A Day in the Life of a Gringa in Honduras… "Proud Mama Moments."

Being a volunteer isn’t all rainbows and puppies… its hard work! Seriously. We work ~80 hours a week and are 24/7 with the children. But with all the hair tugging and skin itching moments, it’s just as rewarding. Throughout the day, there are as I like to call them, “Proud Mama Moments”, that makes your time here feel significant—solidifying that each of us is here for a purpose and that we each bring something unique to the table. 

Mornings start bright and early at 6:30AM with breakfast in the comedor with all of the children. A typical Honduras breakfast consists of eggs, beans, cheese and tortillas. After breakfast, the school day begins shortly after at 7:15AM. In the morning, I serve as a preschool teaching assistant to the youngest children at the Amigos de Jesus Bilingual School, 2-5 years old. Although emotionally and physically draining, it is one of the greatest blessings of the day. It brings me such joy when I point to a picture and instead of saying “caballo” they proudly say “HORSE.” Or when I sit with a crowd of them at dinner and they all begin shouting—yes shouting, what color cups they have, in English.  Proud mama moments.

L:   Singing "Baby Bubble Bee"!                       R: Painting and learning about circles in Kinder!

Then for the remainder of the morning, I teach English, art, science, and library classes in Spanish as a part of the Education Team at the Amigos de Jesus School. By far this is the toughest part of the day. Planning for classes and dealing with different disciplinary behaviors is difficult. Planning becomes essentially difficult when teaching to children with a wide range of ages and capability levels. Learning activities need to be highly interactive, visual and verbal oriented… all in Spanish, mind you. However, the challenge makes it all the more rewarding. After teaching vertebrados y invertebrados the fourth time, its AWESOME, purely AWESOME when you ask, “Un gusano es un vertebrado o invertebrado?”(Is a worm a vertebrate or invertebrate?) and they all in unison scream “Invertebrado! Porque no tiene un esqueleto.”(Invertebrate! Because it doesn’t have a skeleton.) Proud mama moment. 

Morning walk to the
 Amigos de Jesus Bilingual School.

After lunch, one of my daily responsibilities at Amigos is working on the medical coordination team. As a part of a team, we are responsible for coordinating clinic visits, vaccination schedules, and medication inventory. One of our largest projects entails establishing a telemedicine system to set up a network of physicians within the United States and Honduras to extend medical care to the children. Working with medical is one of my favorite responsibilities because it utilizes my skill set in the medical field. This in itself is a blog post, especially after I myself going through the Honduran medical system, just yesterday. Don’t worry. Didn’t get dengue or malaria but what I did experience is worth describing. So for now, just know that what I lack in detail here will be later remedied with a full on blog post.

Reading a book at homework help.

Around 3PM, half of us go and help with homework help with chiquitos, niños, pequeños and jovens. For the next hour, I go and help with homework help with the chiquitos for round two!... which mostly just means going and playing tag, reading books and playing on the playground. Needless to say, the BEST part of my day. Truly makes me feel like a kid again. Imagine 20 little rugrats running around, jumping off furniture, eating dirt, fighting and picking piojos (lice) out of each other’s hair. It’s a good time. 

After homework help, we have a little bit of free time before dinner at 5:30PM. Before dinner, we always line up outside of the comedor, someone says grace and then we walk in. A typical Honduras dinner looks just like breakfast: eggs, beans, cheese and tortillas plus fruit. ¡Buen provecho! I actually love it, minus the cheese. It’s simple, fuels my energy and allows me to live in solidarity with those whom I serve.

"...experience the magic of serving others."

For the remainder of the night until prayer circle, we hang around the kids and play some more. Remember that fuel I said I needed? Think soccer, tag, cards, hanging out, etc. Then at 8:00PM we end the day with prayer circle.
Even though the days are looooooooong and stressful they’re also filled with such joy. Every day I see the pure joy in each of their hearts and that alone fills me with glee. It’s difficult to describe my time here because you need to experience it to see it from my side of the glass. The best I can do is describe it with the phrase “proud mama moments” because that is what it really is. In addition to the madrinas y padrinos (Godmothers and Godfathers) of the children, we are also in a way a parental figures. Sure, this could mean being their teacher in school and providing them with educational tools. But it could also be so much more simpler than that. It could be as simple as rubbing their back when their not feeling well, letting them sleep on you during Mass because their tired or acting as their advocate. All of these I would classify as “mama moments”.

Life of a volunteer described best here... lolz. ("The Back-up Plan)

And if that didn’t make sense, this video will explain it all: 


In sum, being a full time volunteer in Honduras is tough.  But tough cookies. In order for those magical moments to happen, for you to make an impact and for you to have those “proud mama moments”, you need to put in the work. You need to put yourself out there. Become vulnerable... 

                        .... And experience the magic of serving others.

Blessings y amor,

Kelly