Masses, marriages, meetings, and more

The pastor is taking a nuch-needed short vacation (before I head to Ames, Iowa, on October 21, for a week at our sister parish.) So, I have a few things to do.

WEEKEND CELEBRATIONS

First of all, the pastor asked me to be available for what might happen as well as to serve at several places each weekend. Last night I had a Celebration of the Word with Communion in Dolores, Copán, and today, I had three in Concepción, Dulce Nombre, and San Agustín, Copán. Next weekend I’ll probably only have three celebrations. 

A priest will probably come from Santa Rosa for the Sunday night Masses, but otherwise we'll have Celebrations of the Word with Communion.

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

Last Wednesday was busy – and a bit stressful. For several years, a group of sisters in Tegucigalpa, las Hijas de María, have run what we might call boarding schools, for poor boys and girls from the countryside, to study for five years – completely free.

Though they have several hundred in each of the schools (one for boys, one for girls), there is a selection process, including examinations and interviews of the students with their parents or guardians. In the past, the sisters have gone out to various parishes, but this year it was all done virtually.

The pastor asked me to arrange the testing and interviews on Wednesday, the day the sisters had set. But I was still trying to figure out what to do while the kids were taking the exam – all 25 of them. I had to figure out how to arrange the interviews by Zoom.

Thanks be to God, the internet was working and I had brought my tablet as well as my computer and so we could have two interview sites (one for the 8 males and the other for the 17 girls).

It was stressful, since I had no idea exactly what I was supposed to be doing – and there were a few computer glitches.

I’m glad I had looked ahead and brought my printer/scanner so that I could scan the papers needed to be sent to the sisters. Otherwise, it would have been a near disaster. Luckily, I don’t have to worry about pulling out my hair – since there is so little of it. 

 PREPARING TO PREVENT DISASTERS 

 

Thursday, I had the last of six meetings in various sectors of the parish to help people think through how to respond to any natural disasters. 

Last year, two hurricanes in November seriously affected a number of towns. The people responded fairly well in many places, but it was all unplanned. So, we decided to help the people look ahead and get organized in case of future difficulties.

Over 120 people participated in the sessions, but I was disappointed that some communities who had major problems last year didn’t participate.

But all least four the sessions were, I believe, very good. I started asking people what they had experienced last year and what they had done. Several times I was pleasantly surprised by what they did – without planning. In one community, forty persons gathered to help a family move from their home which suffered from the rain and the landslides. Getting forty people together to help is quite an accomplishment.

I shared some ideas and organizing tools with them to help analyze the risks and possible responses, as well as to begin to organize. Some folks are really enthusiastic – knowing that it might not be needed this year, but that it is good to think about how they can respond when there are serious needs in the communities. (It’s also a good way to help them see their capabilities and to wean them from dependency on politicians who use aid to control the people.)

MATRIMONIES

I have mentioned in several blogs posts how I am involved in the final interviews for couples seeking to be married. I had one this Friday which was a blessing. 

I don’t serve as the church’s witness at many weddings, but this Saturday the pastor delegated me to be at a wedding, since he expected to be on vacation.

The wedding was at the main church in Dulce Nombre, even though the couple is from a distant aldea. There were less than thirty in attendance but it was such a joy to be with them. The couple had lived together for several years but decided to get married. Their two little sons had a part in the wedding.

BABIES

One tradition here is the presentation of babies at Masses or celebrations when the baby is forty days old. (Think of the biblical story of the presentation of Jesus in the temple.)

In our parish, the baby is brought forward after the prayer after Communion; a prayer is offered, the baby and mother (and father, if he’s there) are blessed. This Sunday I had one at each of the celebrations.

I also noted at the 7:00 am celebration today at least three little babies in the congregation – two held by their fathers. I knew one couple (who had recently been married) and went to see their baby – which was so tiny, even though it was four months old. The baby had been born prematurely (1 pound, 4 ounces at seven months), but was slowly growing, now weighing almost four pounds. I was reminded once again of the fragility of life here. 

COFFEE EXPORTATION

Friday afternoon I went out to El Zapote and spent time with one of the members of the coffee association that is exporting coffee to Ames, Iowa. I wrote about this in an earlier post. I left with mandarins that he had picked from tress in his coffee fields.

Adding these to oranges, bananas, and avocados that I had been given recently, as well as tomatoes I’m buying from a local grower, I am eating a little more locally than before.

CONFIRMATION

I returned from Saturday’s wedding and saw a group, mostly young people, working on a shelter near the church in Plan Grande.

An older man, a little mentally unstable, who is Nicaraguan, lives there. He may have been in the Nicaraguan army and probably suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress, since, every once in a while, he begins shouting loudly, as if yelling at troops. He wanders about the village, virtually harmless to himself and others; people give him food and drink. The place where he has been staying was falling down.

The confirmation class decided to help erect a more dignified place for him to sleep. It was great to see the young people helping.

CHANGING PLANS 

I had planned to spend Monday in Santa Rosa de Copán, getting medical exams (blood and urine tests) as well as a medical appointment.

I’ll do that, but it will be a bit complicated. I’ll go early for the tests and then go out to a rural community for a funeral. Then I’ll drive back to Santa Rosa for the doctor’s appointment. I know the community well and know some of the family; so it is important to be present. I should be able to do this easily.

And I’ll probably take part of Tuesday off to relax and recoup forces.

A VISIT TO AMES 

I spent about four weeks in Iowa in May and June – to renew my Iowa driver’s license, to get my Pfizer vaccinations, and for an eight day retreat. But I decided it would be good to get back when there are more people at St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Ames and, especially, when there are more students.

So, I leave for Iowa on Thursday, October 21, and return early Thursday, October 28. It’s a lightning visit, but it will be good to deepen connections and let the people know what is going on here.

FUTURE EXCURSIONS

I don’t need to work hard to find things to do, but I hope to make at least two trips outside of Honduras in early 2022.

The first is for the beatifications of four martyrs: Jesuit Father Rutilio Grande, two laypeople killed with Father Rutulio (Manuel Solorzano and Nelson Rutilio Lemus), and Franciscan Father Cosme Spessotto, on late January.

I’m also hoping to get to the East coast to visit friends and family whom I haven’t seen for more than two years.

Next year will mark my seventy-fifth birthday and my fifteenth year here in Honduras. I don’t have anything planned and I hope to be able to continue to do what I am doing. I have NO plans to leave. I’m here until God calls me somewhere else.

I should find some way to celebrate. I’m open to suggestions.

Honduras coffee in Iowa

In January 2014, the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas church in Ames, Iowa, came to visit the parish of Dulce Nombre de María, with two young men. One was very interested in trying to get something started with importing local coffee to the US.

We met with a few coffee producers. I proposed that this not be simply buying coffee but investing in a group of small coffee producers, importing their coffee but also making an investment to help them improve their production as well as the quality of the coffee.

In the aldea of El Zapote Santa Rosa, José Garcia got about fifteen producers together and they began to work forming an association, which they named “Café hacia el futuro” – Coffee toward the future. At first a group at St. Thomas Aquinas imported the coffee but later they formed into “Café El Zapote.” 

It’s been quite the journey – first finding ways to get small quantities sent as samples, then finding ways to export and transport coffee. There have been ups and downs – but the association has grown, has gotten help to improve their fields, as well as production processes.

They have even managed to build a “centro de acopio” – a place where the coffee will be collected and processed.

Marco Antonio pruning one plant

A few days ago, the head of Café El Zapote asked me to interview one of the producers whose high quality coffee had been purchased by a café in Tama, Iowa. They wanted some background for their customers as they market his coffee as "single source."

Here are some notes from time spent with the producer, Marco Antonio García; we were accompanied by Moisés García, the president of the association.

Marco Antonio and Moisés

Marco Antonio García Henríquez, Tonio, is 35 years old, married with three kids, one son who is 14 years old who helps and is also studying in the equivalent of junior high in an alternative program in El Zapote. There are two daughters, one who is ten years old and who accompanied us out to his fields. 

Marco Antonio's daughter finding some fruit to eat

Tonio was born in El Zapote Santa Rosa and has lived here all his life. His father also grows coffee and he worked with his father many years. He started helping in the coffee harvests when he was five years old – not uncommon here. He worked for years with his father but be began working on his own fields when he turned 18 years.

He has worked with the Asociación Hacia El Futuro for only two years. The association currently has 19 members (2 of whom are women). They are hoping to incorporate up to 7 more women, mostly spouses of the members) in the coming year. 

Tonio has three manzanas. (A manzana is about 1.7 acres.) The elevation of his fields is about 1350 meters.

When I asked him how he got such high-quality coffee, he said that he does all in the name of God and with passion and love, selecting the best coffee beans.

It is clear that he and his family live with a deep faith and with a passion for their work. He proudly showed me the flower garden at the side of his house which his wife and he tend to have flowers for the Catholic church in the village.

The association has worked with several organizations, including a Spanish foundation which worked through Caritas and Heifer International. With their help, as well as the help of El Zapote Coffee in Ames, they have been able to improve their farming, harvesting, and processing procedures. They also have been able to have solar coffee dryers. 

They are working toward a much more ecological approach to coffee production. The centro de acopio (collection and processing center) that the association is completing will have procedures to deal with the pulp from the coffee as well as the water used in washing and soaking the beans to avoid contamination of the water systems.

Centro de acopio of the association

Tonio does not use herbicides to deal with the weeds in the coffee fields (fincas, in Spanish). Instead, they clear out the weeds manually, with machetes.

However, one of the problems in the past few years, and one which has had a resurgence last year, is what is called roya, a type of leaf rot. They are working with developing natural fungicides for control of the roya.

Up to this point, Tonio has dried the coffee in the solar dryer by his home. He has stored the coffee in his house to avoid contamination by any odors.

Tonio and his son beside his small solar dryer

The harvests in this area are between November and April, because of the elevation. Producers will harvest several times during the harvest season, since the beans mature at different times. (There are several flowerings earlier in the year.) Tonio harvests up to six times in the harvest season. (Editors’ note: the first and last harvests do not usually bring in a good quality coffee, since they may have beans that are overripe or underripe.)

We went to see Tonio’s fields which are in two different locations.

He has been very careful to have a good number of trees in his fields – pine trees, guamos, fruit trees (including oranges and mandarins), avocado trees, bananas, and more. (I came home with a load of mandarins.) When he plants new coffee trees, he tries to avoid cutting down trees.

In at least one part of his fields, he has planted zacate (a type of tall grass) between the coffee rows – to cut down the erosion as well as to lower the temperature of the soil.

Tall grass between the rows of coffee

Tonio is not a man of many words and so when I asked if he had any message for those who will drink his coffee he was at a loss – just drink, enjoy, and buy more. As I left, he thanked all those who are helping him and the other coffee farmers in El Zapote.

Information on ordering Café El Zapote can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/cafeelzapote

UPDATE - October 10, 2021: 

 Here's an image from the Facebook page of Ross Street Roasting Co.

Angels amid the coffee

This morning I read the New York Times’ obituary for Claribel Alegría, a Nicaraguan/Salvadoran poet and novelist. I had read some of her work in English translation years ago. But the NYT included a poem that touched my heart.

Besides the coffee
They plant angels
In my country.
A chorus of children
And women
With the small white coffin
Move politely aside
As the harvest passes by.

I live in the midst of coffee and I have witnessed the burial of the poor. Even as the people work on the harvest – for a pittance – they slowly die as do their children.

If anyone has access to the Spanish, please let me know. I’d love to share it with friends here in Honduras.

The benefits of a coffee association

Wednesday I had visitors and decided to have them hear about the work of the coffee association in El Zapote Santa Rosa.

This group of thirteen men and one woman are small coffee farmers who have joined together, learned best practice to produce, harvest, and process coffee. As a result, they are exporting coffee to the parish of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Ames, Iowa. This year they exported 4,500 pounds.

José, the president of the association, talked with us, showed us his solar dryer, shared some of his coffee with us at his home, and then showed us parts of his coffee fields, his finca, as well as where he washed much of his coffee.

As we drank a cup of coffee in his home, he proudly told us how he now drinks good quality coffee and not the dregs, which his family used to drink. He noted that the good quality coffee doesn’t upset his stomach as the other coffee did.

One of the visitors, a Canadian, had previously asked me why the Honduran coffee he drank in Toronto coffee shops was good but most of what he had tasted here was awful. I told him exactly what José later told us. I also noted that when we visited Aldea Development’s project in La Unión, Lempira, the director Patrick Hughes had advised the producers to begin to drink good coffee.

José has taken that advice to heart.

I pressed him on other benefits. He did not talk much about his own family, though it appears that they are doing better. But he did mention that they paid the coffee harvesters more for the selective picking they did for export coffee. He also noted how the family or some persons are hired to go through the coffee to take out defective beans before the coffee is sent to the processing company here in Honduras.

The project is not only helping the producers but seasonal coffee workers, many of whom do not have their own coffee land – or have very little land.

But as we came back from his fields, he shared what in many ways is one of the most significant benefits of this association and their ability to export coffee and get a higher price for quality coffee.

José showing off his coffee fields

As we drove into El Zapote he mentioned, “I no longer have the desire to go to the United States.”

He had tried a few years ago, was captured by the Border Patrol soon after crossing the border, and held in a detention center for several months. But I guess that the dream of the golden north remained.

Yet now, he has purpose in his life here in Honduras; he has experienced the success of helping to organize others for the good of the community; he has helped improve the quality of life for him and his family. He is at home in his home country, in his aldea.

But José is but one of many who have the dream of a good and meaningful life for his family and his village. (He is very active in promoting education in El Zapote even though he has had limited education).

But he is a minority since real development is beyond the reach of many – even the educated. I recall a very sharp young man whom I tried to dissuade from going to the United States. At one point he told me, “What does Honduras offer me?”

He had much to offer Honduras but his hopes and dreams were stilted, his gifts not recognized, his capacities not given a place to grow.

So what about the future of Honduras?

Politicians offer dreams of success, but often at a price – selling your soul to the party. Jobs are offered, but with poor salaries. Individual efforts are lauded, but not always rewarded. The efforts of people working together are not often encouraged.

Small efforts – and larger ones – need to be made. I feel very glad that this one small effort has made a difference in the lives of some people I know. I hope there are more.

And if you want to help people like José, buy more coffee from direct market sources. El Zapote Coffee, the fruit of this small association, is available at St. Thomas Aquinas Church and Catholic Student Center, Ames, Iowa. Buy some – and then, if you like it, get some friends to buy some more. That might make it easier for people to stay here in Honduras.