“I spent six months working with Progressio and JLC in Honduras, in 2014 and I can honestly say it was a life-changing experience for me in many ways. Before arriving, I was extremely nervous, I didn’t know what to expect. However, as soon as we met our wonderful Honduran teammates, everything fell into place. We started teaching each other our native languages, sharing stories and then the work began.

With JLC, we travelled out to rural villages in Intibuca, to try and discover what those communities needed and wanted from us. Some of our projects included; encouraging entrepreneurial skills within groups young people, supporting women to build their confidence and self-esteem through a women’s group; we also helped with physical objectives, such as building a children’s playground.

One highlight from my experience was working alongside the dentists that came to Intibuca to serve the rural communities (a service that few families can afford). I learned many new skills, met lots of interesting people and even got to speak on the radio and talk about my experience (in my terrible Spanish at the time!). Rony (my fellow leader) and David encouraged me to keep learning and growing every day and I can never thank them enough for giving me the opportunity to work with them. Volunteering gave me an insight into the incredible Honduran culture, meet many beautiful, generous people and start my passion for learning Spanish which I continue today!”