Another World Is Possible

Wednesday night, August 1, Greg McGrath. who is visiting, went with me to meet Alfonso Carranza, an agricultural engineer who teaches at the local campus of the National Autonomous University of Honduras. It was the beginning of four days full of meetings with people not only seeking alternatives but also living out the possibilities of a different world.

Alfonzo Carranza teaches many classes at the university, including botany, plant pathology, soils (which he really enjoys), and investigative methods. But his real passion is for the poor. From the beginning it was very clear that he has a great respect for the poor and a love for them.

Our conversation covered many topics, but several times he was eloquent in his defense of the poor. He spoke forcefully of their wisdom, their ability to survive in the worst of situations.

The poor are not “haraganes” – lazy, no goods. He quoted a study that revealed that, on average, a man in the countryside does 22 different tasks a day, while the women perform 52 duties!

The poor, he said, work hard, providing corn for the people of Honduras but getting little in return for their labor. In some ways, he suggested, the poor are the ones who subsidize the rich and others in providing inexpensive food.

He has done a lot of research and written on the practices of campesinos, the people who work in the countryside. His passion is to share this and also to find ways to help poor farmers. I look forward to finding ways to work with him.

Thursday morning we went to Mass at the Catholic University which Greg and I had been asked to help prepare. I gave a short reflection at the Mass. After Mass, Greg had breakfast and talked with students and I met with the director and the chaplain to plan a retreat in a few weeks for the members of the administration of the university. We will be using the final message of the bishops at the recent meeting of the Conference of Latin America bishops at La Aparecida, Brazil. It is posted in English at .

Later we left for Gracias, Lempira, an hour away by bus, to visit with Sister Nancy and others. We spent some time with Fr. Loncho (Luis Alonso), the pastor, and he shared his dreams of a center for retreats and workshops. He is very interested in the possibilities of using alternative sources of energy for the center. Greg took note and may pursue some possibilities.

Friday morning we left Gracias about 7 to visit Maximino Rivera, an illiterate farmer who lives a few miles outside of Gracias. “Maximino is a genius,” Alfonso Carranza had told us and that was not far from the truth.

He first showed us his “biodigestor” – a biogas system that provides gas for his house and organic fertilize for his farm. He learned how to do this at a workshop and, with the help of his sons, built the system. Two buckets of manure from his milk cows and two buckets of water every three or four days produce more than enough gas for his family’s use. He has also taught other and helped at least two persons build these systems for their use.

On the wall of his house near the system was a simple sketch of the design. Greg asked Maximino many questions and was clearly enthused to hear all how this worked. He was like a kid in a candy shop!

We also walked through part of his farm of about 7.5 acres with a variety of crops and fruit trees and some livestock . At the highest part of his property he’s building a tank for water which he will share with seven neighboring families.

After our tour we sat down to an incredibly delicious meal of food from his farm, which his wife had prepared. We had some toasted elotes (early corn) with butter and lime and riguas, which is like a corn pancake with kernels of elote, topped with cream.

We also met his fifteen year old son who seems to be a mechanical genius, who loves to take apart and put together machines of all sorts. His daughters also do some craft work, making small metal decorative pieces.

It is quite an extraordinary family. And Maximino is willing to share his knowledge with others. And he never went to school!

Saturday we visited the farm in Mejocote, outside Gracias, of another extraordinary man, Moisés. Due to a mix up we missed him and spoke with his wife, Carmela, who was a fantastic guide (and also helps with the Women’s Center about a kilometer from their house.) Moisés is an evangelizer for the parish in his area as well as the chair of the parish council. At his farm he has an educational center to teach other about his organic farming practices as well as the construction and use of energy efficient stoves and ovens.

Carmela and Moisés have lived here for about seven years. When they arrived it was mostly rock. To plant trees they had to dig holes in the rock and bring in sol and fertilizer. You would not believe it for it is now a verdant green space. They raise fish (tilapia) and chickens and have at least 20 different crops on the land – several kinds of oranges, some herbs, many kinds of chiles, many fruits and vegetables, including okra, sweet potatoes, squash, yucca, and corn and beans, of course, as well as lemon grass and flor de jamaica for tea. All this on about 1.5 acres.

We also saw the energy efficient stoves and ovens that use a minimum of firewood. Moisés learned how to make them in a ten day workshop in Mexico and is now teaching others how to make them. They also have small contraption in a metal can about two feet wide and one foot in diameter which used sawdust for fuel. This would provide a strong flame for four to five hours. These were two incredible examples of appropriate technology.

There were other little inventions on the farm which I found fascinating and marvelous. It is even more marvelous when you know that Moisés only has a second grade education!

What marvels these two men have been able to do and have shared with many who come by their farms to learn.

Another world is possible and I’ve seen signs of it near Gracias, Lempira, Honduras.