During my time teaching in a rural school in Honduras I faced a share amount of challenges. The one motivation that always kept pushing me forward was the students. The memories and stories of those kids remain etched in my mind today as strong as ever. One of the most amazing stories centers around a young girl named Alba Luz (“light”). Our school operated not just for the orphans on site but also for neighbors of the surrounding community. Alba is one such neighbor that I taught in seventh and eighth grade. Most of the neighboring students live right around the orphanage. Alba is one of a few students from a neighboring village up in the mountains, often meaning a 45 minute walk down in the morning and another 45 minute walk back up at the end of the school day. Despite all this I can't recall a single tardy, never mind an absence on Alba's record. In fact, she was often willing to return later in the afternoon for extra help or to participate in activities with the other girls. I remember during one heavy rainstorm when the rivers were so high that the local Honduran teachers couldn't make it in from the nearest town. We took out one of our cars to pick them up and after crossing a river that had risen to waist high, found Alba waiting on the other side; unsure whether to risk life and limb to make it in to class on time.
One of my many highlights of teaching was first arriving at school in the morning. Often the neighbors would be there waiting, heads in the books trying to catch up on homework or cram for a test that morning. I always received a warm greeting, smile and often some question related to the poorly worded science homework from the night before. I can't express enough how difficult it was for our neighboring students. Children living at the orphanage had structured blocks when they focused on completing homework after class, often with the help of a college educated American fluent in English. The neighbors often returned home to parents who received little education themselves and either worked to earn extra money for the family or completed chores while the parents worked to provide food and shelter. For Alba, this is especially difficult. She lives with her single mother and six siblings in a two-room clay house, with no running water or electricity. The only income is from her mother washing clothes once a month and her younger brother, who is in 6th grade and after school everyday goes and works construction for a nearby Canadian company. Being one of the oldest in the family, Alba is often responsible for feeding and caring for her younger brothers and sisters; ranging from a few months to 11 years old. All of this for a fifteen year old girl. She must also finish her homework before nightfall as there is no artificial illumination available after the sun sets.
Despite all of these challenges, Alba is one of the students I am most proud to have taught and shared a classroom with. She brings an incredible energy to class and curiosity about the world around her. She earned the highest grade in my English class despite not hearing a word of it outside our 40 minute blocks. In science class I never needed to fill out an answer key because I knew that I could use Alba's test instead. She pushes the other students to work harder and strive for the academic success she possesses. She is shy, quiet and humble; never retaliating when others tease her. Alba is self-aware and recognizes that her academic abilities are a means for her and her family to escape the poverty that surrounds them. She dreams of continuing her education after completing 9th grade this year. In her culture reaching 9th grade is a true accomplishment, but Alba knows she is capable of so much more. Unfortunately, there is only so much that we at the school can provide for her. Students from the orphanage move into a nearby city after 9th grade where they are cared for by volunteers and attend one of the best high schools in the country. There is no program as such in place for our neighbors, whose sole option is a poorly run school in a nearby town (40 minutes by bus daily) where the classes are extremely overcrowded and the teachers on strike for nearly 1/3 of the school year. My hope is to find a better option for our students who demonstrate academically and behaviorally that they are truly willing to take advantage of that opportunity. I cannot imagine anyone more deserving than Alba, and I dream of attending her graduation in November, knowing that she will have the opportunity to write a new and brighter future for Honduras.
