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

multiplication

My co-worker Oscar often shares with the women's groups how God is God of multiplication--not division or subtraction. He references the parable of the talents and how we are called to multiply what God has given us.

As an organization, we were able to take part in this multiplication by taking a blessing that was generously given to us and through it, bless others. And isn't that what God is all about? Blessing us, to make us a blessing, to be able to bless others, so that others bless him?

Since the beginning of the project through MCC, the women's group in Vertientes has expressed interest in having a sewing business. Their community is the most remote, and they would like to be able to make school uniforms and other basic clothing items for a small profit. We wanted to support the women in this, since it was their own idea, but for a long time thought the initial investment beyond our capacity. How would we be able to get more than a few machines for the group of 16?

Through talking with other colleagues and making some connections, I found out Proyecto MAMA (another MCC supported project of the Honduran Mennonite Church) had 6 sewing machines that were unused and collecting dust. A few phone calls later and we found out they wanted $250 for 5 treadle machines and 1 electric machine. It seemed feasible, but we didn't really have extra funds outside of the project budget.

Then (seemingly) out of nowhere a good friend said her sewing ladies at church wanted to donate the money for the machines, and she wanted to put up some extra for the repairs. What a generous gift! We were very excited and planned a trip to check out the machines and see what condition they were in.

They turned out to be very good machines, only missing a few parts that we hope will be easy to replace. When we paid the amount to the women who work for Proyecto MAMA they told us they were so excited because they never thought anyone would ever want to buy these machines and now, with this cash we gave them, they will be able to buy an industrial-size gas stove to serve bigger groups at the retreat center which generates more income for their projects in children's health and education.

It was such a joyful moment! We took a monetary blessing that was given to ACDIM and invested in something to bless the women's group and their future business while tangentially blessing Proyecto MAMA with funds to buy something that serves their needs and generates income for the children and families they work with. I couldn't have dreamed up a better chain of multiplication, but I guess God knew he had it all covered.

resilience

After living in Honduras for more than 2 1/2 years, I have heard many comments along the lines of "but how can you live in Honduras so long" or "I don't know how you do it" or "I could never do what you do."

And the honest truth is: I don't really know how I do it either! It's not always fun. It's hardly ever easy. I miss a lot of things living away from friends and family, and some days it adds up to a lot of stress.

I was reading an interesting report on international workers (here called humanitarian workers) and what enhances their resilience and drives them to stick with it--even when its hard; or why in some cases, people get burned out and make a major career change. It is interesting to read this study and consider what is it that brought me here. What is it that keeps me fueled for the work that I do? And what sustains me mentally and emotionally to keep on keeping-on?

Purpose, meaning, and loving a challenge:
“It helps if you believe in the purpose, but after a while that’s not enough. For many people that’ll get you a year, maybe two, before you’re close to burnout. That’s when you need people to genuinely enjoy many aspects of the job on top of believing that it’s meaningful. They need to love the challenge of actually doing the work and trying to deliver assistance to people who really need it despite all the hindrances in the way  - government, bad security, organizational constraints, budget limitations, broken equipment, cross cultural miscommunications, feeling caught at a perpetual cross-roads between the urgencies of the field and the eternal demands from headquarters. You really have to love being challenged – maybe not every day, but most days."

Adapting beliefs (sounds wishy-washy, but stay with me):
"How humanitarian workers  hold  and  change their beliefs also appears to be relevant to resilience. It is virtually impossible to witness suffering, violence, and great human need without having your beliefs and expectations about how the world “should” work challenged, and you only have a few options in the face of this sort of ambiguity and pressure. You can shore up your beliefs and attitudes to the point where they become rigid. You can become more able to manage ambiguity and nuance. Or you can abandon these beliefs altogether."

Learning (til your brain hurts):
"Humanitarian workers who were most resilient were described as those who take on the attitude of a learner and are not unduly threatened by having some of their important beliefs and ideas challenged. They are the people who find a way to temper their idealism with pragmatism, yet not loose that idealism altogether. They are the people who can acknowledge and recognize what they themselves are getting out of this work – how they are growing and learning  – rather than those who claim they are only in it to serve others. They are the ones able to see and tolerate shades of grey around issues that may have once appeared a crisp black and white. “Being professional is not about being jaded. It’s about growing out of naive idealism and still maintaining integrity of purpose.”

Support network (a.k.a. real friends!)
"There is no single factor that will make you resilient, but good relationships may be about as close as we can come to a silver bullet. Supportive relationships that extend beyond mere acquaintances – knowing that you are part of a community of people who care for you and think well of you – is crucial. “It’s just so clear that resilient people are those who can attach and have strong relationships– both global networks and the ability to create some sort of connection and support wherever you are at the moment.”

There is something deeper that called me here, and something bigger than me that keeps me here. I couldn't be here if I wasn't at peace about God wanting me to be in this place--and there are many other factors that give me the resilience to withstand a lot of difficult things about living in Honduras. In reality, it is a whole mix of these things mentioned above: a hunger to learn new things; (often, not always) enjoying a challenge; and having people around you to support you in all of the ups and downs (you know who you are!).

*text quoted from McKay, Lisa. "Resilience" Building Resilient Managers in Humanitarian Organizations: Strengthening Key Organizational Structures and Personal Skills that Promote Resilience in Challenging Environments. People in Aid.

things Hondurans say...never.

I used to love playing a game in college with my friends called "Things." Each round was a different "thing," (like, things you never say to your mother) and as in Balderdash, everyone had to come up with their own clever response, and then you had to guess who wrote each one.

When my friend Elise passed on this list from another blogger, I could help but laugh. And of course we added some :) Here is our version of "things you will never hear Hondurans say":

No. Please don't add salt.

Fill it up.

This taxi can only carry six passengers.

Something to drink? Just water, please.

Chicken? I never eat it.

I have so much mail to sort through.

I love a hot shower in the morning.

Coffee? Sure. Just one sugar, please.

I can't eat one more tortilla!

I think the temperature is just perfect today.

I love walking barefoot through the grass.

That looks very dangerous. I will tell my child he/she should not do that activity.

Shhhhhhh! Someone is sleeping, we don't want to wake them up!

It's probably too late to shoot off fireworks.

Oh good! I'm going to arrive early.



...sometimes, we all need a bit of levity to make it through the day