Drok had a rough night, he couldn’t keep food down. We travel with anti biotics in the event that we accidently eat or drink something that makes us sick. The local water has bacteria we aren’t used to. Travelling through airports and sharing space on airplanes with people from around the world can cause any number of issues. Drok wasn’t running a temperature so we gave him ibuprofren, Pepto bismol, Gatorade and extra rest in the morning.
We worked on the elemtary school murals, using Jyl’s design, to compliment last year’s mural, while Luis and Arte Positivo did panels wrapping around the building.
Sam started a city wide search for coffee, and several Hondurans obliged, we we’re visited by a tourist from Miami, and John, a regular volunteer living in San Francisco.
At one it was time for lunch. We were painting next to the park where the Festival was planned, and teams from the other cities, Juticalpa and Catacamas were already arriving. Drok was back on his feet so we cleaned up the murals and started getting ready.
Jyl’s mural from last year in back, with this year on the closer wall in front.
Involved To Impact
A few days ago, we talked about a cultural issue we had noticed for years. Last year we only saw two girls on the dance teams that came, it’s a tricky balance encouraging movements with self determination. We don’t want to impose our own ideas and disempower them.Samantha had a very frank conversation with Microchip on Thursday night about girls and dance. Microchip agreed, they were aware their group had gotten very macho, but they didn’t know any girls that wanted to learn to dance.Tom pointed out he had tackled this in past years. Girls will play soccer in Honduras and are very athletic up until their teens, and then they segregate and don’t engage. Microchip added that when some girls were interested, they had ultimately been pushed out of it by jealous boyfriends or husbandsA past effort was to try to introduce cheerleading at games as a bridge to dance, but the project was never really continued.
Tom pointed out that engaging girls that were younger, in a school setting might work culturally. Parents weren’t likely to let their daughters hang out with a group of older teenage boys unsupervised, or even after dark, which is when Microchip practices.Sam can’t change the world alone, but she IS involved to impact, so she lead by example. Sam had been training with Drok for a few weeks, with her own background in dance and Drok’s ability to coach, she used the opportunity to make a point. Sam free styled as the solo female participant in the festival.Sam, and Drok judged. Despite his unsettled stomach Drok was determined to support the dance movement. Now on his fourth trip he is greatly respected by all three teams, as a coach, and certainly as a dancer having battled them all to victory the past two years. Sam, as a bilingual liason is appreciated by all, and Tom, in addition to being handy, is recognized by many on sight after many years of service trips.Los MicroChip took victory in the two on two battle. The full contest will be uploaded to this site’s gallery.Juticalpa won overall, but there was extraordinary talent and the product of incredible dedication to training on display. There were a few incidents where competition between Catacamas and Juticalpa nearly got personal, and physical, but to their credit, Los MicroChip intervened as hosts, and the judges set clear expectations that dancers would respect each other’s space on the floor, and each other as competitors.While the battle was under way Luis and Jyl were organizing art on display and activities for younger children.
During a break in the dancing, Tom, Jyl and Alfredo, a musician and artist Luis invited to participate, gave a brief concert. Following the battle, some games for kids included an easter egg carry and a sack race, posted live on our Be the Change Facebook page.
The second urban arts festival was a success. Dancers went home happy, and determined to train more. Artists showed their work and gained some well deserved recognition, and children had fun! In a few years, if word starts to get out, about a new b-girl movement coming out of Honduras, remember the spark. A few years ago Drok had the inspiration to come to Hondutas, and then the courage to share himself with them. Sam’s dance did not go unnoticed, in addition to earning a new respect in the eyes of the dancers present, both as a dancer and a judge, Sam’s comments made them think. In addition, there was a little girl in purple watching by the steps during the video that stayed for all the rest. Everything starts with an idea, and an example.
