Going out to the campo

Caritas has a number of projects in the countryside. Getting there is often quite an adventure and since there are not enough drivers in Caritas I’ve been asked to drive some of the workers out more often. This will also give me a way to connect more with the projects and see exactly what they are doing. Also, this cuts down their costs since they don’t have to pay a driver.

Today, Thursday, I went with the other Juan in Caritas – Juan the Cuban! Yes, the Gringo and the Cubano together, both working with the Catholic Church. Juan works with the project on promotion of citizen participation in the municipality of Las Flores, Lempira. This project helps people find ways to participate locally – with commissions of transparency and public hearings – as well as how to form small groups and work on projects.

Today he was working with the people in the village of El Ladino to help them with a project for the protection and better utilization of the micro-cuenca – the small watershed – that serves them and other communities. There’s a process that he explained to them. Luckily there are three high school students who are doing their internship will help in the data gathering. But it’s quite an intense process.

Many of the people in the community have little formal education and so it takes a lot of effort for them to navigate through the legal processes to be able to protect their watershed and provide better water for their community. The water has a lot of sediment, as you can see from the photo of the pila - the water tank by the house where we had the meeting.

The trip in was uneventful – though I felt rather tense as we crossed a hammock bridge in the truck – with only a few inches on either side. (Though the cable are steel,the roadbed was wooden slats!) When we returned, though, I misjudged and hit one of the columns the with the side front bumper. I wonder if they’ll let me drive again!

I seem to always attract the attention of the little kids – sometimes it’s trying to avoid the camera or be captured by it. But it must be quite the thing to have someone from the US visit.

What struck me was the presence at the meeting of a young guy who wasn’t on the local water project team or village council. He seemed very interested. We talked a little and I found out that he only has had three years of school. I think he’d like to leave the village to find a job in town, but would this be another loss to the village?

A crucial issue, I see, is how to help people live with dignity in their villages, how to help them be the agents of positive social change there. But the deck seems to be stacked against them, especially in this part of Honduras.

Later this month I hope to get out to the department of Intibucá, one of the poorest parts of the diocese, to do some preliminary research into what the people in a few of the poorest municipalities could develop to improve their lives.

Today’s visit just made me want to do this even more.

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Photos at my set of El Ladino photos on Flickr.