An American SLP in Honduras

Disclaimer: This post is a little speech pathology-y. I know it’s not the most interesting to all of you, but it’s my job here on the Ranch, and a huge reason why I chose to volunteer with NPH. Besides, I just love what I do, and want to talk about it.

After two weeks of orientation in early July, it was already time to start working. The school year runs from February – November here, so I started in the middle of the academic year, which was an unforeseen challenge. While I had the schedule of the previous SLP to use, I also wanted to meet the kids and see if there were others who could benefit from therapy. I decided to spend my first weeks organizing my room, observing classes, and evaluating kids. I soon discovered that as I continued to seek out kids for therapy, I continued to find kids for therapy, with a limited amount of slots in my schedule. I have struggled a lot with numbers, because there simply are too many kids on the Ranch who I would like to work with. I have made small groups and work with as many kids as possible, but with 300+ kiddos here, I just can’t do it. We talked about using our “clinical judgment” all the time in grad school, and for the first time, I'm working on my own, and I suddenly have to critically think and apply my clinical judgment in a way I never have had to before.  

Although I’m not sure I have yet to experience a “typical” anything here on the Ranch, here’s what a typical work week looks like:

On Mondays I go to Casa Angeles, which as I shared before, is a home in Tegus for children with severe disabilities and/or medical needs. My therapy is very play-based, to work on engaging the kids and trying to work on goals as simple as joint attention, or being able to appropriately play with a toy. I found creating appropriate, reasonable goals for this population to be challenging, because I needed to have a realistic sense of their current communication, and what I can work towards this year. I also help with feeding during snack and lunch. In the future, I would like to do a charla, or chat about feeding and swallowing safety to share what I know with the tías who work in Casa Angeles. 

One week at Casa Angeles, I got to observe hipoterapia, which some of the kids receive once a week. I had never seen anything like this before, and really enjoyed it! It was amazing to see the reactions and changes in the kids when it was their turn to ride. I would love to go again sometime this year.

Tuesday through Friday, I stay on the Ranch. In addition to spending time at the school, I spend mornings in Casa Suyapa working with the Chiquitos in their Montessori classroom, visiting the abuelo home Casa Eva, working in talleres, or the junior high, as well as the hogar San Juan de la Salle, where I work with two boys with autism. I have a huge variety on my caseload, which forces me to think about a ton of different goals and therapy techniques. I’m so grateful to be able to work with such a range of ages and diagnoses, because it will hopefully help me find a job back in the States. Plus, it just makes work more interesting and fun.

My very own classroom! 

My makeshift "reading corner." The kids aren't used to sitting at a table and working, so they often opt to do therapy here. As long as they are engaged and focused, I'm happy to let them choose where they want to sit. 

The library in Casa Suyapa, where I work with the Chiquitos one-on-one. It's not my official classroom, but I love working in here too!

The younger kids love therapy, because it means individual attention and the possibility of earning a sticker. Although I sometimes need to remind the kids to focus, they typically work hard and enjoy their time with me. When I walk to the younger grades, I’m often greeted by a swarm of kids asking, “¿Cuándo me toca la terapia?” or “when is it my turn for therapy?!” Although I can’t usually work with every kid who asks for a turn, it’s so nice to know that the kids don’t dread working with me.

I scooped up one of the Chiquitos for a quick hug while working at the school. He's actually a twin, and they are both doing great in therapy. Doesn't he have the sweetest little face?

Taking a picture at the end of a productive session. 

All of the little ones love this little plastic duck I found in a bag of old toys. Here, my little friend is reading a story to the duck while we practice using complete sentences and expand her vocabulary. 

She loves to back herself into my lap (quite forcefully, actually,) and start reading to herself. Notice anything about the book? I snapped this right before turning the book right side up.

Unfortunately, I am not greeted as warmly when I go to talleres, or the junior high to give therapy to a few kids. I am often given an eye roll, and was once told that death sounds more fun than therapy. I have always felt more comfortable working with younger kids, so I was a little hesitant to start working in talleres. But, I also know that these girls can greatly benefit from therapy, so I continue to try every week to make therapy motivating and fun.

In an effort to make the older girls comfortable with me, I took our first couple sessions to play “get to know you” games to give them time to adjust to a new therapist, while I sneakily listened to their speech and language while we played. I brought two games to give the girls a chance to select whichever game they preferred. Both girls chose Sorry. As I played with the particularly reluctant girl, I drew 3 Sorry cards in a row, which as all you Sorry players know, means that I can replace her piece on the game board, giving me the lead. She was too old for me to “change the rules” and do something different as I may have done with a younger kid. So I found myself completely dominating the game, when for the first time in my life, my competitive self actually wanted to lose to give her confidence and more comfort with me. Despite my Sorry plan backfiring, we have slowly made progress over the past couple months. Although I'm never greeted with a hug as I am with the Chiquitos, I am happy to spend time and work with the older girls, and I would like to think their time with me isn't too horrible, either. 

This is my first time really being “on my own” as a SLP. Although I slowly was given more freedom as an intern, I always had a supervisor to ask questions or give me feedback. Now, I’m in a different country completely on my own. I have spent a lot of my time explaining what exactly a speech-language pathologist is, and what our scope of practice includes. While I love talking about my work, it is sometimes tricky to explain everything we can do in Spanish, but it gets easier every time. The school is run very different than a school in the States, and I have deliberately tried to keep some of my "American SLP" habits, because I think it will make me a stronger therapist in Honduras. 

I have moments where I question myself and wonder how on earth I am allowed to just treat kids. I’ve studied and worked towards being a SLP for six years, and now I’m given the freedom and trust to apply what I’ve learned. It’s scary at times, but also so rewarding. I'm so thankful for my professors, supervisors, and friends who share goal and activity ideas via email and Skype, and the constant reassurance, trust, and gratitude of the tías and teachers here. Here's to 9 more months of plastic toy ducks, stickers, and (hopefully) losing more games of Sorry.

Tractor Termite, at your service

I had the intention of posting again so much sooner, but I should have known that things would take longer than expected. Pardon the delay, but here you go. Olimpiadas, day 2.

Friday night ended around 10:00, which is insanely late for the Ranch. As the program concluded, there were tíos and tías walking up to Casa Suyapa carrying little sleeping insects who couldn’t make it through the whole program. Here’s just a little taste of what Friday night was like:

The decorated stage where the judges sat. Doesn't it look incredible?! The background says "Working like the insects we will make a wonderful world." 

Our mural with information about Termites. The bottom is our lema, or motto, which says "United like a family we can improve and change the world." Our shirts and flag have our lema on it as well. I never thought I'd ever say termites will improve the world, let alone change it. 

Presenting our flag to the judges. 

All of the teams waving their flags. 

With another volunteer waiting for the presentations to begin. 

3/7 dancing Termitas. See why I insisted on wearing leggings?

The games on Saturday started at 7:30 with a Celebration of the Word and picture of everyone in the NPH Honduras family. After the photoshoot, we lit the Olimpiadas torch, and the games began.

Las Termitas spent the morning in Buen Pastor, which is the side of the Ranch where the boys live. We played against Las Abejas, or the bees for all of the games that required an opponent. These games were more physically demanding, and included the long jump, a game of handball, obstacle courses, crawling through mud, wrestling, and of course, getting wet.  

Getting ready to walk together on giant skis. 

The makeshift slip n slide they crawled under, followed by mud.

Our intense handball game. We won!

For me, the most memorable game was the Lucha de Tirón, or tug of war, which took place in ankle-deep mud. When we arrived at the tug of war, we were told that there would be three rounds: men, women, and mixed. I was excited to help with the women’s round, and Melissa, a fellow volunteer and Termita agreed to be on the women’s team as well. When I mentioned that the two of us would stand at the back, since it’s always good to have a strong anchor, a tío on my team turned to me and said, “Well yea, that’s a good idea. We should put you two tractors in the back.” I don’t think he meant it to be mean, but women typically don’t strive to be compared to large farming equipment. Melissa and I had a good laugh about that, but proved to be tractor worthy when we helped out in the women’s and mixed round.

Getting ready for the men's round. 

The men giving us last-minute advice. Note the tractors in the back. 

It was so hard to do in the mud, because you had no traction. But look at everyone screaming at us!

I mean, for tractors, we look pretty good, right? 

Later in the afternoon, we went to Talita Kumi (where all the girls live,) and did relay races. These games seemed so tame and calm compared to our morning.

We had a little break to shower and rest before the big awards ceremony. The kitchen prepared an especially delicious dinner of churrasco, rice, and salad. We even had ice cream, which is a rare treat here. At awards, I learned that there would be winners for the presentations as well as for the games, so six teams could win. After seeing some of the other dances, I did not expect to hear the Las Termitas announced as a winner. However, I was so pleasantly surprised to find out that we won third place in the games! I didn't play in every game, but this Termite Tractor got to enjoy an afternoon of non-Ranch food in honor of our outstanding game performance. 

It's already almost been a month since Olimpiadas, which I can't believe. The preparation was extremely time consuming, overwhelming, and challenging, but the actual event was a lot of fun. I'm still greeted with a hug and shout whenever I see a Termita on the Ranch, and know the kids will continue to talk about Olimpiadas until next year. 

Olimpiadas: Chapter 1

Since I arrived almost two months ago, I had heard talk of Olimpiadas, and that they are THE event of the year. A couple weeks ago, we had a big meeting to announce the theme for the year, and to allow each team to assemble. The night before, I had to look up my name and see what team I was on. I learned that there are typically about 1-2 kids from each hogar on a team, along with a tío, tía, employee, and volunteer, so there is a wide age range on each team. I looked up my name on the massive team roster, and discovered that I was a member of Equipo 2. First is the worst, second is the best, right?

This year, the Olimpiadas theme was insects, so each team picked a specific insect. When I heard this, I started to hope for one of the more likable insects, although frankly, I’m not a fan of any creepy crawly creature. But I figured if I had to be an insect, butterflies or ladybugs would be great, lightening bugs, bees, or even ants. But unfortunately I wasn’t so lucky. When they pulled our bug out of the raffle, I couldn’t hear the name of the bug, but a collective laugh/groan from everyone. It wasn’t until later when I met with my team, that I learned I was a member of Las Termitas: the termites.

There was a lot to do for Olimpiadas. Each team was expected to choreograph and perform a 7 minute dance, create a flag and mural, which had to include a “central theme or main idea,” along with information about termites. We needed to make tshirts to wear for the games and find costumes to wear in the dance. We also had to choose a mascota, who would dress up as a termite and represent the team. I was told the mascot is typically one of the little kids, though my little friend here kept insisting he wasn’t going to do it, until about 5 minutes before performance time when he was wedged into the termite piñata he had to parade around in.

We rehearsed for Olimpiadas 6 hours each week, 3 days for 2 hours for about a month before the actual event. If you went to Augie with me, and had the pleasure (or displeasure to perhaps many of you, sorry about that) of working with me when I co-ran Sing, you understand how I like rehearsals to go. I start on time, I end on time. We work hard, we don’t talk, we are efficient and productive. It’s challenging and tiring, but rewarding because each meeting we move step closer to our goal.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t running these rehearsals. As a volunteer who had never experienced Olimpiadas before, I did not often have success when I made a suggestion or offered to help. I was asked to participate in the dance, but when I came up with choreography ideas, it was clear that my ideas of dance were quite different than what the girls here wanted. When I tried on my skirt for my costume (even girl termites like to be pretty,) I was told that they used the same skirt length for all the girls. As a 5’7” American dancing among Honduran pequeñas ages 12-15, let’s just say if I had to do the classic “fingertip test” to see if my skirt length was long enough to wear to school, I would have failed miserably. I have never been more thankful for my leggings which had made the cut into my 49.8 lb. suitcase.   

I was hesitant to blog about my frustration, because I didn’t intend for this blog to become a place where I talk about the negative aspects of my experience. But in the end, I decided it’s worth posting, because amidst all the hip shaking and arguments over skirt length, I had an important lesson in flexibility and patience. I had to consciously take the time to remind myself that this isn’t about me, or my Type A need to have perfectly synchronized hands and feet in the dance. I was one of many, many people working towards Olimpiadas, and I needed to do my part to help make this year’s event a success for the kids. Despite my frustrations, Olimpiadas was going to happen, so I did my best to make the most of it. I smiled during the dance, I proudly wore my leggings, and let the girls enjoy performing. By the end of the weekend, everyone was exhausted, bruised and sore (you’ll understand why when I talk about the games,) but smiling. It has now been a week and every time I see a fellow Termite they run up to me and talk about last weekend.

My next post will be about game day and how the events turned out. The prizes were actually pretty great (translation: involved food that is not rice and beans,) so everyone was very motivated to do their best. Sorry for the cliffhanger friends, but you’ll just have to wait for one more post to know how things turned out for the Termites. In the meantime, if anyone needs to borrow a skirt and leggings, I’ve got you covered. 

The best of week 3

I’ve now been in Honduras for a month! It’s crazy to think about how fast the time has gone by. Each day I continue to learn and slowly adjust to living on the Ranch. Although I know I’m falling behind on my updates, I’ll share with you what my third week was like, since a lot happened.

After two weeks of being here, all but one of the past year’s volunteers headed back to the US. I think it kind of freaked me out, because their leaving confirmed that I am staying. I’m still not sure I totally can fathom being here for a year, but I guess I’ll find out in the months to come.

Here’s what I was up to during my third week in Honduras. I officially started working as the speech-language pathologist (SLP) on Monday. Unfortunately, I was unable to start seeing kids (I’ll explain more about that in a bit,) but I met with my supervisor and started to get settled into my job. I cleaned and organized my room, which I enjoyed more than I should probably admit. I was so impressed with the amount of games and materials that I have available to me. Although many of the materials are starting to become a little dated, I’m still so thankful to the past SLPs for creating materials and leaving things behind. I hope to be able to do the same over the course of this year.

My first week of work was La Semana de la Hondureñidad, or the Week of the Honduran. Each day included a special activity. On Tuesday, the kids played different games and rotated to each station, a lot like a Field Day. I was in charge of a game called Las Ollitas with a fellow volunteer. On Wednesday, each grade dressed up and performed a traditional Honduran song. They all looked so cute in their costumes! On Friday, we had a long ceremony honoring being Honduran, which included singing the very long national anthem, seeing various dance performances, and one boy from each grade dressed up to represent Honduras. So my week wasn’t the most productive as far as doing therapy, but I enjoyed getting to know the students and staff during the week.

One of the classes performing their song.

Second grade after their performance.

The cutest little performer. 

This little boy spent a lot of time with me when I visited his hogar. He loves telling me riddles in Spanish. I'm not great at them yet, but he was shocked when I could actually solve a few. 

The stage for Friday's program.

The boys after being individually presented.

He insisted on posing for me. 

The end of orientation

Well, I'm officially done with orientation. The first two weeks were a whirlwind of information, visits, and questions. Although there is still so much to learn and figure out, I'm glad I had a few weeks to get my feet on the ground here. Typically, orientation lasts 3-4 weeks, but since all but one of the July volunteers had to get back to the States for jobs and medical school, we had to squeeze in some job training/shadowing before they left. So it was a shorter, but more intense, couple of weeks. 

I'll share with you the highlights of week two, along with some pictures.

Monday through Wednesday I spent time at school learning more about my job. I got to explore my classroom, meet the students and staff, and start to see what a typical day is like at Escuela Rancho Santa Fe. I also visited Casa Angeles in Tegucigalpa, where I will do therapy once day a week. 

On Thursday, we visited Talanga, a town about 30 minutes away from the Ranch. We spent time at the Comedor Infantil, which is a soup kitchen for children. The children come each day for lunch and stay to do homework. In order to attend the Comedor, the children must be enrolled in school. The soup kitchen provides the children with a safe place to eat and spend time, in the hopes that they will stay in school. When the children arrived, they wanted to play soccer (of course,) so we all headed across the road to a makeshift soccer field. I honestly haven’t played soccer in 10 years, but it was really fun! I’m not good at all, but the kids had a blast. Some of the boys started to cheat (we were playing boys vs. girls). For those of you who know me well, the rule-follower in me was dying a little, but the kids were having fun, which was the most important.

Sorry, I didn't snap a lot of photos here. I was busy playing soccer!

Delicious tacos for lunch in Talanga's center.

On Friday, we spent the day in Tegucigalpa. We visited the NPH offices in the city and the rest of my orientation group met the sweet kids who live at Casa Angeles. It was nice to go back, because I could practice with names before I officially start doing therapy there. The kids who live at Casa Angeles have severe disabilities, and/or medical needs that require them to be closer to the city and a doctor. The Ranch is about 45 minutes outside of Tegus, so it would be really challenging to have the kids live so far away. Plus, many of the children have limited mobility, and the Ranch is full of hills, tree roots, cracks, and bumps. I haven’t wiped out yet, but it’s bound to happen soon.

After lunch, we went to Pasos Pequeñitos, which provides childcare and support for single mothers. As soon as the kids saw us walking towards the door, they started to scream “una visita!” which means “a visit!” The kids were so excited to have us there. We got to see them hit a piñata and play with them. When it was time to leave, they asked us to stay. I really enjoyed spending time there.

Pretending to be a monster. He waddled around in the tunnel trying to scare us for a long time.

He told me to fold my arms, but I didn't know we were supposed to make serious faces. 

Throughout the week, I continued to visit different hogars each night. It has been a fun way to get to know the kids and see where they spend their time outside of school.

That’s what my second week in Honduras looked like. I’m continuing to adjust to the food and water (I’ve successfully made the switch to Ranch water!), mosquito bites, and the Honduran heat. I will share more about week 3 soon! 

Here are a few more pictures during my first few weeks here:

A playground on the Ranch. 

The awesome view from my classroom! 

I stepped outside my classroom one day, and this is what I found. 

My currency for the year. Approximately 20 Lempiras is equivalent to $1.

For those of you who know me well, you will understand how excited I was to see this is in the volunteer house library. I hope to get through the series in Spanish over the course of the year!

Los pequeños and visiting hogars

It feels weird that I have posted three times, and have hardly mentioned the pequeños yet. They are, after all, the reason why I'm here.

I have been greeted with a variety of reactions. Some of the kids run up to me and give me a hug. They love to touch my hair and comment on what I’m wearing. Others just stare and scowl at me, because my presence means the upcoming absence of volunteers that they have grown to trust and love. Others have just needed time. Even by the end of the week, some of the kids have started to slowly approach me. Perhaps the most challenging is when the kids try to test me. They all want me to know their names. I’ve got maybe 30/300 kids down. Some of the kids tell me the completely wrong name. They just make one up. They almost always ask if I know Spanish, and then demand that I prove it. If I can’t understand everything (the Honduran dialect can be very fast,) they will often say something like, “Well, you just told us you can speak Spanish!”  

Part of orientation has included visiting the hogars with the current volunteers. Each night, a volunteer spends the evening in hogar. This includes eating dinner, helping with homework, and spending time with the kids. Once I choose a hogar, I will be with them for the year. For now, I have been visiting a different hogar each night. After a couple weeks, I’ll list my preferences and be placed in a hogar for the year.

Last Tuesday was a really fun night in hogar. I went to Casa Suyapa, which is the baby house. All the pequeños ages 0-8 live there, and then they move to girls/boys homes. Tuesday Casa Suyapa had a birthday party to celebrate everyone with May and June birthdays. It was a lot of delicious food and dancing. The kids had a blast.

Singing happy birthday to everyone.

One of the birthday girls. I didn't know it at the time, but I would get to know her very well, in both therapy and hogar.

On Saturday, I spent all morning with one of the girls’ homes who are ages 10-12. In the morning, the girls woke up, got dressed, and had breakfast, then it was time for chores. A group of girls went to the Chapel to clean. I went with the other group down by the bridge, where they cleared out some of the leaves and mud from the little river that runs through the Ranch. The girls also had to cut the grass…with machetes. I volunteered to help out with trimming the grass, but I was horrible at it. I’d whack the grass and maybe get one little blade. By the end of chores, I already had a blister on my hand. We also spent over an hour picking lice out of the girls. Later in the day, two of the girls discovered that I know the songs from Frozen in English, and they made me sing it to them about 100 times. I’m mastering the words in Spanish now as well.

Visiting the different hogars has been fun, but also overwhelming. I’ve been asked about where I come from, why my hair is so curly, why I speak English, and if they can have my watch, shirt, backpack, etc. when I leave. Every volunteer I talk to absolutely loves their hogar, so it’s nice to know that I’ll likely love wherever I end up. But I still have no idea what I’ll choose.

This week I started learning more about my job. I’m excited to get started, but also a little nervous. I’ll post again soon about what work will look like, and include some pictures of my classroom! 

Orientation highlights

I’ve officially been here a week! In some ways, I feel as though I have been here for much, much longer. It has been a whirlwind of a week. I’ve seen a lot of the Ranch, and been given a great deal of information. In true Jessica form, I’ll give you a list of highlights:

• Orientation began the evening I arrived (6/29) with a bonfire. All of the current and new volunteers introduced themselves, made s’mores, and hung out. I found out that in addition to fellow American volunteers, I will be spending part of my year with volunteers from New Zealand, Holland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Switzerland, and Colombia, which I’m very excited about. By 9:00, however, I had been awake for almost 21 hours, so I’m not sure I was the most fun to be around. Over the course of the week, I'm slowly getting better with the names and jobs of everyone!
• I’m currently living in a dorm with the two other July girl volunteers who are here. It’s the not the most glamorous living situation, but overall I don’t mind. I could do without the cucarachas as extra roommates, however.
• We have met several offices and departments around the Ranch, such as Human Resources, the Godparent Office, Communications, the Religion Department, Internal/External Clinics, Holy Family Surgery Center, Social Work, and Psychology. It has been interesting to hear about each department’s role, and see what a big operation NPH is.
• We went to Tegucigalpa for a day to get to know the city. We learned how to catch the bus, where to get off, and where to find the bank, grocery store, post office, etc. I can’t say I’m confident enough to do it on my own quite yet, but hopefully over time! While we were there, we stopped at a store to buy some juice. I chose jugo de límon y mango. It was delicious! It was cheaper to buy my juice in a bolso, or bag, so I drank from a plastic bag with the straw poking out.
• Tuesday was Día de Talita Kumi, which is the name of all the homes where the girls live. We ate a delicious lunch of churrasco, rice, and salad, and spent the afternoon playing and dancing with the kids. It was a really fun day.

I have moments where I look around and think, “oh my gosh I can’t believe I’m here!” which is exciting to think I have so much time to grow and learn. But sometimes I feel homesick and lonely. It’s hard to ever have privacy, so even my brief phone conversations with home are surrounded by others. I’ve learned to appreciate even 10 minutes alone in the dorm, just for a few minutes to give myself some space.

I know it will take time. Everyone has told us we have a “three month hump” to get over, before we can really settle in and adjust. I’m nervous to see what these months will bring, but also excited to finally feel as though the Ranch is home. Thanks to those who have continued to send prayers and good thoughts. Although I know this year will not be easy, I’m so thankful to have you thinking of me.

I want to post soon about the kids, visiting hogars, and share a few pictures with you. The internet is tricky, so I’m often at the mercy of when it works. I'll do my best!

Where the volunteers live. I'm on the roof looking down. 

A view of the mountains from the roof. I love seeing them when I'm walking around the Ranch. 

Enjoying my juice from a bag.