A Great Day and a Great Birthday

So today was one of those unexpected, out of the blue great days.  It started out like most Fridays, excepted I got to sleep in until 6am.  Then I was on the buses and off to Guacotecti.  As I am spending so much time on the Elections Program, I am really out of sync with what is happening at ADES.  I arrived this morning to find out that it was the closing/graduation ceremony for two groups of mostly young people who have received several weeks of training to become reporters at Radio Victoria.  As you may recall, Radio Victoria is a community radio station that is mostly staffed by youth and young adults.  Over the years the staff at Radio Victoria have received several death threats because of their anti-mining position.  A few weeks ago, they received a new round of death threats in response to a story they covered about the illegal posting of election material.  There does not seem to be any shortage of young people willing to take on this task.

Before Christmas I spent a few Saturdays in a little place called Cinquera, where one of the two training groups was held.  I liked the youth in this group.  I found them intelligent, giggly and self-conscious...just what many youth are like.  Today some of them came up to me and started talking.  I explained that I could not stay for the whole event because I needed to teach an English class.  After the event and after my English class one of the youth cornered me to find out how they could get an English course in Cinquera.  Eduardo is involved with the Radio Victoria project and he is also involved with CIS in the election community training program.  He said that he wanted my contact information but that he was going to talk to Leslie at CIS and Tita the Chair of the Board at ADES because he and his colleagues need English classes.   This not a project that is on anyone radar at the moment, but somehow I wouldn't be surprised if I or one my colleagues ends up teaching English in Cinquera after the elections.  Although he is young, Eduardo is not one to give up.

As part of the ceremony today, all of the graduates were "sworn in" as reporters.  They had to promise to search for the truth and to work toward the development of their communities.

Out for dinner to celebrate my birthday.

Sharing icing with Jenny and Nora.