Learning again

I´m in Spanish school this week. For 4 hours each morning I sit with an instructor who tries to stuff vocabulary into my brain. and grammar.

It's a bit frustrating. I understand it all, having learned French previously. But the words are different, of course. I can certainly, with prompting, recite the various verbs in their conjugation. but just saying I work, you work, they work, we work, etc, etc. is boring. I need to add some interest to it. But suddenly I need to know how to add clauses, and need more vocabulary than I have.

The joys of learning something new all over again. It´s humbling, to say the least.

The most interesting bit today: I wore my denim shirt with the Canadian Unitarian Council logo sewn on it today. One of the other students at my Spanish school asked me if that was a chalice, am I UU? Yes, of course. So is he--he´s from Boston. I didn´t get time to ask him his name though. Maybe I'll see him tomorrow.

From the Ruins

I´m in Copan Ruinas, Honduras, taking a break from all the hard work of concrete construction. We have hauled concrete blocks, both 6" and 8", laid block, with mortar mixed by hand, and then stuffed the cracks between. The sand for the mortar is sieved by throwing it on to a screen. Just when I think it´s all manual labour, I see the cement mixer for the big loads of concrete for filling block holes around the rebar, and for the foundation.

I´ll definitely be in shape for paddling this summer!

It´s all a bit of a blur--connecting with some old friends and meeting new ones. All in support of the local community organizing NGO that encourages their neighbors to farm with better practices, and facilitates better education for young and old.

It´s definitely a different world, and a bit surreal now that I sit in front of a computer, connecting with home just a little.

Arriving

We flew in to San Pedro Sula last night late. The flight was totally uneventful, just like you want them to be. Today is the day to hang out and wait for others to arrive.

This first build is in memory of Jack Allen. It will be a high school computer room. See much more at http://knowwhereyoustand.blogspot.com/

Right now the challenge is to figure out this keyboard. Many keys have 3 characters, including the 2 with both " and the at symbol. So far, I have not figured out how to get this third character, including that at symbol. Try sending email or signing into blogspot without it. I had to get creative.

I'm off!

Off to Honduras THIS week!

I’m off to far and foreign lands this very week. Further than I’ve ever been before. Not only is it further south than I’ve ever been, I’ll be immersed in a culture that I’ve dabbled in only very briefly eons ago. A week kayak trip with only a couple of hours in the Loreto market hardly qualifies as encountering a culture. Sure, I paddled several hours a day on the Gulf of California, but we pretty much stayed with our University of Calgary-led group.

Now I’m off to Central America, and not to a tourist destination. My family is worried about my safety. “What are your emergency contact numbers?” they ask. “Be careful,” they warn. “What are the health considerations?” I wonder. I HATE needles unless they are in my hands, and not meant for me. How much cash should I carry? I understand Traveller’s Checks aren’t used much anymore.

Stepping off into the unknown heightens the anxiety level. My own, I confess, and those who care about me, too.

However, I’m not going alone. I’m going with a group who has done this before. So many times, they have a handbook. They have volunteers on the ground there, making hotel reservations and getting ready to pick us up at the airport. I won’t even be flying by myself—I’ll be with several others, one of whom I know I know. One I think I know. One will have stayed overnight with me the night before, so though I don’t know her now, I will by the time I fly.

So what’s my problem?

I need to remember to trust. Just like when I stepped off the high tower in the ropes course a year and a half ago, I need to focus not on my big step into the unknown, but on those helping me get there safely. Then I can relax—at least a little.

Packing to go

I'm thinking of packing up for the trip. What do I need? There's a suggested list. I know the kind of things I usually take on trips. I have my usual bags.

It brings up the question "how much stuff do I really need?" I wonder if I can pack in one bag only. It's bigger than a carry-on, and has a day pack that zips off it. I also have a small carry-on bag--I could take that too.

What takes so much space, it seems, is shoes--I don't have tiny feet, by any stretch of the imagination! The suggested list says "two pairs of work shoes." Hmm... maybe, maybe not. I don't even own two such pairs of shoes. I don't have room for them at home either.

I do know I'm not going to be in high class places, where they expect a different set of clothes each day. I imagine I'll go for "keep it simple" and only what I can carry easily, by myself, in one trip.

Thanks

Raising funds for the Honduras school building projects has been an education for me in more than one way. It is true, I have learned something about the conditions rural Hondurans face in attending school. I have learned something about how they construct buildings there. I expect that I will learn much more once I get there. But I have also learned a lot more about generosity. Both other people’s and my own.

Over the past several months, I have invited folks both from Beacon and others to contribute toward the cost of construction of two school buildings. One is a computer lab for a high school in memory of an old friend; one is a simple rural kindergarten. Many of you have responded with so much generosity, I am humbled. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this opportunity to stretch my horizons while helping others to improve their lives.

This experience of raising money has made me more generous, I think. I am much more aware of need around me, and I care more about it. For some years now, I have severely limited gift giving at Christmas. It seemed a bit pointless to give stuff to people who already have more than they need—and I didn’t know what they wanted anyway. This year, I have made a few small gifts to give. They say that I am thinking about them at least. Gifts are about both need and connection. I was seeing gifts as only filling needs; now I recognize that both giving and receiving gifts re-affirms the ties of affection and family.

My gift of time to World Accord and Programa de Reconstrucción Rural (PRR) in Honduras will also address both needs and connections. Building schools will allow students to gain an education; being there will allow me to connect with folks and a situation I would never have known otherwise.

Thank you.

Off to Honduras

An Invitation
to make a difference

Some people lay the blocks, some help pay for the blocks.
Together we lay a foundation

I invite you to participate in the education of rural Honduran children. I will be joining the Canadian not-for-profit, non-governmental development organization World Accord (www.worldaccord.org) this winter to help build schools. It works with a partner organization in Honduras to build very basic buildings for remote rural villages. The government will provide a teacher only if there is a school building. World Accord also builds kindergartens—so the older girls can continue their education instead of being tied to child care duties.

The folks there provide local knowledge and expertise and labour. We provide the funds for the construction materials and some labour. Together we build both a school and better connections between individual Canadians and Hondurans.

Each construction build costs a volunteer like me $3000. We are expected to raise funds to cover as much as possible. It breaks down like this:
$900 – Building materials
$900 – In-country expenses (room, board, transportation)
$1,100 – Airfare
$100 – Promotion
$3,000 The total for two builds is $4900

Fundraising is an education for me, as well as my family and my friends. I want to be able to tell you the stories about the struggle some people face to obtain a basic education, something we can take for granted. Education is the means to a better life, anywhere. I’m involved with two builds—a 4 room computer room for an already established high school, and a basic school as shown in the photos.

If you would like to say yes to this invitation, please make out your cheque—whatever amount you are called to give—to “World Accord” and mail it to me.
Katie Stein Sather
11395 205 Street
Maple Ridge, BC V2X 1S3

Thank you for whatever help you can send my way,
whether dollars or moral support or prayers.
Katie

A Latin American said to a North American seminarian,
“If you are here to save me, go home. If you are here to help me,
go home. If you are here because you know your salvation is tied to my pain, then we can work together.”