Cooking Classes . . . Got recipes??

With new stoves and new ovens, the women of the improved stoves project and I are begining cooking classes. Malnutrition is prevalent in the area. World Vision came though a couple of months ago to weigh the children who are being sponsored by people in the states. I went to help out and visit Anna, the Peace Corps volunteer in Gracias who works for World Vision, who was working with them. Anna was in charge of weighing all of the kids that came in and if they were underweight, they were sent to another corner of the kindergarten where they met with a doctor. If the kids were a healthy weight, they were sent off with a toothbrush and toothpaste. Unfortunately, I don’t remember seeing a single child being sent off without first having to go see the nurse.

Hopefully through these classes, the women will learn how to cook more healthily through baking more, frying less, and learning a variety of new recipes. What are we gonna try first?? . . . Pizza! And everyone is super excited!! (I gave it a trial run with my friend Sonia in her oven and it cooked perfectly!) Through these cooking classes, I also hope that the women can learn to make faster, easier foods so they will have more free time that they can dedicate to other things such as other work, pottery, or being with their family. And who knows? We already broke the barrier that manual labor is just for men, maybe the men can participate in learning the easy recipes and prepare lunch or dinner for their wife! Another possibility is learning to make bread and since the same fire that heats the stoves heats the oven below, the women can be making lunch and backing bread at the same time which they can sell at community events and generate more income.

So, what I am asking from all of you is if you have any healthy, easy recipes that you think would be fun and would like to contribute to the women of Nueva Esperanza, I am putting together a cookbook and would love your contributions. The ovens heat up to about 350 degrees or so but lower temperature recipes would probably be ideal. Also, the ovens only heat up from the top so any foods you know how to make that require broiling or that recommend being baked on the top rack of an oven would be awesome. Thanks so much for your help!!

47/55 stoves done . . .Finally nearing the end

Olga with her new stove
I never thought that I would be able to say this, but the improved stoves project which was my main focus during this last year and a half, is finally coming to a close! No more hauling bricks, no more dirty fingernails that never get clean! Initially, the project was to make 36 stoves. But because the mayor ended up contributing more money than originally planned and because some materials were cheaper than what we budgeted, we were able to make 55 stoves in total. (With another 20,000 Lempiras left over!! This extra money, is going towards making six public latrines in Otolaca, an area in Nueva Esperanza where the farmers are experimenting with new horticulture, and towards making a greenhouse to grow horticulture seeds, a project World Vision is helping out with as well (another story).

The women of the stoves project and I have come a LONG way. While every challenge and stressful situation was tough at the time and there were countless moments when I felt like I was tumbling uncontrollably into a black hole of failure and I didn’t know what I was doing, it makes this moment so much sweeter. My pride for the women and what they have accomplished is beyond words. I remember how, in the first meeting in November of 2007, the women were reluctant to participate in a self-esteem game where we stood in a circle and said one thing about ourselves that we were proud of. In this first meeting, most of the women were shocked when I explained they were going to be constructing the stoves and told me construction was “man’s work”. Now, at the completion of this project, there will be 55 new stoves in Nueva Esperanza made by 55 trained women.

And that’s just in Nueva Esperanza! The women have also been sought out to make the stoves outside of the community. One group of women was paid to go to another town an hour and a half away to make the stove in the home of a man who was interested in the design. Imagine four women taking a man to a hardware store to tell him what he needs to buy and then him paying THEM for their construction work! Another woman told me she is planning on making the stove in another town where her family lives.

Many women who, on the first day of construction, were hesitant to pick up a machete and start building, by the end had developed greater self-esteem and confidence that they were offering to help make the stoves for others outside of their group. The requirement for each woman was to help build three stoves, but most helped out with 5 or 6, one helped out with as many as 11! At the school parents’ meeting, the president of the board (who happens to be a man) asked that the women who knew how to make the stoves come to make one in the school.

And of course, as a Protected Areas Management volunteer, the environmental component of the project is just as important. José Paz Orellana, the husband of one of the beneficiaries of the project, told me, “This was a good project because it mobilized the community in a way that has never happened before here. The women have never been organized in groups before and they have never worked together as they did for this project.” He also told me that, “Every three days, I had to bring home a load of firewood which is a lot of time spent hauling a heavy cargo because our stove before used a lot. Now, the same load of firewood is good for the whole month, so I only have to bring a load once a month and because of that I have more time to be doing other things like working in the fields or being with my family.”

Let’s hear a big hooray for the women!!



The women in action

The women (and men and children) who helped out

Goodbye summer!

A view from the top: Looking down on Nueva Esperanza where the rain is starting to fall heavily

This last week marked the end of the dry season. What were benign, white clouds that first started to appear in the brilliant, blue sky about a month ago have gradually turned into the dark gray ones full of water. And finally they burst. We had a couple of hard storms come through that turned the roads into slippery mud (I was walking home the other day and just as I was thinking about how slick it was and that I should be extra careful not to fall . . . I landed on my butt and got my pants, bag, and shoes all muddy.)

I used to love the sound of rain on the roof because it was so peaceful and I felt so safe inside a cozy home. Now, even though I still love the rain and usually go outside to my patio to watch it fall, the sound of it when I am inside my room bothers me. When the big storms come, there isn’t the security that you’re gonna stay dry as you do in the states. I have to make sure I get everything valuable like my computer and camera stored away. I also have to tightly seal any food that is out and hide anything made of paper so it doesn’t get wet. The worst feeling is cold raindrops on your face when you are trying to fall asleep at night.

But the rain also turns everything green which is good news for crops and the cows and horses. Nueva Esperanza has been very dry and the animals were really suffering to find enough grass to eat and water to drink. Many people were talking about how their animals were suffering and some lost their animals to lack of food. The green grass and mountain also reminds me of the beauty of home in Oregon, making me nostalgic and eager to return home. (Less than five months away!)

Elias walking fast with corn to feed the hungry cows.


The rain flooding onto my patio


Gray skies


It hails in Honduras?!

Summer photos Jan-March 2009

Milton and me


A wedding in Nueva Esperanza in the Evangelical Church


The wedding celebration.


Food served at the wedding


My friend Juan hanging out


Ursula burning the hairs off a chicken for dinner


A small summer construction project for me . . . Nelo putting in an electroducha! Yay hot showers!


A full ride headed out of La Esperanza. This is how it's done when you don't have a car and you need to get home.


Sugar cane harvest time


Fire cooking the sugar cane juice.


The sugar cane juice boiling down to make "dulce" or "miel"


I visited my friend's tomato farm which has been running for three years. Other farmers started experimenting with tomatoes this last year as well although some crops were lost to plagues.


Mangoes almost ready to be eaten!


Yup! All those little green ovals are mangoes! I eat mangoes everyday . . . I know you're jealous!

Go Honduras!!

Anyone following the World Cup qualifications? Well, Honduras survived the first cut and is fighting to make the top five that will go on to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa this year. Every two months or so the Selection team plays in San Pedro Sula. I went the first time to see Honduras beat Jamaica and the game was awesome!

In January, Honduras was scheduled to play Mexico in San Pedro again. This was the BIG game. If we didn’t win, then we were OUT!! So you can imagine how packed the stands were. Nine of us volunteers got together to go watch. This game happened a while ago but it took me a while to get the photos from others. We had to fight to get enough room for all of us to sit together, and then we got poured on and were soaked the whole night. But when we beat Mexico, I think all of San Pedro shook with the energy and excitement coming from the stadium.



Kyler and Bryce

Getting Dirty in Organics

I regret not having enough time or a lot of knowledge in agriculture to have gotten involved with an organized group of farmers that are trying out new horticulture products in the area. Some farmers who are beneficiaries of a big irrigation project that was finishing up when I arrived are branching out from growing corn and beans and trying things like green beans, tomatoes, and green peppers. So far, only a few tomato harvests have been lost to some plagues and diseases. Other than that most out here are learning fast and it’s nice that I don’t have to go into town for ALL my veggies now. (Tomatoes never really did survive the bus well).

An institution sent a guy out here to teach the farmers how to make organic compost. I had a few recipes for some Bocashi and was invited to come along to help out and learn as well. Truthfully, besides the compost I am trying to make in my house with my leftover fruit and veggie peels, I don’t know anything about compost. So I skimmed a book about the subject before heading to the workshop which was at my host mom’s house. The workshop was informative, long, messy, but most importantly, fun! And sometimes I forget how much I enjoy these community activities and how much it means to them that I am just around.


The layers of the compost


Coffee shell is added to make it richer


Francisco (my host dad, remember?) adding the active microorganisms


Atanacio and Maria Santos sifting dirt


Camilo putting down a layer of dirt


Me using a "bomba" to irrigate the compost


Finished!

An April Adventure

The one and only main road in Utila
Semana Santa (Holy Week) is one of the biggest holidays in Honduras so we volunteers get a few days off as well. Susan (my travel buddy to Guatemala) and I were ready for another short escape. So for the week, we went to one of the bay islands on the North Coast of Honduras called Utila. Utila is smaller than Roatan and a little less touristy so a lot more affordable than the bigger island. Utila is also one of the cheapest places in the world where you can get scuba dive certified. For $250 (including lodging), Susan and I took a three-day class and got certified to 18 meters!

Arriving to Utila!


Beach volleyball at the hostel

Getting used to being around Americans, Europeans, and other international people in general was rough for us in the beginning. Susan and I were used to going to bed at 9 pm and all of a sudden we are sharing rooms with people that don’t even get up until 4 pm to start their day! I definitely felt awkward and a little out of place in the night scene and was caught off guard when I heard people being openly rude or impatient to others during the day. That was quite shocking coming from a village of humble campesinos that would never treat people with a lack of respect that I saw some treating others. We were also surprised to find that even though it only takes about 45 minutes to walk from one side of the island to the next, there was a HUGE amount of traffic! It seems that everyone had a motorcycle, golf cart, or even a pick-up, and there’s only one road! Watching the cars try to weave in and out of the people and the other traffic made me wonder how people could think that was more convenient that walking? Or at least get a bike!

The bar at our hostel was packed every night with the same night owls. Drinking every night?! And I used to be like that??!! Utila was beautiful and, to our surprise, very affordable! It was fun walking around town and the scenery was amazing. I got tan, too! Although everyone back in Nueva Esperanza told me I looked “quemada” (burnt) and that they thought my whiter (more pallid, pasty) skin was prettier. Everyone here dreams of being white. <>


Susan and me on one of the only beaches


Buying jewelry from the local artists. (Possible pottery market?)


Celebrating getting diver certified!


Getting the wet suits on


Susan and I heading home after a dive


On the dive boat