Never awkward... again

I was thinking about when something should actually be considered a luxury.... so decided to see what Merriamwebster.com had to say. Luxury: a condition of abundance or great ease and comfort : sumptuous environment : something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary : an indulgence in something that provides pleasure, satisfaction, or ease (had the luxury of rejecting a handful of job offers)
--Eh, just imagining the luxuries I took for granted: a soft couch, a hot bath, a glass of wine, a washing machine, mold not growing itself on everything I own. Mmmm, chocolate chip cookies, a warm fire, well we could go on. It’s not that I don’t have luxury in my life now, its just, well, different… now it´s an icy bucket bath, days when I’m not covered in itchy red bumps, fried chicken!

Most of the time everyone looks at me like I’m an alien, but as my friend Ryan so wisely stated - nothing will ever be awkward ever again after this...ever - soooo true. But also every now and again white privilege will pop up out of nowhere. For example, I was with another volunteer last week waiting for a ride out of my town. The Honduran driver of a passing pick-up slowed a bit, yelling to us in English “Hurry up, run, I don’t want to take them!” (referring to other campesino types who were making moves towards the truck as well). The gringos jumped in and the truck sped off from the outstretched hands of the others (No, this couldn’t have been great for community integration.)

Here we go!

I have been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras for about six months now. I live in a small town called San Miguel Guancalpa (or San Miguelito as known by all) which is located in the department of Intibuca, in one of the most mountainous parts of the country. As a health volunteer so far, I´ve been trying to implement programs that the Ministry of Health is promoting in more rural departments. One is AIN-C, or a program that monitors infant growth and development. The other is Comites de Emergencia (Emergency Commitees), where groups of community members that are trained to deal with emergencies related mostly to maternal and infant health. For example, when a woman is giving birth and hemoragging they are trained to help stop the bleeding and find a way to get her to the hospital. Such committees are useful in rural areas where there is a lack of access to health services and transportation. So far I can see that Hondurans love to form committees, but that´s usually about the end of it...we´ll see. Isn´t that the happiest little campo boy?