Transitions

Today's the day when most of the Silver Lake 2012 Summer Staff heads home.  It's been a wild ride, and the past couple of days have got me thinking a lot about transitions.  My friends who are leaving camp right now are all going through their own transitions-- getting ready to start the school year, starting a brand new teaching job (yay Megan!), or just going back to their outside-of-camp lives.  No matter how many times you go through transitions in your life, they are never easy.  They're always accompanied by anxiety, anticipation, and uncertainty. 

I haven't put too much thought into this next transition that I'm about to embark on.  I've been busy all summer supervising a group of crazy 16 and 17 year olds as they learned to live in community and worked harder than they ever had before.  Now I'm trying to enjoy my last few days here at Silver Lake, a place that has given me more gifts and growth experiences than I can even begin to explain.

This was a difficult time for me before I left for Honduras-- having to say goodbye to everyone.  Last summer I got my James Taylor Tanglewood Concert/Cryfest with all of my close friends.  This year I first have to say goodbye to all of the people I've grown so close to over the past 9 weeks at camp.  Then I have go head home, start thinking about packing (because I haven't been thinking about it at all yet), and say goodbye to everyone else.  Oh, transitions.

Transitions suck.  There we go, I said it.  But without them we'd always be stuck in one place, and what's the fun in that? 

 

Less than a month away.

Yesterday, I was talking about the Peace Corps with a friend of mine who I work with at camp.  I was telling her that I'll be gone for 27 months, at which point she turned to her daughter and said, "That's longer than she's been alive."  Crazy stuff.  27 months is a long time.

It's a crazy mix of emotions this time around.  I'm nervous about embarking on this new experience, yet not as nervous as the first time, because I know that I can handle it.  I'm anxious about the preparations required to pick up and leave for two years, but not as anxious because I know what to pack and what not to pack.  I'm sad about having to say goodbye to my friends and family, but after having to do it once before it (hopefully) should be easier.

I get asked all the time about how I feel about leaving, and I can't really put it into words.  I constantly have to remind myself of why I'm doing this.  The best reminders are when I talk to my H-19 friends, look at pictures of my time in Honduras, or talk to a friend from Sulaco.  My Peace Corps journey is just beginning, and right now I can't wait for the next chapter to begin.

I'll be heading to DC on September 4th (which is also my 24th birthday) for staging, and leaving for Nicaragua on the 5th.  I have to say goodbye to my camp family kids on Sunday, finish out another week and a half of camp, and then begin the whirlwind week and a half of preparations once I get home.  I'm trying to enjoy each moment, but it's going by way too fast!

One year ago...

One year ago today, I said goodbye to my family and headed to the airport on my way first to Washington D.C. and then to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to embark on what I thought would be 27 months of Peace Corps service.  Things didn’t exactly work out as planned, but I have had a chance to reflect on and learn from everything that has happened in the past year, and I have definitely grown and changed because of my experiences. 

            They say that the Peace Corps is “the hardest job you’ll ever love,” and boy was it hard.  Being away from my family and friends, learning a new language, living with a host family, eating beans and tortillas everyday, sleeping under a mosquito net, and the lack of certain household amenities like showers and hot water could have been enough to make my Peace Corps experience unpleasant.  However, the positives outweighed the negatives.  Genuinely kind and dedicated Peace Corps staff, welcoming host families, and gracious community members all made my time in Honduras worthwhile.

            To celebrate the one year anniversary of my trip to Honduras, here are the top 10 things I’ve learned in the past year:

10.  Chill out!  Seriously.  There’s nothing like spending a weekend doing nothing more than doing laundry, reading a book in a hammock, going to the river, and walking around town.  Relaxation is an art that I think I am close to mastering thanks to my time as a PCV.

9.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.  Anyone who knows me (family, friends, classmates, coworkers, professors) knows that I am a perfectionist.  I experienced so many new things in Honduras: doing professional development with secondary school teachers, teaching dental hygiene, doing reading interventions in Spanish, and meeting with parents to plan a parenting school.  And none of those things went perfectly.  I had to hope that things would go well, but accept that it wasn’t going to be perfect, simply because it was something new and difficult for me—a lesson that I wish I had learned a long time ago.

8.  I get by with a little help from my friends.  Friends from the Peace Corps office, friends in my training group (H-19), friends at home.  Phone calls, skype chats, and crazy virtual reunions once I got home are what has kept me going through it all.  Friends are great, and I appreciate them way more than I ever have before.  There’s nothing like 11 weeks of Peace Corps training to solidify a great group of friends.

7.  I’m stronger than I thought.  There were times that I was frustrated.  I hinted at it in a few blog posts, and my mom and dad definitely got an earful over the phone at one point or another.  However, I dealt with things, pushed through tough situations, and worked my butt off to make things work out.  I definitely impressed myself with my strength.

6.  Kindness is everywhere.  I had some pretty amazing host families and counterparts.  They threw me a birthday party, let me celebrate Christmas with them, cooked my meals, taught me how to wash my clothes, gave me rides to places, introduced me to their friends, bought me sodas at work, and genuinely welcomed me into their homes.  I only hope that someday I can learn to be as kind and caring as the Chavez and Canales families and my counterparts and co-workers in Sulaco.

5.  A new level of friendliness.  Wouldn’t the world be a better place if everyone said “Good morning” or “Good afternoon” to everyone that they walked past all day long?  There’s nothing that makes you feel more accepted and welcomed than having people greet you on the street, and that is the norm in small-town Honduras life.  Yes, I was the only “gringa” in town, so everyone knew my name, and yes, I did have to put up with the “piropos” (cat calls), but I loved walking around and greeting everyone in town.  I’ve tried to raise my standards of friendliness since returning home.

4.  I can do a lot of things I didn’t think I could.  Okay, so this one goes with number 7, but I never thought I’d be able to learn so much Spanish and be able to do things like talk to a roomful of parents about their issues with their children, run a baseball practice with 30 kids and only 12 gloves, do a 10K hike through the mountains, and run a day camp with little to no resources.  Who knew?  In the future I’ll think twice about underestimating my abilities.  I left Honduras feeling like I could do anything…and that’s a pretty cool feeling.

3.  People need hope.  More than anything else, it is hope that keeps people going.  Sometimes I felt that, even if I wasn’t doing much, just by being in Sulaco I was giving people hope by letting them know that someone was thinking of them and recognizing that they needed help.  I didn’t get a chance to do anything dramatic or complete any huge projects, but sometimes what people need most is to know that someone is thinking about them and recognizing their need.

2.  Simplify, Simplify, Simplify.  When I got home, I was overwhelmed.  By technology, by the pace of life, by people rushing here and there always on a deadline or complaining about something small and usually insignificant.  I definitely miss the simple life.  Taking time to talk to people face-to-face and spending genuine time together with people you care about is something that we don’t always remember to do in our fast-paced, technology-filled world.  In my opinion, it’s better to live more simply.

1.  Things don’t always happen the way you planned them, but that isn’t always a bad thing.  Yes, I was disappointed when I didn’t get to finish out my Peace Corps service in Honduras.  However, the lessons I learned, the ways that I grew, and the friends that I met are reason enough to be satisfied and grateful for the short experience that I did have.

That last one is a big one for me as of recently.  I’ve found myself back at Silver Lake for the summer, a camp where I have worked for many summers.  I’m in a completely new role, in charge of a group of 13 high schoolers for the whole summer as they work together and live in community.  We’re only a few weeks in, but so far it’s been great.  I didn’t think I’d be back here for another summer, but I’m glad that I am.  I’ve been able to put into practice all of the lessons I’ve learned—being friendly and kind towards my co-workers and the campers, simplifying my life, appreciating and building friendships, and striving to do my best rather than trying to be perfect. 

Everything’s supposed to happen for a reason, right?  I’m back in a place that I love, working with people I love, and getting ready to embark on another Peace Corps journey.  Life is good.  The past year has been challenging, exciting, and exhausting, and I wouldn’t change a thing.

Hasta luego!

-Sarita

Camp friends! (part of the Silver Lake Coordinator Dream Team 2012, believe it or not!)

           

Take Two!

After being sent home from Honduras after only 6 short months of Peace Corps service (much shorter than the 27 months I had been expecting), applying for re-enrollment was an easy decision for me to make.  On the one hand, I did consider settling down, finding a job, and moving on with my life.  However, I wasn't satisfied with my short service in Honduras and my work in Sulaco.  I had so many ideas and projects that I was planning on starting during the new school year, and I left in January feeling like I had barely accomplished anything.  Although I had to accept that the situation and decision was completely out of my control, it was a hard thing to do.  I felt unsatisfied, guilty, and disappointed about leaving.

During our conference in Tegucigalpa in January, we had the opportunity to speak to representatives from the Peace Corps about re-enrollment.  I talked to them about my preferences and picked up all of the forms I had to fill out to make it happen.  I told them that I was only interested in going to Spanish-speaking countries.  I had learned so much in 6 short months in Honduras (moving up from Intermediate-Low Spanish level to Advanced-Mid), and I didn't want to stop there.  I also discussed my preferences of project.  In Honduras I was a youth development volunteer, and they asked about my thoughts on teaching English.  I had done that a little bit in Sulaco, but I wasn't interested in having that be my main project.

After a few months and some phone calls and emails with Peace Corps, I got my big blue folder in the mail last week telling me that I'm headed to Nicaragua to be an Environmental Education volunteer.  According to the information I've received, I will be assigned to work with at least 2 elementary schools and will be planning and co-teaching environmental topics, as well as organizing projects like gardens, composting, and re-forestation.  It also seems like I'll get a chance to do secondary projects that will help me utilize my Youth Development training that I had in Honduras. 

I am so excited and pleased with this placement!  I'll get to go back to Central America, keep learning and speaking Spanish, work in an area that I am passionate about, and get plenty of classroom teaching time.  I'll also be a bus ride away from Honduras, and I'm hoping I'll get a chance to go back and visit (although I think the Peace Corps may restrict travel to Honduras). 

So, I'll be leaving for staging on September 4th, which is also my 24th birthday.  On September 5th I'll arrive in Nicaragua and start my 11 weeks of training, being sworn in at the end of November and then beginning my 2 years of service.  I've been talking to people about my new assignment, and I've gotten a few people telling me about how I'll definitely have no regrets when I get older and will be glad of all the great experiences I've had.  I hope this is true, and I am excited about my next adventure.

For now, I've got a H-19 reunion in Chicago, a few weeks more of substitute teaching,  and an amazing summer as camp family mom at Silver Lake to look forward to before I head out to Nicaragua.  Things are looking up!

To Be Continued…

My last blog post was on Christmas Day, which seems like a lifetime ago.  There are a couple of reasons why I haven’t posted in so long.  First of all, my free month of internet service on my modem expired on Christmas day, and I didn’t feel like paying for more time.  Secondly, I don’t think I was ready to think about going home and everything that comes along with it.  But, here I am, back in snowy CT and writing one last blog post…for now.

After Christmas, I tried to keep my “day camp” going.  I woke early in order to get outside at 8:30 and wait for the kids to show up.  They didn’t show up.  I decided to give up on the idea because I only had a few weeks left anyway.  However, that just meant that my only “work” responsibilities for my last 3 weeks in site were baseball practice on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons for an hour and a half.  Looking back on it, I’m not sure that giving myself so much free time was the greatest idea, but it did give me a chance to relax, reflect, and enjoy being in Sulaco before I left.

During the week after Christmas, my host family did “rondas” which is a tradition that they started 7 or 8 years ago.  My host grandmother has a bunch of relatives in town, and they all took turns hosting dinner parties in the days between Christmas and New Years.  The parties all had their own flavor, some had organized games and others were more laid back.  At one there was alcohol served, and at another we milled our own sugar cane juice.  Overall, they were great.  It was nice to spend time with a family during the holiday season.

helping get the juice out of the sugar cane

Also after Christmas, the volunteer that was at my site before me (and is also named Sarah) came back to Sulaco for a visit.  It was cool to meet her because I had heard a lot about her and had been constantly asked if I was her sister (I never understood why someone would think that there would be two sisters with the same name haha).  Sarah and I spent a day hiking in La Abardilla, an aldea of Sulaco up in the mountains.  It was a long, uphill hike, but the views were beautiful.  She also took me to see the natural springs in San Antonio, another aldea of Sulaco.  I had been wanting to go since I got there, and had planned on going with Fernando the baseball coach because he had never been.  I’m so glad I got to see it before I left.  It was a huge cave with clean, clear water and hot water falling down from the top of the cave.  Super cool!

view from the hike

natural springs

New Year’s was pretty lame.  I hung out with my host family at a family party.  Just like at Christmas, at midnight everyone hugs each other to welcome in the new year.  There was a dance party that night, but my host mom and dad didn’t give their daughters permission to go.  I really wanted to go, but didn’t want to walk there alone at 2 a.m.  So instead I went to bed….lame.

In my last couple weeks, I tried to enjoy all of my time.  I made the most out of every baseball practice, spent time outside trying to soak up some sunshine, and made it to the river a few times with some of the girls from the colegio.  I had to meet with my counterparts to tell them the news, and they were genuinely disappointed that I had to leave.  My counterparts at the escuela and colegio weren’t the best to work with, and I wasn’t really that close with them.  It was bittersweet to finally know how much I was appreciated right before I had to leave.  It was hard to tell everyone the news.  I developed a little speech to explain why I was leaving that I would tell to people.  I told as many people as I could because the last thing that I wanted them to think was that I was choosing to leave or abandoning them.  I tried to always reinforce the fact that I was being forced to leave, that I didn’t want to go, and that I would come back if I could.  Unfortunately, a lot of the kids didn’t understand and kept asking, “So when are you coming back?”  I did my best to explain the situation and tell them that I was most likely not coming back to work with Peace Corps, but promising that I’d come back to visit someday.

On my last full day in Sulaco, I spent 4 hours at the river with the kids from the baseball team.  We jumped off the rocks, had swimming races, ate snacks, and just hung out.  There’s a saying that they have in Sulaco that once you drink the water from the river you have to come back.  I think it’s true.

Before coming home, all 150 or so volunteers had to attend a conference at a hotel in Tegucigalpa.  It was a strange few days with lots of ups and downs.  We had an explanation from our regional director about how they came to their decision, language interviews, career workshops, “feelings talks” with some psychologists, and lots of other sessions aimed at helping us transition back to our lives at home. 

During the conference, my fellow PCVs and I kept asking each other “How are you doing?” and “How are you feeling?”  There was so much going on and so many different emotions to handle all at once.

·      Anger: The first night of the conference, the regional director gave a long presentation about how they came to their decision to send us home.  Before and during this presentation, you could have cut the tension with a knife.  For me, I felt angry because the information that he gave us showed that they had an idea that something like this was going to happen before they sent my group down there in July.  I was angry that they would send us to Honduras knowing that our time there would most likely be cut short.

·      Happiness: During our 11 weeks of training, my training group (H-19) had gotten so close and I was finally able to see all of them again.  Although we stayed in touch on the internet and through phone calls, there’s nothing better than seeing them in person, especially because they are the only people who could possibly understand and relate to what I was going through.  And…even though we were only there for 6 months, all 15 of us made it the whole time, which is pretty impressive for PC Honduras.

·      Sadness: This one’s obvious.  Having to leave friends, host families, kids, communities, PC staff and counterparts that I worked with was one of the saddest things I’ve ever experienced.

·      Excitement: So, I had to throw another positive one in here…I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to be coming home where I’d get to see my family and friends, flush my toilet paper down the toilet, and not eat tortillas with every meal.

·      Disappointment:  I don’t know if disappointment is the right word for it, but I also had a feeling that I didn’t actually make a difference or do very much.  Due to the fact that I was in my site for such a short time, I feel unfulfilled and disappointed by the impact that I made and amount of work I got to do.

·      Loss:  I think overall the biggest feeling is loss.  Mostly feeling like I’ve lost the opportunity to continue as a volunteer in Honduras and help my community.  I also feel a sense of loss over the fact that I am no longer very close geographically with my H-19 friends, who have meant so much to me over the past 6 months.  I know they are just a facebook chat, text, skype call, or phone call away, but I feel like I’ve lost a little bit of that safety net that was so strong while I was in Honduras.

·      Confusion: Throughout the conference, there were a lot of people who seemed to be confused.  Being suddenly told that we had to go home meant different things for different people.  Some people, like me, are planning on re-enrolling in the Peace Corps to do 27 months in another country.  Others are suddenly thrown into job searches or grad school applications.  The largest percentage of people seemed to just be confused about what steps to take next in their lives.

H-19!

So, after the conference we said our goodbyes and headed home.  Chelsea and Lesley picked me up at the airport in Hartford and it was snowing (which I was not excited about).  I got in a little after midnight, so we stayed in a hotel by the airport.  The next day, we had lunch with my mom and I headed home and spent the day with her.  Wednesday I went with Chelsea and Lesley down to Baltimore for a few days.  It was nice to be on vacation for a little while, but overwhelming at the same time.  We spent the day in Washington D.C. on Thursday and checked out some of the memorials.  I hadn’t been there in a long time and I really enjoyed it.  We headed back to CT on Saturday.

The new MLK memorial in D.C.  the words on the side say "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."

Now, I’m back home and I’ve had a lot of time to think about what is going on and what has happened.  This whole transition thing is not so easy, which I knew would be the case.  Being back home is weird.  I grew and changed a lot during my 6 months in Honduras.  While I was there I was more confident, relaxed, open, patient, and happy.  I’m starting to feel that slipping away little by little since I got off the plane in Hartford.  Right now, my goal is to not let everything go back to the way it was back in July before I left…not let myself go back to the way I was before I left.  I’ve had an experience that has the potential to impact the rest of my life and who I am as a person.  I will not let it disappear.

So, this is it for the blog for now.  “Sarah en Sulaco” is WAY more exciting than “Sarah en Guilford, CT”—trust me.  But, as of now I am planning on re-enrolling in the Peace Corps, which means that at some point (most likely in the fall or next winter) I will leave for another 27-month adventure (which will hopefully last 27 months this time.)    This blog is probably not finished, it is “to be continued.”  Someday “Sarah en Sulaco” will turn into “Sarah en some-other-awesome-beautiful- amazing-town.”  Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my blog.  Whether you’re a close friend, family member, complete stranger, or someone I went to high school with and randomly clicked the facebook link…Gracias. 

Hasta luego,

Sarah

from the wall at the MLK memorial

Mira como beben los peces en el rio...

I've experienced my first (hopefully not my last!) Honduran Christmas...and I must say, it was pretty fantastic!

The title of this blog post comes from a really popular Christmas song that they've been singing at church and in the posadas this past week.  It's kind of bizarre and I don't really understand what fish drinking in the river have to do with Christmas, but Hondurans LOVE this song (at least the Catholic ones, anyway).

Here's the words to the chorus:
"Pero mira cómo beben
los peces en el río.
Pero mira cómo beben
por ver a Dios nacido.
Beben y beben
y vuelven a beber.
Los peces en el río
por ver a Dios nacer."

Translation:
"But look how the fish in the river drink,
But look how they drink to see God born,
They drink and drink,
And they return to drinking.
The fish in the river
To see God born."

Weird, right?  And the verses are all about the Virgin Mary doing things like bathing, combing her hair, and washing diapers.  After a little searching on google, I found some info on the significance of the song. It "draws a contrast between between the fishes in the river, who are excited about the birth of the baby Jesus, and the Virgin Mary, who goes about doing the chores of daily life."

...and here's an awesome 80's music video of the song, for your viewing pleasure. 

So, back to Honduran Christmas.
As I mentioned before, the week leading up to Christmas, the people from the Catholic church participated in "posadas" every night. I went along to the first one, and also participated in the one that took place in my host grandmother's house, which is right next door to where I live.  For the posadas, the people gather and walk to someone's house in the neighborhood.  Because Sulaco is a pretty big town, the posadas are organized by barrio and each neighborhood has their own little group.  They light candles and sing on their way to someone's home.  When they get to the door, they knock 3 times and then sing back and forth between the people outside the door and the people inside the house.  This is an imitation of what Mary and Joseph did when they were looking for room at the inn.  The people outside sing a verse of the song, asking for a place to say, and the people inside sing back, giving excuses for why they won't let them in.  Eventually, they are let into the house, where they pray, read from the Bible, discuss the readings, and then have a snack before heading back home.  It is a neat tradition, and definitely gets people into the Christmas spirit.

2 of the girls from our barrio carrying the glass figures of Mary and Joseph (Maria y Jose) during the posadas.  It was reported that the one on the right dropped and broke Jose a few nights later...oops!

You may be wondering why I'm writing my Christmas blog post at noon on Christmas day.  It's because in Honduras Christmas Eve is Christmas.  The 24th is the big day.

The festivities began when I went to church at 4 with my host family.  It was just like a regular service for the most part.  The priest's sermon was a about how Christmas is a time to spend with family and that you shouldn't drink alcohol.  That one caught me a little off-guard, but the priests often talk about corruption, violence, or other issues affecting the town or country during their sermons.  It felt a little bit like a lecture from a teacher or parent telling us to not party too hard on Christmas.

Then, we headed home and had some dinner.  A few days ago, they killed grandma's pig.  Although I didn't enjoy waking up to at 5 a.m. to the sound of the pig screaming, I must admit, it was delicious.  We had pork, nacatamales (tamales with pork in them) and tortillas.  Around 7:30 or so, all of the posadas from the different barrios were gathering at the church.  I walked over with my host mom.  The group from our neighborhood had already left, so we joined in with another group and headed to the church.  In the church, they did some readings, sang some songs, and shared some food (catrachas and bunuelos...yum!).  Then, back to the house yet again.  My host family's tradition for Christmas is to gather in the house of a great aunt.  However, one of my host sisters informed me that it is usually extremely boring.  So, the whole family decided that they wanted to kill some time and not head over there until 11:00.  We took some pictures, went cruising around the neighborhood with my host dad in his truck, and had a little living room dance party.  It's really great to have my other host sisters here from Teguz.  It makes the house a little noisier, but they are really fun. 

Belen, Amada, Me, Bessy, Grecia

 At 11 we headed over to the family gathering.  The girls still weren't too thrilled to be there, so we hung out in front of the house for the most part, setting off fireworks and playing with sparklers.  In the house there was a "nacimiento" (nativity) set up.  It was kind of a mish-mosh of lots of little figurines, many of which had nothing to do with Christmas or the nativity.

What?  You never heard about the Christmas triceratops?  I think the little drummer boy rode on him to Bethlehem :-)

sparklers!

 Christmas in Honduras is kind of like a combination of the 4th of July and New Year's Eve.  There are people with fireworks and firecrackers everywhere, and at midnight everyone sets off more firecrackers and hugs their family and wishes them a Merry Christmas.  When midnight rolled around, we headed back into the house and did an impromptu conga line dance.  Then, the Catholics got down to business and set up chairs in front of the nativity.  Everyone sat down, they began with a few songs, and then they recited the rosary.  (Not sure on the correct terminology because I'm very much not Catholic).  All I know is that it took like 20 minutes at least, and was mostly everyone murmuring incoherently in Spanish.  I sat and struggled to stay awake.  Amada, one of my host sisters, lost the struggle and ended up asleep in her chair.  At the end of the whole process, we hugged and headed back home.  At this point it was 1:30 a.m. and we were all hungry again.  So, we had some chicken and pork before crashing for the night.

All in all, I had a truly amazing Christmas.  I've kind of been bummed out the past few days because we found out we're going to have to go home.  Through the process of telling the family, my counterparts, and some friends that I have to go home, I've realized how well integrated I am into the community here.  People are really sad and disappointed that I have to leave.  It is sad that it takes bad news like this to realize how much you value the people around you and how much they care about you.  I recently got a phone call from my host family from training, to wish me a Feliz Navidad and check up on me, because they had seen the news that they were pulling us out of the country.  Throughout the night yesterday I got texts and phone calls from Honduran friends wishing me a Merry Christmas.  If you had asked me a month or so ago, I would have told you that I expected to be sad on Christmas because I will be away from my family.  But, the only sadness this Christmas was the fact that I will have say goodbye to all of these amazing people in a few short weeks.  It's going to be really hard to leave, but I have 2 1/2 weeks left here in Sulaco and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!  Hopefully this won't be my last Honduran Christmas!

This just in...

  We've gotten a lot of big news from the Peace Corps in the last week.  One of the emails told us "to exercise good judgment when using social media to share this news with friends and family."  So, I figured I'd just copy and paste their press release that they posted on the Peace Corps website:

Peace Corps Reviews Operations in Honduras

WASHINGTON, D.C., December 21, 2011 -- The Peace Corps is conducting an ongoing review of the security environment in Honduras, and has cancelled its next volunteer training class while this review is being conducted.

All 158 currently serving volunteers are safe and accounted for and will participate in a conference in January before returning to the United States on administrative leave. Peace Corps will review the safety and security climate in Honduras before continuing with volunteer operations.

“The safety and security of all Peace Corps volunteers is the agency’s highest priority,” said Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams. “During this time, we are going to conduct a full review of the program. We thank the people of Honduras for their strong support of Peace Corps over the years.”

Peace Corps has operated in Honduras since 1963. More than 5,500 Americans have served in Honduras since the program was established, working with communities on projects focused on health and HIV/AIDS prevention, water sanitation and youth development.

Families with questions or concerns may contact the Peace Corps’ Counseling and Outreach unit, which maintains a 24-hour, 7 days a week duty system. The telephone number during standard office hours is (800) 424-8580, extension 1470; the after-hours number is (202) 692-1470.


So, there you have it.  And, really, that sums it up pretty well.  We don't have much more information than what it says right there.  A volunteer conference in early January and then heading home from there.  This is really sad news for all of us.  Especially us H-19ers because we've only been in our sites for 3 months.  There seems like a slim possibility that some of us would get to come back, but there's a good chance we won't. 


Just wanted to fill you all in.  Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and I'll see you in a few weeks.