Thursday, December 13, 2012

Students learn about development through La Unión visit


This post was written by two Calvin College students, who spent two weeks in La Unión as part of an internship with their semester in Honduras program.

By Isaac DeGraaf and Eric Hollis

Our names are Eric and Isaac and we’ve been studying in Honduras for about three and half months through our school, Calvin College. We study international development, and as part of our class, we have a two week internship at an organization of our choice. We visited Unión MicroFinanza earlier this semester with our class, and we were very interested in how it is run and how it has found a home here in La Unión.

During our time in La Unión, we had the opportunity to stay in aldeas (villages) with coffee farmers and their families. The following is a picture of our experiences:

Eric's story: 

Noe Amaya works on a pila in Nueva Paz.
I stayed in Nueva Paz for two nights and three days with Noe Amaya and his family. Noe is one of the construction leaders for a Community Partnership pila project (pilas are concrete basins used for storing water and for washing). The first day, I got to help work on the pilas with him, and I asked him questions about the partnership groups that came to Honduras. We had some great conversations and I was quite impressed with my Spanish!

Staying with his family was awesome and it practically moves me to tears how loving the family was toward me. And he has three sons! As a guy that has grown up with two sisters, I was pumped. I got really close to all of them: their ages were three, twelve, and thirteen. Even as I was there hanging out with them, they kept telling me I had to come back and see them again.

The second and third days I worked with the two older boys in the coffee fields. The field was about a 30-minute hike away, and it was tough. It hurt my pride a little because I was walking the trail slowly and cautiously while they were running and jumping through it. The field was in the middle of the mountains and the view was gorgeous. For two days I cleaned the coffee fields, which is a fancy way of saying hacking away at long grass surrounding the coffee plants with a machete. These two kids work in the fields every day. If they’re in school, they go to the coffee fields after classes, and if they don’t have school then they work most of the day. 

The fact that coffee is so big in the area reflects UMF’s development method once again – by seeing what the people are doing and how they’re living. UMF’s microloan and education program, market access, and emphasis on quality reflect a perfect fit for the communities when it comes to development.

Through our discussions with UMF staff, we learned how the Community Partnership Program is different than other short-term programs. UMF, the partner organization, and the community work together to build relationships that help foster greater understanding of the needs and resources of the community. And the community is involved at every step through a community board of directors who help make decisions.

Isaac DeGraaf and Eric Hollis in La Unión.
Isaac's story: 

The aldea I went to is called El Águila. It is one of the smaller aldeas around La Unión and it consists of about 15 houses and 90 people. Like most of the area around La Unión, it is surrounded by fields of coffee. I stayed with Francis Castillo and his family, and they own a coffee field about a 20-minute walk from their house. They are currently in the process of picking coffee, and I was eager to get my hands dirty and involved in the process. So, 10 minutes after getting dropped off, I was picking coffee.

Picking coffee isn’t a particularly hard task and almost anyone could do it. I was surprised to see not only Francis picking coffee, but also his wife, sister, nephew, and father. It was truly a family effort, and as they picked they chatted to pass the time. At about noon on my first day, the rain started and we called it quits in the field. I then experienced the life of a rural Honduran by trying to pass the time with not too much to do. I practiced English with Francis, who is currently taking lessons, I played countless games of bingo with Francis’s niece and nephew, and I sat on the bench outside their home watching the clouds come and go.

Time seemed to go so slow, but before I knew it, dinner was ready and shortly after, bedtime. The next morning we were up at 6:30 to head to the field. We ate breakfast in the field before we started picking, and then the day repeated itself much like the first day. We finished picking at around noon and spent the rest of the day just trying to pass the time. I was so glad I was given the opportunity to live in El Águila and experience life in rural Honduras.

During this development semester we have taken in Honduras, we’ve had the great privilege to be able to travel all over the country and experience the culture of Honduras. But one thing we hadn’t done was stay with a family in a rural town. We’ve seen a lot of the city life, which makes up about half of Honduras’s population, but we’d never really stayed in the rural areas of Honduras. These two weeks in La Unión were the perfect opportunity to learn about life in the aldeas with Unión MicroFinanza. 

20 comments:

  1. When you go for any monetary guide, you don't need to assume pressure about your acknowledgment history whether it is great or awful. 6 month awful credit credits no expenses If you are terrible credit holder because of indebtedness, nation court judgments (CCJs), singular deliberate assentions (IVA), defaults, sum late et cetera, you can infer the money up to 1000 pounds. payday loan

    ReplyDelete
  2. Since this is a payday credit, it is based upon your unfaltering wage and will should be paid back by your next paycheck. On account of the fleeting way of these credits, moneylenders are more tolerant regarding what they require with a specific end goal to sanction you for the loan. car title loans

    ReplyDelete
  3. Attempting to obtain from your companions and relatives isn't generally a down to earth thought. At times our companions and relatives are similarly situated we're in and not ready to offer assistance. payday loans chicago

    ReplyDelete
  4. The second thing I did is the thing that really helped me which was to get a payday credit joining relationship to handle my devotion at a diminished whole and pay the payday credits back for me for my inspiration. It was one of the best choices I ever gathered and it was an exit plan from the payday credit web. Cash Advance

    ReplyDelete
  5. The moneylenders permit you to get to these credits for any sort of vehicle like an auto, van, transport, truck, bicycle, SUV or whatever other vehicle according to your need. Consequently, by applying for these advances, you can include another vehicle in your benefits and property. payday loans

    ReplyDelete
  6. An auto title moneylender won't waste your time; the length of you get all the ability information, once your auto is reviewed, you will know promptly whether your application has been embraced.
    Check Cashing San-diego

    ReplyDelete

  7. Likewise analysis the acclaim agreement and altitude advisedly and accord accurate application to the aegis prerequisites and apperceive actually what acreage you are swearing as aegis for the advance,
    Payday Loans

    ReplyDelete
  8. Borrowers ought to have rundown of reports expected by banks. They incorporate pay confirmation, wage expense archives, personality evidence, private records, a duplicate of credit report, driving permit, and so forth. On the off chance that you offer important resources like home and gems as insurance, archives of the same will be needed. Cash Advance

    ReplyDelete
  9. Advance reimbursement is once in a while due in full in 30 days yet by sensibility of a get requiring of an open passage time to reimburse, the moneylender may work out an other piece framework. On the off chance that the borrower is not composed to pay the credit's estimation beginning now, he can rollover auto title loans online chicago

    ReplyDelete
  10. There are a advanced array of apprentice loans attainable to undergraduate/graduate students. These ambit from federal to clandestine as able-bodied as the adeptness to consolidate loans already ancestry has ended. Check Cashing San-diego

    ReplyDelete
  11. Deciding to defended a payday accommodation requires a methodical access by the borrower to actuate whether or not it absolutely is the band-aid to your banking problem. Bethink - a payday accommodation is a short-term, not long-term, band-aid to a banking emergency.

    payday loans chicago

    ReplyDelete
  12. Once the application has been affirmed, the borrower will be sent an affirmation of his or her application. The borrower in this manner is required to have a duplicate of it appropriately marked without anyone else's input. check cashing

    ReplyDelete
  13. Roughly 1/5 of all non-contract portion advances are close to home credits, says Jane C. Yoa, overseeing chief for reviews and measurements for the American Bankers Association. "It's an item that banks are finding an interest for in the market," she says. auto title loans

    ReplyDelete
  14. These home advances have turned into a decent choice for individuals with dream of building new house however have awful record of loan repayment. With this credit you can likewise dispose of the tax cut that joins home possession. Cash Advance Chicago

    ReplyDelete
  15. One of the principal enormous buys numerous individuals make is a vehicle. Obviously, those simply beginning on the planet aren't subject to have much financial record. So how precisely do you approach getting yourself a decent auto advance. Cash Advance Corona

    ReplyDelete
  16. Home Page
    I should say thank you very much for this thought. It gives me more knowledge on this issue.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I cannot contribute anything more. Your content is too great.
    - hide online

    ReplyDelete