A large part of our philosophy and ideology at Un Mundo revolves around the principal of facilitation. Our methods exist within the framework of capacity building, facilitating access to healthcare, liveable wages, and education through empowerment.  This is what inspired me to come to Honduras and be a part of this movement.  However, as I settle into one of my roles, coordinating the women's group, I have struggled with how to stay true to the intentions of Un Mundo and to be a vehicle for growth within this group of wonderful and strong women. I have questioned what it really means to facilitate. What is my role? Is it my place to organize these women when I don't understand the intricacies of their lives and probably never will, having grown up in the United States? Will my western upbringing bleed through, however how much I try to be an unbiased third party?

These questions nagged at me during my first couple of months working with the women. Within the group we have had a few set-backs, the largest of which was the death of Sulma's one year old daughter. A heartbreaking tragedy which left all of us drained and questioning, leaving a negative energy hanging over our group. During this time, all nine of the women came together to support Sulma in a way that was so beautiful and inspiring to see and after about a month the negativity that had seeped into the group changed.  Leaving the them much more united.  Recently, they did a final vote on their positions and roles. Since the vote took place, the women have been much more involved, and my role as a facilitator has been much clearer. The members of the group, particularly Olga and Mayra, the President and Vice-President have begun facilitating meetings. This leaves me to play the role of supporter, coordinating the group from behind the scenes. After this transition to the group members facilitating their meetings, I have perceived even more of a growth in spirit, unity, and empowerment from all those involved in the project. While I don't have all the answers as to what my role as a facilitator should be, I am growing and learning right along with the women; finding a niche in my new found home. The greatest lesson learned being that there are no right answers, the people who have lived their lives in this community know what it is that they need. I am just here to offer friendship, support, and an outlet to explore so that they are able to cultivate the creativity and strength within themselves, building the business that they are so eager to have come to fruition.

Over the past few months a lot of energy has been invested
in trying to motivate the ten members of the women’s group in El Pital to launch themselves to the next level. Momentum is gained and lost quickly with the changing of the wind. The stalling of funds, a group argument or lengthy periods of inaction are enough to drive the momentum downwards quickly. Last month we experienced this in a profound way. After a monthly meeting with the Adelante Foundation, the laughing, encouragement and spirit was broken when one of the women of the group returned home to find her two year old daughter had fallen into the wash basin, which was full of water. When family members and neighbors franticly pulled her out of the water, the little girl was purple
in the face, cold as ice and was no longer breathing. There was no way to know how long she had been submerged beneath the water before someone found her or if there was any way of bringing her back to life. However despite pleas from various people, the family refused to rush her to a hospital, afraid of being arrested for child neglect, a serious offense in Honduras. Hence, she was pronounced dead by the family. Just like that, in minutes a life left this
world to soon, and Sulma, once a proud, single- mother of five, would never again hold her baby girl.

Within moments, people flooded the house, taking turns
holding Sulma’s head-up while she wailed. Her other four children lay on the bed frightened, crying, understandably- a bit confused. Neighbors and more distant family members
entered the room and began to strip down the baby and put proper clothes on her to display her for the viewing, while fighting to pull her out of the arms of her mother or siblings. People kept saying to the close family, “Pull it together.” I didn’t understand how that was even a reasonable request for anyone who just lost a family member in such a tragic way.

The women from the women’s group instantly stepped-in, doing anything they could to support Sulma and her mother Paula, who were both committed members of their cohort. 
Unfortunately, between the screams and tears, each of us couldn’t help but look for some way to take it all back. Take away the pain go back in time just a few hours. But most of all, looming over everyone’s head was the rule that had been put in place by the women, which prevented them from
bringing their children to the meetings. Despite the irrationality of it, each of them felt somewhat responsible. I personally as a facilitator of this group wished I had been more sensitive. I wished I had pushed the women to discuss each rule they put in place and consider how it might impact some women.

Merely two hours after having concluded our last meeting the women meet again in the living room of Dona Alba’s house to discuss how to respond to this horrible situation.  They all quickly pulled food off their already barren shelves to prepare a basket of food for the bereaved family. Late into the evening the women and I took turns preparing mounds of tortillas, rice and spaghetti, all of us jammed packed in Sulma’s smoky kitchen. By 1 a.m., the exhausted bodies began to fade off to sleep, resting only to awake to an indescribable emptiness. Over the next few weeks I quietly kept an eye on Sulma and Paula often dropping in to see how they were doing. While deeply impacted and saddened beyond belief, I found myself amazed by the solidarity and selflessness that was present among this group of newly unified women during this time, each so
thoughtfully standing by Sulma’s side, helping her gain strength each day.

While the experience had brought the women together, it had also left a deep scar on the group and all its participants. A few weeks later, it was clear to Heather
and I that when Sulma’s baby girl died that day, so did the spirit that had been alive in each of those women. For weeks we struggled to motivate them to attend meetings, to get out of the house or to reignite the excitement around their collective vision. For each, the idea of the women’s group seemed to have left a bad taste or memory in everyone’s minds.

After a month of disappointing meetings, minimal attendance and low energy, we knew we had to be creative to push us and them through this tough time. After much deliberation, Heather and I decided, perhaps this was a perfect time to just believe in the women and trust that they truly are the only ones that can get themselves out
of this slump. Therefore, we took this opportunity to start turning over heavily the responsibilities of the group to
the women themselves. Up until this point we had been facilitating and leading all the meetings, waiting for the
right time to start slowly handing responsibilities over to them. While Heather provided a lot of the structure of the first meeting they facilitated, she eloquently set each woman up beautifully, trying to equally divide each responsibility amongst them all. Finally, last Sunday, for the first time in the twelve months of working with these women, Heather sat back and became merely a spectator, watching the women facilitate themselves, make decisions,
and play games. I unfortunately was unable to attend the meeting myself that day, however, I hadn’t needed to attend to be able to feel the heightened energy and excitement from the women that afternoon after they left the meeting and the
radiating pride from Heather.

Slowly Sulma has been healing. And while the death of her baby still haunts us all, the experience is a lesson to all that sometimes it takes loss and moments of complete breakdown to give birth to new life.

After two and a half years of working and living in rural Honduras I can’t believe my time to move back to the U.S has come so soon. We’ve accomplished so much in the time I’ve been in El Pital but there’s still so much to do. The friendships I’ve made throughout the seven communities in the Cuenca Cangrejal have taught me valuable life lessons that I think you can only learn while living in these sometimes difficult circumstances. I’m moving back to the States in order to pursue a Masters degree in Sustainable International Development, with the hopes to continue this line of work in the future. I feel confident that many of the issues I’ve had to deal with down in Honduras will not only help other students in school but I’m sure their experiences will give me new insight into the problems affecting the communities on the Northern Coast of Honduras.
Being with Un Mundo has been an amazing experience, I’m lucky tohave had the opportunity to be apart of an unique organization with an incredible group of people to support all of the projects we implement on the ground.

The summer has quickly come to an end.  One can feel the plants and animals preparing for the rainy season.  Man included, as vegetables and the staple, maíz

, are harvested and another planting of beans is underway.  The heat has only diminished slightly, and I still usually arrive to school in the mornings completely soaked in sweat.  But it has begun to rain more consistently in the afternoons, and clouds offer us welcome protection from the intensity of the sun.  Recently, I've been focusing my energy on the community library project and community members were elected to different positions on a committee that will be imperative to the project's success.  Last month, myself and a few high school students here in El Pital got together as many kids from the town as we could for the first evening storytime at the high school, where the library is planned to take root.  After opening the gathering with a few newly-learned Spanish sing alongs, Kensy and Durkis, two of the high school students, shared storytelling responsibilities while a couple of parents and I sat with the group of about 40 kids to keep the peace, if you will.  The idea is that this becomes a more regular thing, along with other activities, so that in people's minds the space is not just where books are kept, but also where communal learning takes place.  Next week we will have the second installment!  

As far as the library is concerned, I am also working on a grant proposal for this project so that in the next couple of years there are some funds to continue to develop the space into something extraordinary, something that will truly bring about change in the way the community sees learning, and the opportunities which it provides.  I'm also just starting to compile all my notes and data which I collected throughout this year while visiting the 22 schools in the cuenca and interviewing teachers and directors.  Before I leave in December, I will have a report that, aside from providing demographic and statistical data, will also contain my descriptions and impressions of each school, as well as my suggestions for the best way to tackle the most common needs.

Most importantly, my relationships with people here continue to develop into what I hope will be lasting friendships.  I know that I have not learned everything that people here can teach me, nor have I shared all I wish to share with them.