Soccer Semi-finals – Nov. 28

The last two nights have been the first leg matches of the semi-finals for the Honduran Soccer League. Fortunately, I have been able to watch both games on TV. The first game featured Real España vs Olímpia. I cheer for Real España so was hoping they would be able to keep to their first place ways. Now, the word is that the Honduran League has some more creative ways of winning than just what happens on the field. Evidently games that are played in Tegucigalpa, especially, are subject to some, what shall I say, pre and post game financing. Wednesday night’s game seemed to bear that out. A sure goal that was clearly okay, despite the numbers of replays I saw, was disallowed. Of course, you can guess which team it was against. Sigh. Fortunately, the team is down by only one goal coming back to their home stadium for next week’s match. The return game will be held in the smaller, Morazan stadium where fans are right on top of the players and where small inconveniences like bags of water, plastic cups of beer and long rolls of paper streamers can be launched against the opposition. I do have to figure a way to get to that game. Last night’s game was less controversial. The Tegucigalpa team scored first so that helped.

Game time snacks include Chicarron. This is deep fried pig skin. Likely not something that will appear on DQ menu boards any time soon. It is crispy and crunchy and served with little wedges of lime and pickled rings of onion. My limit is one small piece so I don’t order it. Fortunately, I was watching with a friend who let me have my one piece and happily ate the rest himself. I settled for some fried tortilla chips with avocado sauce and some pulled beef fajitas.

Yesterday we were in the local court (Justice?) office to continue the saga of ACP. They were trying to recover a truck that had been put into custody by original board members. Well, I was there as the Canadian, international observer. Sort of. Five of us crowded into the Justice’s office. The office featured the local medium size fridge status symbol and, on top, boxes of Cheerios and Fruit Loops. We spent about forty-five minutes listening to arguments and so forth. Things went well for the people I was with and some of the truth was outed. Will see what future sessions entail. Since I was just an observer, I was without translation and had to follow as best as I could. I was pleased that I followed a fair amount and that is a good sign. Now ... to learn how to reply.

In the afternoon, we had our first class sessions in our office. Chepe, Carolina and Manuel had bookkeeping lessons. Since they are all part of CPI activities in Honduras it is good that they have some inkling of how to go about the process. For Carolina, it was doubly good because I illustrated some of the stuff on my laptop and she got to see a spreadsheet for the first time. She will be taking Grade 8 in January and part of the requirements for Grade 8 in our program are being able to make a simple spreadsheet work. Carolina is a girl who has been active in adult education and in her community even though, at nineteen, she has only had a chance to take Grade 6. This year, thanks to some friends, she has been taking Grade 7. She is hoping to, eventually, get into nursing. Until this year, that was only a pipe dream but if our project gets a full set of green lights, she will have the doors opened to her. She was fun to work with as, unlike anyone else I have met, she was able to add and subtract in her head. That was exciting to see. We managed a few things and got some of the concepts across.
Financial accountability is such a huge issue here in Honduras and, in part, the total inability of the population to understand basic bookkeeping allows for incredible irregularities to take place at all levels. As we learn how to do the bookkeeping, obvious places to check and how to look for those problems will give these people a big leg up on others in understanding what is happening in their communities.

A second sunny day in a row. Even though it feels cool when it is cloudy, it only takes a few minutes of sun to warm up quickly. The humidity must be staggering as the whole earth is soaked with the rains of the last weeks.

Bryan