More signs of hope in Honduras

Friday the Dulce Nombre de María parish celebrated the closing of the agriculture project, financed by the Spanish Catholic organization Manos Unidas. I’ve written about this several times before. (Several of the posts can be accessed here.)

The project has been a success, but we are not sure if it will continue. Even though it been only about $2,500 a month, we are waiting to hear from Manos Unidas to hear if they will continue to help finance it.

In early stages the project helped people with tools, fertilizers, and training in improved methods of production of basic grains. It also has helped people learn how to make organic fertilizers and fumigants.

More recently it has included projects of family gardens, as well as the promotion of production of vegetables by organized groups in the community. This helps promote better diet but also generates some funds.

There have also been some efforts in planting trees, both hardwoods and fruit trees.

Agricultural project celebration

Eighteen communities participated in the most recent stage of the project and so it was good to see about 200 come out for the celebration.

It was held in Colonia San José, Dulce Nombre, a small community which was very hard to get to because of a water-soaked road with six inch deep mud at several place. But I got there in the parish truck. (My truck has been in the mechanic’s shop for over a week because of a cracked camshaft.)

There was, of course, a Mass with Padre Efraín, the Dulce Nomrbe pastor, followed by recognition of the communities, songs by the Primos de Occidente of Quebrada Grande and a few cultural events by the young people of the village of Yaruconte.

The two most memorable was a song that Los Primos de Occidente had written on the project, which they promptly named “Huertos familiares/Family gardens”. They sang about “tajadas of plantains and a good salad of fresh vegetables for breakfast.” You can see and listen to it here.

The young people of Yaruconte and several other youth groups had prepared cultural events for their villages. The Yaruconte youth presented an indigenous dance.

   There were also tables of vegetables and fruit that several communities had brought to sell. I bought a few turnips and was given a bag of oranges as I left. 

Looking over the vegetables, I talked with a number of young men who were involved in the project. One was eating a raw carrot, something I seldom see here. He told me he liked carrots. So it appears, at least in one case, the project is helping people diversify their diets.

One event, though, touched me. There is a young man, Toño, from a village who is mentally handicapped. He walked up to the altar and shook Padre Efraín’s hand and then several pastoral workers brought him a chair so that he could sit in front of the altar with them. Instead of marginalizing him because of his differences, he is accepted and welcomed.

The project is important for its results but also for the community organization it promotes. But all this needs to be based on a love of God and neighbor that embraces those who are different. At least in this case, it does.

A water project in San José Quelacasque

The day before I had gone with a group from Caritas of the diocese of Santa Rosa de Copán to San José Quelacasque for the inauguration of their water and sanitation project.

Caritas has worked in San José Quelacasque for four years, first with a Community Management of Reduction of Disasters, project and since January with a water and sanitation project.

It is in many ways, a model project, not just for the latrines, improved piping of water, a system of water meters for houses, but for an improved culture of health which the community has embraced. Thus they hope to conserve their distinction as being the one place in the whole municipality of Gracias where people can drink water from the faucet without worry.

The celebration began with Mass with Padre Loncho, the pastor of the parish of Gracias, Lempira, followed by the blessing of the new water tank. There were songs composed by village members Ester and Joel, as well as several skits from the students. One was particularly funny and appropriate, satirizing a boy sick with diarrhea going to a clinic. There were even pigs rooting around the “clinic” – a true health hazard.

Also, because it was December 6, the feast of Saint Nicholas, San Nicolás showed up and gave out candy. 

After lunch I talked briefly with a representative from the Salvadoran non-governmental organization that has been the conduit for funding. He was impressed with what the people had done and had they had worked together. He noted that the community was poor, relying mostly on the production of basic grains.

If the community continues to be vigilant in its protection and conservation of water and their efforts in maintaining a clean and healthy environment on the community, they will continue to be a model for other communities.

These are small efforts, mostly done with the help of outside agencies but with amazing contributions of the people involved.

These people are the hope for the future of Honduras.

Contrasts in Honduras

The past few days have been full of contrasts.

Last Friday and Saturday I went out to meetings of two zones of the parish.

The one zone has had a lot of problems and a few months ago seemed to be stuck in a rut. There was bickering in the meetings; there was not much participation in parish meetings; it seemed as if the same few people were the leaders and some of them were rather rigid; there were not a lot of catechists.

When I went to the meetings I kept encouraging them to seek out new leadership and, especially, to encourage the youth. I tried to give them a vision that was a little less rigid.

At the most recent catechist meeting, there were a good number of people from this zone, including some young people. There was a different spirit at the meeting, less conflict and complaining. Something had happened that was good to see.

On Sunday I went to Tegucigalpa since I had to begin the process of seeking five more years of residency. It was a long 8 hour trip, luckily on an air-conditioned that was rather comfortable (and cost more than the other busses.)

Riding on a bus provides a different view of the countryside we pass through. As I’ve noted some other times, the poverty is sometimes very blatant. There are shacks made of mud and sticks – bahareque, they call it here; I think they call it sticks and wattle in other places. Many of the people in these shacks are probably squatting on the land, since they have no other place to call home. It was for me a poignant reminder of the poverty.

I stayed at an inexpensive hotel in Comayagüela , where I was advised not to go out alone at night. But I remembered that a Honduran Iowa State University graduate was in Honduras and I called him.

I met his wife and two daughters and we ate in a Chinese restaurant. We also met on Monday and had lunch at Subways and dinner at a Honduran restaurant. The Subways was in an area full of franchises – Wendy’s, Kentucky Fired Chicken, Dunkin’ Donuts, Burger King, and more. Was I really in Honduras? Yes, I was in Tegucigalpa -  a different world than Santa Rosa and the villages I work in.

My friend, a professional, remarked that the franchises of US chains have a twenty-year freedom from paying taxes! But the local chains have to pay taxes. So who has the economic advantage? He and his wife also talked with me a bit about politics. I don’t feel free to share what they said except for their horror at the continuing corruption they see around them

Monday, I spent several hours in migration, trying to get the paper work done to obtain five more years of residency. It was full of surprises. The letter I had from the bishop had an error in it and I’d need to get a new one. Luckily, a friend had told me that she had gone to the archdiocesan offices and they had provided a letter. That was a long taxi ride. I also found out that I’d have to rescind my current residency in order to ask for five more years. And so I am now here as a tourist – even though they have all my documents. Then I had to pay $100 for every year of permanency here that I asked for - $500. I had the money in dollars, but the bank wouldn’t accept dollars and wouldn’t cash more than $200. Luckily my friend helped me get the dollars cashed.

I had a little time after all the stuff in migration and so went downtown. I visited a few bookstores and then dropped into the cathedral.

San Miguel cathedral altar

I wasn’t ready for what I saw – a huge altar piece in gold with a large shiny gold pulpit. I kept thinking about where this gold probably came from – the hard labor of the indigenous – as well as the poverty of the country.

San Miguel cathedral pulpit

I left after a few prayers.

I took an early morning bus from Tegucigalpa. We passed the Soto Cano air force base near Comayagua. It is called a Honduran base but it was built by the US in the 1980s to support the militaries in Central America and still has almost 600 US military personnel there. 

The Soto Cano/Palmerola air base from the bus.

Some see their presence here – and in other parts of Honduras as a continuation of a long history of imperialism – economic (e.g., the banana companies), political, and military. It doesn’t help that in the past few weeks US Drug Enforcement Agency personnel have been involved in three shooting which have left five Hondurans dead. (If you haven’t heard of this, check out this article.)

I arrived back in Santa Rosa de Copán about 1:30 and went to Caritas to do some work.

Today, Wednesday, July 18, I went out with some visitors from one of the donors of a Caritas project. We went to San José Quelacasque where a Dutch aid agency is financing a major water and sanitation project. The two visitors, Salvadorans, let the community in an evaluation of the project.

Gathered in San José Quelacasque

It was a delight to be there. I know some of the people and was warmly greeted – “Ola, Juancito!” The evaluation, attend by over 110 residents of the community, showed how much they had learned, how they had organized themselves, and how much their lives have improved with several projects. It’s always a delight to visit a community that is working together to provide for a better life for all the people.

There was good participation from the women present.

It’s still a poor community, but it is taking major steps. It’s threatened by poor roads, areas susceptible to landslides, and the possibility of a dam that would flood some of their farmlands. But they are going forward.

And so I’ve seen a bit of everything – the ostentatious gold of the cathedral, the demeaning poverty of the dirt shacks, the US franchise invasion of Honduras, the efforts of people in small villages to live their faith, and a community planning its own future.

Where will Honduras go? US imports or self-development, continuation of the massive inequality or efforts to help people have decent and sustainable livelihoods? Part depends on the Honduran people, much depends on the rich here. But a lot also depends on the US.

I hope and pray – and will continue to work – for a Honduras where people can live worthy of their calling as children of God, made in God’s image and likeness.