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Andy Kent and Katie Majoris are shown at a volcano in Guatemala while they were traveling during the year they spent working and traveling in Honduras. (Contributed photo) |
Thursday, October 22, 2009
By ELIZA WINSTON - Bulletin Staff Writer
Two local teachers spent the past year in Honduras, where they taught local and international students, saw beautiful landscapes, and eventually witnessed intense political unrest that led to their decision to cut their trip short by a year.
Katie Majoris, who is from Pennsylvania, and her fiance, Andy Kent, who is from Michigan, taught in the Henry County-Martinsville area for two years before deciding to teach overseas.
Kent, who is fluent in Spanish, wanted to experience teaching in a place where it was the first language. Majoris knew a little Spanish and was excited to get a chance to learn more.
Majoris said they first looked into the Peace Corps, but learned the application process would take at least two years. Then they learned of the Association of American Schools in South America (AASSA), which also served several Central American schools. Through that organization, they found an American school in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.
Majoris said the school was taught with an American curriculum, and all classes were taught in English. Half the school’s students were Honduran and half were international children, she said. About half the teachers at the school were Honduran, and half were Americans.
There were no American students in the fifth-grade class she taught, Majoris said, although by that grade all of her students were fluent in English and could translate for their parents if necessary.
Kent is a certified teacher in both Spanish and physical education. In Honduras, he taught P.E. to children ranging in age from pre-school to fourth grade, and his bi-lingual abilities were important to the younger children.
Some of the pre-school and kindergarten-age students didn’t speak much English at the beginning of the year, but by the end of the year they were fluent. Majoris explained that some international students who were fluent in English but not Spanish quickly picked up that language from other children at the school.
Honduras is a beautiful country, Majoris said, and its central location in Central America made it convenient to travel to other countries. During their year there, they visited much of Central America, including Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua, she said.
They enjoyed traveling, viewing the scenery and sampling the different types of food, she said.
Majoris and Kent both said that when they traveled outside Tegucigalpa, they always were impressed by how beautiful, safe and quiet the country was. In the northern part of Honduras, where most local mission trips go, they said the scenery is beautiful and it is far from the political unrest in the capital.
They planned to stay for two years but decided to leave in late August when the political situation in Honduras became too uncertain.
The situation in Tegucigalpa changed rapidly when Honduran civilian president Manuel Zelaya was ousted on June 28 in the first military coup in Central America since the end of the cold war, according to the New York Times.
Kent and Majoris were out of the country during the coup and were able to get back in without any problems. They were visiting family in the United States at the time, Majoris said, and they were not planning to leave Honduras early when they returned from their trip.
According the New York Times, ousted President Zelaya and his wife made a 15-hour trek through mountains, taking backroads to avoid checkpoints and finally taking refuge at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.
Majoris said the level of security in the country went up and down, depending on where Zelaya was. To try to keep the president from returning, the de facto government implemented curfews, put up roadblocks and closed airports.
The town south of Tegucigalpa, Majoris said, had so many curfews and road blocks that it was hard for shipments of food to get through to restock local stores.
Majoris said they weren’t in great danger, but the closing of airports changed from day to day, and so if the situation had worsened, there was no way to ensure they would have been able to get out. She and Kent thought the best decision would be to leave while they could, before they were forced to.
Despite the unrest, Kent and Majoris said they loved teaching in Tegucigalpa. They said they would like to teach internationally again someday, but right now they are glad to be living and teaching in Martinsville.
Majoris teaches English Language Learning at Albert Harris Elementary School and Martinsville Middle School, and Kent teaches Spanish at Martinsville High School.
They plan to return to Honduras for their honeymoon after they marry in June. |
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