June 22, 2003 - Northwest Arkansas News: RPCV Melissa Bridges worked with neighborhood associations in Honduras
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June 22, 2003 - Northwest Arkansas News: RPCV Melissa Bridges worked with neighborhood associations in Honduras
RPCV Melissa Bridges worked with neighborhood associations in Honduras
Read and comment on this story from theNorthwest Arkansas News about RPCV Melissa Bridges who worked in Honduras. As the first Peace Corps volunteer in Santa Cruz in 20 years, Bridges didn’t have ongoing projects to follow. She had to find her own, which, while a bit daunting at first, highlighted one of the things she most appreciated — access to 24/7 Peace Corps support combined with her free-agent freedom. Bridges focused on the Honduran equivalent to neighborhood associations. There were 90 in Santa Cruz, and Bridges helped them organize to share resources and network knowledge. She also taught the grant application process for international development funding. Read the story at:
Crossing cultures*
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Crossing cultures
BY TRESA McBEE Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Sunday, June 22, 2003
The Peace Corps gave Melissa Bridges the most memorable sunset of her life.
The Rogers native was near the end of an arduous trip over narrow mountainous roads in Honduras. Covered in dirt, standing in the back of a truck, Bridges came over a crest to a stunning sunset marking her 29 th birthday. Her father, visiting from home, stood beside her.
As Bridges adjusts to life back in the United States, her birthday trip reminds her that the oncein-a-lifetime Peace Corps experience was worth it.
Of course, the husband she brought back with her does that, too. "Some days I feel like I never left... but there’s this whole other part of me that says, ‘Oh, my god, I went and did this and no one can take this away, ’" Bridges explained from her father’s Rogers home. She and husband Oscar Mendez left Honduras on April 25.
Bridges’ interest in the Peace Corps began in high school, sparked by a 1960s radical teacher. The concept intrigued her. "The whole idea of what Peace Corps is — not only do you get to live in another city but you get saturated," Bridges said. "You get so much more than you give."
Bridges earned an undergraduate degree in politi- cal science in 1994 and a master’s degree in public administration in 1999 from University of Arkansas. An internship led to a job with the city of Little Rock, working with the city manager’s office and the board of directors.
Bridges enjoyed her job, but change tugged at her. And so did the Peace Corps. In early 2000, she began the lengthy application process, and in August of that year, Bridges got the call that she’d leave in a few weeks. She quit her job, sold her car, stored her belongings and moved in with her father.
But the day after moving to Rogers, Bridges got another call: She wouldn’t leave until January 2001. Now what?
In a fortunate turn of luck that followed Bridges to Honduras, she was able to assume a temporary job as the Little Rock mayor’s assistant, use a city car and stay with a friend.
Then on Jan. 30, 2001, Bridges flew to Miami for an overnight stay before flying with 48 other volunteers to Honduras. Volunteers select regions, and she’d chosen Latin America. Details came in stages. "All I knew about Honduras was where it was and the date I was leaving," Bridges said.
Twelve weeks of training take place in-country. The Peace Corps has an office in Honduras’ capital of Tegucigalpa and a training center 12 miles outside the city. Bridges’ Spanish proficiency was assessed — novice, intermediate or fluent. She scored high novice. Volunteers spend several hours a day in languages classes, because they must end up at the intermediate high level. Bridges said one of the hardest parts was speaking on the phone, because visual cues are absent.
Volunteers also learn basics, such as local customs and safety practices, and they engage in several community projects during training. Bridges was assigned to municipal development, a natural fit with her city management background. "In the first 12 weeks... that’s probably the longest part of it," she said. But once at her site, Bridges felt comfortable. Volunteers visit their location for three days prior to moving there to make sure it’s a good fit for the entire two-year commitment. Volunteers aren’t usually reassigned unless there’s a safety concern, Bridges said. "We all had a saying in Peace Corps: The days are the longest you’ll ever see but the months and years are the fastest."
Once locations were confirmed and volunteers passed their language requirement, they were sworn in at the U.S. ambassador’s house. Then Bridges was off to Santa Cruz de Yojoa, a town of 12,000 in northwest Honduras about four and a half hours from the capital. The topography reminded her of the Ozarks, and she loved being near the country’s only natural lake, its second-largest city, a national park and waterfall, the main highway connecting the north and south, and the largest hydroelectric dam in Central America.
Bridges admits she was lucky. Aside from the location, Santa Cruz is the closest thing to a middle-class town in Honduras, she explained. Most families are either poor or wealthy, but Bridges’ host family had enough resources to build her a separate room about 9 1 / 2 feet wide by 14 feet long with a bathroom. She paid back the family’s loan with her monthly Peace Corps stipend. "I lucked out. I could not have chosen a better place for myself. I absolutely loved it.... It felt like a real sense of community."
There were challenges, of course. Bridges laughs about having to adjust to the "Honduran hour," where a 7 p.m. meeting doesn’t get started until 9:30. And the Honduran sense of personal space doesn’t exist according to American standards, which, Bridges said, can be particularly difficult for American women to get used to. And while hitchhiking is common, Bridges made sure she had someone with her; individual transportation is rare. With one bank, no automated teller machine and no computer system, cashing a check could take two hours. "It just amazed me how many records they still keep with a pen and pencil," Bridges said. "A typewriter is a huge technological advance."
Building relationships was one of her favorite activities. Volunteers are encouraged to spend their first three months getting to know people and creating trust. "That was probably the fun-est time. Wherever you went, they’d be like, ‘Oh, come in. Let me get you a cup of coffee. ’"
Once Bridges began tackling projects, she focused on the Honduran equivalent to neighborhood associations. There were 90 in Santa Cruz, and Bridges helped them organize to share resources and network knowledge. She also taught the grant application process for international development funding.
As the first Peace Corps volunteer in Santa Cruz in 20 years, Bridges didn’t have ongoing projects to follow. She had to find her own, which, while a bit daunting at first, highlighted one of the things she most appreciated — access to 24/7 Peace Corps support combined with her free-agent freedom.
While Bridges misses Honduras, its people and customs, its food and climate (air conditioning has been an adjustment), and her host family, she has a permanent connection to the small country the size of Ohio.
Bridges met Oscar Mendez during training, when he was one of her Spanish instructors. Their first meeting was rough. She’d had a bad day prior to class and became frustrated when she couldn’t properly pronounce arroz (rice), and that led to a few tears, which made Mendez think he’d done something wrong. But after several weeks together a friendship developed, and that led to dating, and that led to a wedding Nov. 30, 2002. The couple had a civil ceremony in Honduras with Mendez’s family present but not Bridges’, so they plan another event here.
Volunteers may extend their stay for up to a year, which Bridges considered. With an opportunity to work with the capital’s mayor, she was tempted. But the couple decided to come to the United States on a trip that was Mendez’s first out of Honduras. They’re both job hunting, and Mendez is set to take classes at NorthWest Arkansas Community College in the fall. Both agree that overseas careers are a future possibility.
Although struck by information overload, Bridges hasn’t found being home too jarring. Yet. "I think once I’m actually working again and I’m thinking, ‘ I wish I were back in Honduras sitting in my hammock, eating my mango,’ it will hit me... But I have [Oscar] with me, so I feel like I brought [Honduras] back with me and never left it." "Maybe I didn’t build a road or a school," Bridges muses, "but I touched people’s lives."
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6/23/03
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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Honduras; Training; Neighborhood Associations
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My daughter has received her invitation and is awaiting, anxiously, to find out where she will be assigned. I recall when she had graduated and was in a space of trying to determine to go to grad school or what other opportunities to persue. Being a child of the sixties I mentioned the peace corp. She began investigating, and started the long process of applying for the peace corp. When I read articles such as the above I know she will find a fulfillment beyond any other. I have been asked over, and over, how I could encourge her to leave for two years. I will miss her, but her gifts and what I am sure the gifts of experiences, the two years will be a blessing beyond compare.
