ICS blog

Since signing the peace agreements in 1992, after a brutal civil war, the population of El Salvador has become divided in terms of their political stances. This is closely related to their personal experiences and livelihoods. Election Day therefore, is a big deal in this country, an opportunity to see these divisions come to the surface. 

In much of the world gender inequality prevails, and Nicaragua is no exception. Round the clock, daytime soap operas play out on my host family’s snowy 10 inch television screen, and of the snippets I catch at mealtimes the women are portrayed as – pause for groan – either the docile victim or a rouge-lipped vixen. Naturally the men are the heroes, hell-bent on saving the damsels and then seducing them. It’s a dated trope and mostly laughable, yet despite the comedy these shows illustrate the wider gender issues at play.

The predicted consequences of climate change are already becoming a reality in Honduras. ‘La Roya’, a devastating coffee disease, heightened by climate change, is a very real example of the impact that changes in climate can have, not only on the environment, but on the economy and livelihoods as well. Melons in the South of Honduras are now requiring more water to grow as temperatures are soaring and the vegetables in the mountains are struggling with the opposite, becoming sick with fungi due to the cold.

We’ve just started to settle into our English classes with the local community. We hold the classes, which we deliver twice a week, in the offices of our partner organisation COMUCAP and they’re open to anyone who fancies coming along. We weren't really sure what to expect from our first lesson. The partner organisation had spread the word around the community and we weren't sure what the age, knowledge and confidence level of our students would be when we started. For our first class we planned an easy alphabet activity and as 10 young children arrived, we realised that was a good idea.

I’m going to begin this by introducing myself and giving a couple of personal details because I think it’s nice to know whose words you are reading. My name is George Green and I’m a 21 year old student in my third and final year at the University of Birmingham.

I study English Literature and Philosophy and my likes include sport, twitter, and reading, whilst my dislikes include bad manners, spiders, and The Jeremy Kyle Show. These may be irrelevant details, but I think they’re fun to start with.

In the UK, Valentine’s Day is for many, a blatant commercialistic, moneymaking endeavour, aimed at making romantic couples feel obligated to buy each other gifts. Some British singletons even dread February 14^th, as the thought of being alone on this day can be considered embarrassing! However, on this same day, just over the Atlantic, this date is celebrated in an infinitely more collective and beautiful way. In Honduras, what we know as Valentine’s Day is called ‘Love and Friendship Day’ and is a celebration of unity, family and loved ones.

In the UK, I have worked with young people for the last 7 years. I am a qualified youth worker and feel pretty comfortable in most situations in my field of work. Where others might shy away from a large group of young people in the street - I would see this as an exciting challenge, asking myself, 'How might I engage with them in a positive way?'. Then I arrived in Honduras.. and I realized what it really means to be out of my comfort zone.

Since being In Nicaragua, I have found that the perception of time is a complex measurement. I have been here now for three weeks, although it is a short period of time, it feels like I have been away from home forever.  As much as time feels like its speeding up, it also feels like it’s standing still.

On Wednesday morning we left the rest of the group, with our bags packed up for the next couple of days ahead. Fortunately, two of us from the group had been given the opportunity to experience everyday life in the home of an indigenous Lenca family, in the beautiful community of Belen, Manazapa.

We cannot believe it has been another two weeks already, with a jam packed schedule, proving to be both fun and enjoyable. To reach our targets we have been planting trees and soya beans and attending youth club meetings. So far we have surpassed our soya bean planting target and have planted over 70% of our pine tree seedlings. We have continued meeting our partner youth clubs in preparation for World Aids Day, taking place on the 1^st March 2014; that we - as a group, are hosting.