. It has made all the difference in the world for me. I have what I’m calling a fixer upper of a place. Basically it’s a neglected shithole…but it’s my neglected shithole, and with a little work (cough, understatement) it’s gonna be a wonderful place to live. The family I rent from now has become one of the best things I’ve got going for me here in Langue. We are using my rent money every month to slowly make repairs on the house. And come a year or so it should be a pretty awesome place. I’ve already repaired the walls and painted the entire interior of the place, done some plumbing, and tried to clean up the trash dump of an otherwise great back yard complete with mango, coconut, and lime trees; all while working during the week as well. Needless to say it fills up any downtime I care to fill. There are some serious perks to living alone, and where I do in town. First, I live in quite possibly the safest neighborhood in town that has its own water system. Meaning I have water in the morning to late afternoon everyday, at least until dry season. Compared to the rest of Langue who gets water maybe once a week for a few hours to fill up their pilas (open air water tanks) it’s awesome. I’m taking my first showers without a bucket now in Langue. Secondly, I don’t have to operate on a host families schedule anymore. I eat when I want, listen to music when I want, etcetera, etcetera; all of which I took for granted until the first few months here in Langue with the family I was with. I can also entertain visitors like a few good Langue friends or other volunteers whom I can finally show the town I live in as well. I also live just two blocks from the soccer stadium, where I get down 4 or 5 times a week. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I can truly relax for the first time here in Langue.
Aside from living plenty of other things have been going on as well. I have been to a couple Peace Corps sponsored trainings. The first was a men’s health conference I was asked to attend, even though my primary project is water, where I learned a few methods to better reach men in terms of teaching about HIV and AIDS. I gave a charla (educational talk) to a group of firefighters and Red Cross workers and have decided to make giving AIDS charlas to the local high school a side project of mine for the next month or two. Upon asking a few questions to the kids I play soccer with it becomes dauntingly apparent how in need these guys are in terms of AIDS and basic sexual health knowledge.
The next training I went to was for a program called VOS, which is a peer support network here in Honduras for volunteers. I was nominated by a number of volunteers and basically it is a resource for people to call me, anonymously, about any problems they are facing. I’m stoked about it. It’s a great way to offer support to people who may be having thought of terminating their service early, are frustrated with work or the culture, or any other number of things volunteers go through (it’s a lot).
Work is moving along, though much slower for me at times than even I expect. In all honesty I have nothing to do in the office this morning so I am writing this blog post instead. Productivity! I have some small projects lined up here and there with a few water system designs and some water board work, but its tough to tackle the feelings of uselessness when you have the desire to work and can’t do so. Times like these require one to remind oneself that this is going to continue to happen, many times out of my control, and that it will pass. Additional pep talk material occasionally includes me telling myself I’m not getting paid, but I really don’t like that one.
Asi es la vida. Moving right along. These months are truly flying by for me. I mean summer in the States is already on its way to wind down. Making the most of just about every day I can. Taking in whatever experience presents itself and being as present as I possibly can in any given moment. All the bad experiences come with many, many more good ones. My life is beginning to feel more and more here and not in the states. I miss you all so much, but the actual States I don’t as much. This is a good thing I think.
I would love a letter or anything anyone cares to send me for I have an address down here now…here it is

Voluntario Jesse Hunt
Recomendado a Voluntaria Vanessa Garcia
Correo Nacional
Nacome, Valle, Honduras, C.A.

And that’s about it for now.
Take care all,

Jesse

More pictures from my site and more current events to come...

Still Alive

Yeah so the whole keeping an updated blog hasn’t been working out so well. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if anyone at all will even look at this post because it has been so fruitless up to this point to try to see what I’m up to. But, believe it or not I’m up to a lot which is exactly why I have been so bad at updating this thing; that and the horribly unpredictable access to Internet I get to read e-mail and other pressing issues like Pitchfork Music and Facebook before anything else. I want nothing more than to upload a few pictures for friends and family to see…but alas it is an arduous process every time, almost always ending in curse words in two languages.
Perhaps an update of what I’ve been up to. It’s hard to start really. I’m in my site, which will be my home for the next two years theoretically. I’m in the South, the dirty South if you will. It’s the hottest part of the country. Eight months or so out of the year not a drop falls from the sky and the dust apparently becomes rampant. Now we are in a bit of a weird point weather wise. Everyday is still hot as a mother, but El Nino has supposedly returned bringing crazy powerful rainstorms here and there. The last big one, “Agatha,” I believe they called it, wiped out bridges displaces thousands of people and brought upon an onslaught of water related health issues; namely digestive related and Dengue (Malarias’ ugly cousin who makes your whole body hurt and kills appetite for weeks). All of this has served to deter some of my progress here in the south…but not that much. I work for what is called a Mancommunidad called MAFRON. Basically it’s an office organized to get projects designed and followed through with in 5 Municipios here in Valle. Oh yes I almost forgot. I live in a town called Langue in the department of Valle. Basically Honduras is split up into departments, which are in turn split up into Municipios (the US equivalent of counties lets say). My town is Langue, a town of about 4,000 or so, and also sits in the Municipio of Langue as if not to make it any more confusing.
So my office is made up of a few engineers and technicos and a secretary or two who are paid by the Mayors offices of our five Municipos to design and follow through with projects. Projects like civil engineering stuff such as buildings and bridges, as well as health and other infrastructure things…like my project…Water and Sanitation!! I’m a volunteer obviously and I work with the Mayors of MAFRON to see what their needs and desires are relating to water and basically make decisions what kind of work I want to get involved in. It sounds easy enough on paper but hardly in real life. Things like the aforementioned storms are just a tangible means for explaining the hurricane of excuses down here for work not getting done, or even getting started. In fact there is an all too common phrase down here used at the beginning of the sentence for every excuse or apology to “lesson the blow”. The dreaded “fijese que”. For example…”fijese que but my plans totally changed the other day and I decided to go do something else without telling you I wouldn’t be at your meeting”. I get it constantly, and honestly the biggest problem is that it’s so damn contagious. After getting burned a few times with some fijese que’s it sure was nice to dish it out and just say it when I wanted to change a few dates. Its all relative I suppose.
So what exactly have I done the last month or more in site? Gotten to know my town, leaders, and the five Municipos around me; a job in and of itself without Spanish in the mix. I have done topographical studies and designs for two water systems that are to be built in two communities who have never had running water. Had a number of meetings with Mayors and various foremen and water management people to discuss problems and hopes and expectations for the future. And this is all just work related. Such a huge part of all of this is getting to know whom your community is, what makes it tick, what the people are like.
Langue is very chilled out. Ironically very likely a direct result of how ridiculously hot it is here. This is some powerful sun. It sits in rolling hills and is about 15 minutes from the El Salvador border and 2.5 hours from the capital of the country, Tegucigalpa. In every direction there are dirt roads heading out to the Aldeas (small, usually very poor, communities outside towns) good for walks and running as well as a 7 km hilly main road heading into Langue good to make your legs hurt for a while. It’s very predominantly Catholic and relatively safe in terms of how Honduras goes. I play tons of soccer every week where on the field I’m known as primo Jesse. The town also got to know me very quickly I think as a result of playing so much. My first experience was an intense one. I had been looking for a good game to play in for three weeks in site and was understandably unsure of where to look or go or who to ask. There is a stadium but these games on weekends are official league games. And during the week it never struck me to look there. Anyways I showed up with my cleats on my third Sunday here and low and behold there was an official 21 and up game about to start and one team was down a player. Suit up the gringo!! Before I knew it I was in Juventes jersey and shorts playing right attack in front of at least 60 Hondurans screaming every time I touched the ball or just generally yelling gringo. I played the first half, not so great, not so bad either, tired as hell. The other player showed up, and just as well. I spent the rest of the game in the stands surrounded by curious Languenans who all of a sudden wanted to know everything about me.
Now I hear my name everywhere I go coming from people I don’t even recognize at times. It really isn’t fair. There is one guys name to learn who stands out of every crowd and for me it’s a constant struggle to try to come up with just a handful every day. Tack on trying to learn Spanish to everything and it quickly becomes unmanageable (I watch tons of world cup and only just learned Alemania is Spanish for Germany ☹ its easy to feel like an idiot in Spanish at times for me). Things are crazy right now. My counterpart just got fired for political reasons and a lot of work has disappeared, I just found a fixer upper place to live in for August (I can’t wait to get out of my current host family situation), and I just spent an overwhelming 4th of July weekend with all the volunteers from the south and more for a welcome party for the new volunteers. Things could be better and I have to remind myself that things could be worse…no one said the Peace Corps is easy.
I am now somewhat forcibly moving out of the honeymoon phase of my Peace Corps and site experience. The “everything is so wonderful” feelings have fleeted in the last week or more with large challenges of work, friends, and host family ensuing. But all in all things are okay. It’s all going to work out one way or another. It has to…just not according to plan…like everything around here. I will continue to live the best life I possibly can down here trying to remain true and authentic to my heart.

I hope everyone I know and miss in the States is doing well.

Paz,
Jesse

Field Based Training...and Finally an Update

Yes everyone, I am still alive, and well in fact. It has been a while since the last post; just over a month, but it sure doesn’t feel that way. I think that’s a good sign. So I guess a recap of the time elapsed since then is due. I have made some really great friends amongst the other trainees. My Spanish improves everyday little by little and my English worsens everyday at the same rate it seems. The days have been long and full. There have been Spanish lessons, cultural lessons, medical stuff, technical training (which has only now really just begun in full), and so much more. Included in all this has been our favorite scare tactic sessions where we are told how many bad things could and “are” going to happen to us. This is a very dangerous country indeed (sorry mom!!). We’re talking about the highest homicide rate in the world. What they don’t say is that the vast majority of these incidents are related to the drug trade. I got a good head on my shoulders though and am no longer “blindly trusting every person I meet” (that’s right to those of you with warnings of my character flaws).
Beyond all that this is truly turning out to be a wonderful time. I have done some traveling. I have been to the capital on multiple occasions and went to the very south of the country for a three-day volunteer visit that went great regardless of how amazingly hot it was. During breaks we practice soccer and occasionally I steal a guitar for a few. Some great friendships have been kindled in such a short amount of time and after the first three and a half weeks the three different projects that are represented here (health, business, and wat/san) have since been separated. This was not however before we all celebrated a fellow trainee’s and my birthdays just a little early before we all went our different ways.
Starting on Sunday the 21st of March, myself and 16 other Water and Sanitation trainees took off for my current location of El Paraiso. It is so unbelievably beautiful here. Mountains absolutely full of coffee farms and other fruits surround the city. My project is also, in my opinion, the best one amongst Peace Corps volunteers in Honduras. I often get to work outside with my hands on solutions to the ever-growing problem in this world that is water. However small my efforts may seem in the grand scheme of things, in many cases they will be concrete. If this feeling in any way matches the sense of pride I felt after finishing a construction project in full then I am in the right place. Being in El Paraiso also means that I’m in Field Based Training (FBT). I now just spend the majority of my days learning Spanish and learning the ins and outs of my future job first hand. Needless to say everyday is different. Everyday has different challenges. And little by little I inch closer to becoming a volunteer. No, I still have no idea where I will be living for the next two years, which is a little exciting, but not nearly as much as it is nerve racking. I will not know for another 5 weeks either. All I can do is relax, take in the process, and await a life of greater personal agency.
I want to thank everyone that managed to send me some type of birthday wish whether that was on Facebook or in e-mail. I was able to check all that, but I rarely get the Internet. Itss just not convenient and often costs money. No matter how large or small the message was I was smiling ear to ear after reading them all so thank you very much.
Too much to say, not enough detail, I get it. I will try to get better at this blogging thing. I have been taking plenty of pictures though don’t yall worry. I’ll try to throw a few on here as well. Take care everyone.

Peace,

Jesse

My Second Day In...5 days later

What a wonderful first few days this has turned out to be in Honduras. Life was feeling hectic and anxious in the weeks leading up to this trip. To all of you I was able to say goodbye to thank you all for the encouragement. When I arrived in Miami there were 54 other people greeting me who had similar feelings of wanting to finally begin this journey. Everyone had explained the same few things we barely knew time and time again and although I love you all so much it has been a great weight off of my shoulders in many ways to get here.

That’s not to say my first day was not a crazy one in so many ways. There are new surroundings, new friends, new job, new family, new culture, and a mostly unfamiliar language. But, as the Peace Corps promised I was with my new host family within 4 or so hours of arriving to the country. I must say I really like them. I am the first volunteer they have ever had, and in terms of Honduras they do fairly well, and work very hard for it. The nuclear family has a mother and father and two kids, one 15 year old boy and a 12 year old girl. The father is a security guard by night at a Catholic University in the city a half hour away and when he catches up on sleep he is a carpenter by day. He is currently building apartments next to the house to eventually rent out. My host mother is so very nice and patient with me. She slows down her Spanish for me and repeats herself without hesitation or frustration. The boy works on a farm most days and goes to school most nights. The daughter simply goes to school and smiles at me the rest of the time. I’m not sure if its my skin of my blundering Spanish; probably both.

This is by no means the end of the family around here. Connected to this house is where 6 cousins and their families live as well. Everyone is in and out every day. Two girl cousins of 22 and 18 have taking a liking to me and had a good time trying to see what I was into and quizzing me on objects in the room in Spanish. The food is simple and good in my opinion. Staples are beans, salty cheese, homemade tortillas, fruit sometimes, rice, various meats…you get the picture. Does me just great. Oh and my host mother made me a homemade tea from pineapple and cinnamon to ease my nerves the first night…so nice to have someone care for you in an otherwise nerve-racking situation.

My Room...

I know its only been two days and this may be preemptive, but I feel as though I know I’m doing something I was meant to. I’m loving getting to know a few people in my group, the teachers are great (all Spanish instruction is strictly in Spanish…YES!!), and the climate has been moderate as to ease into the heat. My first cold bucket shower this morning was quite the experience, but I must say better than coffee at 6 in the morning (I think MLA and Safire Canyon helped prepare me for that). So much more to come…its only day two here, and that soft glow of light at the end of the tunnel just got a lot brighter for me.

Peace,

Jesse

…or as they pronounce “Jyes”, or for those that can’t handle that…mi nombre medio…Raymond

Miami Vice

Hanging in a hotel near the Miami Airport. Awaiting the unknown, and chatting with a new rommate.