Kathryn's Peace Corps Adventure

The opinions expressed and experiences described in this blog are mine personally. Any musings that you read here are not affiliated or endorsed by Peace Corps or U.S. government. Or Starbucks. And I'm not making any money from any of this, so don't send a lawsuit my way. Got it?

Friday, November 18, 2005

getting clued in

We have all had another meeting with our Project Manager (PM) in which she has told us our counterparts, what our city is like, how far it is from places, and if we have a house...without actually telling us the city. She did supply us with a list of our sites so it´s just a guessing game/process of elimination.

Here´s what I know...
1. I have a baseball team! (And they are totally going to win the championship)
2. I have a health center (I´m supposed to start a Pregnant Girls Club...thank goodness my years in Catholic school have prepared me for this moment)
3. I have a high school and grammar school (teaching sports and English)
4. I am also supposed to work in different towns as a teacher trainer
5. My town is small...it´s not on a map of Honduras
6. I have a house set up for me but my PM wants me to stay with a host family for a few weeks if she can find one.
7. I am replacing a departing YD volunteer.
8. I have a brand new library that opened today and am supposed to start reading clubs for the kids since they are out of school right now.
9. I won´t have a site mate from PC.

Lots of info right? I´m almost certain that my site for the next two years is San Ramon, Lempira which is about an hour south east of Santa Rosa de Copan in the west. If anyone can find a website with info about this town, please post on my blog becasue I would like some info on where it actually is!

·This isn´t actually confirmed until November 30th when the official announcement will be made.

posted by Kathryn @ 2:31 PM  

4 Comments:

  • At 5:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    A Path of Stones – A Pathway to Knowledge
    San Ramón, a village of about 840 people located in the hills
    above Choluteca (Honduras), is proof positive of the power
    of new technologies to leapfrog over traditional barriers to
    development. San Ramón, with support from UNESCO and
    Consejo Hondureño de Ciencia y Tecnologia (COHCIT) and
    others, has become the world's first solar power community
    hooked up to the Internet. Above and beyond the potential of
    the Internet and other less sophisticated technologies (e.g.,
    television) to expand horizons beyond San Ramón and
    Choluteca, the results are interesting for a number of reasons.
    First, the fact that solar energy has been the power source of
    choice says volumes about the status of San Ramón vis-à-vis
    public policy. To say that San Ramón is an isolated community
    may be an understatement. Access doesn't come easy.
    Although located a mere 24 kilometers from a main thoroughfare,
    the journey up to San Ramón requires a good 45
    minutes in a 4x4 all-terrain vehicle - and a strong stomach.
    There is no road to speak of. Rather, a path of stones, ravines,
    and otherwise tough conditions leads slowly upwards.
    It has been this lack of accessibility, coupled with the relatively
    low number of inhabitants, that has made the government
    less than anxious to extend the distribution network
    from Choluteca to San Ramón. At least not in the short- to
    medium-term. Per unit costs as well as accessibility considerations
    meant that if power were to come to the village, it
    would have to do so by means other than the "traditional"
    methods at the disposal of the state and public policy.
    Among these, solar energy figured prominently.
    Second, San Ramón, like many remote villages throughout
    the country, suffers from low levels of education, productivity
    and, in general, quality of life. It was a zero (on the scale
    of one to ten) according to its cacique, or leader, Don
    Jeronimo. Given its remoteness, the village could neither
    maintain teachers for its school (primary level only) nor
    benefit in a timely manner from a number of other public
    services - e.g., vaccinations. Aspirations also were low. Indeed,
    as one villager joked, "the moon seemed closer than
    Tegucigalpa."


    Hope that helps somewhat. Did you get my package yet?

    Jon

     

  • At 7:02 PM, Blogger Dirty Flamingo said…

    Based on your exciting project details and that site description above, it sounds like you're in for an adventurous 2 years!

     

  • At 1:58 PM, Blogger *** said…

    Uh, im pretty sure my twin´s are gonna whoop up on your cubs come march...

     

  • At 4:47 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Cubs can beat any twins. They will whoop em so hard they will be called the Senators again. Go Cubs!

     

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