Friday, Feb. 27th (?) or 28th (??) I have lost track....

Hey all,

I haven't posted in 4 days just because Judy and I have been totally swamped with our volunteer schedule!!! On Tuesday morning we started volunteering at the E-Learning Center here in Sandy Bay, Roatan, Honduras and it was REALLY busy all day and every day all week. So now it is 7:00 p.m. on Friday night and I have time (and a decent computer) so I can catch up.

Our day starts at about 8:30 a.m. when we arrive at the Learning Center after about a 15 minute walk down the road/beach from where we are staying. Our "commute" is an incredible combination of the most beautiful turquoise water and sandy beach with the waves breaking on the reef about 100 yeards out and picking our way through a terrible, and muddy, unpaved, garbage-strewn road that is filled with potholes the size of bathtubs. This seems to be the constant juxtaposition of when the Third (or Fourth) World meets Nature. It is breath taking and heart breaking at the same time. The poverty of many (most) of the citizens of Roatan is unbelievable. But they are also very kind and friendly to us and helpful in every way.

After a very rainy Monday we woke up to a gorgeous Tuesday and headed over to the center for our first morning. We met Janet, who is the lead staff person at the center and very quickly several kids showed up so Janet set some of them up to work on computer spelling and math games while I read books to a few of the youngest ones. The computers are HORRIBLE. I think they are first generation PC's that are so big and clumsy and slow and half the time quit on the kids but that is the best technology available at this time. We heard that many new computers are waiting and totally stuck in Customs until somebody bribes some official to get them released. Bummer.

But the kids at the Center are really great and very happy to be there and they LOVE all the individual attention we can give them. The public school system here is abysmal. There are approx. 50,000 school age kids on Roatan but only 14,000 (about 25%) are in school at all. There is no space at all for the remaining kids (the other 75%) in classrooms anyway. Of the kids who start school here, 50% drop out by 6th grade and 87% never finish high school. WOW. So we are working with the top of the top of the kids in the community and the center is absolutely OVERWHELMED. On Tuesday afternoon we had 17 kids from ages 2 to 17 (plus 3 adults) in a room the size of an American dining room (our guess is about 10 feet by maybe 20 feet). With 6 computers and one small plastic table (about 3 feet square) for all the high school students to do their homework on. In the tropics. With an "air conditioner" that basically blows hot air from the outside into the inside space. It was pretty unbelievable but amazingly quiet and the kids are very respectful of each other and us. Judy and I were pretty surprised that questions were all answered very politely with "Yes, M'am" or "No, M'am".

We get a lunch hour from 12 to 1 and are able to stroll over to Bay Island Beach Resort and have a lovely buffet lunch with the staff members of the Center. But then things start up again at 1:15 when another bunch of kids show up for their time. Here in Honduras, because there are NO RESOURCES for education, school is only 4 hours a day. So kids (the few of them that attend school at all) either go to the morning (8 to 12) or afternoon (1 to 5)sessions. Janet told us that a class of 50 students is not unusual. So you can see why a program like the E Learning Center is so appreciated by students and parents who are screened and agree to the rules for attendance. The day ends at 4:30 or 5 and it is so wonderful to just get outside and feel a little fresh air and breeze at that time of the day! On Tuesday we managed to time our exit perfectly to a huge downpour and we actually did not mind walking in the pouring rain home and got totally soaked to the skin, but it was very refreshing after the HOT, HOT, HOT afternoon indoors. But we do bring umbrellas every day now!

The rest of the week was pretty much the same every morning and afternoon with a variety of kids coming on different mornings and afternoons. Maria usually spends a couple of hours in the morning teaching English to a 17 year old girl, Ana, and Judy has spent a lot of time working on organizing the "library" of books which are classified by grade level and color coded with an extremely sophisticated system of little tabs cut out of construction paper and taped to the spine of each book. The next important task was reminding all the kids to pay attention to the colors on the shelves and to match them with the colors on the books when they return them to the shelves!

Every day is different with lots of different kids at every level of learning in both Spanish and English. Most of the kids are actually bilingual but, if not, Maria works with the Spanish speakers and Judy with the English speakers. We are both re-reading all of our favorite children's books to the kids includiing Green Eggs and Ham and The Cat in the Hat (in both Spanish and English) and we are helping the little ones with coloring books and crayons and the big kids with their school reports and English translations. They all say "thank you" at every opportunity and we have gotten lots of hugs as well. They are unbelievably sweet and so appreciative of the extra attention and little supplies and books we have to share with them. Very rewarding.

Janet also asked us to help the kids write and put on a play that they can perform next Thursday at the weekly "Crab Races" at the Bay Island Resort which is the source of funding for the Center. So we found some inspiration in one of Erik Carle's books and Judy has written a great draft for the play which is basically a Lady Bug introducing another Lady Bug to all the creatures/animals on Roatan and the kids will each pick an animal to be and tell something about itself as an introduction to becoming friends. Maria is supposed to write the "finale" and I am having some issues with writer's block!!

So that is pretty much our week! We are taking photos of the scenery along the "commute" as well as photos in the Center of the kids and the setting. On Thursday we took some extra time at lunch to run out to the airport and buy tickets to the mainland for our trip home. We decided that spending a full day starting at 6:00 a.m. in a taxi to the ferry, a ferry ride to the mainland, a taxi from the ferry landing to the bus stop in La Ceiba, a 3 hour bus ride from La Ceiba to the San Pedro Sula bus station, a taxi to an airport hotel, then overnight in a hotel and then a taxi ride to the airport the next morning to catch our flight to Houston was worth $100 and a one hour plane ride the same morning as our Houston flight. Don't you agree??? We also made a shopping stop in Coxen HOLE for a few groceries, some fresh fish and shrimp for a couple of dinners and another stop at the Post Office for stamps. Still no stamps. At all. At the only Post Office on an island of 100,000 people. None. Maybe next week, but probably not. So, all of the postcards we have written to all of you will probably be mailed when we return after March 9th. Don't hold your breath. I'm serious.

Another phenomenon worth mentioning is an observation about the rain and its aftermath. Remember, this is NOT the rainy season here. The rain we have seen in the last week is quite unusual. They get about 200 inches of rain a year here. Mostly in a 3 month period from October to December. We have heard that it can rain up to 12 inches an HOUR here. If the rain we saw earlier this week is any indication then I can't imagine 3 months of it. One night it rained most of the night and when we got up and walked to "work" the entire bay was nearly completely BROWN with silty run-off and had so much garbage floating in it we were just heartsick. This is one of the most beautiful and extensive reefs in the world. And it is just being destroyed by the poverty and lack of resources of Honduras. So sad. I can not imagine what it might look like in 10 years.

OK, that is way too much for now. Back to relaxing on a Friday night after a LOOOOONG week. We miss all of our friends and family. We know our Minnesota and Wisconsin loved ones have been freezing and shoveling. We are NOT gloating about our circumstances. But we do plan to enjoy the weekend and do some snorkeling and other fun stuff before we go back to "work" next week.

Much love,

Maria