Turning back a little...

A bit after the fact, I know, but I've been wanting to tell about an experience of a parent/teacher meeting I had in San Rafael, Honduras, before leaving the last time (about a month ago now). The head teacher at the school called a mandatory meeting on a Tuesday at 10am. The kids got to leave early. About 5 parents showed up. The meeting was rescheduled for Friday at 10am, and a note was sent home with the kids saying that families who did not send a parent to the meeting would have to pay 50 Lempiras (about $2.50). Forty-five parents came Friday. Some by means of horseback. The parents sat in the kids desks and chairs in the largest of the schools three classrooms.

The meeting including voting for officers of the Society of Families (like a PTA, I think?) and officers for the Merrienda Committee (they arrange the groups of families who take turns making the rice, beans, and tortilla lunches for the kids each day with government money... when the money shows up). Nobody was volunteering, and everybody was nominating each other. Then they went around the room for each position in each committee to vote outloud on the nominees. Some of the contests were close, and you could sense the pressure on the last few people to have to voice their vote. GVI is also starting an adult literacy program in San Rafael. Once a week the volunteers teach basic spanish literacy to adults. While discussing this program at the meeting, the teacher asked each parent individually if he/she could read and write and if they wanted to participate in the class. They all gave seemingly honest answers out loud, with the majority not being literate.

The parents seemed like students sitting in the desks and being made to speak aloud and answer questions. But they really didn't seem to mind. As the other volunteers and I watched the meeting unfold, we were amazed at how different this was from any such meeting in the states. It worked for them, though. People vented, issues were resolved, and committees chosen. The same results any meeting would hope to achieve.

I thought I'd put up a couple of pics from Honduras with this post. And in about 2 weeks, I'll be going back for a quick visit. More on that and my upcoming journey home via a few different countries in a post coming soon, I hope.