EHE News
Thirteen students gave and grew: Service-learning in Honduras
Ohio State students (L-R) Samantha Barber, Kim Schriver, Christine Dierker, and Jessie Hartings spell out O-H-I-O on a hill overlooking the historic town of Yuscaran. In the distant background are the mountains of Nicaragua.
It takes dedication to serve orphaned children as a volunteer. It takes even more to do it hundreds of miles from home, in the area of a country with extreme poverty and very high rates of HIV-AIDS infection.
Thirteen Ohio State students accepted the challenge when they took CON SCI 612S - Housing and Community Development: A Honduras Service-Learning Experience. They spent spring quarter 2008 preparing for 12 days of adventure through service learning at Montaña de Luz (MdL), a Honduran orphanage for children with HIV/AIDS.
Co-instructors Marti Andrews (human nutrition), Golden Jackson (consumer sciences) and Erin Galloway (human development and family science) teach the course once a year and lead the trip. They guide learning, inviting students to gain a thorough understanding of Honduran culture as well as community and economic development concepts.
Their ultimate goal: to guide the students in designing in-country projects that serve the children of the orphanage and people of the nearby village of Nueva Esperanza.
Through careful preplanning with Honduran community partners, the students formed teams and designed projects around the theme of building community and trust.
From uncertainty to confidence: Students strengthen Hondurans' sense of community and pride
Jessie Hartings (third from right) and fellow Ohio State students Kim Schriver (fourth from left), Sarah Seiman (seventh from left) and Christine Dierker (far right), along with faculty Golden Jackson (sixth from left) presented the bulletin board for village announcements and the village map to community members of Nueva Esperanza, Honduras.
In September 2008, the students and the three instructors traveled to Honduras, following in the footsteps of prior Ohio State students, staff, alumni and faculty who have served and learned at Montaña de Luz.
Jessie Hartings, a senior from Westerville, Ohio, specializes in middle childhood education and chose to serve on the Community Development Team. The members focused on strengthening the local people's sense of community and pride in their home because most of the residents are from different parts of Tegucigalpa. The village was built 11 years ago for refugees displaced by hurricane Mitch.
One of the team's projects was to create a watercolor map of the village because the town lacks house numbers and street signs. "The students identified each house, pulperia, local business, religious congregation, community building and recreation area," says Associate Professor Jackson. "They added photos of places and events, framed the map and presented it to the community to hang in the community center."
The Ohio State students conducted a number of major activities during their Honduras experience. One of them was a 'meet and greet' with orphanage staff -- the Tias who care for the children, the cooks, groundskeepers, drivers and nurse. "They wanted to get to know them, express appreciation for their hospitality and support, and learn from their insights about the community," Jackson says.
Harting's group hosted a fiesta with food for the entire village. During the event, they helped build community pride by talking with many residents about their lives, their hopes for the village and the stories of how they came there. They also danced and had fun for several hours.
"I would recommend a study-abroad trip like this to anyone who is adventurous and willing to rough it a bit," Hartings says. "The locals are very friendly and welcoming people, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
"I've always had a desire to do community service and to travel, but combining the two was an eye-opening experience. I plan to incorporate community service in my future career as a middle school teacher. After Honduras, I feel I have the tools and the confidence to do this after I complete my master's degree in education and find a school."
Charades all-star bridges the language gap with Honduran adolescents
Melissa Clowson (first on left, gray shirt) and her team member met almost daily with the girls to talk, play games, and work on projects. Here they discuss making journals, which offer a healthy outlet for expressing thoughts and feelings.
During the course, Melissa Clowson, from Westerville, Ohio, noticed that when groups went to visit Montaña de Luz, most of their love and playfulness seemed to be directed toward the youngest, "cutest" children. She saw a need for attention to be given to the oldest girls, ages 11-13.
"These adolescent girls are like any other children going through puberty," explains the graduation student in education. "There are ups and downs of emotions, but they also have HIV/AIDS, and some have abusive backgrounds and family illnesses from which to heal emotionally. Additionally, these girls are approaching the age when they can leave the MdL community. We were told they sought a way to leave a positive mark on the orphanage."
Clowson and her team member, Caitlyn Seitz, developed several activities meant to empower the girls to succeed and inspire them to achieve their dreams.
A key effort was helping the girls design and paint murals in their rooms. This activity allowed the girls to leave a positive mark on the orphanage while seeing the positive results of collaborative work.
As Clowson explains, "We were taught that their culture puts emphasis on finding your identity and feeling sufficient through being with a man. We wanted them to see--by building relationships with us and with each other--how supportive and necessary relationships with women can be."
Clowson loves kids, so working with the girls was "right up my alley," she says. But her area of expertise is early childhood development, so she found working with the age group a little intimidating at first.
The girls came up with ideas for the murals, and Clowson and Seitz drew them on the walls. Then the girls did the painting.
"I was also scared about the language barrier," she says, "because it is difficult to build relationships when people are not able to communicate. Luckily, not only am I a charades all-star, which the girls found hilarious when I spoke through ridiculous, exaggerated motions and facial expressions, but Caitlyn was fluent in Spanish and did a lot of translating."
Although Clowson and Seitz constantly wondered if they were in over their heads, "after all was said and done, I can not believe what we accomplished! Not only did we and the girls paint five different murals in a few short days, but the girls came out of their shells enough to confide in us about some of the heavier issues in their lives. We had fun together, and the smiles on their faces and their laughter throughout the day reminded me that this was all for the girls, and they were happy.
"It was also cool to watch their faces light up when the staff and younger children came into their rooms to see the murals and gave THEM full attention.
"After working with the girls at MdL, I'm definitely more attentive to seeking out children who have 'baggage' in their lives. I realize that, although these kids may be more of a challenge to reach, their need for love and attention is great."
Golden Jackson, who is also program director of Ohio State's Service-Learning Initiative, sums up the offering this way: "Service learning provides a rich laboratory for integrating knowledge, applying academic concepts in a real world setting, learning how to be an effective, participatory citizen, and experiencing personal and interpersonal development," Jackson says. "An international setting adds experience of culture, environment, and social organization that is very different from what we experience in Ohio. It is an experience that should not be missed."
View a digital story about service learning in Honduras created by Golden Jackson at http://service-learning.osu.edu/resources.php#digital. Under Video Resources, choose Behind the Glass, by Golden Jackson, program director, Service-Learning Initiative.
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