Ok, let me back up a little bit. Yesterday, I met Grosbin. He is a facilitator for AIN-C, which is a government program focused on the prevention of malnutrition in children under two years old. At birth, every child is given a card that is like the vaccination cards we get in the States, but along side the vaccination record, is a growth chart. So between birth and age five, kids are measured and weighed every month to ensure proper growth. The best treatment for malnutrition is prevention - or so we were told time and time again during training. I whole-heartedly agree - why wait until a child is malnutrition to try and correct the issue? It is best to keep on top of things and make sure everyone is healthy. Working with AIN-C is a really good connection to have for us health-ers. In my site, I have eight other small aldeas are around me. This means, eight times a month the AIN-C representative comes to the area to measure and weigh kids. Each of these eight gatherings consists of a bunch of moms with their kids, who have to wait all morning before their kid/kids can be weighed. This is the perfect opportunity for us Peace Corps Volunteers to give charlas. I am particularly excited because these gatherings are the perfect opportunities to give charlas about nutrition and to possibly cook with women/mothers, which is what I really want to do.
I met Grosbin yesterday at a the monthly meeting of all the AIN-C promoters for the different nearby aldeas. Aftwerward, he mentioned that the following day he was going to a nearby aldea to work with a group of women and teach them how to make “green tortillas,” and he invited me along. I don’t mean green tortillas as in sustainable tortillas that grow back after you eat them - no, they are simply made with a bunch of eatable leaves of different plants that have a bunch of good vitamins and minerals that kids often don’t have nearly enough of. So, Grosbin is working with mothers to teach them how to incorporate important ingredients into the thing that everyone eats everyday - multiple times a day - the tortilla.
So, today, I met Grosbin at 1:30 p.m. and we made our way to the aldea. The meeting was supposed to start at 2 p.m., but of course that is Honduran time so it actually ended up starting a little early - at 2:30 p.m. One of the mothers brought greens - two different types of leaves, and also some cilantro (the not as strong-flavored kind) and another mother brought a couple green peppers. All of this was rinsed, cut up, and then put into a blender and liquefied. The juice of all these greens was then used as the water to mix with the ground corn to make tortillas. Grosbin also had the ladies add a small packet of chicken flavoring (basically a bullion cube), to add more flavor. I had yet to make corn tortillas, so when the ladies tried to teach me how to form the ball and then the actual tortilla, I failed miserably. I have the pictures to prove it. These women have a life-time of experience and do it so easily, but I just didn’t have the knack for it. They all got a laugh out of watching me try my best, though.
After the tortillas were done, we all tried one with some refried beans and cuajada (a soft cheese). They were delicious. And, all the kids who were there tried them and even asked for seconds, which is a great sign. Grosbin told me that a lot of times when a mother says, “oh my kid doesn’t like that!” that usually means she hasn’t even tried feeding it to them, which is unfortunate. These recipes are only to help their kids, and often times the mothers can’t be bothered to make the slight alterations to things they make everyday anyways, but the ones that is hurting are their kids. Another thing that Grosbin is making the rounds teaching mothers about is soy. A lot of families can’t afford to buy meat, so their kids have a protein deficiency. A way to make up for the lack of meat in their diet is to add soy. Soy beans are fairly cheap here, so AIN-C is taking it upon themselves to teach mothers how to grind the soy beans and make soy milk, soy chorizo (sausage), and soy bread-type thing. You can basically take the ground soy beans and do anything with it that you would with ground corn. In a couple weeks, Grosbin will be going back to this aldea to work with the mothers on soy recipes, and I will definitely be going with him again. I want to get to know these women in hopes of forming a women’s group and working with them once a week or once every two weeks on different nutrition topics, and possibly exercise classes. The opportunities are pretty much endless.
On another note, Grosbin invited me to go with him to the hot springs that are nearby because I haven’t been there yet. I don’t know what I should say. We were given so much training about safety and security here in Honduras that going to a hot springs with a Honduran man that I just met doesn’t seem like the greatest idea, even though he seems to me like a perfectly fine person. The way our trainers made it seem is that even if a guy seems to be completely normal and a great friend - he will try and rape you. Of course the trainers only said this because they have good reason to. Many incidents have taken place here in Honduras that usually involve someone that a woman volunteer had known for quite some time. According to our trainers, American women can not be “just friends” with Honduran men. At some point the question of when you are going to have sex with the “friend” will always come up.
I don’t mean to frighten any of you - sorry mom - but that is the reality that we are faced with here in Honduras. I can’t simply get an invitation to go check out the hot springs and just go. I really have to know the whole situation. Who else is going with us - am I going to be the only girl - how late are we going to stay there - is anyone going to be drinking - will I for sure be able to get a ride back - what does my host mom think of this guy? There are many things to weigh in the decision to go or not to go. I would hate to say no and then have him not invite me to go to anymore AIN-C meetings with him, though.
My first debacle as a Peace Corps Volunteer!
“Tomorrow is another day - I will just think about it tomorrow.”
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