Bilingual Education for Central America (BECA)

A challenging living and working experience. Strong level of investment and care from staff and volunteers. Small scale. Established framework with lots of space to be creative within the organization and within the classroom. There are efforts being made to bring discussions around and raise awareness of privilege and oppression and how those systems operate within Honduras, and what role we as teachers play within the classroom in regards to those systems.

My time as a volunteer teacher with BECA began in January of 2018, and continued through the end of the school year. Although I have had many wonderful experiences, I am going to list the top three reasons I came to Honduras, and ultimately why I stayed. First and foremost, the students and their families are amazing. My 25 first-graders made me smile, cry, pull my hair out, and jump for joy all in one day. Their desire to learn, willingness to be goofy, and constant outpouring of love truly made living in Cofradia worth it. Next, the location of Cofradia is perfect for traveling around Honduras, and around Central America. Living in Cofradia can become incredibly tiring, simply because of the limited availability of excursions and fun in the city. However, being 40-minutes away from San Pedro Sula, the second largest city in Honduras makes traveling elsewhere incredibly easy. During my 6-months here, I was able to see two other Central American countries as well as 10+ other cities/villages in Honduras. Finally, the experience is a constant test in innovaion and creativity, two skills that can be applied to any industry or career, anywhere in the world. For example, we only have one bottle of glue for 25-students? No problem, just save a couple bottle caps from the purified water jugs and place a dollop of glue in each cap so the kids don't fight over the single bottle. Although there were many amazing moments in Cofradia, Honduras, and with BECA, there were also tiring, and exaperating trials we all went through. Safety is a large concern in a country riddled with gang activity, and it would be a lie to say no volunteer has had their fair share of interactions with dangerous individuals or weapons. The response to these situations is crucial and BECA is actively working to ensure volunteers are as safe as can be. If you are considering coming to Honduras to work with BECA, I would recommend you do as much research as possible, ask to speak with a member of the most recent, in-country volunteer cohort, and ask every question that comes to mind.

My year as a volunteer teacher with BECA was incredibly instrumental in shaping my future. I volunteered right after undergrad. Not only did I experience a new culture, learn about people and communities, and build lifelong relationships, I also gained important experiences that went on to shape my career. Although I had studied education and was pretty set on my grade level and specialties, I was luckily placed in a position slightly outside of my comfort zone. That pushed me to reconsider my role as an educator and gave me a new perspective on how I could positively impact students through education. This new perspective was instrumental in deciding on grad school programs and a career path. 6 years later and I am still working in the education field (and still have photos of those students, and the ones after them, on my desk!), but have continued to take risks and think outside the box with how. I contribute much of that spirit to my time spent in Honduras through BECA.