ICS blog

All the volunteers were gathered outside waiting for the arrival of the bus to go to El Pochote. At the first sight of the bus a few of the volunteers scrambled towards it to ensure themselves of a seat - the pain of standing up or crouching on the bus is to die for! When the bus pulled up I could see Ninoska (Progressio’s Country Rep) waiting for our arrival. She told us that the materials would be arriving by midday, at this point everyone got excited to finally get stuck in with the work of building eco latrines.

This week we made our first journey into La Asomada, the first rural community which we have visited during our residence in Lempira. After much anticipation we were extremely excited to meet the local residents. Upon arrival we were greeted with a warm welcome and paired with our national volunteers, who we worked with whilst engaging villagers in a questionnaire raising issues relating to their daily environment, in particular water management. 

It's hard to put into words just how welcoming our Nicaraguan host families have been. All of the UK volunteers are living in full home stays, which means we get adopted into new families for the ten week placement. Whilst it was daunting to be taken from the hostel where we had our induction training and unceremoniously dropped in the streets of Masaya, it's definitely the best way to have the full community experience. 

After a long day of travelling, all the volunteers were ready to make their way to the school in El Pochote. When the bus arrived, I think everyone assumed that another bus would be coming in order to fit us all in. 

We all thought wrong. 

As soon as I left Tegucigalpa airport and boarded the bus for Valle de Angeles I was struck by the beauty of our surrounding landscape. Lush and vibrantly coloured flowers and greenery met us at every corner as we drove up the winding road further into the mountains for our training week.

We arrived on the 2nd July in the evening and despite being tired from a full day of travel we were all excited and eager to get stuck in.

On our first day in Nicaragua we visited a museum to learn about the country´s indigenous origins and culture which we all found fascinating. We saw various artefacts, paintings and exhibits all of which differed greatly from our western culture.

After a week of orientation we said farewell to the energetic city of San Salvador for the unknown environment of Nuevo Gualcho. The different ways of life we were eager to encounter were almost portrayed to us during our journey, various road-side stalls selling fruit showed us the reality of the struggle to generate an income. Stepping onto Gualcho ground, the sense of wanting to make a real difference was amongst us all.

From my varied experiences in Honduras, working both in rural communities and the capital city, working with 3 charitable organisations focusing on diverse issues including youth participation and women’s rights, and from general travelling and observing through living there, it feels to me that to be a woman in Honduras is a world away from being a woman in the UK. 

On a hot Wednesday afternoon my host mother in Nicaragua, Ruth, took me to meet a group of street children with whom she used to work with, through an organisation called La Escuela Movil. They all have one main thing in common: their addiction to glue sniffing.

It is not difficult to see that substance abuse adversely affects the community of Masaya. Alcoholism is a particular problem in rural communities such as Nandayuri, where the ICS team conducted some of our surveys.

My depiction of the 21st century woman prior to my departure was outspoken, courageous, with a social temper to the changing landscape of the female in the modern world. My view has been restricted solely to the Western world, dominated by liberal values championing universal meritocracy disposing of the homely pursuits which have defined the role of women throughout the decades.