Let the Rain Come

The last few weeks have seen a steady accumulation of clouds in the sky. This country is so parched; the promise of rain is exciting and refreshing. Last week I went to the MCC retreat at Lago Yojoa and it was quite different to see green trees covered with flowers. At the retreat I got to meet the new MCC Honduras family, the Stephens. Their story is encouraging. They took a leap of faith into service, selling their home, abandonning their comfortable life, and coming down with an open mind, hands free.

I stopped for breakfast in La Esperanza on the way to the retreat. An old man with a French cap and voice reminiscent of Sean Connery came in, sat down at the restaurant’s one table with me, and ordered some breakfast. I soon found out that he, Salvador, had spend 15 years studying in the US to get four bachelor’s degrees on top of a Ph. D. in education. He worked for the Honduran government for decades, writing the law concerning organic agriculture while organizing, teaching, and befriending a large group of campesinos, in the process making them millionaires (1M Lempiras = $50k).

Now he is the regional director for Habitat for Humanity. Salvador designed and is building a house for his son to live in that he hopes will be adopted as a new design standard for Habitat in his region. His design separates the latrine/shower from the house and adds two bedrooms, making it a healthier and more practical house. Also, he’s using apropriate technology, building with bamboo instead of steel rebar to support the walls. His design comes out more expensive ($4,500 difference) than the current design, but for the added cost, he calls it a habitacion digna, a respectable living space.

Many development organizations seem more concerned with writing big numbers in a chart than with actually helping people. World Vision recently came by to measure, weigh, and have a doctor glance at some local kids. They were supposed to be the poorest of the poor, but the town setting of the check-ups meant that the kids were already fairly well off. The poorest of the materially poor live in villages that you have to walk over rivers and mountains to get to, few of which I have been to. Not that being weighed, measured, and given a notebook and pencil would have changed their lives anyway.

A homeless man in Lafayette, Indiana expressed to me his anger that most people invest more money in and spend more time on their dogs than the suffering human beings down the street. This is true, we go to great lengths to satisfy a selfish whim; yet, when the most crucial needs of our neighbors stare us in the face, we pretend not to notice.

So make it personal, make it real. Share a meal and a meal-time with someone on the street. Open your house to a family in need. Sacrifice something for the benefit of a neighbor in need. You don’t need to send your money to an institution to be a conduit of life and love. Right now, you can put leaves back on the trees, give the birds a place to sing, and send new green shoots full of life through the dead plants. You can help bring the Holy Reign.

Teólogas

Out in the country, many people don´t have a lot of social interaction, most people´s days consist of working fields, taking care of livestock, and chopping up firewood. They relate most often to their extended families. Meeting with groups far out in the country with who share distant family connections, the discomfort is thick in the air. Communities with strong, involved leaders get projects done and community development (or the development of community) soon follows after.

These individuals are often also involved in religious leadership. If they are, it’s a sign of commitment to the community since being a pastor here is rarely a way to put bread on the table. They are also providing a time and place for regular social interaction, giving them more opportunity to lead. Taking all of this into account, religious organizations and their leaders understandably have a lot of power.

Por ejemplo, a Peace Corps volunteer in the area was doing an efficient stoves project (they burn less wood to cook your beans and tortillas) and one of the women she was working with was having a problem getting hers installed. Why? Her husband was annoyed by the womens group´s efforts of empowerment so he wouldn´t give his permission to build it. Another Peace Corps volunteer suggested that she involve my host dad, this man´s pastor, because anything the pastor says is to be taken seriously.

All this to say that alongside the unfortunately strong machismo society in Latin America, there are encouraging signs of women´s empowerment. CASM has organized several women´s groups in the area and many community leaders and local development NGO workers have very progressive understandings of gender roles. And last night, my host dad graduated from the Latinamericana University of Theology in a class with 8 men and 28 women. Implications? Profound.

For the Price of a Cup of Coffee

The wonderful week of Semana Santa just ended, marked by Liz’s visit, vacation, lots of church services, and a politically and socially infused walk through colored sawdust pictures on the road. The walk went by the twelve stations of the cross and the religious leadership spoke of the way that dominant culture abuses women and tradition while politic(ian)s devalue the indigenous and the poor. Though the words were strong enough to be wielded by activists, unfortunately they didn’t talk very much about action. It made for an interesting walk, but nonetheless we decided to go cool down at around the 2 hour mark.

Aaron, a civil engineer volunteering with a bridge-building organization, accompanied us to Gracias for the days of vacation. One night he came down with a nasty case of food poisoning after which he felt bad enough that we took him to the hospital. We were directed around the hospital and into the doctor’s office where a nurse took a blood sample and hooked up an IV. While the IV flowed, a young man with a motorcycle accident mashed face arrived and was parked in the hallway in a wheelchair. Since we were in the doctor’s office, we got to hang out with him while he signed papers, gave directions and chatted with us. The doctor hooked another IV up to Aaron while he told us that he recognized us from the restaurant we had eaten at last night and how traditional culture like we have in La Campa is losing its place in big-city Gracias. He saw Liz’s bag on the floor and advised her not to put it there because the floor was very dirty. Too true, in the hall a nearly naked man with an ace-wraped leg and another painful-looking face was accompanied by drips of blood and several not-so-pleasant smells. Reassuringly Aaron’s needle had clearly come out of a new package and the whole IV setup was very clean.

While they did some tests to determine the cause of Aaron’s sickness, Liz and I walked to the park to hang out and get lunch. I felt a need to leave because we were just taking up space and looking at highly busted-up people in the hospital. We came back a couple hours later to be given several prescriptions with the explanation that only a couple of them could be given to us at the hospital, the rest we would have to buy. The doctor gave us the meds that he could plus a starting dose of the antibiotic to shoot into Aaron’s IV. Aaron got ready, I shook the doctor’s hand, and he sent us on our way. On the way out we paid the bill.

We were given immediate, caring, professional attention, two reenergizing IVs, various tests, a number of pills, a couple prescriptions, and a bed for 5 hours for the going price of a cup of coffee, 5 Lempiras ($0.27). Public health care is an incredible thing.

La Politica

I posted a few pictures of happy people yesterday, so make sure to check those out too

Politics here are more or less a joke. Everyone knows that the mayor is corrupt, apparent from “the Municipality’s” big new black Ford pickup, the police are corrupt, and the high government officials are corrupt. The presidential commercials often go to the point of showing a minute of nearly-naked women dancing then flashing a name and asking for the vote. Rallies are worse, they display hours of professional dancing mixed with concerts finished off by a little show of the candidate shaking hands and waving at people. Despite all this, the main form of advertisement is through stickers displaying a name, a picture, and a party color. They are pasted everywhere. Enlarged versions are on billboards or painted on walls.

Qué fue? Oh that’s right, you want to find out about what matters to each candidate so that we can decide which single person’s opinion we want to turn into a guiding force. Well my proud citizens of the United States, that knowledge is not really available here. But somehow plenty of people have been convinced that it does. At the camp training for counselors, intelligent NGO workers who had no idea what any government plans were still insisted that each candidate had presented a government plan to someone at sometime. They must have some plan or else they wouldn’t be running! Indeed.

I was surprised at first to find out that the main point of doing these camps all over our department is to encourage youth to be politically active. We analyzed the political commercials and talked a lot about how we could try to get youth to think critically about candidates and officials. But it doesn’t stop there. We’re also trying to turn them into locally active community leaders with a more complete understanding organizing and of gender equality. We’re attempting to equip youth with knowledge of their own people power.

As logical and good as that may seem to us, I think you North Americans could use a good bit of knowledge of your own people power too. The problem is that we are encouraged to make change by being passive, through voting for people to make our choices for us. The fact of the matter is that we can change our communities; it just has to be important enough for us to give it an honest effort, to make sacrifices.

Gente Digital

Hey! I haven't been able to post pictures in months, and now that I am able to, I only have a few to post. :/ They are from a camp training session I went to for counselors, we will be hosting close to 1000 youth in over 30 camps/trainings in the region in the next two months. They are a good crew and I'm looking forward to it :)

The point of the camps is to train youth to be future community leaders. There is a focus on developing critical thinking skills, an idea of gender equality, and skills to organize and develop community.

Fotos

I have not yet made progress on talking with church leaders, but its definitely in my mind. Currently I am in San Pedro Sula at the MCC office with Liz, Caleb, and Bikemovent gurus Jon Spicher and Lars Akerson (americas.bikemovement.org). They just made chocolate icing to use on our banans in a bit. It'll be wonderful :) A special shout-out thanks goes to Jenny Hostetler, who sent Jon a bar of wonderful dark chocolate.

The Hammock of Selfish Motivation

In Akron they asked us to think about what our selfish motivations were for doing a year of SALT service. What I thought of immediately was that I signed up so that I could go to the tropics to eat fruit and see the sun every day, never be cold, and that I could live life at a slower pace. And one reason to live at a slower pace was that I would have time to read plenty of books. So with a little bit of chagrin, I confess to you that I have been reading bastante. And in the meantime, I’ve sentenced my hammock to hard labor. But I thought I might be able to supplant my selfishness by sharing my list with you and making some recommendations, so maybe you can enjoy them :-) I know I’ve left out some books and if I remember them I’ll add them, but at the moment this is what I can remember.

Whats So Amazing About Grace? By Philip Yancey – One of the best books I’ve ever read. Plenty of fascinating explanations of Biblical stories as well as some modern ones. Challenges the church to be the haven of grace that Jesus calls us to be. Powerful and motivational.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver – A truly inspiring book. About her family spending a year growing as much food as they can for their own consumption and buying the rest that they need from neighbors. Challenging yet exciting, it really makes you want to grow tomatoes and have chickens or something.

Kite Runner – Another excellent book, but pretty depressing at times. I related to a disturbing extent with the broken friendship that the book presents and it actually hurt to read it. It provoked some great reflection.

The Secret Life of Bees – Wonderful book about community, racial tensions in the 60s, dealing with personal past, and personal growth in character, spirit, and body. Very well written.

Preventing Violence by James Gilligan – A fascinating look crime and the reason behind it. Does a great job of breaking it down and making sense. Takes a good look at the US’ justice system and alternatives to punitive justice, such as restorative justice.

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho – Exciting story about a boy on a quest. It works with a very vague worldview and vague understanding of spirituality that sounds universalistic or animist. Verdict? Harmless.

Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond – About the history of people and why things turned out the way they did, with Europeans colonizing the world. Chalk full of fascinating research and insights. Its long and it looks heavy, but its definitely worth reading.

Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti – Sassy author who explains different branches of feminism and the logic behind them. Full of enraging stories and statistics, but in the end encouraging and empowering.

Freedom of Simplicity – Paradoxically has possibly the most advanced vocabulary of any book I’ve read. Plenty of good thoughts and suggestions for simplifying life and therefore being more involved in life. Challenging in quite a few ways.

Violence and Nonviolence in South Africa by Walter Wink – Challenges popular nonviolence. Very helpful because it is insight from experience. It reviews violent and nonviolent conflict strategies and roadblocks that present themselves.

The Shack – Despite my initial skepticism, it turned out to be a pretty good answer to plenty of theological and spirituality questions. Unfortunately it is limited to a North American perspective, (almost) completely forgets about service as an integral part of Christianity, and tends to focus on sadness and regret as opposed to life and love. Still a worthwhile book to read.

Liberation theology – About the Latin American empowerment movement in churches and communities. Despite the subject matter I couldn’t get through it. Due to being translated from Spanish where sentences are written paragraphs at a time, it was difficult to keep a thought developing. I stopped reading it because it was so tough to read and I felt like it was repeating a lot of theology that I had already come into contact with through Mennonite connections and other books.

Politics of Jesus by John Howard Yoder – Another book I was excited about until I couldn’t read more than a couple pages at a time. Could have to do with sentences half the page long and a pretty elevated vocabulary. I couldn’t get very far, I’ll try again though.

Wild at Heart – A macho perspective on the world and a man’s soul. The author presents an opinion, gives a one-line explanation, then accepts his answer as the obvious, ultimate truth. Apart from how sickening most of it was, it had one chapter that I related to a little, but it really wasn’t very helpful. Completely leaves service out of Christianity.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri – I’m currently reading this, it is a bunch of short stories about broken marriages and people with serious issues. They’re good stories and its well written, its just very frustrating because it doesn’t ever resolve anything.

Now its your turn! : )