Staff Spotlight: Erin Rudegeair

Born in New Orleans and raised in Northwestern Pennsylvania, Erin graduated from Penn State with a B.S. in Geography in 2010. After living in Honduras for 3 years, Erin returned to Pennsylvania to receive her Master of International Development from the University of Pittsburgh. When she's not visiting volunteers in Honduras, she can be found working out of her home office in Brooklyn.

Great first question. Living in Honduras for 3 years gave me the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the country and region (the latter mostly for visa-renewal purposes). I have been fortunate enough to visit all but 1 of Honduras’ 18 departments (some day I’ll get to you, Ocotepeque!) My favorite travel memory would have to be the epic Semana Santa (Holy Week) adventure during my time as a volunteer with Bilingual Education for Central America. Three fellow volunteers and I trekked all the way East to La Mosquitia, a gorgeous largely untouched part of the country. In fact, it hardly felt like being in Honduras at all.

At a certain point, the roads end and you have to drive on the beach until that’s no longer an option. From there on, it’s just rivers that take you where you need to go. On the way back, we visited the family of some of our students in Iriona, where we ate like kings and learned some Garifuna. We even finished off the trip with a couple nights in the party town of Trujillo. All in all, we did a little bit of everything and got the chance to visit places I’ll likely never see again.

There were so many first on that trip: first time I drove on the beach, first time I heard Pech and Miskito (two indigenous languages spoken in the region); first time I slept under a mosquito net; first time I traveled in a handmade pipante (or canoe); first time I made cassava (well, attempted to make cassava); and, while it wasn’t the first time I stayed up for 24 hours, those are always really epic days and this one was no different.

I think it’d almost be easier to talk about what ways I haven’t changed to be honest. I remember before my very first trip to Honduras, someone told me “this trip is going to be life-changing” and I remember laughing that off as something so cliché. But dang it, she was right. Everything has changed. I am who I am now because of my decision to volunteer abroad.

I used to want to “do good” and suffered from a “save the world” complex and that has certainly changed. I want more than just to “do good”. I want to be of benefit and I want to live a life of service because I was born with a whole heck of a lot of privilege and I want to leverage that to benefit those who were born with fewer opportunities than I was. I learned that through volunteering and living away from all the comforts and familiarities of home.

When I was volunteering abroad, I thought in some ways I was running away from the real world. I thought I would have an ah-ha moment where everything would click and I would know exactly what I to do with my life. But now I know that uncertainty is part of the path. I am a life-long learner and, as long as I’m learning and growing, I’m on the right path. After all if you’re not growing, you’re dying, right?

We had an alumna who returned to Honduras after 2 ½ years to work with us again for 5 months. She was such a wonderful addition to our volunteer team mid-way through the school year not only from her previous experience with BECA but also the different skills and experiences she brings to the table a couple years later.

When she landed in country, we immediately got caught in a bad traffic jam due to an accident up ahead, so we got to talking. I asked her what she was most looking forward to during her time back with BECA and she said “spending time with the mothers”. She could have said she was looking forward to traveling to Guatemala or Copen, going to one of the Bay Islands, adventuring behind the massive waterfall at Pulhapanzak, or any number of things. But her answer, “spending time with the mothers (of our students)”, was so beautiful and so powerful. She reminded me in her simple response the whole reason why we do what we do.

I would be most interested in becoming a Program Administrator, but as a 2nd year volunteer with BECA. We didn’t really have Admins back when I volunteered since we were only 1 school back then. But now that we’ve grown into a network of 3 locally owned schools, we have Program Administrators (one at each school), Program Manager, and In-country Director positions. While I learned so much through my year as a Volunteer Teacher with BECA, I knew at the end of it that I did not want to pursue a career as a classroom teacher, which is why the Admin position would have been very appealing to me.

I suggest volunteering as a classroom teacher with BECA first because, in our experience, our strongest Administrators have been those who already knew our program and our communities. BECA is all about relationships and those things take time so having a year under your belt better prepares volunteers to take on the Administrator role.

BECA is unique because we are one of the few secular, grassroots organizations offering long-term volunteer placements in Honduras. Our funding is not tied to any one church or donor, so we have the freedom to invest in what’s important to our partners. Our partnerships are another important factor in what makes us unique. Our model is built on partnerships with local, Honduran NGOs that believe in our mission. We don’t partner with local organizations to check a box on some grant application. We partner with local organizations because we believe it is the only way for us to effectively and sustainably operate our programs.

One of the things that continue to fill my heart with pride is the expansion of our volunteer program to include Honduran volunteers. Since 2017, we’ve had 13 Honduran volunteers – many of whom graduated from our founding school, San Jeronimo Bilingual School, work with us as volunteer teachers. Each of them brings such amazing benefits to the whole volunteer teaching team serving as ambassadors for our schools and the communities where we work. We have found such strength in diversifying our team for our volunteers and our students alike. We now have more and more teachers who look like their students. I remember fondly hearing about student at Santa Monica who saw Miss Rosa – who is from Tocoa, Honduras – teaching and asked “Does this mean I can be a teacher here one day?” YES! Yes, that is exactly what that means!

Relationships. Real, genuine relationships based on mutual interests (such as sharing a common mission and vision for the future), trust, respect, integrity, and understanding. The work we do is difficult and where we work presents a number of challenges, but the relationships – with community members, parents, students, and fellow teachers – are what make it all worthwhile, even on the hottest, stickiest, sweatiest, draining days.