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!
During our “prioximo semana” (first week), Progressio introduced us to the programmes we would be participating in whilst in Honduras. Meeting Red COMAL our partner organisation, whom we are supporting, we got shown a video displaying the effects of climate change in Honduras and why the work we will be doing in Lempira, Western Honduras is so important.
THE PREVENTION OF DRUG AND ALCOHOL ABUSE IN CATACAMAS, OLANCHO, HONDURAS
We are a team of twelve volunteers and two team leaders from Honduras and the UK, here to promote healthy lifestyles to prevent substance abuse in Catacamas. Working in partnership with health organisation Predisan and their rehabilitation project CEREPA (Centre for the Rehabilitation of Patients with Addictions), we aim to fulfil a number of short-term goals and kick-start the project’s longer-term outcomes during our 10-week cycle.
Progressio y su Desarrollo
Por José Rubén Alemán Méndez
De repente una oportunidad surgió
pudimos ser parte de un mundo importante,
las ganas de trabajo por la piel nos brotó,
y pudimos ser parte de una vida importante.
Progressio nos abrazó con la intensión
de que seriamos parte del desarrollo mundial,
cada quien guardó la experiencia en el corazón
y cada quien con su voluntariado pudo ser especial.
As we enter our last week in Gracias, we’ve begun to finish off the projects in the communities and to say goodbye to the people there. So now is a good time to look back at the work we’ve done and to give you an idea what these communities are like.
Our day starts when our bus driver – Don Berto – picks us up from our house in Gracias. He then drives us to one of eight communities, five of which are profiled below. First up is the turn off for Los Altos Guanteque:
Los Altos Guanteque
On a three month volunteering placement in the smallest country in Central America - El Salvador, I stayed in a messy, green village called Santa Marta in the rural north. There on a lazy Saturday morning on placement I wrote on my thoughts, my surroundings, on the birds and banana plants and on lives here - specifically the lives of the youth I was working with. The programme we were involved with (Progressio ICS) sends groups of British volunteers to work alongside national volunteers of the same age, on issues of sustainable development put forward by the community.
El voluntariado internacional es muy criticado en el periodismo de hoy. Periodistas como Mohamud (2013), Elliot (2013), y Dykins (2014) - quienes han participado en el voluntariado internacional y ahora escriben para la prensa blanca - siempre se enfocan en los defectos y las repercusiones supuestamente negativas de dicha práctica. Recalan la ingenuidad del voluntario occidental, desestiman las intenciones benevolentes y altruistas de las organizaciones no gubernamentales (ONG) y se burlan de su esfuerzo entorpecedor.
If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from our time in Honduras; it’s always have a backup plan.
People usually say that Monday is the most hectic day of the week but on Tuesday, at that point and time I begged to differ because when we arrived at Mncumbatha Secondary School the students were buzzing a different tune. All we could see were the students running from one classroom block to another as an attempt to settle down and start on with the day’ work, as it was just a few minutes after eight.
The ride to Pumula was a bumpy one for Sarah and Grace, having to wake up early in the morning and catch a kombi with conductors yelling ’Pumula, Pumula ‘. They were meeting the rest of the team in Pumula, at a pre-school called Everlasting Joy. The day’s lesson was going to take a different spin as they were teaching young children, ages ranging from tender three to six. This meant that when the team was presenting their lesson they had to bear this fact in mind.
As the fourth week of our placement draws to a close and the mid-term review fast approaches, I can't quite believe that the halfway mark is nearly upon us. Time has been consumed by our work at Simukai, experiencing the local culture and adjusting to life in Zimbabwe.
