Mahalo nui e Kathryn for posting your first-hand experience here. I really appreciate it. Wow, you are witnessing the negative effects of acculturation on the Lenca as it is happening right before your eyes and you hit all the major points on the loss of cultural identity. The language is the key to retaining that unique cultural identity as we are learning here in Hawai?i with the revitalization of Hawaiian. I assume that the European language of Spanish is the dominant language there in Honduras, yes? Like the English language is to Hawaiians, it is a language from another place with a very different set of values and perspectives. I wish you the best in your work there and I wish the best to the Lenca too in their journey toward the realization that action needs to be taken before it is indeed too late. Perhaps our model of "immersion schools" and our "cultural identity philosophy" can be of use, the latter of which just so happens to be translated into Spanish as well.
Ke Akua p?,
na Kumu ?Alika
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