highway of gold

Last week i found an interesting article in the newspaper. The headline reads: "The highway of gold is in Western Honduras."

Ha! I almost laughed out loud. If you have ever been to Santa Rosa by way of San Pedro (or from any direction for that matter) you know that the road is terrible. I put it in the top 5 worst highways in Honduras for most potholes and lowest average speed (due to terrible holes and curves).  It is part of the Pan-American highway that connects El Salvador to Honduras and thousands of trucks use it each day to transport goods.

According to this article, a social audit revealed that in the last 6 years, the state has invested around 490.2 million Lempiras in "maintaining" (and I use that word loosely) this destroyed artery of Honduras. That is a staggering 24.5 million dollars from a government that is "broke"-- and for a highway that is STILL horrendous. The audit states that 57.1% was for routine maintenance, 28.5% for emergency maintenance, 12.3% in emergency attention (whatever that is?), 0.6% in signage (usually to say “warning: failures in the road”) and 0.5% in studies and designs.

What I find interesting is that this article quotes someone talking about how all these repairs to the highway are like painting a wall without first patching the holes. They are not addressing the root problems of all the potholes and so it’s a continual “surface treatment” to deeper problems in the underlying road structure.

As far as I'm concerned, that’s an analogy for an overall problem that the article won’t even touch—the underlying corruption that probably diverted a huge amount of these funds to the pockets of politicians and left very little for actual repairs. And this article was just like that money: not addressing the root causes of such a problem and glossing over the issue of corruption that weakens the structure of the whole house.

It is frustrating to see such numbers and see so few results in the actual highway itself. Unfortunately, this is not the only issue that is affected by corruption. It's part of every project, in every government ministry, and in every local municipality too. How sad when even the journalists are too afraid to speak out against it. Articles like this should be voicing the frustration and outrage of such a terrible highway that should be "lined with gold." Instead, it offers little more than another layer of paint to cover the crumbling house.

where to next? Part II

As many of you may know, I have been in Honduras for 2.5+ years. My first commitment was 1 year in the SALT program and then I took a 2 year assignment with a different MCC partner in Santa Rosa de Copan. In case you were keeping track, that 2 years is up in July. So, many people have asked me--what's next?

A few months ago, I was approached about taking an interim assignment with MCC and staying in Honduras awhile longer, but moving (again!) to another city. This time to San Pedro Sula, the big, bad city, according to all Hondurans not from San Pedro! But I felt that God was opening a door, extending a new challenge my way, and after a lot of prayer, discussion, deliberation, etc, I accepted the position.

So, as of July 1st I will be the Interim country representative for MCC in Honduras! The contract is for 6 months, with the possibility of extending up to one year if they do not find new country reps soon. I will be packing up and moving to San Pedro in June, with the hopes of having a few weeks to settle in, have some more training with the current reps, and then start in July.

I am really honored that they chose me for this position and believe in my potential to fill some very big shoes and take on some very big responsibilities! Many days I wonder if I am up to the task, but I know that I will learn a lot and it will be great experience for whatever comes down the road.

Of course with any transition, there is always anxiety and nervousness about all the "new" to come. I have already learned my way around 2 cities and built a network of friends and "family" in these two very different parts of Honduras. To start again from scratch in a new place is a bit daunting. Also, knowing that it is short term (but not a clearly defined time) adds its own layer of difficulty.

Many also ask, "but what about Henry???!!!???" :) Well, he is definitely still in the picture, and he is very supportive of this new role, recognizing what a great opportunity this is for me. The plan is to take turns visiting each other on the weekends, but we will have to see how it works with our respective schedules and responsibilities. We know it will be a big change from living in the same town to being 3 hours apart, but we are both willing to make it work.

So for now, this is what I know, and this is what is next. I will get to go home at the very end of June and into July, mostly to attend some leadership training with MCC in Akron, PA...but also to meet my nephew who is arriving soon!! Very excited about that. As always, I appreciate your continued prayers and support as I wrap up my time in Santa Rosa and look ahead to all the challenges and changes of moving to San Pedro in the very near future!

where to next?

I haven't been much for bucket lists, but I do make lists! My longest list is "where to next?" or places I want to travel. This list includes many global destinations, but since coming to Honduras, there have been many in-country spots added to the list. It can be a challenge to try new things and stick within the budget, but since the beginning of the year, I have been priveleged to go several places that have been on my Honduras list:

January: Cayos Cochinos (tropical keys off the coast), Sambo Creek
March: PANACAM mountain lodge, near the lake
April: Celaque National Park, Gracias, Lempira (tallest mountain in Honduras)

This past weekend, Henry and I went with our friends Daniela and Humberto to hike part of Celaque and camp for one night (Celaque means "box of waters" in Lenca indigenous language, for all its rivers) . We made some lists to prepare (of course, the Hondurans thought our lists were crazy but were happy when we had LOTS of food!) and left Saturday morning from Santa Rosa. The trip was about 2 hours in car to get to the park, and then a few hours of hiking up to the campsite.

making good time, so we stop for a sweaty picture

The guide told us the hike is usually 2 hours to the campsite, most foreigners take at least 3, and some even more. We are proud to say we made it in 2.5 hours...the guide was even impressed with the gringas and how serious we were (ha!).

It was a strenuous hike, and carrying pound of supplies (tents, mangoes, cucumbers, hot dogs, liters of water, just to name a few...) only made it tougher.

Looking back at the climb, I think the altitude change affected us a lot more than we planned! To give you an idea:

• Santa Rosa is approximately 1,150 meters (3,773 ft) above sea level. One of the highest cities in Honduras (yes, even higher than Teguc)!
• The elevation of Gracias (town nearest Celaque) is at 800m (2600 ft) elevation. 
• I can't be sure what point we started at, but the trail was 2.8 km, ever upward, and we camped at 1,940 meters (6,364 ft).

So, even if we didn't start at zero...we started lower than where Santa Rosa is and ended 800m higher than where we live. I just read on Wikipedia that "Celaque’s terrain is very rugged, two-thirds of the area has a slope greater than 60 degrees." It was an incredible climb, but we didn't even go all the way to the top! Even so, we had a good time and were happy to make it to our campsite on Saturday afternoon. We enjoyed a rain shower, building and rebuilding fire, eating lots of hot dogs, making smores with peeps and enjoying the fresh air together. 

happy to be at the campsite!

hot dogs!

So this is part one of "where to next?" Stay tuned for a Part II coming soon.

holy week

This week is always one I look forward to. Now that I live in Honduras, it is fun to enjoy the national "spring break," but aside from that, I always anticipate Easter week because I relish the traditions. There is something reassuring about traditions, and I have come to value them even more now that I am living in a culture with traditions very different from my up-bringing.

One thing that I find frustrating is that the Protestant churches in Honduras don't seem to do much in the way of holy week traditions. In Latin America as a whole, the catholic church dominates local traditions, with sawdust carpets, processions at all hours, mass, etc. From what I observe, the evangelical churches so deeply fear being anything close to catholic, they turn 180 degrees and don't do much to commemorate Easter. It makes me sad because what more should the church be celebrating if not the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Even a church skit, for example, will focus all its energy on the suffering and and death of Christ but barely touch upon His return from the dead. How sad when we should celebrate that we are people of the Resurrection!

But I digress...so trying to enjoy as many traditions as possible, I went to check out the sawdust carpets here in Santa Rosa. It is a labor-intensive process, followed by a long processional with stops at each of the stations of the cross. I must admit, it is too long to make it through all the stations, but I did catch the beginning, and enjoyed reflecting on the different symbols of Easter as we walked along the 10 blocks of artistic celebration of Holy week in Santa Rosa. Enjoy!

one of the stations where the processional will stop 

the start of the procession. apparently these people carry the crosses, Jesus figures, etc.
for the entire procession, without relief.

translation

The past few days I have been working on translating the end of project report that ACDIM has to submit to MCC. It has caused me to reflect on various aspects of translation, language and the bridge-building that it requires.

words that don't translate well:
Now that I have been immersed in Spanish for a long time, there are many words and phrases I have come to know and use that do not have direct counterparts in English. There are also a lot of phrases we use in our work that don't always translate well...like "capacitation"--its like capacity-builiding wrapped up in a more succinct verb. This causes many delays in my translation.

papadas:
This is a word that basically means "something that is full of it." Or as I like to use it, describing the hot air that many Hondurans spout off on a regular basis; things that are said that will never actually happen or be followed through on (read: BS). When writing documents, Hondurans want to fill the empty space with lots of these "papadas" or meaningless phrases. Again, not easily translated to English, and it makes the English version about 1/6 as long as the Spanish one :)

a foot in 2 worlds: Through many years of study and hard work, I have come to learn the ins and outs of another language. The grammar and proper use, of course, but also the more subtle shades and tones in slang, joking, and daily interactions. This has given me so much insight into the culture that I live in and helps me get around, be more independent, and enjoy deeper relationships with people.

building bridges: this is what my fellow Honduras dweller Elise and I always talk about. We are privileged to have some experience and enough language skills to get a handle on the context here. It allows us to build bridges between Hondurans and people from North America. Whether it is a report that higher ups will read in MCC (a necessity for the funds for our work), or my family that comes to visit (a necessity for me to share my life with them), it is an honor to help them understand more about life here and communicate between the two cultures.

march meeting madness

Although March is just beginning, I feel like it is already over! Well, lets just say, there is a lot going on and continues to be a lot of meetings and commitments on the schedule in the upcoming weeks.

me, oscar and ruth

Last weekend was the annual meeting for ACDIM and so we had a lot of things to prepare. Oscar and I gave a presentation on the current project with the 4 women's groups and a financial report. A new board of directors was elected and we organized new committees for intercessory prayer, development, agricultural projects, etc. Of course, moments like this are important for any organization and it is exciting to see progress. This is the first meeting of the "general assembly" of ACDIM in a very long time. But, after almost 18 months in my assignment, my optimism is also tempered by a good dose of reality!

Why so skeptical, you ask? First of all, Hondurans love meetings! They love free food at meetings (well, who doesn't ) and they are very intense about following the legal procedures for carrying out the meeting of a given organization (whether it be church, civil society, schools, private orgs, etc). It seems that many Hondurans feel that simply by filling their schedule with meetings, they are accomplishing a lot.

My problem with this is that I fail to see the "rubber hitting the road" from all these meetings. There are books and books of minutes, committees listings, and who voted for whom as the treasurer...but who is actually making something happen? When is there time outside of the endless meetings to get things done that you decided on?

I hope that this will not be the case for the new year of ACDIM. I hope that our current work motivates people as they see we are moving forward with the project; that they understand our need for other people to be a part of what we are doing. I hope that there will be new volunteers and fresh ideas for how ACDIM can continue in this project or in other new projects.

the new board of directors for ACDIM