We’re getting to know Honduras!

Lately in class we have been updating each other on various news articles regarding current events in Honduras. We have been trying to get a broad overview of the country and some issues the people face by discussing various aspects of the Honduran news, including the arts, US-Honduras relations, human rights, technology, and much more.

Sharing information about Honduras with our class is one of the first steps to making a decision about what project we want to do and who we want to partner with.  Many of us found disheartening, negative news articles, which speaks as a testament to the broken state of the country. Though that seemed like the best way to brainstorm and formulate ideas about a potential project, it was definitely refreshing when someone shared a positive piece of news! Some of the topics that were discussed included the treatment of homosexuals in Honduras, innovative new technology, the judicial system, and education in Honduras.

For example, two unique and creative topics that class members brought up were an initiative to build schools in rural areas to encourage children to go to school, and spreading social awareness through graffiti.  One specific artist in Honduras does graffiti art of popular art pieces and puts objects related to violence on them to make people aware of gang violence.

 

As a class we also discussed ways to understand Honduras from a citizen’s point of view. We talked about finding and examining a blog that was based solely on the opinions of people in Honduras-although we noted the potential drawbacks to this method, we will continue to look into it. Another way to understand some of the opinions of people in Honduras (that April suggested) was to read the comments and reactions under news articles within Honduran newspapers.

 

In terms of looking towards the future as a class, we have much to do in the short term. For the next few classes we will be working toward creating our elevator speech for the Periclean celebration on October tenth. We are excited to begin brainstorming our mission statement and incorporating everyone’s ideas into the video. A goal we unanimously agreed on as a class was getting the word out about this amazing program, and are looking into talking to global classes this semester as well as next.

On Wednesday, the 18th, we had the amazing opportunity to Skype with Tesla, an Elon alum, and some of her colleagues that work with the corporate social responsibility department at Cargill in Honduras. Though I-and many of my fellow Pericleans-were skeptical of how a big corporation that by choice “stays under the radar” could galvanize so much positive change in the community and still maintain profitability, the workers assured us that Cargill is a company that not only embraces a socially responsible business model but goes above and beyond to keep their workers happy and living as global citizens. In Honduras specifically, Cargill has several initiatives that all focus around education, nutrition, and health. Their “Nourishing the Future” campaign is specific to the country and is a comprehensive plan that includes but is not limited to building school kitchens, strongly encouraging employees to commit to community service, and partnering with CARE. One relatively new initiative is a partnership with other large companies and  the resulting “Vos Que Haras Por Honduras” campaign (https://www.facebook.com/XHonduras) that we would really like to delve into researching more about.

 

Since we have kept a potential partnership with this company in our minds since the beginning of class, the skype sessions sparked a serious discussion on our options that will undoubtedly not be the last of its kind. We’ve already learned that partnerships, especially with corporations, can be a slippery slope and its extremely important to be cautious of who and what you align your organization with. However; it was fantastic to get insight about the company from an insider’s point of view and it was great to see that the employees really love their jobs and are invested and believe in what the company is trying to accomplish in Honduras. We definitely have a lot to think about!

-Megan Griffin & Lexie Melanson ‘16

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