learning about bananas

Every January we have an MCC Honduras team meeting to do planning for the year ahead. This year, our meeting was in El Progreso, an interesting city not too far from San Pedro. The "valley of Sula" or the greater San Pedro area has a lot of manufacturing and production that is sent to the major port city of Puerto Cortez for export. Bananas and sugar cane are major cash crops in the warm climate of the flat valley, as opposed to in the western mountains (where Santa Rosa is located) that mostly rely on cash crops of coffee and tobacco.

the team ready for the tour!

One of the highlights of this retreat was being able to visit a banana plantation and learn about the whole process--from the tree to the Dole box that shows up in North American grocery stores. It was fascinating! (Full disclosure: I have a mild obsession and colorful history of many a factory tour, and I am a nerdy business major that always loves to find out more about these processes).

We visited a cooperative of Honduran land-owners that grow and sell their banana crop to Dole (legally known as the Standard Fruit Co.) The other major producer and exporter of bananas is Chiquita (known as United Fruit Co.) and both have an extensive network of their own plantations and Honduran-owned plantations that they buy from. Both companies (US based) have a history of rather exploitative business practices in land use and the way they have used and abused cheap Honduran labor for financial gain.

banana bunches coming in from the plantation
 (kind of like track lighting),
pulled by a guy with a belt around his waist

It was fascinating to learn about the process from start to finish: From the teams of men that harvest the heavy bunches from the trees (that only produce once in their lifetime!) to the others spraying them down and judging proper size and texture with the naked eye; to others that wash the bunches, cut them, put a sticker on each bunch, glue boxes together, pack them in boxes and load the boxes into the truck.

Labor is cheap in Honduras and while some processes have been adapted to be more "automated" or efficient, it is easier to have mobs of people doing the same monotonous tasks than to pay for expensive machinery that can do the same (outsourcing ringing a bell?). While the cooperative works to keep a positive work environment for their employees (about 555 in total), they are always under pressure from Dole to implement higher, more rigid standards while lowering costs and selling at lower prices.

cutting the group of bananas off of the branch
 to be rinsed and cut apart for packing

Each box of bananas is 40 pounds. The co-op sells the box to Dole for $4.20. That is roughly $.10 per pound and I would estimate about 12 people touch the bunch of bananas before it even makes it on to the truck. A woman working in quality control and cutting the bananas into bunches of 4, 6 or 8 to be boxed up and shipped will make about 250 Lempiras (about $13) a day. Adds up to about 5000 Lempiras ($250) a month, which is not even the national minimum wage.

women that cut the larger bunches into groups of 4, 6 or 8

It is easy to look at the situation and think "well yeah, but at least they have employment" and that surely is an important point in the difficult Honduran economy. But you also have to consider how hard the cooperative has to fight against a giant multi-national corporation that wants to squeeze every penny they can from that box of bananas. Dole has incredible influence over how things are run--they say no pesticides can be used, and the co-op has to eliminate all pesticides. Dole sets the rules, and the co-op must play by those rules to stay in the game.

women that put a sticker on each smaller bunch that will be sold in the store

I marvel at how something as simple as a banana, a fruit that doesn't even need much processing or packaging requires so many steps! Imagine that for every simple item that you buy at the grocery store and it is astounding. To think of every person that has a hand in getting the banana from the tree in Honduras to the store in the States is quite incredible.

When I consider all the elements of fair-trade and worker's rights, foreign investment and foreign exploitation, it makes me feel helpless to make a change. I can't help but wonder if more North Americans were able to come to Honduras and see the whole process and the way people work on the plantation, would they be willing to spend a few more cents on their bunch of bananas? Would it make a difference in the way we think about the supply chain and the voice we have as consumers to influence the decisions and profits of the most monstrous multinational companies? I hope it does, so I've shared this with you...maybe you will stop and consider what companies are doing abroad and what responsibility we have as consumers in those decisions.

justice

I really wasn't going to post anything today. The internet is crammed full of people posting their thoughts on yesterday's worldwide news...so who needs to read anything more I might have to say?

But--all these responses to an event that will forever be remembered (especially in American history) have gotten me thinking about a lot of things. Mostly, I have been challenged by 1 phrase in particular that I keep seeing on news sites and even on facebook...that "justice has been served."

We (especially Americans) like to use this phrase, and we believe strongly in the idea of justice. But watching the world's response to the death of Osama bin Laden has been a struggle for me. What has become of our definition of justice? It feels like someone decided to give up on thinking critically and now all we can come up with is "well, he hurt me so I have the right to kill as many people I need to until he is killed. And that makes the world just." Ugh...just the idea of this entitlement that we have to hand out what people "deserve" is so disgusting, it makes me sick to my stomach.

But this idea of justice has been bugging me longer than the past 24 hours. It's become a much bigger issue to me now that I live in Nueva Suyapa and continue to see and hear about the injustices of life in Honduras. Living in a society where corruption is well-known, accepted and expected is a big adjustment. Living in a community where people have no voice and live in fear of speaking out against injustice is a totally different thing.

There is a lot of violence in Honduras. Especially in major cities, like Tegucigalpa. I don't really want to get into the details because...well...the scare factor isn't necessary. But it is a reality. It's part of my host family's life, it affects my coworkers and their families, and it impacts the way we live our lives in Suyapa.

There have been several tragedies since I've been here that affected people in the neighborhood. But victims or victims families are too afraid to speak out against the perpetrators because they live in fear of retaliation. However, if no one ever steps forward, how can justice ever be served? And what exactly is justice in these situations? Is it seeing the kidnappers, rapists, gang members and murderers locked up in prison and lose their freedom for the rest of their life? Is it seeing them killed to pay for what they've done?

As Christians, what has become our definition of justice? Some would say it is God's work to hand out justice, so I don't have to do much. There are many who still appear to go along with the idea of an eye for an eye. But can we (or should we) in good conscience allow for justice that involves taking more life?

Working for a Mennonite organization that continually talks about working for peace and justice does not make this any clearer. All my life I've heard about restorative justice and I choose to believe that there has to be another way. There has to be an option between throwing our hands up and saying "it's God's to deal with" or only seeking to repay one life by taking another. We are God's hands and feet on earth, and while the kingdom of shalom and justice has not yet come, it is still our responsibility to be working on that now.

To me, working for justice has to involve putting an end injustice. Making right the wrongs that have been done...but not necessarily in a way that continues to foment division, hatred, "fairness" and repayment. What is "fair" is not always just. Nor is it always right. Jesus changed the accepted law of an eye for an eye, but never said there would be no justice.

Today I was challenged by a friend's blog post to think about handling justice with grace. We believe in a just God and a gracious God too...but do we really like to consider how those two characteristics are held together? It sounds nice to live in a world of justice...but it scares me even more to think of living without grace. I mean, as a Christian, I can't. Therefore I must consider how I share this grace that has been given to me as I work for justice in a broken world.

So I guess all I'm trying to say is I'm feeling challenged today.
Challenged to consider what it means to seek justice.
Challenged to believe in the value of justice with grace.
Challenged to know what kind of justice to work towards and pray for when I so desperately want the restoration of wholeness for people who are victims of violence and injustice in my neighborhood.

But there's encouragement too.
I'm encouraged by the response of many friends and believers that goes against the grain of mainstream America.
Encouraged by colleagues and organizations in Honduras that give voice to many who have no political influence and work through unjust systems to create more just-ful outcomes.
Encouraged by the thoughtful response of a priest:

"Osama bin Laden, as we all know, had the very grave responsibility of spreading division and hatred amongst the people, causing the death of countless of people, and of instrumentalizing religion for this end," he said. "In front of the death of man, a Christian never rejoices but rather reflects on the grave responsibility of each one in front of God and men, and hopes and commits himself so that every moment not be an occasion for hatred to grow but for peace."           ~Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi