My dad does a really good job of keeping me grounded. When I first arrived in Honduras I remember talking to him and telling him about how I shower using a painters bucket and a small brown bowl. I told him about how in the first day I found two cockroaches in my bed and a mouse the next morning in the kitchen. I told him about the blistering heat, the lack of air conditioning and the constant sweating.
I told him all of this in a half-bewildered, half distressed frenzy and he merely replied: “And just think…these people have to live this life everyday.” That was it. That simple comment brought me back to reality so quickly and I realized that he was right. While I only have to spend a year here, these people have to live with these “conditions” their whole life. It made me appreciate the life that I have back home and cherish the opportunity that I have here.
Since then I have grown accustomed to the life here and haven’t felt much bewilderment or distress…that is until school started. These past two weeks have been the hardest two weeks I’ve had so far. Im physically and mentally exhausted, all the time. I am on my feet all day and I have no breaks except for 30 min. before lunch, which is spent cleaning our room.
At one of my lowest points (prob right around the time I wrote my hump day post) I talked to my dad in a half-bewildered, half distressed frenzy and told him about how this job was kicking my ass and who am I, a recent photojournalism graduate, to think that I can teach these kids.
Dad responded, as any father would, with a encouraging “you’ll get through this, just hang in there.” But it was his second comment that really got to me. “Never forget the big picture. Even at my age I still remember the missionaries that taught me English in Ethiopia. It was a life changing experience for me and them.”
Once again, he is right. It is easy to get lost in the “woe is me attitude” when you are beaten and torn from a long day at a beyond difficult job. But it makes things much easier if you think about the overall big picture.
We are all here to help these kids learn English. We are here to give them an education that, without our help, would probably be impossible to come by. If we give up now not only do we lose, but they lose as well. They lose their only chance of making a life for themselves in a world in which they have been born into with a disadvantage.
So while each day may bring yet another battle, we should keep fighting to win the overall war.
