Grasia Maria Banegas Estrada
Age: 18. Country: Honduras.
What is your best childhood’s memory?
Going to my grandparents home during summer vacation, and waking up to have breakfast in the patio (garden). I enjoyed it so much because my complete family was there, my uncles, aunts and cousins. We all ate traditional food next to a homemade bonfire. In a huge dinner table. It was awesome!
What is your worst childhood’s memory?
Once in fith grade, they took us from school to give Christmas presents to a really poor family that lived like 5 or 6 blocks away from school. When we arrived, the conditions that those 4 kids and their Mom lived in overwhelmed me. They had only one bed for all of them and the house was build with mud. But, what really shocked me was when I saw one of the kids that lived there eating dirt. It really got to me. We offer him a cookie and he ate with such necessity that he shocked. It was terrible. I thought it was so unfair that I couldn't help to start crying.
Please tell us a bit about your parents/family?
I live with my Mom, my Mothers husband and my little brother. Since January I see them only during the weekends because I attend college in another town. My Mom is high school teacher, my stepfather is a sociologist, and my little brother is beginning his primary studies on September. We all love each other very very much and try to spend as much time together as possible at home.
Could you tell us a bit about your friends and hobbies?
I have a lot of friends from college, we like to have lots of fun and spend a much time as possible together. We love playing and watching football because it's the best sport ever. Also we participate in the resistencia´s activities every time we can, we all want to have a better country were equal opportunities are possible. We have gotten in a bit of trouble for that, but we always manage to escape with a clean record and then laugh about it.
What does the term hunger make you think of?
Sadly, it makes me think of my country. Every time I travel to college I see kids and old people dying from hunger on Tegucigalpa's streets. Its something terrible because you know that hunger is far from being eradicated.
What does the word poverty make you think of?
It makes me think of the people that do not have even the basic things to have a dignifying life. In Honduras we have lots of families that try to maintain with less than a dollar daily. Families with 6 or 7 children each.
How do you feel about rich people?
It depends, there are lots of wealthy people that have work really hard to be in the economies position they are now, so I feel they deserve it. But, there is the other kind of rich people, the kind a find repulsive. The rich and corrupt that all they have they have stolen from the people, not paying taxes, stilling shamelessly from the government.
What is your dream for the future?
I dream for a better Honduras, one in which people do not starve to death, in which poor kids can be healthy and educated, one in which you can walk in the middle of the night and no one in the street is going to harm you. I dream for a better Honduras to all my loved ones to live in.
What have you heard about Denmark before coming here?
That Denmark is the home of the Vikings! And the home of Lego! Also I have heard plenty of times that Denmark is a country with a really amazing welfare system and that its people are extremely educated.
What do you hope to gain from your stay in Denmark?
Learning how Denmark has accomplished to be such a great country with so many opportunities and hopefully when I come back home being able to use some of the ideas I gain from my visit to improve my own country.
What do you think about the future of your country?
It's gray a future. We are living under the sequels that were left by a de facto government. Thanks, to the people that run our country we are going backwards. All they care about is getting wealthier with every passing day. They dont care at all about Honduras and its people. Changes need to take place now, if not we are heading into a road with no end.
