Peace Corps Grant – Part Two

August 31, 2011

A few months back our ninth grade class and I applied for a Peace Corps grant to do environmental education projects. In July we finished part one, which was a trash pick up day. Today, after months of planning and two very hard weeks of ‘American Style’ work (i.e. start at 8:00 leave at 4:00) we’ve finished our murals!

We worked with two fantastic artists from Casa Valle in Choluteca who helped the students brainstorm ideas. The students drew pictures of the natural resources in La Tajeada and from those drawings the artists created twomurals.

The murals are unique to our town. One shows our mountain and the woman who is believed to live inside of it as she is giving water all the communities below us. Below her is the golden snake that is also rumored to be inside it. The other mural shows some of the animals that are special to our region: snakes, frogs, lizards, monkeys, toucans, butterflies, and lots of insects. Above everything is a message from the ninth graders, “Cuidemos el medio ambiente por un futuro major para nuestra humanidad” or “Take care of the environment for a better future for mankind”. Besides the two large murals, the muralists also painted bright colors throughout the hallways, which really gave the school an entirely new and creative feel.

It was so much fun to work with the students and with the muralists. I’m incredibly exhausted and look forward to a few low-key Honduran weeks to rest up and collect myself again.

So thank you Peace Corps! Thank you American taxpayer! Thank you everyone who helped make the murals possible.

Still to be finished:

Recycling Station

Day One!

Lots of very curious students during recess.

New bright colors found all around the school.

We put some students to work painting colorful blocks.

After school painting.

Luis (one of the muralists), myself, and one of the finished murals.

Oscar (the other muralist) and myself.

Working on the message of the second mural.

The finished product. “Cuidemos el medio ambiente por un future major para nuestra humanidad”

The ninth grade students who helped design and paint the murals with the artists, their teacher, the principal, and myself.