About Roatan.

I've learned a lot recently about the history of this small island, the unique culture I live among, and the qualities that make this island such an incredibly rare and unique place to experience.

Most of the houses in Oakridge stand over water or an area
that will be underwater come rainy season.

East side.
Last vacation, I finally made it out to the east side of the island. This part is still much less developed and not as much of a place for tourists, except for a few small resorts and maybe some nature tours. But a volunteer who worked with us, has some connections out there so I finally got a chance to see it. The reason we don't go there is because there's a lot of road work, it's a longer drive, and just not super accessible. On my way there, and over the course of the following days, I got to hear about some of the history of the island, how it started out way back in the day as a pirate's port, changed over time to a British-owned, Caribbean island of freed slaves who came here because there was not enough land in the other islands, which eventually was given from the English to Honduras, and finally evolved to the mixture of Honduran, Caribbean, touristy island it is today. While the island is considered Honduran property, the cultural differences clearly indicate very different groups of people share this small piece of land in the ocean. While there have been some historians who came to help record and preserve the history of the Caribbean islanders, most of the things they know has been passed on by stories from their parents, and grandparents. I really enjoy the unique culture I have gotten to live among these past 8 months, from the mix of Hispanic and Caribbean, to overall island culture. I have had the privilege to learn, and understand more about

 what it takes to preserve your culture amidst the evolving world around us, but also amidst the shrinking world that pushes us to live closer and closer together, no matter how different we are, or how much we might not want to be near each other.
The houses out on the east side of the island are much smaller and all raised on stilts (picture above) over the water (some even directly on the water and people get around by boat!), and come rainy season the people will only be able to walk across board-walks some volunteer workers built there. Our trip was to see where the ministry we have heard of is, and to see the area for the school that is hopefully going to be built in the next few years. This would be an incredible opportunity for the kids there because at this time most walk a long distance or get a ride on a boat to the next neighborhood 20 minutes away for school. As a fun bonus a local friend took us on his boat to see the mangrove trees and take a swim in the clear blue water! So beautiful!
   

Group of ladies singing at church together, always full of joy!

    Barrio Raymond.
      The community I live in is one of the last of its kind, where the a Family owns a large chunk of land, and over the years the children, and children's children have taken up residency there. I still have yet to learn who all is brother/sister with whom, and who is cousins with whom. It is very confusing! There are a handful of 'outsiders' (people not related to anybody) who live here, as the family has sold some of the property. I have often been asked by people who I meet, if the neighborhood I live in is safe, and I can assure you it is considered safer than some other places, because nearly everybody is related here, and everyone likes to hang out outside, so if someone unknown goes walking around the neighborhood, there are many watchful eyes. Even though 'outsiders' are always easy to spot, the people of this family have been nothing but kind and welcoming since my first day here, because they know Miss Deborah, and Miss Sarah are here to provide a safe place for their children to be educated, and anybody working with them desires to do the same (interesting side note... since 90% of the kids at school are related in one way or another... we don't have a whole lot of romance drama at our school, its very refreshing). The beauty of this hidden community is their ability to conserve their unique culture, because of the 'lack' of outside cultures pushing their way in. I'm obviously someone who encourages intercultural interactions, but I have heard a lot about people losing touch with their culture, because the world outside of their small neighborhood, does not value preserving such a unique way of life, which is incredibly heartbreaking to even hear about, let alone experience. Our cultures are part of our identity and I see the light in the kids' eyes when they tell me "this is how we do this...." because this is their home and they love to tell others about it.
         
  Independence Day.
       Independence day was an interesting experience for me. I heard all year about schools practicing their drum-lines on weekends all throughout Central America (I heard them in Guatemala too). It's a very big deal for all of the schools, ours  does not participate because we don't have enough staff to make that much effort. Moreover parents often have to pay a lot of money for new costumes, and they spend hours and hours practicing for the marches for this one day. The smaller schools march on the days leading up to the actual independence day, in the cooler evening (which is what I watched because there was no way I was waking up at 6:30 am on a Saturday to watch people I did not know march in the hot sun, in a hot crowd...) 😁.
My friend Alejandra (she teaches at our school) invited me over to her house to learn how to bake some sweet bread and drink coffee, and then we walked out to the road to watch the smaller schools march. While sitting there with Ale and her sister, she asked me if we had any celebrations like this... I was trying to think about German celebrations that might be like this (I did tell her about July 4th), when her sister piped up: "The European countries are what we are celebrating independence from, they were the independent ones to begin with!" ...what do you say to that!? haha
We acknowledged this was true and continued to talk about the history (Ale is a Social Studies teacher so she likes this stuff).

My mom once pointed out to me how much forgiveness has had to happen for us to be able to travel safely to other countries the way we do. We like to focus on everything that is still wrong in our world, and from the comfort of our screens cry out for justice; but how many of us are willing to get the finger 'pointed' at us, whether it be accusingly or just in discussion with friends (yes that's possible), pointing out the things 'our' countries have done now resulting in celebrations like "independence days"?! I do not have to 'feel' guilty over the things my countries have done in the past, but I am willing to acknowledge those grave wrongdoings in the face of their victims and the pain it caused, and I feel the responsibility to learn from those mistakes of the past and to be better for it.

loving,

Julia