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La Paz Briefing Update

July 8, 2008 (Click on photo for enlargement)

lapaz-smAfter arriving on June 30 and July 1 to San Pedro Sula, Volunteers got their first good look at the low clouds, green mountains, and roadside banana stands of Honduras on the three-hour bus ride to La Paz.

Project Staff continued up to San Pedro Nolasco, the briefing site. It was a camp-style retreat with views of both the Comayagua river valley and surrounding mountains, where communities are located. Training activities prepared Volunteers to work with Honduran youth groups in their towns, to lead classes for children on a regular schedule and to act as facilitators in support of community-led projects.

Meals consisted of a nice introduction to Honduran cuisine – tortillas, beans, avocado, plantains – and were well received. From mosquito nets to Honduran slang to teaching methodologies and fundraising, “technical training” had the group excited and eager to get started. Project Staff and Volunteers were joined by Honduran youth counterparts and facilitators from PLAN Honduras to learn about the organization and to share goals and expectations for the coming weeks.

By the end of the week, energized and with new friends, Volunteers left for community to settle in for their first weekend. The La Paz project was also joined by two new volunteers from the Dominican Republic on Saturday. AMIGOS is excited to integrate the Latin American Volunteers into the project and believe they will contribute to cross-cultural communication.

AMIGOS Voices

“I saw through my work with AMIGOS that there were so many ways to influence the world. I realized that if I studied what interested me, there would be opportunities to use whatever skills I learned to better my environment, from the neighborhood where I grew up to a little town on the other side of the world.”

–Roanne Sharp, Student, UCLA