The campesinos

In Spanish the word used for people who work in the countryside is campesinos, which some people translate as peasant or farmer. One dictionary translates it also as “hick.” I prefer to keep the Spanish word since it refers to people who live and work in the campo, the countryside and, at least in English, doesn't have the negative connotations of words like "peasant".

Yesterday two visitors – Bobby Hunter and Joey Dobson – and I went out to three rural villages in the parish of Dulce Nombre with Father Efraín Romero, the pastor. It was a cold, misty and rainy day.

Because of the rain two of the roads we traveled were very muddy and we had to push the four wheel drive pick-up out of the ruts. I helped a little and got fairly muddy. Luckily we had picked up some people on the way and they helped push.

Father was going out to celebrate Mass and Baptisms for the feast of El Cristo Negro de Esquipulas, the black Christ of Esquipulas. Esquipulas is a pilgrimage site in Guatemala not too far from here where there is an image of the crucified Christ as a black man. Wes Meier, a friend who is a Peace Corps worker, wrote me about the celebration of the black Christ of El Sauce, Nicaragua. There is also a black Christ in the town of Esperanza, Intibucá, Honduras. In some places this feast is called the Lord of Mercies. The three villages we visited have a special devotion to the black Christ of Esquipulas. The first town we visited, Bañaderos, has an image of the black Christ.
In the three communities Father Efraín heard confessions before Mass. In two of them there were baptisms. Before Mass we had a chance to speak with people in all three places. Joey was a great hit with the little girls and with an older woman in the last place we visited (El Zapote de Santa Rosa). Bobby had a bad cold but was quite the trooper watching what was happening and talking occasionally with kids in his elementary Spanish, which has improved significantly while here.

Wednesday night we had dinner with a Honduran university student I know. We told him that e were going out to the countryside on Thursday. He was glad Joey and Bobby would have this experience because, he said, the campesinos are sincere, simple folks.

They are also a very devout people. Some walked for almost two hours to get to Mass, in order to have their children baptized. The confession line was long in all three places and, in contrast to some Latin American countries I’ve visited, many people go to communion.

I had time to speak with a few friends, mostly catechists and pastoral workers I’ve met in the training sessions I’ve helped with. I find myself more and more talking with them about their work. Many are now picking coffee. Some on their own small plots, many on the large plantations which cover this part of the country. One person told me that the producers like himself are getting only about 180 lempiras ($9.53) a gallon of beans that have had the pulp removed. Other years it was close to 400 lempiras ($21.16). The workers on plantations may make as little as 15 lempiras for a gallon, though one local plantation owner pays up to 30 lempiras. (He is a good Catholic, Father Efraín noted and financially supports the parish.)

But the most encouraging conversation was with a twelve year old in El Sapote de Santa Rosa. He will be in fifth grade this year, but wants to study beyond sixth grade. He loves math, science, and Spanish classes. He wants to be a teacher, but I think he also talked about getting into health work. He also talked about wanting to learn about computers and many other things. It’s so encouraging to see a young person who really wants to study.

Yet, sad to say, the educational system here in poor. Most students don’t go past the sixth grade, mostly because there are only primary schools in most villages. Yet the church in Honduras has a system of education called “Maestro en Casa”. The students, mostly in what we would call junior high and high school, have work to do during the week and there are radio programs to listen to. They then go to a central location on Saturday or Sunday where volunteer teachers go over the lessons and give the exams. Last year there were over 1000 students in the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán. There is a site in Ducle Nombre for a few hundred students run by the sisters who live there, Oblates of the Divine Love.

Father Efraín and the Dulce Nombre parish are pushing education this month. In his homily at Bañaderos he spoke forcefully. Referring to the crucified Christ of Esquipulas, he said that Christ is being crucified today and he noted that Christ is being crucified when children who want to study do not get the chance to study. He later spoke about the new site for “Maestro en Casa” which will open in El Zapote, near Bañaderos. He also mentioned the possibility of some sites that were even closer if they cold find some volunteer teachers.

This is encouraging, even though it’s just a small effort.

One a more personal level, this week I’ve begun to help with CARITAS of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán as associate director. CARITAS is a bit like Catholic Charities but more involved in development projects as well as emergency relief and formation. Father Efraín is the new director and it will be good to work with him. He is the pastor of the Dulce Nombre de María parish and I’ve enjoyed working with him. His work style – at least with me – is very collegial and I look forward to helping him develop projects to help those in need in the diocese. He has a great love of the campesinos and a deep senses of the need for rural agricultural development in a sustainable manner.

To put it mildly, I am grateful for this new way of serving Christ in the poor.