An unexpected summer blessing……
My name is Miguel Ortega from Aurora Colorado and I arrived in Honduras a product of serendipity – connected through old friends to ‘a mission in Honduras.’ I had only interviewed with El Ayudante by Skype a week before and bought the plane tickets 3 days in advance. I had hardly prepared myself to immerse myself in a new environment and culture. I was entirely unsure of what would await me once I cleared passport control in San Pedro Sula. 
I came with many questions, about what kind of Spanish I would encounter, about the validity reputation of Honduras, about the education system. I knew not where I would be staying, nor what I would even be doing for work. I came only with confidence and knowledge from my time working in Nicaragua – experience I thought would make me a seasoned veteran to the reality of Nicaragua’s northern neighbor.
What I came to find, instead, was a Honduras that completely disarmed my confident protective shell, and did away with any preconceptions I had brought with me in my backpack. It was a Honduras that welcomed me without conditions, humbled me, taught me, inspired me, and left me ultimately lamenting how little time I got to spend there this summer.
Any confidence I had that I “knew” Central America and Honduras by extension evaporated quickly. I learned quickly, frequently, and often embarrassingly about the intricacies and novelties of Honduran Spanish. I was a student all over again. Day in and day out, I was encountering Honduran language, food, and culture, each time wishing I had just asked the question first. But for every que oso moment, there were many more opportunities to eat pollo chuco, baleadas, drink cafecitos and experience the abundance of Honduran hospitality.
The stereotype of a hostile Honduras was quickly done away with, as well. What I met in Honduras was a naturally beautiful country with an abundance of kind people. I saw scores of beautiful mountains, waterfalls, forests, valleys, and ancient ruins. And anywhere I walked, I was met with kind and welcoming people. As serendipity would continue to have it, a family of Honduran-Colorado transplants made the world feel small and homely with their friendliness. Even the pithy “buenas, compa” from passing strangers on the street made me, someone just trying to figure out Honduran life, feel welcome in Honduras.
The most frequent lesson I learned all summer at El Ayudante is that there is always something to do. Unsure of exactly what job I would do upon my arrival to El Ayudante, I didn’t need to wait for an invitation to get involved on my first day. I immediately found myself bouncing along an unforgiving road for a movie night in a mountain community, then leading hordes of children around VBS, and even officiating soccer matches with the cipotes at the Centro de Aprendizaje. I quickly found that El Ayudante and Honduras beckon one – no matter how passive or reluctant – to be an active participant, a relentless hospitality (always served with coffee).
As an educator, I was consistently drawn to the Centro de Aprendizaje, perhaps the most inspiring section of El Ayudante in my experience. I was quickly introduced to a physical space that embodied all of my most treasured values of education – a safe environment, supportive adults, a community of learning, and a focus on students above all else. Anyi and Gabby, the two masters of the domain, so to speak, are the embodiment of warm demanders – always convincing students of their great value and ability while pushing their expectations at the same time. The two set an incredible tone in the Centro. And the results are tangible; many students visit the Centro more than required and their interactions with Anyi and Gabby always highlight mutual respect and appreciation. If there is one thing I know as an educator, it is that this kind of trustworthy but rigorous environment is as hard to teach as any other intangible, but invaluable to student success.
In working the Centro de Aprendizaje as a guest – teaching English, practicing math, playing soccer, or even playing Monopoly with students – I got to experience just how special the environment is. I was truly touched to be received so openly, for students to work with me with such dedication, to experience their appreciation and affection despite my short time there. I hope to return soon and resume pulling facetious yellow cards on some 8th grade boys or exchange quips in English with some 10th grade students. The environment created by all parties with a stake in the Centro – student and adult – is one from which I am taking many lessons home about the importance of a quality learning environment and what it looks like to create it in my own classroom. The Centro de Aprendizaje is a special environment thanks to the students and the leadership of the dedicated staff.
El Centro was simply the most vivid manifestation of the vitality of the education that I encountered in Honduras. I only barely started to experience the mastery of teachers developing adaptive and responsive curriculum to best prepare their students in their unique environment. I only had sporadic opportunities to see students boldly ask tough and thoughtful questions, even to myself, who had walked into the room hardly 5 minutes earlier. My interactions with parents were few and far between but still enough to see how much they recognized the importance of education and how they demonstrated that with their active support of their students. The commitment to education that I perceived from El Ayudante and the teachers, parents, and students in the communities was inspiring and infectious.
Though I arrived unsure of what to expect at El Ayudante, nothing would have prepared me for the warmth and depth that I experienced, and for that I am beyond thankful to everyone I crossed paths with in Honduras. El Ayudante, and Honduras as a whole, is a fantastically rich community. It is a community that welcomes new visitors and returners all the same, as beloved friends. It is a community that embraces newcomers and immerses them in the full scope of active participation with the people and the work. It is a community that invited me in, appreciated my presence, and made me appreciate every moment and interaction that I had. It is for this reason that I am itching to return, and to return for a longer stay once again.