After having completed over one year living here in Honduras and working as a volunteer OT for NPH, reflecting on all the challenges and hopes feels like an appropriate thing to do. Over the last year and 3 months the challenges that I have faced have changed and evolved. Things that used to be challenges are now just a normal part of life, while new challenges continue to present themselves.
Personally, I have grown so much as my hopes, my work, and the kids with whom I work have changed. However, it is only when one takes the time to reflect that these changes become evident.
This year, 2023 started off with a lovely and very needed 2 week solo holiday in Nicaragua. I explored all the local tourist spots, climbed and sandboarded down an active volcano, explored countless beautiful churches, tasted different food, and learnt about the history and current complicated political situation in Nicaragua. I also spent a week at the beach doing language school to improve my Spanish grammatically. My time in this stunning country was a necesary disconnection from everything and a good time for reflection. To think that one year ago I was barely able to say a sentence of Spanish, too scared to explore anything alone and not being able to eat the local staples of eggs and beans. I find myself now being fully accustomed to the food and enjoying it, travelling alone and without any communication difficulties as well. It is really evident how when you need to adapt, God provides you with the means to do so and helps you do it in a way you can manage.
This second year of living and working here in Honduras was definitely a choice that I am very grateful I made and am making the most of. It has been very special to be able to connect more, work with more children and continue to grow professionally in ways that I would never have been able to in only one year here. Having a better ability to communicate in Spanish has opened doors and built my confidence a lot as well which helps my work and social abilities so much. I hope that in the months to come I can continue to do so.
Losing another roommate (number 3) was definitely tough but something I new would happen as my volunteer group all finished their 1 year service. Luckily my roommate moved to Guatemala to work at the NPH there for a few months and I am planning to go visit her soon. Having people coming and going constantly, especially when you are become close for a time, is tough. It has taught me a lot of empathy and made me more aware of the attachment difficulties the children here have when they do not have constant people in their lives.
My work has continued to evolve and change as the needs and priorities of therapy on the Ranch change. While for my first 8 months here I focused mainly on the population of children and young adults with severe developmental disabilities and a little bit of working with some of the other kids with difficulties, that has since changed. The growth of the therapy team here on the ranch, and my growing understanding of the therapy needs of the kids on the ranch, has meant that I have been able to adapt my work to meet those needs. I am now working in the school most mornings and in the homes in the afternoons working on a wide range of difficulties from early intervention, social emotional learning, managing mental health difficulties, writing, attention, activities of daily living - the list goes on. I have found a specific interest in the impact of trauma on a child's functioning in daily life and how it presents in their daily life. We have had a large influx of new children on the Ranch and that has brought new challenges and allowed me to be part of their journeys here from the beginning.
One of the highlights of my work is being able to live in the small moments with the kids - whether in therapy sessions or just everyday activities that are always happening on the Ranch- appreciating them and their beautiful smiles, their joy at accomplishing something and motivation to keep going despite whatever they have been through is really special.
A big challenge for me currently is that there is very little difference between work and life for me now after spending over 1 year here. So a new challenge is finding and making new ways to rest and recuperate - a very necessary skill that is much harder to put into place when you live in the same place as work. This remains something I hope to get better at doing and am working on it. Small things like bonfires in the mountains, dinners and sharing time with friends, and short escapes to nature make all the difference during the tough days. Also having such supportive family that is always a quick phone call away helps.
We come to the end of celebrating Holy week and beginning summer here in Honduras. Summer here means the annual vacations and so over the next few weeks I will be accompanying the boys from my hogar to a water park for a night as well as going to the beach for 5 days with all the little kids. While the challenges keep changing, life here is never boring. I wake up every morning motivated to keep going and even though I may get tired at times a bit more easily than before I find the energy every day to do my work and love every moment of it... something only God can provide me with. I am so grateful to be able to learn, experience and work here in Honduras.
One of the boys in my hogar had had a deterioration in his health and so it would be incredible if you could keep him in your prayers. Wishing you all a Blessed Easter and sending lots of love!
God bless