Home Sweet Home

Last week, I officially moved into my very own apartment. The last 5 months have been filled with so much moving around and temporary housing that it has made a huge difference on my morale and mental "settling in" to finally have a place to call my home. The apartment is very nice, although the inside is painted bright pink (for those of you who know me well, you will understand how much this goes against my nature: I was the girl who ordered the hotwheels happy meals instead of barbie just to prove a point)....One of my friends here saw it and said she felt like she was in an eight year old's bedroom..haha. That being said, I really do love the place. It is the perfect size for me, and the shower is warm (very important). My neighbors all seem very nice, and have gone out of their way to offer me help with moving and to make me feel welcome. My favorite part about finally having my own space is that I have unlimited access to the kitchen, and don't have to feel like I'm in someone elses way everytime I try to make something. The only problem so far (besides the pink) is the fact that to cook you need utensiles (knives, cutting boards, pots/pans) of which I have none. I am slowly working on accumulating such tools...hopefully by the time my parents come visit I will at least have a pan so I can show them my bean making skills. All in all, life is great in the new apartment, and I can't wait to have some visitors to share it with!
As for work, projects continue to grow, and change. A big project I have been working on is as a new member of the Abstinence Team (Please hold all judgement against abstinence programs until the end of this explanation!). The A-team has created a manual designed to be used with groups of young girls as they meet on a regular basis. I had all kinds of preconcieved notions about abstinence programs (as per my work/life in the states) that were pretty negative. I remember thinking how ridiculous it was to see people prancing around screaming "abstinence ONLY!" to groups of teens in the states, many of whom were already having sex, and some of whom already had kids. What they needed was information about safer sex, because obviously they had already made the choice to start having it. That being said, I think this program is very different, and approaches abstinence from a different angle. First of all, it targets an age (hopefully) before sexual initiation. Ideally, this means we can equipe kids with tools to at least delay their first sexual experience for a few years. This is so important when there are such high rates of pregnancy in teens....and yes, I do think talking about contraception is really important too (I do lots of that in my community)...but let's save that for kids who are a bit older, or make it apart of different programs. The different sessions in the manual all have the underlying theme of empowerment, which I applaud. It gives girls (and boys; a male oriented manual is in the works) tools to improve self-esteem, communication, and decision making abilities. I think young women around the world (US included) are in desperate need of more programs encouraging them to develop strong self-identities, self esteem, and goals for their futures. So, I guess this is my way of doing my part! We will be leading a kind of conference in a few weeks to teach a group of Peace Corps Volunteers and their Honduran counterparts how to use the manual in their communities. It is certainly not a flawless program, but I am excited to be a part of the team who is working on it, and also to use the program in my community. I hope I did the manual justice in this explanation... :) we shall see!
What else has been happening here? Well, I still work in the Youth Clinic on thursdays...although the past few weeks it has been closed when I have gone in. I'm also still going every week to the Casa Materna to talk with the pregnant women about things like Family Planning and hygiene. This is still one of my favorite projects.... What I love about working with these women is that they are a genuinely captive audience; whether this is out of desperation for some form of entertainment, or actual interest is up for debate...but either way, they tell me that they love it when I come. They ask questions, and I can almost see the lightbulbs above their heads when we talk about something that is new to them. They care about their children and families very very much, and want to do the right things for them. It can be hard because there are certain things that have become such an innate part of everyone's lives and culture (ie giving husbands first dibs on all the meat), but I know they hear me when I say that they need to eat some chicken or cow too! I said something yesterday about how I know men work really hard on the land, but it's pretty dang hard to push a baby out too...so they need to keep their bodies healthy and strong as well (this earned me some giggles and smiles). Who knows if I am actually doing anything that makes a difference in the long run...but I am learning and growing so much here, and I'm pretty sure at least one or two people are hearing what I say and will maybe even take it and apply it in their lives; can I really ask for anything more than that? I'm content and happy.

Well, this was a long blog entry...but I hadn't written in a while and thought I should try to make up for it! I hope you are all doing well at home, with your yummy cheeseburgers and big leafy green salads.
Love love love to all