Smile and maybe tomorrow…


Being back home in the past days, I already started to feel nostalgic about the amazing experience as a Peacebuilder Fellow in Honduras. I learned so many enriching things for my professional and personal life during my time there.

One thing that fascinated me is how the country with the most violent city in the world, San Pedro Sula, is also the same country with villages like Santa Ana and Florida, where everyone seems to be willing to help you even if the only thing they have to offer is a smile. Florida is one of the poorest villages in Honduras, but still incredible rich when it comes to hospitality and kindness. In one of the visits there, we had lunch at the public library, a modest one, but the fact it exists is already a triumph for education. There was a little sign with a poem saying “No tengo todo calculado, ni mi vida resuelta. Solo tengo una sonrisa y espero una de vuelta” (I don’t have everything calculated, nor my life solved. I only have a smile and expect one in return). And that is what I feel right now. I don´t know what is going to happen next, what job and place I will be this time next year, but I will always have the amazing memories of Honduras, where people, even in the most critical life conditions, are always there to give you a smile in the belief that, despite the obstacles, “you’ll see the sun come shining through for you” (Smile, Charlie Chaplin).

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