Re-Connecting

February 14, 2011

RE-CONNECTING IN ZAMORANO, HONDURAS

Zamorano, Honduras

I just returned from re-connect, which means that I have been in Honduras long enough to leave my site and need a “reunion” conference with all my Municipal Development buddies.  This means that the days are getting shorter and shorter until I return back to America, something I have mixed emotions about.  It means that I must begin to decide what I want to do after Peace Corps, but I still have enough time to complete meaningful projects here in my site.  I have been thinking a lot about what I will do after Peace Corps, especially since this past week at re-connect we found out that the Municipal Development program will not continue here in Honduras.  It has been cut from the budget and Honduras PC program.  I can’t say that I really blame them; as Muni D volunteers we do many projects that simply overlap into other projects.  Like my stove and recycling project.  These are projects that could be filtered in to the business or PAM divisions, since I work a lot with micro-empressas and the UMA office (office of environmental services).  As I’ve said before, working in a municipality I often get “lost” b/c people simply don’t know how to use me, or my counterpart is just too busy to take advantage of me.  So, my class will be the last of the Muni D’ers here.  We will finish out our contracts, until September 2012.  It seems that even the budget cuts of Washington, DC have affected Cuerpo de Paz.

Zamorano University

Me & my counterpart, Noel (see our FB photos, his is at bottom)

We were required to bring a counterpart to re-connect, which I thought was a cool idea so that my counterpart could see exactly what I spend my time doing when I’m not in the municipality.  So, after waiting for two weeks for the Mayor to sign off on permission, my UMA office was allowed to accompany me to Zamorano, home of our re-connect.  Zamorano is about 30 minutes north of Tegucigalpa, and home to a large, private university.  It costs around $15,000/US to go there a year and they focus on agricultural issues.  After my counterpart and I met on the bus, we began the trek up the mountain, where he commented on the beauty of the mountains and the temperate climate…it has been 100 degrees everyday in Orocuina for the past two weeks.  Once we arrived in Zamorano, we had no clue where we were going since our email didn’t clue us in on the hotel, so I called my boss who said “Just go to the hotel.”  But, no one in Zamorano knew where a hotel was, so finally we just walked across the street and asked a security guard who then didn’t believe I was Cuerpo de Paz (since I had two large backpacks, a yoga mat, and a special therma-rest pillow strapped to me).  I will give him credit.  I looked more homeless than anything.  My counterpart had one tiny gym bag.  I packed like I was never coming back, he packed like he was leaving for two hours.

New solar powered houses; project in Zamorano, Honduras

In my "professional" attire, touring the dump

Once at re-connect, we started “connecting” with everyone, which simply means that the Peace Corps Volunteers were on one side of the room and the counterparts on another.  Until our bosses set us up with a “dinamica” or ice-breaker as we like to call them in the states.  This is not a favorite activity of Muni-D’ers, so after the rumbles and grumbles, we paired off where we were supposed to incorporate Facebook into our lives.  We had to draw a profile pic, name, favorites, etc.  We were paired with another persons counterpart; and drawing is not my strongpoint.  Poor guy, I drew what looked like one of those moles you whallop in that game at Chuck-e-Cheese’s, so Kendra had to take over for me.  When it was all said and done, I don’t think anyone was taking home a prize for “Best Monet.”  As the week progressed, we discussed new solar energy houses, new solar energy water buckets, better practices for recycling, and were even taken to the Zamorano dump.  Of course, when we received our email for the conference it said to dress professional, so this is how I ended up walking around the dump in flip flops and a skirt.  We were also taught about eco-clubs, food security and renewable energy.  My counterpart took lots of notes and really seemed to enjoy it…as we walked around campus; he even pointed to the recyclable trash cans and told me “That is what we are going to have in Orocuina!”  I am glad to know he likes the idea and hope we will be able to successfully complete the project this year.   

Learning about bees & honeymaking

Towards the end of the week several of us got sick, including bacteria infections.  I spent most of the day in the bathroom (TMI, but sometimes you have to share).  I am really looking forward to the day I return to America and am “bathroom normal” again.  LOL  I have learned way more about my body in Peace Corps, too much about amoebas, worms, and stool samples then I ever care to know in the future.  This includes my friends amoebas and worms.  What was once a taboo topic is now something freely discussed in Peace Corps among volunteers, but maybe it’s all for the best.  If one of us hadn’t been discussing our bathroom issues, then the other ones might not have gotten tested, then they would have stayed sick.  Now that is the real “re-connecting.” 

p.s. I am all better now, just a little sickness.  All the tests came back normal!