We depart for Honduras tonight, well technically tomorrow morning but since I don’t plan on sleeping before we get on the plane, it’s going to be a longgg night. I am beyond excited for this trip. I don’t know quite what to expect. I’m not very knowledgable about healthcare as a social issue and before this trip, I knew next to nothing about Honduras. Over break I tried to do some research about rural healthcare, especially in developing countries, and the history of Honduras. I am certainly not an expert yet but I feel a tad more prepared then I did last semester! I recently read the book Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World by Tracy Kidder. It was an amazingly thought-provoking book about the work of Paul Farmer with the organization he helped found, Partners in Health. While the majority of the book was about Haiti, it shed light into the healthcare system in the developing world and the attitude of the world towards this issue. It has given me a lot of food for thought as I prepare for this ASB trip. I hope that I can learn more about this social issue and Honduran culture that I can bring home with me to share!
ASB Tennessee in T-30 minutes
ASB Tennessee is leaving in just a few hours! Yet I still can’t believe that it’s already spring break and that I am leaving Lafayette with my team in less than an hour. Last night I finally had some time to actually think about this trip but I was left with the feeling that I really have no idea what to expect. I know we are going to do different kinds of service projects, some with the Cherokee, some about conservation in the mountains, sometimes with other school groups and other times on our own. Our schedule sounds like it will be pretty packed and I’m just ready for anything. It’s kind of nice going into this trip without any specific expectations because that means I can’t get disappointed and everything will be wonderful! Last year I went on an ASB trip to Jonesville in southern Virginia, actually only about an hour from Tennessee. Driving home (since we had about 9 hours to kill) we talked about ASB trips that would be really cool to go on. One idea that really excited me was possibly working with Native Americans because I basically know nothing about any of the different cultures besides what you learn in elementary school which is practically nothing. So then this year when I found out about the trip to Once Upon A Time in Appalachia I knew this was my chance. So here we are about to embark on this journey and I think I am going into this trip with an open mind and a ready attitude and I am more than ready to see what happens!!
Montgomery
On Tuesday we arrived in Montgomery, AL and finally had nice weather. We decided to take advantage of this and walked around the city to the Southern Poverty Law Center. There we saw the Civil Rights Memorial which honors 40 martyrs of the Civil Rights struggle. Outside a black wall stands with the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream “. Additionally a disk has the names of the martyrs inscribed in chronological order along with other historic events and water stands on the top of the disk. It was a neat experience to run my hands through this water and see later inside the pictures of historic figures from the Civil Rights movement such as Rosa Parks standing in the same place. Before we left we were also able to sign the Wall of Tolerance which is a digital screen scrolling the names of all the individuals who have visited the memorial and pledged to take a stand against hate and injustice. Also in Montgomery we visited the state capital and met an adorable elderly man who gave us a tour of the building. Our last visit in the city was to the Rosa Parks Museum. The museum gave new insight into the famous incident which sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and also information on other factors affecting this Civil Rights landmark, such as the fact that a lawsuit by four other women, arrested prior to Rosa Parks was the legal end to bus segregation. I really enjoyed visiting Montgomery, the capital and big city for Alabama, even though it only has one skyscraper. It is a nice change of pace from northern cities and offered a wealth of knowledge on the Civil Rights movement in creative ways.
-Dena