the house that we (he) built

I spent this past weekend in Santa Rosa, enjoying the cooler weather, being with the future in-laws, and celebrating with some friends. As some of you know, Henry is building a house on the lot next to his parents house. He has put in almost all of the labor himself, and usually can only work on it on the weekends. Traveling to San Pedro every now and then has also taken up some precious building time. Since I didn't want him to lose more time while I was around, I offered to help!

He took me seriously, of course, and said he would give me the full experience of being an ayudante (assistant to the mason). Then I could work my way up to media cuchara (half-spoon--probably my favorite name), then albañil (mason) and maestro constructor (master builder or contractor).

His family, however, did not think I was serious. They were shocked when I got up early, with work clothes and tennis shoes and headed out to the job-site. I think I gave some neighbors a good laugh too.

First we had to mix the mortar and concrete (he just eye balls the proportions of course). I hauled water, gravel, and sand...then took my own turn at mixing! Then we had to haul cinder blocks and start prepping to lay a row at a time. I learned about the plumb line and everything. I also learned about some muscles that I didn't know I had (on Monday morning :)

my 2 blocks!

After my hard work as the ayudante, I got to lay 2 whole blocks! Of course, I probably slowed Henry down more than anything, but he was a patient teacher, and happy for the distraction while he worked.

He told me when he started working for his dad (at age 13) he earned 4 lempiras ($0.20) for every block he laid. I earned 8 whole lempiras. Not even enough for the taxi ride from his house into Santa Rosa!! He said on an average day (with an average helper) he can lay about 120 blocks. But--now that he's moved up in the world, he doesn't get paid by the block any more.

I came away from my morning as an ayudante with a couple of realizations...

1) I could never earn my living doing this.

2) I admire people who do this all day every day to earn their income.

3) Doing all this labor by hand is incredibly tedious...I was there less than an hour and I was ready to rig up a pulley system to haul the cinderblocks from the pile to the house!

4) I have a much better understanding of how hard Henry has worked all his life...and it makes the house built by him even better :)

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

bright spots

Last week was another roller-coaster ride of ups and downs in my work, but as I reflected on where I started  more than a year ago and where the women's groups are today, I can't help but be thankful for where God has brought us and what he is teaching me.

In 2 different communities I led another session on how to avoid losing money in your business, and why selling on credit is bad for your business. It was a lesson adapted from the material I wrote in my first year in Teguc, and it went over better than I thought. It was pretty interactive with lots of stories and discussion questions, and the women in both groups participated enthusiastically with plenty of personal experiences to beef up my simple examples. I loved it! It is always so fun for me to interact with the women and feel like they are learning something, but also that they can recognize how much  they already know and can apply to their fledgling enterprises.

Other exciting moments...
In one group, the women took seeds that ACDIM gave them a few weeks ago and they are already seeing sprouts in their small garden plots at the municipal office where they meet (yay for year round growing season!).

In the second group we visited, they were ready to purchase a piece of property where they can build a small structure for their bread-making business and other ventures. It was such a proud moment to see the women hand over 25,000 Lempiras (about $1250) of their own hard-earned, hard-fought money to pay the neighbor for a small plot of land. For them, it is a huge amount of money, and the fact that ACDIM did not give them one cent of it is pretty exciting. I told them they need to be proud of themselves for where they have come, and it's because of their own hard work and determination. To see the group start with 60 and work its way down to 14 or 15 faithful workers, to sit through trainings month after month, and now finally see some forward motion for their dedication--it's pretty awesome.

These moments help me remember why I am here and why I do this work. I care so much about these 4 groups of women and their well-being in the short and long term. They are up against a lot--don't get me wrong--and every week brings new obstacles. They need lots of things to keep their small businesses going, and we are doing the best we can with the little bit we have. We can't give them seed capital, or build them a building from the ground up.They face issues of division, pressure from other organizations who wish them ill, and any number of things that drag them down. But we are present with them, walking alongside them; not to pull or push (though sometimes, its hard not to!) but to encourage them, support them and offer what we have that may be of use to them. I never know what each week will bring, but it's the bright spots like this that help us keeping moving forward.

in print

This just in: my face can be found in the "On Assignment" corner of MCC's quarterly magazine A Common Place.

I am still waiting to get my copy in print (the mail is a bit slow in these parts...) and Oscar is eagerly awaiting to see my face in the magazine. I will have to translate the article for him, so of course I will make it sounds much more fantastic...and perhaps leave out the "challenges" part. Someone joked that I could have just listed him as my challenge ;)

Here is the online version if you want to check it out.

I'm excited that MCC Honduras got represented in the magazine, and that the work of ACDIM can be highlighted in this small way.

Women’s development worker

I love seeing women take initiative and leadership . . . — Charissa Zehr

Assignment: I work in Santa Rosa de Copán, Honduras, with the Christian Association for the Integral Develop­ment of Women, a small organization that provides capacity-building workshops and small business development for women’s groups in four rural communities.

See the full thing here:  http://acommonplace.mcc.org/acp/2012/10_12/on_assignment.html

in a small town

It has been a pretty good week. Lots of ups and downs...of course, nothing new to my faithful readers and friends, but some pretty sweet stuff happened.

First, I was visited by a new MCC Honduras colleague, Elizabeth, who came to see the life in Santa Rosa (and some new parts of Honduras). E is the new regional disaster coordinator for all of Central America & Haiti, and we are excited to have her here in Honduras.

Not only did these 4 days together give me a chance to get to know E a bit better, but it gave me an excuse to take some time to relax, enjoy the scenery of where I am privileged to call home, and process lots of things about my work and life in Honduras.

We made some delicious meals together (quiche-mania as we both discovered that pie pastry isn't so intimidating after all) and we even got a chance to take a dip in the nearby hot springs.

Yesterday E went with us on a short visit to one of the communities where I work, Plan Grande. The point of the meeting was to have the women's group meet with the Caja Rural (like a community co-op that lends money to members) and ask them for some space/land/use of their building for their bread-making business.

My co-worker O took the lead and told the men of the Caja what our organization is all about, what we have been doing with the women for the last 18 months, and why we were asking for their help.

Then, the president of the women's group, Dona Rosaura, stood up to explain to the Caja why we were all there. She began to talk about the process they have gone through with ACDIM and why this small business means so much to them.

Only a few short months ago, Dona Rosaura was so shy, she would barely speak in front of the other women in the group. Little by little she has been taking part in the trainings and sharing her opinions. And in this moment, I saw how far she has come. That she wasn't afraid to stand by herself in front of 35 community members and tell them that she wanted a change. That she hadn't gone through this 2 year process of organization and training for nothing. That she is confident her small group of neighbors and friends will start this business, and they want to see it grow into something beneficial for the community. Hearing her speak her piece almost brought me to tears.

And right there,
In that moment,
Sitting on that bench in a small cinder block community center,
in small-town Honduras (Plan Grande to be exact),
surrounded by the rolling green hills,
I knew what moment I never want to forget.

And in that moment,
I knew why I do what I do.

It helps me live with some of the frustration and discouragement I feel
because I can see that it is making a difference in the lives of these women.
It may not seem like a lot to you, but to me, it is enough.

And some days, that is all that you need.

un poco de todo

It has been a crazy week--and it's not even over yet. Work has been tough for me this week, navigating the continual challenges of cross-cultural communication and clashes. I continue to struggle to figure out my role at ACDIM and taking the ups and downs of working with our small team as they come.

But life keeps moving on. More friends keep moving on. And so just when I think it's all rolling along just fine, there are always more bumps in the road.

Just wanted to share some photos of my week...un poco de todo, or a little bit of everything. Friends, work, sad goodbyes, retail therapy and turtles.

another training for our women to learn how to make plantain chips to sell

fried plantain chips, or tajaditas (tah ha dee tas)

my new couch! ( for more seating when all my visitors decide to come :)

a farewell night to Leanne (center) and Omid who head back to Canada  tomorrow

um, apparently my blind turtle is a little...bored...and the turtle under him is the fake one...haha

Thanks for your continued support, encouragement, love and prayers in all the ups and downs.

new heights

Every day brings new adventures.

Today's adventure involved driving...

...to the most remote community.

...on the worst road.

...up up and more up

...without either my co-worker or my boss!

Day 2 of our cooking class in Vertientes, my co-worker was called away last minute (kind of an unnecessary phrase in this culture) to accompany the pastor to San Pedro. This left me as the only driver.

I have driven half way to where we were heading today, but the 2nd half is definitely more complicated. Only made worse by rainy season and a truck without 4 wheel-drive.

But God is good. I went well-covered in prayer (from my boss and the cooking teacher who is the sweetest lady I know) and we made it safe and sound! Praise the Lord. I was SO nervous. And just to let you know, I really love driving, so for me to be nervous indicates the complication of my task at hand.

The women were all surprised when I showed up with only the instructor. "And Don Oscar?" they all asked. Only after a time did it come out that I did the driving. Apparently they thought we must have come with some chauffeur. Hahaha...made me laugh. I enjoy more literal lessons of female empowerment for our beneficiaries. Girl power, ladies!

It was a great day. I had a fun time observing, tasting, learning, and chatting with the women. Successful day of cooking, successful day of driving.



Grateful for continued safety and the chance to rise to the challenge each and every day!

shopping

As with most things in my life, they never end up as simple as one thinks they should be.

My co-worker and I have to collect a large amount of groceries for a 2-day cooking class for each of our women's groups. This means I will get to have this lovely experience 3 more times.

First off, in Honduras you NEVER buy in quantity...that would make too much sense in a logical, North American kind of way. Buy a large amount of spices, divide into 4. done.

No, tita....we must buy for each time, individually. Oh, and one-stop shop? Forget it! You have to stop at least 3 places and make sure you are getting the best price. Regardless how many people tell you the same price over and over and over again.

Our first stop, the Despensa. A no-frills, basic grocery store. And when I say basic, I mean basic for Honduran cooking. Don't expect to find your Philadelphia cream cheese or pomegranate juice here. With Oscar's wife trailing behind us to confirm every selection I made, we made our way around the store. Of course, I wasn't an authority on anything (though I can cook) so we kept checking in, retracing our steps...then, in random fits of decisiveness, O would tell me "no, I'm sure we can buy that in another place cheaper."

Paying, putting things in bags, a spilled bag of oil (yeah, oil in a pouch), getting the cart to the car...I mean, it's hard to describe it to you, but nothing is as streamlined as the process you know in your cushy North American grocery store...just trust me on this one. I almost went chasing a cart down the cobblestone hill from the store because it is just. not. simple.

From there we dropped off the wife, went to another place to buy cheeses. Of course, they didn't have everything we wanted. Then to the downtown market. First to the lonely stalls on the outer ring where we bought one bunch of cilantro. Then to another lady outside the market to buy one bunch of spices. Then to another store to buy more dried spices. Finally, to the big market (my idea) to finish up. But if I ask for prices they jack it up for the gringa. So I try to make Oscar do it, but he doesn't know what he's doing. By this time I was about out of patience.

Back to another store to buy more cheese. Then back to the market to get one more kind of meat. I mean seriously, it was a lot of here and there and back and forth.

More than anything, I wanted to go to one big grocery store and buy everything at once. Is that asking too much? In this town it seems to be. But as always, in my frustration with doing things not my way, I learn a lot about patience, humility, having a sense of humor, and just going with the flow. It was not efficient, but did we really have a lot else to be doing? Not really. Did we get it all in the end? Yes. Will it all come together tomorrow? Probably even better than I think it will.

But believe you me, next time around, that list will be organized sequentially according to each aisle of grocery store, with check boxes, color-coding and a separate list of "market items." Watch out Oscar. I will bring method to this madness!!

bread!

I'm jumping ahead of myself in my blog sequence, as I should be writing about the end of my vacation at home with my family and the crazy trip from Orrville, Ohio to my apartment door in Santa Rosa in 13 hours.

 

But, you're going to have to wait because my first day back to work was awesome.

"What is this?" you must be thinking, faithful blog reader. And it is weird coming from me. But it was a really good day! My coworker, Oscar, missed me like crazy (his words, not mine) and we filled the morning catching up on what is going on--and we have a lot going on at ACDIM. Between training in bread-making and basic cooking classes for our women's groups, coordinating with USAID and starting some garden projects, scheduling all of our visits, a site visit with Heifer Project, meeting with contacts at the tech school in Santa Rosa...well, its all pretty exciting and keeping us on our toes.

We had a visit to Plan Grande scheduled in the afternoon (news to me) so after running around town, I grabbed a bite to eat (it's slim pickin' when you live alone and just got back from 3 weeks of travel!) and we headed to the campo.

A bit of back story--the group of women we visited today had received a 2 day intensive training in bread-making about 3 weeks ago when I was in Teguc for MCC stuff. I meant to post about that, but haven't gotten pictures up yet. You can check it out on ACDIM's Facebook page if you'd like (and "Like" us :). So, Oscar and I have been talking extensively about how we will get these micro-businesses up and running and how much we are going to have to encourage the women to commit to working hard.

The meeting started slow and we spent lots of time handing out the diplomas from the bread-making workshop. We made announcements about the next class they will receive in basic cooking and moved into the main topic for the day. The whole time the women are shuffling around and getting the snack ready for after the meeting. What they did not tell us until the very end is that we were going to enjoy bread they had made and that the rest of the bread on the table was for sale at 20 Lempiras per bag ($1). Then they told us this was the second week they had made bread to sell and they are using the profits each week to buy ingredients for the next. 2 women will be in charge each week so everyone shares equally the responsibility.

We were blown away! And so excited! We have been working hard to coordinate training and resources for our groups. The bread workshop was the first step, but we honestly thought it would be like pulling teeth to get them actually working together as a small business. Without a word to us they just...started! And the bread is delicious! And they have had no trouble selling (at least from what we know so far).

the bread! it is really tasty.

hamming it up with the diplomas

 If you know me at all, you know that this is what I get really passionate about. I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of these women. I know its a small start, just a drop in the bucket, really. But to see them take initiative and just jump in is really exciting for me and our organization. My hope and prayer is that this will be the start of something good for them. That they will be successful, one small step at a time. They are so humble, and many of them very shy, but you can see how proud they were to hold their diplomas and show off the bread they were selling. Gives me goosebumps!

Also, very randomly, as most things in Honduran life are, there was a man from a TV channel and his camera woman wandering around outside our meeting (we are in the boonies, ok...this is not common). And he ended up interviewing Oscar about our organization and what we are doing with the women in this community. I posed for a picture with their bread (ridiculous, I know...but at least I sold the man their last bag!!) Of course, ideally we would have loved the president of the group to be the one interviewed, but we are taking things one step at a time. A little publicity can't hurt their new enterprise, right??

the indirectness of it all...

There are days when I wonder how I will ever adjust to working in a North American office setting ever again...
...where you don't get to take breaks for baleadas whenever the urge strikes
...where friends don't stop by to plan the next soccer game or discuss church happenings, never concerned with what "work" they might be interrupting
...where delivery trucks and their fumes don't give you a headache on a regular basis
...where stray dogs can't just wander inside
...where women selling lorocco and tamales pass by several times a day
...where people can speak directly to one another and not beat around the bush.

Some days, I don't know how much more of the indirectness I can handle.
Here is a transcription of one small example of my life in the office of ACDIM:

(O is my co-worker, I am C)

O: "charissa i think i need to buy an envelope. do you think I might be able to find an envelope around here? ...i think i need an envelope."

(C produces envelope from drawer)

O: this is a good envelope. exactly what i needed.

O: "but i mean i mean do you think we can put the name on it, or i mean...how...? no you probably can't use the printer, right? i mean, how will we put his name on it?"

(2 minutes of hmmm, what can we do...how will i do this, etc...)

O:"i guess we should just write the name on it, no?"

C: "yep."

(2 more minutes of personal debate, aloud)

O:"maybe you have better writing than me, don't you think?"

C: "...yes. do you want me to do it? i will do it. tell me how you want it."
(proceed with 3 more minutes of directing my exact placement of the words on the envelope, questioning how it should be addressed, then when i give my suggestion changing it anyway...then telling me my capital letters aren't capital letters and maybe we should re-do it.)

I think after 15 minutes, we had a simple white enevelope, with a very complicated title, that some municipal officer will not even notice, and probably not even read the letter inside. awesome.

some days...I just can't take it. so I have to blog-it-out :)

tour of the countryside

Last week was a busy one for us at work. We were out on the road almost every day, running to San Pedro for a meeting, visiting Mennonite churches in our region and meeting with some other people working for NGOs here in Santa Rosa to see if we can work together.

While it has been tiring in many ways, it has been a good way to see more of "occidente" or the western region of Honduras, while also giving me time to talk more with my co-workers.

Although we are still working with women's community groups in 4 different municipalities (see earlier post on work life) we have started to venture into a new project.

Ruth has a vision to work with Mennonite churches here in the western departments of Honduras because many of them are the most rural and impoverished of the denomination. There are 14 churches in Occidente, and we asked the regional pastors to help us identify 6 where we would start working first. Of course, all of them wanted to be included, but we have to keep reminding them that we have to start with a few, but our hope is to eventually work with all of them.

Once we had the pastors on board and decided on 6 (which has morphed into 8), we went to visit each congregation and do "prioritazation of needs" within each individual church. The idea was to have the members of each church identify what their needs are, whether in training, education, health, home needs or church improvements. The whole idea was to not tell them what they need (as many organizations come into a community and dictate what will be done)...and this kind of worked, for the most part. It was some times hard for my coworkers to not jump in with ideas when people didn't talk much, but overall I think we have a good idea of what each church needs.

This whole process has been interesting for me and there have been plenty of frustrations along the way. The largest challenge is that we don't have funds to carry out any projects within these churches, but my co-workers are convinced I will be hooking them up with that. It has been hard for me to bite my tongue against some pretty unrealistic expectations, or when I hear a lot of things I don't agree with...or when they do things in ways that I don't think are the most appropriate.

But I am learning to take these things one at a time and address them constructively, as I am able. On the good days, I think it's getting better. I have also really enjoyed visiting the different Mennonite churches, getting to know the pastors and personality of each church. It is a privilege to get to know and share in the global church.

Here are some photos from our visits last week:

Since I have the nicest handwriting, I get to be the recorder...and it means I don't have to talk as much :)

my boss, Ruth is the lady in the middle w/ the blue coat

yep, I get to work here!

you'll easily notice I am more than a head taller than EVERYONE in the photo (and below). Welcome to my gringa life in Honduras :)

story time...

Yesterday I went to a copy store to see if I could print and bind all of the curriculum I've been working on over the last year. And let me just say, the result was magnificent. Not only was it a hyper-efficient process (perhaps only appreciated after being in Honduras for 11 months), but it was so exciting to see all my work over the past year in these 6 booklets. I love them! Almost made a second copy for myself, but decided the cost wasn't quite worth it. I decided to give the office these course booklets as a parting gift. Since paper, ink, and working printers are continually lacking in our office, I thought a hard copy would be useful to them.

Of course, selfishly, I want them to continue to use the material because I spent a lot of time on it. But really, I want them to use it because we have such a good thing going...and because the clients of the bank can really use the info.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I wanted to share some stories of different clients within the Income Generation Program where I'm working. So here is story #2:

Maria Isabel

Maria Isabel, her mother and two friends had their own small businesses, but didn’t have enough income to support their families.  They saw the prosperity of other neighbors who were loan clients with SCM. Their neighbors’ businesses were growing, so they decided to investigate the program and see if they too could get loans to help their businesses grow.

The 4 women went to MCM and got all the information they needed through an introductory session offered by the bank program. The women learned how the loans work, including details about how and when payments happen, and about the various ministries MCM is involved in to help the community of Nueva Suyapa.

Maria Isabel became a founding member of the community bank Matthew 6:33, with an initial loan of LPS 3000 ($150 US).  She has been part of the bank for 18 months (a total of 4 loan cycles) and is just beginning her 5^th loan cycle.

Maria Isabel speaks openly about how the bank program has changed her life. She says that coming to MCM has enabled her to meet new people and make new friends. She enjoys how the women discuss biblical topics and other important issues at the bank meetings to help them with their families and their businesses. Maria Isabel has more cash flow to cover her household expenses and help her family.

Before, Maria Isabel only had a jewelry business where she would make a few items and sell them. With her loan she is able to grow her business and now has a second business selling bleach and disinfectant. Every loan cycle she has asked for a bigger loan to invest in her business and things have gone well. Maria Isabel says “I have learned to be a better mother and daughter than what I was. I learned how to move my business forward and I like [being part of the bank] because we always pray for each other’s needs.”

Currently, Maria Isabel continues in the Matthew 6:33 group and will be asking for a bigger loan in the next cycle because she would like to start a small ‘pulperia’ or corner store. She has also invited other friends to join their group bank. No longer a group of 4 women, they are now a community bank of 15. 

In the future, Maria Isabel wants to see the bank grow and have more in personal savings. In this way, she can use her own money to grow her corner store into a business that could offer employment to other people. She wants to see her daughter graduate and achieve the most that she can. Maria Isabel looks forward to a secure future, continuing to support her parents and children.

Dont know if this will work, but here is a video (in Spanish) if you want to hear her story...

independence

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends reading this blog. Hope you stay safe and enjoy some good American BBQ fun + fireworks for me.

My time in Nueva Suyapa is winding down...only 2 weeks left of work. 3 going away parties on the agenda. lots of purging and packing to be done...it's all coming so fast! As with each phase of my life, it is never easy to say goodbye, but you never can anticipate what is in store for the next adventure. A year ago at this time I had no idea I would be so blessed to have such a great family here in Honduras, a crazy bunch of coworkers who are truly great friends, and a pile of other experiences I can't even write down. If I had never said goodbye to my friends in central PA and my family, I would have never gotten to live like this!

So it is with the same anticipation that I must say goodbye to these friends in Nueva Suyapa (with the comfort that I will come back and visit from time to time) and forge ahead into the next phase of hellos and goodbyes.

It is in this spirit of wrapping up that I would like to share some stories from the Income Generation Program that I have worked in for the past 11 months. There are dozens more incredible, independent women just like the ones I'm going to post about this week. I hope you enjoy their stories and offer up a prayer for them, their loved ones and this community.

Gloria Maribel Reyes

Gloria Maribel is 35 years old and has lived in Nueva Suyapa with her family for 30 years of her life. Her husband left her 7 years ago, so she raises her 3 children as a single mom. Since then she has taken care of her family with God’s help and has seen how the community has grown and changed over time. There are better houses and streets, more schools, potable water, more churches and a growing population.

Gloria gives thanks to God for her friends Gloria Pino and Esperanza Sanchez who invited her to be part of their solidarity group at MCM 18 months ago. A solidarity group is a smaller group of women who co-sign on each other’s loans. In most cases, 5 or 6 solidarity groups will join together to become a community bank.

In the Matthew 6:33 group Gloria has made some good friends who have helped her grow her snack shop business. Before coming to the group, Gloria had very little capital to work with. The loan she receives each cycle has enabled her to buy an industrial stove to produce and sell more product. The trainings she has received through MCM have helped her see the importance of saving and managing money wisely.

About 12 months ago, Gloria was able to hire another women to help her in her snack shop because she has seen such an increase in her sales. She is happy to be able to provide employment to someone else who needs it, and by having someone else to work in her business, Gloria was able to achieve another dream: completing her nursing courses to be a certified nurse.


Although Gloria has not accepted Jesus into her heart, she feels that the devotionals at her bank meetings have helped clarify some of her doubts, and she has decided to send her children to Sunday school at a local church. We hope that she will soon be accompanying them.

Gloria gives thanks to God for MCM’s work in the community and how they have helped so many women like herself, single moms who need an economic spark to move forward and want to see their children graduate. Gloria is proud to belong to the Matthew 6:33 group and believes that with God’s help and that of MCM, she will one day be able to open a second location for her business.

motivation

I like to be balanced in my posting and give an accurate depiction of my experience here. The good and the not so good, if you will. But it is always more fun to post while the going is good.

And things are going well right now. Last week involved some stunning gastronomic pyrotechnics…but thankfully I am back on track with my standard Honduran diet. I found that being cooped up for several days in my house gave me (too much) time to think and made me pretty down about my experience here. It was a combination of sickness, homesickness, and feeling useless. But I think God has used this down-time in my life here to give me time to reflect on things and get some much needed rest.

With a lot of prayer and some good encouragement and support from family and friends, this new week has gotten off to a fresh start…and for that I am so grateful.

Monday found me in a meeting with my coworkers, taking the lead and presenting the project I have been laboring over the past 3 months. Since I have 1 course of curriculum done for the business school and am wrapping up the 2^nd course, my boss and I decided it would be good to do a test-run and see how it goes.

Starting tomorrow, they will teach 1 lesson each week for 7 weeks, with all of my coworkers (the loan officers) taking a shot at teaching. We will have all the community banks from Thursday meet together at 2pm for the class, and then pay their loans after. The goal is to have everyone who works in the bank program present to learn from each other, practice giving training sessions, and so I can get feedback as I work on more and more curriculum.

things i think i think...but haven't figured out.

I really want to have a post about a 'typical day' here in my Nueva Suyapa life...but as I tried to piece together an outline, I realized no two days are the same. I mean, there are routines and things that happen pretty much in the same manner every day...the shower routine at my house, meal routine 3 times a day, the walking to work routine, the staring at the gringa and cat-calling routine...

But really, each day there are new adventures, experiences you never could have expected. I've taken on the philosophy of always going along for the ride. If someone invites me to go do something, whether it be a simple errand, a trip 'abajo' (down the hill to the city) or even a walk to the corner pulperia (store)--I just go! Ok, partly because I usually am looking for something to break up the time in the office (!) but also because I am certain it will undoubtedly be a good story...at minimum, a good way to get to know people.

Example: There is a lady who sells newspapers in the colonia every day. She usually stops by the office to chat, and she knows the 3 people who will always buy the daily issue. This woman has been very pregnant ever since I got here...they assure me she's worked like this before, and she will be selling papers until the day she has the baby.  So my coworker put together a baby gift for her, as the woman is pretty poor and she doesn't really have any clothes for the baby. Oh, another cultural moment--someone buys a gift and you are told how much to contribute so that its covered...not asked, just told to give 50 Lempiras. awesome.
So, then one day the woman (oh, another cultural thing, we don't know her name! she's just the woman who sells newspapers) doesn't show up. This means we must go find her house and give her the gift. But wait- no one knows where she lives! Here is a rough transcription in English...
Karina: "So, you're going to go with us to give her the gift, right Charissa?"
Me: "Um...sure. Are we walking there?"
K: "well, we have to walk around and see who knows where she lives. but we'll find it"
Me: "yeah, but how? Does Marvin know where she lives?"
K: "no, but we're going now to find her."
Me: "Ok, but like, how will we know?"
K: "marvin will drive us there."
(At this point I stop asking questions. Just go, Charissa. Its bound to be an adventure.)

Ok...I am also leaving out some details about transport...but I need to you to get the flavor of these exchanges. We spent 20 minutes before lunch debating if we could take a moto...but no, 3 people was too many for the moto. So then we waited til after lunch, argued with Marvin for about 1 hour to go get his truck. Then we thought it wasn't happening...then he randomly shows up and is like "lets go lets go! get in the truck right now!"...so we went! immediately.

So we drive down the hill to the newspaper stand...ask the lady there if she knows the pregnant newspaper seller...turns out the one we are looking for is her sister-in-law! I have no idea how this happened...but it worked out, and we left the gift with her. We are turned around, about to go back up the hill, when my coworkers realize that our boss is out for the day...so this means we need to "tomar un cafecito" (like, have a little coffee). We turn around to go further down the hill and head to Dunkin' Donuts. It was a crazy time at the restaurant with 2 of my favorite coworkers, who were paranoid the entire time that our boss was right around the corner. But it was really fun...felt like we were in college and skipping class! We also had a generally hilarious time in the truck, singing songs in English (oh wait, that was mostly me) and getting to know each other better.

All in a day's work, as I like to say.
There are also other stories...the day of my boss' birthday, where we left for about an hour to take a taxi to buy a last minute cake...how I get in on farewell parties the banks have for their out-going loan officers and I wait for an hour for people to show up to the party...how I come back from lunch and they are fumigating the office because of Dengue and I can't be in the office for 2 hours...I mean, lots of stuff like this that make me laugh continually and give me good journal entries. I love it. And I'm hoping that was coherent enough that you get some insight into my life here and can appreciate the humor too.

working at MCM

My work life is not always the highlight of my blog entries here in Honduras...or in my journal for that matter. However, some days, when you least expect it, there is a moment to celebrate. Friday I had one of those. I think it was what I needed to get me through the day.

At 10am on Friday, Karina, my co-worker, had her second communal bank meeting of the day. I decided to attend this one, since I had been at the 8:00am bank for several weeks but for some reason kept missing out on the 10am bank, Restauracion. You never quite know what you're going to get when you step into a meeting. Some days there isn't too much excitement...other days you join in a party for the kids, play ridiculous games while blindfolded, or you get filled in on the gossip of the neighborhood (always better than the newspaper!).

The great part about this meeting was that almost all of the women were in attendance, and all were able to make at least one week's payment on their loan. They took charge of collecting and were very organized. Karina collected about 14,700 lempiras at this particular meeting (about $735). This is the goal for every meeting, but too often it does not happen like this. The loan officers are having a lot of trouble with attendance at weekly meetings and also with their debt ratios. Often, the meetings are very frustrating, with maybe only 7 or 8 women of 27 attending.

I asked Karina why this bank is so different from her others. She took the time to explain to me that many of these women have medium sized businesses, more service oriented rather then product driven...many live in a nicer part of town, their families have cars, and most have husbands who are around and working. All of this is in contrast to her other bank with major repayment problems--many have small businesses like making tortillas or selling bread...they live in a pretty rough neighborhood, and for one group of women in particular, many are victims of domestic violence. This is usually the reason they don't attend meetings, or can't repay their loans.

Then another loan officer joined in our conversation to discuss why training the socias, or clients, is so important and how the loan officers need to be working on this every week. He was very excited about this and has lots of good ideas. I also got really excited, as it was a small break through in my coworkers opening up to me. I told them that we need to have a longer discussion or Q & A time to discuss all of this, as I need to determine the needs of the clients before we just throw a business school at them that may not be what they want or need.

There is still so much I need to learn, but I was encouraged by the interaction with my coworkers. I have renewed energy to explore their ideas and tap into their experience as I continue on in this rather undefined journey. As I have shared with some of you, I feel like I understand the big picture goal, but am not really sure what that means for day-to-day tasks and expectations. Continue to pray with me in this as I try to find my niche here and try to contribute something useful to this ministry.