Want a deeper insight into what an ICS placement looks like? Read the amazing blogs written by our past and present volunteers. Enjoy the journey!
En el mes de octubre del año 1998, en el municipio de San Juan de Limay, el Huracán Mitch destruyó la comunidad de la Grecia, Platanares, entre otras. Este fenómeno natural ocasionó la muerte de 5 personas por ahogamiento, procedentes de la comunidad de Platanares, municipio de San Juan de Limay, Departamento de Estelí.
Working cross culturally is something that, as we’ve learnt, is not very hard. In terms of our ‘African time’ this might sound weird to the UK volunteers but as for us national volunteers, it’s normal. For instance 10am for us is 10:30am. We are surprised at how well UK volunteers are coping with early starts, as we have heard they often lie in till 10am at home! We are glad the UK volunteers are able to cope with Zimbabwean culture.
We ended last week by learning another new skill. The afternoon before, our parting conversation ended with an instruction, which nicely contrasts our cultures, being that it would sound downright disturbing in the UK: ‘Okay cool, so meet at 8am tomorrow at the school with your machetes and sacks ready.’
We were to help tidy the school grounds in preparation for school starting on this Monday by mowing the lawn. Well, mowing was our term; we learned Honduran-style includes a lot less mower and a lot more elbow grease, hence the machetes.
Week four of my stay in Nicaragua is drawing to a close, which has left me reminiscing about what we have been doing so far. My personal highlight of this past week must be our Hurricane Mitch Tour of the Platanares community, which was an educational experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.
This week I thought that I would talk a bit about one of the projects that Team La Esperanza is working on during our time in Honduras. One of our key aims is to help a group of local Lenca women to set up and run small businesses in handicrafts. The Lenca people are the largest indigenous group in Honduras, with a population of approximately 100,000. They have a rich culture, which became mixed with that of the Spanish colonisers, yet they still retain much of their indigenous heritage.
Wednesday 20 January
Lying in a hammock, I swing drowsily from side to side as a cord hanging from the ceiling brushes my knees. It’s morning, and the other volunteers are adventuring on a mountain, collecting bamboo and clay for our bio-construction project.
De mi punto de vista nuestro grupo es muy bonito, pequeño pero un grupo muy unido. Cada semana es súper y me divierto mucho. Por ejemplo, esta semana tuvimos las clases de inglés - aprendimos los nombres de las herramientas en inglés y al igual los voluntarios británicos aprendieron los nombres en español. También, terminamos la encuesta de la comunidad que teníamos pendiente. Sin embargo, para nosotros fue un poco triste porque algunas personas rechazaron la oferta de una eco-estufa o un filtro de agua, porque las eco-estufas y un filtro de agua son un gran beneficio.
On 21 January, we went to Nthuzi, in Mbongondo, with the aim of training people on how to run a business and how they can save money through the Village Bank. We met the group Village Headman of Nthuzi with his community and they welcomed us with joy and a spirit of learning more. They had an interest in knowing how they can run their business and how they can save their money through the bank system, because they have never had this opportunity before.
Cancer is a leading cause of death around the world. In the West, we often assume it is only a real problem in the developed world, but it is rapidly emerging as a major public health concern everywhere. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for example, cancer rates are expected to double in the next twenty years (World Health Organisation, 2012).
Also known as, what happens when you move family, country, culture, language, food... and everything else?
