Two More Students

Karina Elizabeth Amaya

Karina is a nineteen year old mother of two, aged three and two. She is married and her husband is a construction worker in their village. Her two siblings are continuing their education in other schools – University and Junior High.

Obviously very gifted in school, Karina had finished Grade Eight by the time she became pregnant at age fifteen (many students are only finishing Grade Six by then). Because of the program here at Centro de Enseñanza Fraternidad, she now has a second chance to pursue her dream of finishing Grade Nine and then taking studies in accounting.

Karina’s parents are extremely happy for this opportunity and her mother is happily caring for the two toddlers while she comes to school each afternoon. Her husband, even though he only has Grade Five, is encouraging her to continue her studies as well.

Most of the girls her age already have children and have had to give up their hopes for an education. We are delighted that Karina is able to study with us. She is moving steadily through the Grade Nine course work and looks to be one of our first Grade Nine graduates. She hopes that her studies will allow her to give her children a better education in turn.

Dimas Abel Salmerón Rodriguez

Dimas is a twenty-four year old single young man who comes from a family of fourteen children. He and a younger brother are the only ones left at home. The family works hard to find odd jobs and work in the agricultural sector to make ends meet.

The economic crisis forced the closure of a maquilla (sweat shop) where Dimas was able to find work. Everyone was laid off and, because he has no schooling beyond Grade Six, he is hard pressed to find work in other maquillas.

Dimas is the first one in his family to even consider schooling beyond Grade Six. Only five of his siblings have even gotten that far. Because of the economic situation they are in, there was no chance for him to attend a public or private school. Centro de Enseñanza Fraternidad offered him the opportunity to pursue a dream to finish Grade Nine that had been completely unthinkable just a couple of months ago. His mother has Second Grade and taught his father, who had no schooling, how to read and write.

Eager to learn, Dimas has had a chance in the past to study for two months in the area of mechanics, thanks to work by CPI Canada. He arrives each morning by seven cheerfully ready to continue his studies in Grade Seven. His friends and family are happily surprised at this opportunity and are encouraging him to continue.

For morning break, the other students give Dimas their orders and money and he goes and brings them baleadas (a flour tortilla with refried bean sauce, thick cream, and salty cheese). They are a great late breakfast, early lunch, supper or snack.

Doggy Surround Sound

Happy Boxing Day. A cloudy, cool day here in Santa Cruz. I finished the ironing, had a nice mug of tea (my two litre blue pewter type mug that more closely resembles a thunder mug), read some Advent readings and, at the same time, worked on downloading some pictures sent to me from Canada. The downloading process is slow but, three hours later, it is nearing completion.

Christmas Day was relaxing. Most of the afternoon was spent swinging in the hammock and reading a novel. Lovely. My neighbours brought me two large pork-filled tamales and a cup of sweet coffee in the morning. They were, by far, the best tamales I have had. Generally, I am a wee bit leery of them as, several times, the pork inside them has not been well cooked and I have paid later. Tamales are a Christmas tradition here and all the vegetable stands had piles of folded banana leaves for sale the last few days.

On Christmas Eve, I went for a morning fitting of our new choir robes. A burgundy (a huge step up from the white ones we tried on to begin with) sort of smock that, more or less, fit. After that, three of the boys took me to find a black suit jacket to go with the white and black theme for the music group (when not featuring the burgundy theme). Fortunately, someone in the U.S. is my size and had cleaned out their closet. In the second hand clothes shop I found a jacket for the princely sum of $2.00 CDN. After that we headed down to another shop for a white shirt (sooner or later I will be dressed like a missionary – Mormon or otherwise). The first store had a nice shirt but very pricey. We headed to store number two which was more accommodating.

After seeing my shopping guides off, I continued on home via several stops for food and supplies. One stop was for some fresh pork. The meat was fresh and each portion came complete with the skin. At home, I trimmed off the skin and first layer of fat. Then, I popped it in my tiny convection oven for a supper treat. Fortunately, my neighbours enjoy fried pork skin so were delighted to share my off cuts. So nice to keep the best part and give away the best part at the same time.

Supper in the oven, I headed back to the church for a practice. I arrived only twenty minutes late and found that I was all alone. Just as I was thinking I had the wrong day or wrong time or wrong place, three other members arrived. Phew. As we sat waiting for others to show up, a few people began filing in and filling the first few pews. I looked outside and there was a hearse (pick up truck outfitted with glass sidewalls for carrying coffins well displayed) pulled up out front. Sure enough, two young men from the undertakers (I assumed by their handling of things) dressed in unfittingly unsombre t-shirts and jeans rolled the coffin down to the front of the church. Everyone who had been decorating the church disappeared and the priest came out to start the short memorial service. The four of us in the music group looked at each other and then got on with the matter at hand and began singing the songs for the service. Fortunately, one of the four was experienced and had a hymnbook (the hymnbook?) with her. Forty minutes later, the mourners left, the rest of the music group showed up, decorating resumed and we were back to square one.

The Christmas Eve service was relatively uneventful. We did a quick change artist routine in the small room off the front of the church that houses the tabernacle (for those of you readers who know what that is). Just as we were to go out for the choral part (featuring the burgundy robes), a bag of yellow scarves showed up which finished off the choir robe look so completely. After singing our numbers, we hurried back, did the quick change thing back to black and white and headed out for the rest of the service.

Midnight of Christmas featured lots of fireworks and loud noises. These tapered off soon after so the rest of the night was reasonably quiet. Last night I was awakened by dogs barking. The way they were situated around the apartment was exactly like an advertisement DVD for surround sound or the early type of stereo adverts. Although I might prefer other types of music for my system, this was actually quite fascinating to listen to.

One of the things that I have been thinking of the last week or so is how the current economic and political environment in Honduras (and many places elsewhere) forces so many families to be separated at various times. We ask the fighting troops of our countries to spend months in foreign places fighting, we hope, for some sort of resolution to injustice. Thousands of men and women are working as menial labourers in the United States and Canada so that their families will have some means of survival. Hopefully, our little efforts here to build hope and peace by providing education and knowledge will be one small finger in the dyke against storming ignorance and economic disparity.

TTYL - bb

Full House This Morning

This morning saw the first full house for our school. The morning shift filled up all the computers and work progressed apace. We had three new students yesterday and one more today so that boosted the morning cohort considerably. We have some room in the afternoon section so will have to work on getting those numbers up. Don’t think it will be a problem the way things are going.

Some more students are writing their next exam tomorrow which is exciting. At this pace, they can finish Grade 7 by the end of February. That would be absolutely fantastic. According to the numbers given us by the Education office in Santa Cruz, we have actually made a 20% difference in the student population for Grade 7. Truly amazing to think that such a small project can make such a significant change in the status quo. Once we get some satellite centres set up we can boost those numbers considerably. Our board is working on that.

Choir practice continues feverishly each evening now. If dedication is any indication of success, this choir will be the best choir I have ever sung in. Sadly, dedication may not be the only criteria. The priest, is I think, having us wear white robes (to match the altar girls??) for the occasion. Oh dear.

The bed for my watchman arrived last evening. I will take a picture tomorrow and post it. I am impressed at least. The welders are working on six clothes hangar devices which will be my Christmas presents to the staff. Beats chocolate ... well ... not really.

On Saturday I went down the road to check on a trap hive that is being constructed out of fibreglass. It was looking beautiful and I have ordered 20 more. We will hang these small hives (5 bars) in trees and hopefully passing swarms will like the look and make themselves at home. We then will transfer the swarms to bigger hives elsewhere and return the trap hive to enticement alley. It works in pictures.

In the afternoon, a friend of mine from choir went with me to check on the hives which have been moved and are finally levelled and in place. All looked well. They had enjoyed the sugar water I took last time and the beekeeper was excited about getting some more. We spent an hour looking at the bees and touring his small farm. Normally very quiet, Bernabe was positively effusive about all the things he is doing. It was a great opportunity to learn some more about the potential and problems for peasant farmers here in Honduras. We began walking back and as I was about to phone the three-wheeler taxi Guadalupe said we should just keep walking. I thought he meant to the paved road. Wrong. He meant all the way back to town. An hour and plus I was home. It was cool and cloudy so, actually, a very nice trek. He began to see things from the perspective of integrated agriculture and it was fun listening as he began pointing out potential areas of improvement and possibility.

The plastic tables which we purchased to augment the metal and wooden tables have a tendency to droop in the middle with the weight of a computer and monitor. Sort of like how I feel some days. Found some plastic pipe to act as a support column. I see the students are beginning to pack up and leave so I can get out there and prop up the weak and ailing.

Three days of cloudy weather has seen temperatures plummet to the mid teens. Toques and winter jackets sprouted like weeds as everyone sought to cope with the bitter conditions. When you consider that there is no refuge in a hot tub or near a register, it becomes more understandable.

I am going to have to find more friends to phone in Honduras. The local phone company offers double and triple time days every so often. However, the double and triple time is only to TIGO customers. Since I generally only use the phone to call my daughter, the extra time adds up. I have, I see, 5000 seconds today. If you know any Honduran people who want to practice English by TIGO, let them know.

TTYL
BB

Gabina Zavala Bonilla

Gabina is a fifty-three year old lady who recently lost her husband. Her children encouraged her to pursue her dream of education as a way of helping her cope with the loss. Her first schooling was stopped by her parents more than forty years ago when she was nine. Despite the length of time, she enrolled in the Grade Six Educatodos (an extension type education system to encourage village education, especially for adults) a year ago and completed the course.

Even though there are no other ladies her age in her village who have a Grade Six level education, she is bravely pioneering in the Grade Seven course here at Centro de Eseñanza Fraternidad. She said that she gets teased in a friendly way by her neighbours for going back to school at her age.

A dressmaker by profession, Gabina has the goal of finishing Grade 9 and then going to a dressmaker school so that she can, in turn become a teacher of dressmaking. Finally, Gabina has a chance to pursue a dream she has had for many years. She walks the ten minutes down the very steep hill to catch a Rapidito (small van) for the thirty minute ride to Santa Cruz. There she walks up to our school, studies for four and a half hours straight and then returns home, catching one of the last rapiditos before dark and walking back up the hill after dark.

Four of Gabina’s children are married but two others remain at home. Her dressmaking income is not quite enough to make ends meet so her children help her out. Her youngest daughter has studied up to Grade 12 equivalent and is an accountant. However, such jobs are not available in the village so she is working as a dressmaker alongside her mother. The youngest son is working as an agricultural worker.

Progress Charts on the Wall

Jessica with Karin and Nerry - Grade 7

José and Oscar - Grade 7 Students (above)  Wilmer and Blenda - Grade 7 & 8

First Exams Passed

We are into the second week of classes and students are still coming to class. That is so exciting. What is even more exciting is the speed with which this approach allows the students to progress. The first group of Grade 7 students have written their first exam at the end of Unit 1. That represents 25% of the first of four textbooks in the Grade. So, they were able to do two or three weeks worth of work in four days. Everyone passed the exam with ease (I was informed that the exam was actually very easy so as to encourage the students [exams are set by Educatodos]). Still, for students in the 40’s and 50’s, it was a bit of challenge to have to write an exam.

We have the students working on their own now and they are beginning to spread out in the material. We will see how that works out.

A funny challenge came along this week. Two of our Grade 8 girls are teenagers. Well ... Mom sent them off to school from their village to the big town of Santa Cruz. Monday they were not in class but we didn’t really think anything of it. After all, this is a “learn at your own speed” type of course. However, unfortunately for the girls, one of the teachers is from their village and when they did not show up on Tuesday, he phoned their mother. She was busy picking coffee and was not pleased to hear that they were not at school. Two hours later, Mama and two rather chagrined girls arrived at the school to check out the situation. We now have a sign in sheet for them each morning and one of the teachers gives mom a quick call. Christmas season and sooooo many boys on vacation ... and Mom wants them to study??? Really.

We put up some bulletin boards on Monday and have four more drying to be put up this afternoon. Each of the students has a progress chart with their picture posted on these boards. That way everyone can see how they are doing. And, at the end of their course, they will get a nice, coloured copy of the same to hang on their walls. Wall decorations are not a great priority on ways to use minimal funds so this will be very welcome. Great advertising as well.

The director of Educatodos for our area came on Friday to check out the operation. I had one of the teachers give her a tour and so wasn’t sure how she felt about things. She has a rather good poker face. Well, her only comment was to ask if she could register her son in the school. So ... I guess that is a good sign.

Saturday afternoon I went to sing at a church service which turned out to be a wedding. The wedding was slated to begin at 4:00 p.m. The music group straggled in at about 3:30 (scheduled for 2:00) and set up the equipment. At 3:50 the group began running over the music to a packed house of four people. 4:15 and the numbers had skyrocketed to eight. The priest came out to check on the progress of events and asked us what time it was. On hearing that it was already 4:15 he declared that we would start the service right away. Fortunately, right away was an extra fifteen minutes. Still no sign of the wedding party and guests. Service began. The first reading came along and one of the music group looked around and, rather hesitantly, got up to read. The Psalm and Second reading followed in like fashion. About that time the groom came down the aisle and stood looking rather puzzled about where he should stand and so forth. One or two more guests had filed in by this time. The Gospel was read and, finally, the bridal party was assembled on the steps. The priest allowed the bride to process down the aisle and, after she was seated with the groom, carried on with the sermon and the rest of the service.

Christmas lights now bedeck the huge trees in the Central Park. It looks quite festive at night. The baby that was dedicated on Sunday had a red Santa Suit and hat on. One of the phone companies was doing a promotion on Saturday and the helpers were dressed in red and white costumes. They certainly contributed to global warming.

Some Barrel Top Bar Hives are now ready for installing the foundation and ... hopefully ... bees. Six more barrels await the stands and top bars.

TTYL

BB




 

Loved And …

Loved And …

The advertising insists:
You will be popular if …
You can be more … happy, fulfilled, beautiful, attractive … if
… you have
… you buy
… you possess …

The society demands:
You will belong if …
You can be a part … of the group, of the right class, of the right crowd … if
… you comply
… you dress
… you behave ...

The church proclaims:
You can be loved if …
You can be a part … of God’s family, of the righteous, of the heaven bound … if
… you are baptized
… you are born-again
… you believe and obey …

God shouts:
You are loved.
Not because … Not if ... Not when …
You are loved regardless and always … forever past and forever future.
You are loved in the darkness of your dingy stable.
You are loved and that love is sung by trumpeted angels.
You are loved in your smallness and incompleteness.

Because you are loved:
You can …
You can dare ...
You can be …
You can love.

December 11, 2009 – Santa Cruz de Yojoa

School Is Underway

Well, an exciting past few days. I had a neat experience on Sunday travelling to a special service in celebration of the birthday of a priest who had (a couple of hundred years ago) prayed for water in a village and had it come out from a rock there. Will write about that later in one form or another.

Sunday morning the new bridge that linked St. Rita to St. Cruz collapsed. So, the boat boys are back in business. Good Christmas for some.

We had scheduled school to open on Monday. The Board had nominated a number of students and were to ensure that they arrived. I had not spent a great deal of energy following up on their efforts so was totally unsure of what would happen. My best case scenario hopes were five students. Incredibly, twenty students of all ages, from a variety of communities showed up by 9.30. (Schedule said 9.00 – so this was another evidence of the excitement these people felt about the opportunity – they had to travel by public transport and foot to get there on time.) Well, we had a few minutes of speeches ... almost nothing by Honduran standards ... and then got to work on the computers.

Yesterday and today students sorted themselves out as to who would come in the mornings and who would come in the afternoons. Wow. People are arriving at 7.00 a.m. to start work. You figure an hour’s travel in front of that and do the math. These students are serious. The afternoon group stays till after 5.00 p.m. which means they will not reach home till well after dark.

The oldest student is 53 years of age and the youngest is 13. There are two mother and son pairs. One pair is a newly married couple. Another student delivered her first baby 20 days ago. Her mother came along to hold the baby while she worked on the computer.

Word is getting out and each day has seen several new students coming to check out the chances for a place in the school. It is exactly what we had hoped to see happen but it is really gratifying to have it actually take place.

There has been a great deal of work put into this project by people in Canada and Honduras. It is a credit to their efforts that this school is now underway. We hope that the students will take responsibility for their places in the school and finish their course work. Already each of the grades is 25% through the first of four textbooks. They are cruising through 3-5 days worth of work each day. That is good news for all of us.

If you want to see some pictures of the students, send me an email ... or sign up to be a friend on Facebook. I will, in days to come, try to give you a bit of biographical material on a number of the students.

ttyl

BB 

Limonaria Cuttings

Today is the draw for the placing of the World Cup teams. As Honduras is in the World Cup, there is a great deal of excitement surrounding the event. My neighbour informed me that the draw starts at 11.00 this morning. Now, how to look like I am working and yet, at the same time, find a place to watch the draw? Will likely have to read about it online tonight.

Earlier this week, José, my “projects” worker, told me he had found a plot of land only three blocks away on which we could do some experimental planting. Great stuff. Manuel and I headed off with José to go see the plot. The “three blocks” was a decided euphemism. Twenty-five minutes later we had left the edge of town and the road and were climbing up a steep pathway to the property. It was a pretty plot but not sure that I want to be walking that far each day to see how things are going. It would be good exercise though. Hmm. On the return trip we found lemon grass and some more of another medicinal grass. As well, we got some rose and limonaria cuttings. Limonaria is a rather unpretentious looking bush that appears rather scraggly during the day. However, at night its flowers open and flood the area with the most incredible aroma. I have no idea how such a small bush can be so powerful. Needless to say, I am delighted to have some cuttings now planted in the yard and a few in tree bags for transplanting elsewhere. Regardless of how hot, dusty or trying a day in the tropics can be, passing by a limonaria at night brings back the magic and rejuvenates one´s spirit immensely.

My curtains are now hung on bamboo rods. Because my Spanish is rather halting at best, there is a great deal left to intelligent speculation on the part of my fellow workers. The idea of hanging the curtains was rather obvious. The idea of using bamboo was not. So, the deduction was that I had no idea of what I was really saying in Spanish and it was up to them to figure out what I was actually wanting. Julia guessed I wanted broomstick handles but noted that there was only one extra one in the office. Eventually, on my plot adventure, I was able to acquire one small bamboo stem and use it for one set of curtains. There was a great deal of amazement that I used bamboo and, even more so, that I had been correctly asking for it all along. A second piece came along later in the week and now my flashy curtains are hanging in place. I am not sure why, but one person I talked with in Canada was a little unsure about the effect of blue and white checks, Holsteins wearing red or yellow ribbons, pineapples, oranges, bananas and other fruits will have. I assured them that it was very “country kitchen”. Bright is better.

The equipment is all set up and Monday the first students finally arrive. As well, one of the Board Members has been clever enough to find a way to reduce the size of the files for the books so that the computers can handle them more easily. We also have a way to enhance the text with colour, more pictures and so forth. That is very exciting. Now to keep all the various files straight and master copies securely out of harm´s way.

TTYL
bb 

The Befogged Traveller

Do you ever get the feeling that you really have no clue what is happening? That, despite seeing things clearly, you are one or more steps behind the parade? I think that is the story of my life.

Today is the Honduran National Election. I have seen people carrying sample ballots which are enormous with 20-30 pictures on them. To be honest, I have no idea what all is being voted for. I think that even the mayor’s position is being voted on. The confusing thing about that is he won some sort of election last year. Was it, as I think I understood from translation, that he won the election to run in the election? Sigh. That is too confusing. Talk about seeing men as trees walking.

Overnight, the streets around the city centre were festooned with long strings of banners and pennants advertising various candidates. I recognized a number of them standing near the polling station to greet and, I presume, influence the voters. Things were very peaceful and festive. The last two days have seen an increase in police and military activity as they seek to forestall any violence today. Every vehicle was being stopped on highways and passengers asked to step out to be searched and to allow the vehicles to be searched. One of my workers took over three hours to make the usual one and a half hour trip from San Pedro Sula.

This morning I went to church to sing with the choir. There are only six chairs for the singers (the rest of the space being taken up by bongo drums, regular drums, three types of guitars and an electric piano) so you have to really be first string to get a chair. A level up from that are the four people who get microphones. The leader of the group has been quite excited about having me practice with them and today he worked it so I got one of the chairs. I find it so amusing to be second and third string. The last time I was second string in a choir was the first two months of High School Choir in 1972. It really is a great deal of fun to just go along for the ride. I don’t mind as most of the songs are memorized by the singers and, if I am lucky, have the words scrunched on to poor quality Xerox copies (never all the songs). So, I have to learn the tune, learn where the line divisions are (what ... you wanted the lines separated??) and how the words go with the music. The Spanish versions of songs seem, to me, more than with other languages I have sung in, find ways to squeeze extra words in at every opportunity. Often, this boy is scrambling as the parade disappears around the next corner. As long as I stay ahead of the guys with the shovels and the street cleaners I am okay ... I guess.

The service had started and we were singing the acclamation for the Gospel reading. I noticed that the priest’s assistance was looking at us and motioning for us to keep singing. Well, the musicians picked up on the signal and we rolled through the song a second time. Still motioning. Third time (great for me because I was now fairly sure of the tune and able to keep up readily) and I finally saw what we were waiting for. A coffin was being carried down the aisle to set on the long wooden bench waiting (it had been brought out just as the service was starting).

The service continued and, just as the communion was being readied, someone remembered that the baptismal candle should be out and lit. It was brought out and stuffed between the bench and the altar steps. My long acquaintance with Murphy’s law foresaw trouble. I was right. Just before communion was to be served, the family very kindly thought to move the coffin so that the people could come forward for the elements. You guessed it. As soon as the bench was moved over went the candle. The assistant rushed to rescue it and things were soon reorganized. I kept eyes firmly on my music so as not to chance finding a twinkle in the eyes of anyone else.

A list of students is now on the wall. Tables were delivered on Thursday and tomorrow we will get the computers, all freshly loaded with programs and materials, organized and readied. The school yard has been given a makeover by my “projects” man. I hope that my next posting will begin talking about individual students rather than my adventures.

Yesterday I went out to see Bernabe, the bee man. He has been moving the hives to a new location to rescue them from a man who decided to cut all the trees down in the area they were in. I took a couple lassos along so that it would be easier to pull the cart with the beehives. Three more hives to move. I will be sooooo glad when that is all settled. As I left, the lady of the house sent me off with a bag of tangerine oranges. What a lovely gift.

I walked out to the main road (only a mile and a half) and stopped to talk to a man raising chickens on a small scale (great to see competition to the massive farms of Cargill) with no need for electronic equipment and such. Further down the road I stopped to talk to a lady who is growing passion fruit using living trees, barbed wire and string for support. Great to see these innovative ways of production. That is what I hope to encourage ... that step above subsistence farming but one that provides a dignified living without demanding destruction of the environment or community.

At home I was able to visit with my neighbour for an hour or so before calling it a day.

TTYL

bb

Turning Fifteen

A girl’s fifteenth birthday is a very special celebration here in Honduras. Last night I attended a special mass for a girl’s fifteenth. Silly me, I had the idea that this was going to be a collection of fifteen year old girls all getting a special blessing at the same time. This was reinforced by the large number of young boys dressed in black shirts, pants and sports coats with matching hot pink silk ties and pocket handkerchiefs. I asked one of the music group what these young men’s duty was and they said it was escort duty. As well, looking out the window in between practising hymns, I noticed a few young girls dressed to the nines arriving.

Well, I was wrong. The whole show was for one young lady. After the priest and the altar girls processed down the aisle and the opening hymn was sung, three young girls (I think they were sisters) came down with a pillow (for the chair centered in front of the alter), a second pink pillow (for, I assume, room decoration and memorabilia) and a silver tray with a book and some other things (more on that later).

Following these girls, came the star of the show surrounded by twelve escorts. The young girl was dressed in a rosy pink, satin floor length dress covered at the top with silver filigree and layers of flounces over a well bustled skirt. On her head was a silver tiara and covering her shoulders a sheer pink shawl.

Part of the ceremony involved the parents giving the gifts that had been carried in on the tray. The first was a Bible covered in pink cloth with a ruffle and ribbon ties. A crucifix on a chain and a ring were the other gifts blessed and presented.

One thing that is fascinating in any place is trying to discern the symbols of status. Here in Santa Cruz I think that one of the status symbols is having the money to get a short styled hair cut with a perm. Every other woman has long hair generally tied in the back but let hanging loose for special occasions.

The second mass of the evening was a wedding. As the ceremony proceeded, the bride’s bouquet began disintegrating. Soon flowers were strewn across the front of the church. Eventually one of the flower girl’s bouquets was called into service to end the event. The priest forgot to have the couple sign the registry so the end of the service, which was to feature a procession, sort of disintegrated. By the time the actual recession took place most of the audience had left. Rather anticlimactic, poor girl.

On Friday, I received another lesson in translation ... or rather ... what can get lost in translation. We were going to look at a piece of property fifteen to thirty minutes away. As we were readying to start walking to the property, the people we were with said that we should take a truck to the edge of the property. Well, we did. Once the truck got to the end of the road (bad sign) we began walking. We were heading to a river which bordered the property. Fifty minutes later we were still hiking downhill. You do the math. We stopped when we could see the river although we were still fifteen minutes away and above. After a rest, we began the return trip. Nevertheless, it was a lovely hike through bush, forest, maize fields and cassava plantings. The guide told us that the hike was much too difficult for women. That, of course, made me feel soooooo much better.
 
I see the storage shelf frames are done at the mechanical shop. They can go to the carpenter’s shop tomorrow. The extra tables we need should be done by the end of the week. We will soon be ready to set students in chairs.

TTYL

So ... Was He Paid or Not?

First of all, the game. Sigh. España lost by a goal. Or, as I would say, they were robbed by a referee that made some most unfortunate calls. So very unfortunate were those calls that it was suspiciously suggestive that some extra money may have somehow been passed along at some points. Of course, this being Honduras, that is always the first question that comes to mind in situations like this. Needless to say, the Marathon fans around me were of a different opinion. The evening was great. At the next table were Olimpia fans. One of them was the local magistrate whose office is at City Hall. When Olimpia got the go ahead goal in their game, he was so excited that he whipped off his shirt and waved it exuberantly around his head. It will be a wee bit hard to think of him in sombre judge-like terms after that.

The current political situation in Honduras has some interesting fall out. Judges and lawyers are at a much greater risk now and a number of them have been killed. We were at our lawyer’s office on Wednesday and he was scheduled to attend the funeral of one of his fellow lawyers in the afternoon. As we sat and talked he got a phone call that the funeral had been moved up to the morning so he was unable to attend. As a consequence, he had time to take us to lunch. He suggested the Gran Sula which is located four short blocks from his office, three of which are through the central city square. As we left the building, he and his partner had a long discussion about whether it was safe enough for them to walk that four blocks.

This was a sobering reminder of how many Hondurans, regardless of class, live in fear. Manuel, my director, is always very nervous about travelling with money for salaries, etc. because of the potential for robbery on the bus, as he walks home and so forth. A fellow here in town was taken from a pool hall and killed because, it is reported, he had about $1,000.00 in cash.

Less sobering was the lunch we had. This hotel puts on a typical Honduran food luncheon buffet each Wednesday. It was Honduran food at its very best. The appetizer was a bean and fried pig skin soup. Don’t turn up your nose. It was delicious. The second round of appetizers featured guacamole sauce, small tortillas with spicy topping and some other, not-so-typical salads. The entre had fried plantains with thick cream (the sugar in the plantains caramelizes during the frying so is rather delicious – zero calories when with friends), tomalitos, made from the center of milk corn, with heavy cream, rice and meat from a whole, roasted pig (small but done perfectly) stuffed with rice and hamburger. Dessert was, for me, a white cake soaked in cream and milk topped with whipped cream (tres leches – three milks). Along with all this was fresh baked coconut bread and fresh fruit juices. Not a meal for the faint of heart or a true friend of the arteries but, nevertheless, wonderfully delicious. Needless to say supper was not to be thought of.

Yesterday I was out in Tepiquilares at the housing project. We were with the municipal land survey people to walk the boundaries of the land and then set up a map which will divide the land into twenty-two parts. Each of the families will, by lottery, get to choose two plots so that they will, hopefully, all have access to good land and some of the more rocky land. The maps were not completely accurate and there was some confusion as to the real boundaries. Some of this may have been an attempt by an outside party to carve off a piece for himself but ... it may have been genuine confusion. Hmmm. In the end, it was settled and all the land confirmed. The next maps will be more accurate we hope.


As we measured the land, we passed the current home of one of the project recipients. He and his family of two children currently live in a hovel that consists of three walls made of poles planted in the earth and a fourth wall made of plastic. The whole thing measure about ten square metres or less. All their possessions and night time living is confined to that area. I have no idea how it must be when it is cold and raining cats and dogs. Their new home of concrete blocks and a staggering 500 square feet will be truly phenomenal.

As we were walking the land, Chepe, our board chair, received a phone call. He has been helping a man with work. This man had a drinking problem and, during the night, gotten into a bottle of locally made moonshine of sorts which proved to be toxic. He was rushed to the local clinic but by the time Chepe got there (via walking, bus, three-wheel taxi, boat, bus and so forth), the man had passed away. Now he is faced with the logistics of carrying the man’s body home to his family, arranging a funeral and so forth.

On a brighter note, this afternoon I go to a wedding for Carolina, one of the girls who have been working with us and who is taking Grade Nine in our program. The wedding invitation was flowery and glittery and came complete with a small, plastic bridal couple which can add to the decor of my sparse apartment. The wedding starts at 5 p.m. so festivities will go on till after midnight I am told. Not sure how I will get home. This may be an interesting adventure.

TTYL
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Electricity On – Game Night

The second leg of the semi-finals in the Honduran soccer league is on tonight. Real España, the team from San Pedro which I nominally cheer for is down by a goal to their arch rivals, Marathon. They are definitely the underdogs tonight. We will be having supper at the Happy Restaurant so that we can watch the game and enjoy the spectators who will be there watching both semi-final games. It promises to be noisy and lots of fun. I will break down and don my team jersey, more for the fun of everyone’s comments than true blue loyalty.

We have spent the day going from one town official’s office to another’s. Fortunately, all but one were in so we had the good schmooze visits that we needed and are ready move on with the project details. The next big step is getting the students registered and school underway. That should be done by the end of next week ... we hope. Tomorrow we will go into San Pedro Sula and order some more computers. We can get a new computer with monitor and so forth for $320.00. So, that will allow students to work quickly with the files that we have. By the end of six months we hope to have a number of used and refurbished computers from Canada to set out in the villages with small groups of students there. Then things can really get moving.

Last night I went to music group practice with the musicians from the Catholic church. They are getting ready for the Christmas Eve service and are taking their practice very seriously. We started at 6:40 (read 6:00 sharp) and ended at 10:00. Only one of the musicians can read music so all the parts were learned by rote. The musical memory that these folks have is incredible. They are able to remember their lines and make adjustments and corrections without having a paper in front of them. Amazing. We started out with Adeste Fidelis so no new words for me to have to learn ... phew. This group practices three nights a week so make a huge commitment of time and effort to provide a service to their community. It was great to sing and contribute a little.

When I asked the girls in the office how to get to the school where the practice was held, they were in agreement that it was just “down there”. Well, I started off, address in hand, down the hill towards the area that might properly fit the description. Fortunately for me, after a few blocks I spotted a member of the music group as he passed under a streetlight and was able to follow him for awhile. I lost him at a corner but, by that time, had come close enough to the school that some boys were able to show me where to go. At the school, I found out that the practice was, in fact, across the road from the school. The guard kindly let me cross the school yard and came along to open the gate for me to exit. He pointed out the right house for me to look into and I was set. I spotted an electric piano so waited at the gate until two more members showed up and we could breast the pack of dogs together. The dogs, once they realized that this new guy was part of the pack so to speak put their heads back down on their paws and went into evening rest mode. That way they will be prepared for barking throughout the night.

The Post Office for Santa Cruz is in a small lean-to attached to a private residence. Julia told me the general area where it was located and I found it without any trouble. Unfortunately, the hours include an hour’s break for lunch. I arrived at 12:05. They people of the house (the Postal employees) happily chatted to me about postal costs and so forth but made no move to open the office so I could buy some stamps. Oh well, as that is the only place, I think, to mail the letters I will have to go back again. Obviously writing letters to post is as high on people’s priority lists as it is on my daughter’s.

Friday night I went to visit a friend who has shown some interest in bees. When I arrived she left momentarily and then came back with a tray of Rambutan fruit. This fruit looks like a small red hedgehog with soft, spindly spines. You pop off the cover to find a very delicious white fruit around a white seed. We went through a large number of the fruits as we talked. About twenty-five minutes into the conversation four men appeared. Evidently, her birthday had been some time ago (isn’t it always for ladies?) and these men had promised to come and sing for her. They were making up their promise that evening. One man had a homemade mandolin with eight strings. The other had a steel stringed guitar. These two sat down and began singing local folk songs. The other two took turns joining with the harmony line. Well, this was call for people to come and hang about the porch and listen and chat. Soon my friend was off to get some coke and water for the singers. When she left, one of the four reached into the guitar case and came up with a large bottle of local hooch. A large swig for each of them and they were ready to roll even before the coke came along. The party grew as more people came to listen and enjoy the songs (evidently full of lots of humour ... my occasional catching of phrases like “cold, black river” not particularly helpful). Eventually baleadas appeared and everyone wolfed those down before continuing. I left at the two hour mark as it sounded suspiciously like the same songs were reappearing and the quality of music was deteriorating rather markedly. Nevertheless, what a wonderful evening.

My two wheeled cart is made and the paint is drying. It will likely need some modification so as to steer more easily. However, it looks great and should handle the heavy beehives without any problem. That will be great to get them settled and in a place where everyone in the community will be happy. We hope to do that Friday night although Manuel says that the forecast calls for eighty hours of rain. So far, the weather is working hard to manage that.

Oh yes, yesterday afternoon I was interviewed on CBC Radioactive in Edmonton. I was nervous all day hoping that I would do the project proud. Fortunately, the phone connection was good, there were no loud trucks hammering up and down the road and the questions were nicely put. A number of people heard the interview so I know it wasn’t a phone prank. Hopefully this will garner some more support for our efforts here.

Our Canadian organization’s head is down for a few days. He brought with him some filters for a local group that is making pineapple vinegar and pineapple wine. They are to try them out this week. This should allow them to multiply their production exponentially. Instead of doing five to ten litres overnight, they can do several hundred in an hour. Currently they use unglazed ceramic pots as their final filtration medium. Any particles quickly fill the pores of the pots and slow the process down enormously. These new filters are made from some type of fibre that allows them to be washed and reused. I am excited about seeing them in use. It would even be more exciting if it works.

Well ... time to see if the internet is up and running so I can post this and then head off to the game. Viva España.

TTYL
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Bookkeeping – And You Said Hell Did Not Exist

Manuel and I spent the day attacking the bookkeeping that has built up while I was away. There are so many little things that need to be thought of when you are trying to keep funds from several accounts and for a couple of different projects straight. My high school bookkeeping has been one of the most valuable course I have had in my life. Nevertheless, it was a challenge. Fortunately we ended the day as friends and with things in reasonable shape for one set of books. The next set will be looked at tomorrow.

Technology is so amazing. Yesterday I was able to figure out (with the help of an email and cell phone call to my son in Fort McMurray) how to change the keyboard to Spanish characters. What a relief that is for my typing of the textbook material. I was copying and pasting each little É and ñ type of thing as I went along. Truly monotonous. Now, with a click of the mouse I can move from English to Spanish and back again. Too cool. The downside of technology is that for some reason three of the pages I typed so diligently this morning never made it through the save process.

Having to type in Spanish is, I hope, helping me focus on learning more of the language. Each hour brings familiarity with several new words. That is great. Now, to move them from recognition to usefulness in conversation.

This morning, I walked to work in the rain. Before I started out, I braced myself for the wet. Delightfully, as is so often the case, the rain was warm and made the trip most enjoyable. I had forgotten again how latitude does affect the temperature of precipitation. Having just shovelled a bunch of colder type stuff it is understandable why I forgot what was likely to happen here.

On Saturday, I went into a book store and bought six tiny story books. When I got home this evening, the little neighbour girl was outside so we sat down and read two of them. I have no idea if she understood them or not but she thought it would be great to read some more tomorrow. The pictures are nice if nothing else.

I had planned on French baguette with jam and peanut butter for supper (there is a new bakery in town). Well, as I was about to open things up, there was a knock on my door and my neighbour brought a plate of fried tilapia, fried plantain chips and a coleslaw salad. Wow. What a neat gift. You can bet the bread will wait till morning. Last night one of my other neighbours brought two baleadas. It is so heart warming when things like this happen.

The metal workers finished welding my four clothes hanging thing-a-ma-jigs. There is a coat of white paint on them and we will see if that is the final step. They look pretty nifty and the owner was thinking of taking one into town to try drumming up some business. Manuel is now thinking of how he can get a few for his house. Who says that you can’t learn something from late night TV Sales shows? Of course, these won’t come with the same hype as the stuff on TV.

After supper, I hung some pictures, pots, pans, spoons, spatulas, hats and clothes on my new wall fixtures. I ran out of nails so had to stop. Probably just as well as I might get everything I own on the walls.

One last thing. Yesterday, as I was walking into town, I passed a young man carrying a rocking chair made of metal tubing and strung with blue and white plastic cable. We haggled for awhile and I ended up with a new piece of furniture. It is delightful to sit in and very relaxing. With my feet up on a plastic stool it is as good as having a lazy boy.

TTYL
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Getting to Work

December is close and, even here in Honduras, the days are getting noticeably shorter. Heavy morning clouds make the light even duller in the early mornings. However, heavy clouds mean cooler days and nights. The last two nights I even dug out a small airline type blanket to augment the sheet as cooler air began oozing through the screen and washing over my bed. Delightful.

Yesterday featured a meeting with our board to begin recruiting students for the school. We hope to have thirty registered and active by the end of this month. It was very exciting to sit and listen to the many ideas the board had for spreading the school to various communities. They discussed challenges and came up with a variety of solutions, many of which did not involve outside help. Wow. A year ago, this same board was unsure of how to act, ready to sit an listen to one person do all the talking and then vote, “yes”. Since these people were chosen because of their knowledge and wisdom, it is especially gratifying to see those qualities being utilized and brought to bear on the project.

In the afternoon, Flavio, the carpenter brought the boards he has been working on. The walls of houses are plastered with cement which makes hanging pictures a real challenge. In order to get around that problem, I had Flavio make some boards 10 cm wide and 2 cm thick of various lengths. These were then mounted on the walls at top-of-window height in our office and in my home. The boys came with bits and boards and began work. I helped a bit with the measuring and marking. The bits left a lot of dust and so there is a great deal of cleaning to be done today.

We went to check on the progress of the metal work only to find that the two brothers had had a disagreement and the brother we had given our order to had left. Sigh. Will start the process again today with the remaining brother. Should be fun as Manuel is away. Lots of drawing and single phrase sentences.

Saturday we went to San Pedro Sula and found that we can get wireless Internet. We subscribed and I have been using it here in Santa Cruz. The towers are not as close as we wish but the email does work. Now I can write emails at home and in the office. However, Skype does not work so we may have to move to a plan B of sorts. What an amazing jump in technology though to even have a chance to try something like this.

As well, Manuel and I looked at computers for the school and for student centres. We can buy new units, complete with monitors and programs for about $320.00 USD. That may be the way we choose to go as they are faster and come with a guarantee. It is staggering to me that there is such access to technology and, thus, information and yet we struggle to find ways to bring elementary and Junior High education to the overwhelming majority of people.

One of our hopes will be to find ways to create pods of students in villages with a computer for four or five students who can then study in their own homes. It looks like this will be within reach.

Time for me to get to work on some accounting. I have three months of books to go through for the construction project. Should be a challenge. Why can’t I just go plant a tree?

TTYL
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Back in Santa Cruz

Friday, October 30

After many months of waiting, I am back in Santa Cruz. Thanks to many others who are interested in helping allow Hondurans a chance to receive further education, I am able to continue the Computer Assisted Learning Program. As always, it is difficult to be here in Honduras and, at the same time, have family in Canada. Rather impossible to work in development and do otherwise. Fortunately, communication is possible via phone, Skype, email and Facebook.

In Miami, I was puzzled to watch CNN spend over twenty minutes, along with supposed experts, discussing whether it was critical that President Obama played pickup basketball with men only. Sigh. The world goes to hell in a handbag and we focus on irrelevant trivia.

Arriving in San Pedro Sula was relatively painless. As I mentioned before, they x-ray luggage coming into the country. My family gave me a Toaster Oven as an early Christmas present and that was of some concern to the officials. A young lady approached me to ask about the bag in question. Of course, I was unable to understand any of her Spanish and, after a few seconds of mutual smiling she gave up and waved me on.

At the office, the growth of some of the plants has been spectacular. The Chipilin (a nitrogen fixing plant with highly nutritious leaves and flowers) is over two metres high and is flowering and setting seeds. Papaya plants tower above them and other shrubs are filling out well. There are scores of Stevia plants ready for transplanting. Hopefully we can get that done next week.

It was fun meeting many of the people I had gotten to know while here earlier. My apartment was waiting for me, with all my things put back in place. A plumbing glitch which flooded it the morning I was to arrive was fixed and everything dried up before I walked through the door. There are two new babies in the four apartment block and a set of twins on their way. So, that will definitely change the dynamics. The two babies belong to two young girls in their late teens or very early twenties. That is such a common part of life here, children raising children. The girls’ schooling is now on hold (at least we hope they can return at some point) until the babies are old enough to allow them to return.

Manuel and I went to the bank to set up an account for me. We already have a set of accounts for the project there and there is a sum total of one Canadian person living and banking in Santa Cruz. Nevertheless, there was a great deal of paperwork and form filling to be done. When the print out came for me to sign, I realized that the computer already had the information and more. We recognized the true power and worth of the account opening secretary.

Started ordering some things for various projects and my apartment that first afternoon. The carpenter is making some wooden strips to put on my walls which will be used to hang pictures, hat hooks, and the odd shirt. He is also making a shelf for my toaster oven. He is delighted to have another source of business in the country. A metal fabrication shop opened across the street from the school while I was away. We took over two ideas for them to work on. One is a metal rod with hooks which will hang from the wall and accommodate eight hangars. Although it took Manuel a bit of time to grasp my drawings (my drafting skills are not always the best ... well ... rarely the best) the man at the metal shop got the idea right away. He is also going to work on a two wheeled cart that we can use to transport beehives and sacks of maize along pathways and over hill and dale. If he actually comes through with the projects we can get something done for chickens.

Today we went to see a project that CPI has initiated to build housing for ten families. Currently they live in deplorable situations (one family of five is in a two metre square shack). CPI is providing the land and the money for building on long term credit. The ten families are then working together to build the homes. They will build all ten before allotting the homes and moving in. Four have been started since August. I had helped get the land ownership settled while here before so it was great to see progress being made. The cement blocks are made by hand with a nifty little mold. They are able to form 200 blocks a day. So, one house worth of blocks each eight days.

The new houses will have two bedrooms (10’ x 10’) and a living room kitchen on the other half. A small shower and toilet complete the package. Manuel pointed out that such lovely houses may prove a problem as other women will be checking things out to see if they could find a way into such great living conditions. Hmmm.

While I was gone, there was a fairly severe earthquake. The bridge that links Santa Cruz to Tepiquilares was destroyed. The route is now a bit more adventuresome. An incredible system has sprung up to deal with the system. The bus goes up the riverside a ways to where the water is smoother and shallower. There, a flotilla of flat bottomed punts is waiting to take passengers, bikes and motorcycles across. The punters stand on the prow (the pointy end for us non-nautical types) and pole the boat backwards (from my perspective) across the river. They are making great money so there is a rush at the shore to get you to choose their boat. On each side of the river food vendors have set up shop to take advantage of people waiting for buses and boats. We enjoyed fresh watermelon as we waited for our return bus.

As we hiked back from the construction, we passed by a home where the lady was just finishing baking various types of breads to take to Santa Rita for sale. She had several large wash basins full of the pastries. I bought some for myself and for my neighbours. The price was three pastries for ten lempiras. It was difficult for everyone to figure out how to get the correct number of pastries for one hundred. Obviously the big spenders don’t hit the village very often. (100 L = $5.00) My bag of goodies made it home with relatively few of the pieces of bread damaged. There are pastries with cheese, with cinnamon, double layers of dough (makes for a textured finish) and some with pineapple jam. A pretty good haul. They have a lovely flavour as they are done in one of the traditional domed baking ovens.

My hammock is set up again and I am enjoying the benefits of a laptop and the fresh air outside of the apartment. The rains are strange this season so we have had some unexpectedly hot and humid days. The clouds are building up so we will have some rain this evening.

TTYL
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Thoughts on Leaving

A few quiet minutes before final lists are gone over. Manuel is out and about translating for two people from Canada who are here looking at the project and some of the other things we have been working on. So, I can’t quite hand things over to Manuel until he returns.

My luggage is packed and waiting to head to San Pedro Sula tonight to catch the plane early tomorrow morning. I realized this week that my first flight to Houston is over seven hours long. There is a stop at San Salvador and another in Belize to pick up passengers. I don’t think we will get off and on so it will be a bit of a drag. Two extra chances for luggage to get lost. Whoopee.

The Board of CPI Honduras has begun serious lobbying efforts to get the project funded. Now that my six months is over, they are realizing how important the project is and how they are the ones who need to work to release the funding. It is very heartening to see their positive attitude and efforts. Hopefully, when the national budget is released later this month, our project will be among those listed.

I went to see the bees yesterday and they seem to have settled in very nicely. That is lovely to see. In fact, the one hive seems to be even more active since getting into better quarters. We checked on two others and they were still settling in but, for the most part busy with their work and not interested in folks who were watching them. That is a good sign. We took out a solar cooker and set it up so that Vincent and Barnabus could extract some honey that resulted from the transfer. It worked very quickly and did a good job. I introduced everyone to the tasty treat of honey coated bee larvae. Vincent had heard of people in one part of Honduras who take the comb, larvae and some honey, wrap it in a tortilla and eat with gusto.

Five of the Stevia cuttings look positively healthy. That would be marvellous if the continue to grow.

Saturday night was the last hurrah of the annual fiesta. Five band stands were set up around the town centre and were featuring various live bands. Lots of noise and colour. It rained for two hours before everyone could get into full party swing. The town streets were packed with people so it was a people watcher’s paradise. The cross dressers still took the prize for best dressed. Rosa told me later that one of the men had actually been married and had two children before beginning life out of the closet.

As I sat packing the last things, my neighbour came over with a bowl of soup. It was a speciality of Olancho area and featured beef, pork, sausage, plantains and cassava. Completely filling and totally delicious. A lovely gesture.

For all who followed my adventures, thank you. I am still somewhat hopeful that this project will get the needed funding to continue. The potential it offers to the region is enormous and the cost savings for the school system equally helpful.

Honduras continues to amaze me with its potential for wealth and progress. The incredible growth rate of agricultural products and the incredible markets that await anything produced is truly wonderful. Yet, despite this, the poverty of mind and pocket is often overwhelming. The corrupted power of the ruling elite continually cripples innovation and industry. Ironically, the rich live, themselves, in cages that, although shoddily gilded, bind them in equally damaging ways. Their corruption eats away at their hearts and denies them the very freedom they seek to protect.

To Sassy and Jerome. Please send me an email so I know who you are ... pretty please.

Peace,
Bryan

Floods and Whatnot

The end of the dry season is coming soon. The dry season here is only about six to eight weeks long so, in African terms, hardly qualifies. However, it does alter the colours and landscape significantly and, in many areas, leads to fires that burn the undergrowth.

Monday night Dave and I headed out for supper. As we sat waiting for our order, the thunder and lightning increased to the point where it was definitely louder than the TV, fair and traffic noise. That is significant. Suddenly the rain began and it pounded down for about forty minutes. Water was cascading down the street and taking all within its path.

Predictably, the power went out as we were served our supper. The restaurant was equipped with candles and we were able to enjoy our supper without delay. Of course, for the “just of the boat” Dave, the lack of electricity also meant lack of air conditioning and the temperature climbed noticeably throughout the meal.

I dropped off Dave at his hotel and drove through the rain ravaged streets to my house. As I opened the door and felt my way inside, I realized that my shoes where making a sloshing noise as I shuffled towards the candles. I made my way throughout the house and heard nothing but water. Candles found and lit, the sight of about two inches of brown water throughout most of the house met my eyes. My flip flops were floating merrily about and, after a glance at the water, I felt that leaving my shoes on may be a bit safer.

Fortunately, as I began sweeping out the water, the power came on and I was able to see clearly what was happening. An hour later, most of the water was outside the apartment. My neighbours came back to their apartment and found a similar situation. Together we cleaned the layer of mud off the front walkway and then I finished getting most of the water cleaned up inside. I turned on the fan and went to bed. My neighbours kept at it until midnight.

Yesterday, Julia came and helped me continue the cleanup. Very fortunately, virtually nothing of my things was on the ground and so no damage was done to clothes, books or equipment. The plastic shelving units feature a couple of inches clearance which proved to be just enough to protect most things. Some monitors were on the floor but, fortunately, the floors in my apartment are not level and happened to be stacked in a high spot – phew.

The five concrete hives are now out and ready to be placed for transferring the bees. We were able to hire a man with a big truck that easily took all the hives plus the blocks to set them on. Loading and unloading the hives was certainly work. Next time I will build them in situ. Bring the bees to the hives – not the hives to the bees. But, for something that promises such a good return on investment, a couple of minutes of hard work should not be seen as too much of a drawback. We hope to start transferring bees tonight.

TTYL
Bryan

Bulls – Well ... Almost

The town fair and rodeo continues on in full spate. Lots of fun, interesting things and surprises. The strings of coloured bunting provide canopy for the streets surrounding the city square. Beer tents are set up along one side of the square with a number of the town’s restaurants and pubs setting up shop. There are plenty of carnival food places with the familiar fair food smell permeating the atmosphere. The Catholic church has a food stand in front of the church and it is busy, presumably with Catholic customers (that is who I have seen there). It would be a grave political error to bypass the Catholic booth and patronize another booth from “who knows what religion?” down the street.

Last night, before mass began, a brass band struck up music on the church steps. One sousaphone, one tuba, three trombones, two saxophones, one trumpet and two drummers (one equipped with a saucepan type cymbal set up that he clanged in time with his drum). They were very good and had some nice numbers. I believe that one of the reasons they were hired to grace the steps was because the mass featured a wedding as well. The one song I recognized was, “Those were the days my friend.” Obviously my wedding repertoire needs brushing up. As you can guess, the silent adoration section that sometimes precedes mass was not on the agenda.

The wedding was lovely and the church had been decorated with streamers and flowers. Along with flowers and so forth to go with the Holy Cross festival (the real reason for the fair at this time) (Christ is always the reason for the season), the church looked rather spectacular. The bride and groom seemed quite young (but ... what do I know – I’m getting old?). I will digress a tad bit. In Africa, the churches preached monogamy and went to great lengths to ensure that that was the norm among their adherents. Well, the importance of fertility and children within the traditional African religions did not go away quite so easily. It was critical that each couple be certain that children would be a part of the union. So, as one of our friends said, “You don’t get married until your tummy is pointing to the altar”. Nuff said.

An amazing surprise last night was the inclusion of a fifty plus piece youth orchestra from Tegucigulpa. What a sight to see these young people dressed in black, semi-formal outfits and to hear classical music from the grandstand. Completely unexpected.

Friday afternoon we went to the rodeo. So fascinating. The Lavoy Community School Rodeo was a class act. Still, this rodeo had plenty of entertainment. The stock consisted of twelve head of cattle. Three of them were bulls and the rest were cows that ranged from somewhat stocky to downright screws. Each animal was roped around the horns or head and then dragged into the chutes. That was really the exciting part of the show. After long minutes the cows/bulls were readied for riding and, provided they didn’t lay down for a rest, equipped with a suitable bull rider. The chutes were opened and the animals came out. A couple of times they came out bucking. At the eight second mark (give or take) they stopped and the cowboy gracefully dismounted. The clown made up for the lack of bucking entertainment by playing fake matador. One cow was very obliging and, as a reward, given half a can of beer to drink before taking up the chase again.

In between animals (and with only twelve animals there was plenty of in between) various musical numbers were featured. One gentleman, clad in classic Mexican sombrero, tight pants with lacy stripes and bolero type vest was a great entertainer and had the audience laughing. In fact, one of the cows was laughing so hard that she had to lie down for a while as well. Another of the bands featured a drummer who was chosen, I suspect, for her abilities off the stage. She made the “Kitchen Band” in my mother’s Golden Hills Lodge seem ready for the road (get those walkers and pots packed gang). We did enjoy the whole event immensely.

Today, on the opposite side of the road, horses and riders were competing in an event that featured small bands of ribbon looped over a rope. Each of the riders was equipped with a specially carved (lathed?) pointed piece of wood or metal about six inches long. Riding at full gallop they would try to pierce the ribbon and have it stay on the “lance”. Each time they succeeded, they were given a handkerchief to tie at their belt so that it was easy to keep score. Some very good horsemanship and some beautiful horses made the stop very worthwhile.

The carnival queen has been crowned, along with the junior miss queen. We were lucky to meet the procession of all the queens and princesses (along with escorts in black suits and ties) being brought to the evening stadium by a school band. The band made sure that the procession took its time so we got to wave to the queens and escorts for some time.

Today we went to a nearby park which is protecting a watershed. A lovely hike took us to a beautiful waterfall. As well, we were able to see a view of Lake Cajon (a man-made lake) that was spectacular. All sorts of ideas came to mind with the closer look at the lake. It was nice to find an access to the lake that is so easy to get to.

In a restaurant we stopped in there was, displayed on the food service counter one half of a caribou rack. Dave, who has spent a number of years in the north of Canada recognized it right away. I have no idea what it is doing in a Honduran restaurant.

TTYL
Bryan

Fish Heads in the Fridge

A busy day yesterday. Several of the projects we are working on made some progress so that was fun. Monday night I sat with Henry and Patricia and went over the recipe for a marinade for smoked fish. We talked about what we liked and what we thought might work. After an hour of conversation and a lot of good guess work on their part to figure out what we were talking about, Henry set off on his bicycle to buy fish, fruit and spices.

After Henry returned, we set to work to finish cleaning and filleting the fish, cutting up the pineapple and cutting off a chunk from the block of brown sugar. Fortunately, they have a blender so we put in all the spices and got them liquefied. Then the fish went in to the liquid and we set it in my house for the night. It smelled nice in my apartment from the marinade. Having worked on the fish outside the rather tenacious odour of fish was left to waft to stray cats in the neighbourhood.

In the morning we began the task of getting the charcoal ready and burning. The charcoal we had on hand from a previous barbecue had managed to absorb a fair amount of humidity so it was a challenge to get it going. Eventually we succeeded and the temperature in the smoker climbed and the fish was laid on the bamboo slats. Two hours later the first of the fish was done and we all tried a wee bit. Another hour and even the heads were looking great. A pot of smoked fish heads resides in my fridge now (that will really make future glasses of ice tea have a great taste) and they will be distributed this afternoon for people to make fish soup with. We will see if they make a good soup.

We enjoyed smoked fish for lunch and everyone was more than pleased. I made some smoked fish, mango and spaghetti type dish which was rather delicious.

As we sat for lunch, Flavio, the carpenter arrived with 180 top bars. They looked wonderful and fit nicely. Today we buy the material for the lids and the hives will be ready for bees.

While smoking the fish near my apartment, we also began heating some honey from our hives and filtering it through a nylon stocking (clean) and bottling it. It was nice to see a wee bit of results from the hives we set up. These are the bees which will be put into the new concrete hives so we do know they can produce some honey.

After lunch, I headed to the rapidito to go with Chepe to look at his land and help him with laying out contour lines. We started walking up a very steep path from his house. As we began the ascent we talked about the smoke house. I mentioned that it only took two hours to smoke the fish. Chepe was obviously on another track (not hard to be thinking that my Spanish is on a different planet) and thought I was asking if it was a two hour climb to his land. He shook his head and said, “No – only forty minutes”. Yikes. We hiked for only ten minutes and then stopped at a friend’s place and rode the rest of the way in his four wheel drive truck. I have no idea of how they carry produce and so forth up and down those hills.

We spent an hour or so setting up the level. The level consisted of a forty foot hose with two ends of clear plastic. Fill the hose with water and then attach the ends to two tall sticks. This gives you an accurate level and works quite well over a distance. We had trouble with a leaky hose which cut our time short. As well, Chepe had failed to bring any extra hands (he only has seventeen people in his house) to help with marking the lines. However, I did get a good idea of the land layout and, as it was very high up, a wonderful view of the surrounding countryside. It would be wonderful if he actually lays out the land in beds on the contour. He could quite readily add a great deal of income potential to his operation and save labour at the same time.

The town square is now full of small booths for vendors of food, trinkets and carnival accessories. Streets are more and more crowded and the buses and rapiditos have to use alternate streets. The fair is coming to town!

Bryan

Christ and Candy

Just back from an afternoon and night in San Pedro Sula. Arrived at the Terminal by 6:00 a.m. and caught the first bus out to Santa Cruz. It turned out to be my old favourite – Divine Women. The Divine part of the sign and window shading has disappeared and the driver is new. Fortunately, the other iconic protection is still in place and the new driver has acquired many of the “skills” of the old driver so that “Divine Women” has lost none of its carnival ride qualities.

Last week Manuel and I spent two days up in Tegucigulpa chasing down the funding for our project. We met a new gentleman who has already begun sending emails to the Minister, Vice-Minister and the man who is the roadblock. That is the most action we have seen in some time so we are pleased with that. Whether it will be enough remains to be seen.

At this point in time, it looks as if I have two weeks remaining in Honduras. That has been a very frustrating thought as there were so many things on my “To Do” list. It has been hard to sit in limbo for the past few weeks not being able to make firm plans but not wanting to let the time slip away empty in case the funding came through. Many hours spent thinking at night about all this. Sigh.

Yesterday morning I was feeling rather down about the whole thing and headed in to San Pedro Sula to visit a friend and to watch Real España play in the afternoon. I detoured to walk down to some new friends’ place and see if they wanted to come. It was a fifteen minute walk and, when I arrived, the guard told me they were away. I turned around and started back – this time uphill. As I trudged along, I met a small girl with unkempt hair and dusty bare feet. She was coming from the small pulperia up the road. She was sucking on a sucker of some sort and had two candies in her hand. When she saw me coming, she stopped and offered me one of her candies. I was very touched.

Mother Theresa often talks about meeting Christ in the people around you. Certainly, this little girl was a brief incarnational event. She was willing to share half of what was in her hand with a stranger who was obviously from a different culture and economic class. How delightful.

Five beehives are now built and drying. Today we begin getting the top bars made. Sunday morning I went out with Rosa at 6:00 a.m. to look for good places to put the hives. Hopefully by Wednesday they will be in place. There is a type of small, biting insect that inhabits Rosa’s property and it takes out a small chunk of skin. For some reason they chose my ears as targets and my ears are burning today. Fortunately, they are not swollen so I don’t resemble an Irish rugby prop.

Henry is working on the smoke house today (getting materials is a long and arduous process which eats up time like a starving mastiff) and I found the bamboo for the shelves and it is ready to be cut. He will also build a bit of an incinerator this week ... I hope. Looking forward to trying out the smokehouse and seeing if it produces something that is of market value.

The fair is coming to town. Games of chance and little side shows are setting up in the streets and carnie people are manning the booths. Do all carnie people look alike? The “Amazing Spider Girl” tent is up and broadcasting. I didn’t bother going to see that. It is so strange to think of people with such small amounts of disposable income using it on these shoddy games of chance. It is so fascinating to watch and wonder.

Last night I was reading a small excerpt from an article by Mother Theresa. She talked about different types of homelessness. She suggested that one of the worst types of homelessness is NOT “being somebody to someone”. I was struck by how much of our lives are often spent fruitlessly endeavouring to be ‘somebody’ to someone. Often that someone we have chosen is not interested in our being a ‘somebody’. We become patterned (like a young fledgling) to a certain person or type of person and are unable to focus on others who might be able or even wanting to give us the recognition that we need and the validation of our worth and humanity.

We took some cuttings from the Stevia plant on Friday and they seem to be hanging in there. We may have a number of new plants if this is the case. That would be fantastic. We are going to make some more cuttings this morning.

Talk to you later,
Bryan

We Interrupt This Program For ...

The office is quiet and Henry is still working on the finishing touches on a beehive out back. We are trying to construct a type of concrete beehive that will moderate the warm temperatures of the hot season and not be too affected by the colder months. Not sure how concrete will work in the colder seasons but it should be okay. It offers a number of other positive features. It is cheaper than wood, lasts longer, impervious to insects and rather impervious to thieves. We are making the volume of the hives such that one will not need to work inside them more than three or four times a year. This makes them the equivalent to four or five supers of a normal style hive. They are heavy and so no thief will run off with them on a whim. Two people can carry them for a short distance and four can easily manage them. They come equipped with carrying handles which are really for holding the top bars when you are working the hive. We have the first one done – built using a form and surrounding mesh. Unfortunately, the form did not come off as it was supposed to so the form is now available for other uses ... such as firewood. Sigh. The second attempt is a base with thin blocks forming the walls. The handles are at the bottom rather than the top. It too is rather weighty but that shouldn’t be a problem. We are not into migratory beekeeping.

Henry has been a godsend. He is my neighbour but has worked in the States and is currently unemployed. He knows the town and so can track down the supplies we need and, even better, transform them into my ideas. He is happy to have any work and this work has potential for him and his family. We are going to start on a small smokehouse on Sunday. He and his wife both know a bit about processing meat and so will use the smokehouse to experiment and see if they can start a business. We will see. Manuel is eager to see how it works because it could also lead to a business for his family in the city. Monday or Tuesday we hope to start on a water filter, and, after that, a small poultry battery. Hopefully my money lasts.

I have decided that I no longer need to pay for rides at the fair. Of course, bumper cars may have to be the exception. Riding public transport offers so much more in the way of thrills and elevated heart rates. The San Pedro Sula Express really cannot be compared to even the most adventuresome Thrill-A-Tilt-Whirl-A-Gig. For greater thrill value, sit in the front seat. Small twinges of concern when we passed the remains of a van that had ended its life trying to be a chain saw on two telephone poles.

Noticing some new things happening. Not sure if it is my eyes starting to see things or if there are changes in the economy. Twice now, at the Typical Food Court, there have been street boys hanging around the tables waiting to take half eaten plates of food. This is, of course, familiar in African settings but it is new for me in Honduras. Noticed the same thing at the Terminal yesterday. The boys there were ostensibly carrying rags to wipe the tables but it looked suspiciously like they were checking out leftovers. That is rather sobering and, for me, makes the barbecued shrimp shisk-a-bob lose a lot of its flavour.

Wednesday night, after a home Bible Study that I was invited to outside my front door, I sat and watched the final half of a Real España football match. We were into the final twenty minutes and my team was hanging on to a one goal lead – the first lead in three or four games unfortunately – when the screen changed to a collage of scenic Honduran views with the President featuring in the vast majority. After sixty seconds of not so subtle political advertising, the Minister of Education came on to make an announcement. We checked the channel that featured two other Honduran teams playing and the Minister’s announcement was showing there. Obviously, they knew where everyone’s attention was going to be focused. Happily, the announcement only lasted about ten minutes and we were able to watch the last of the game without any further glitches.

I have a question. Where are Mormon missionaries always walking to or from? Only twice in my life have I seen a pair of these boys stopped and talking. Otherwise they are walking at a brisk, no-nonsense pace that eats up the miles. One of life’s smaller mysteries. I give it to their organization though. What a super way of working things. The boys can’t get married and start having children (a big deal in their theology) until they have done their stint of walking; they pay their own way; they are still young enough not to have questioned things too seriously; they are kept out of trouble for two years doing something that is really not too stressful, mildly adventuresome (except for the poor guys who got Vegreville, Alberta as their draw) and they come back to their homes with that whiff of the exotic, foreign shores wafting about them.

Manuel and I were sitting in the Mayor’s office area this afternoon when he looked at me and then asked, “Is that a boy or a girl coming up the stairs?” A rather striking blonde individual came into sight and looked very feminine. I have seen this person a couple of times now around the town so wasn’t too surprised. Nevertheless it is still strange, to me, in such a “macho” orientated culture to see people who cross dress. I can’t imagine the stigma that this person must face on an hourly basis. If I spoke Spanish I could maybe strike up a conversation ... but that will have to wait a year or so.

Time to go out and help with the clean up.

Bryan

Easter – The Lord is Risen

The real holiday here is Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Shops and restaurants are shuttered and the town is incredibly quiet and empty. Fortunately, there were one or two little places open where I could get something to eat and some stuff for the house.

Yesterday, Saturday, the town began to come back to life. In the evening the streets were alive with the usual traffic of people enjoying the town square and finding food at restaurants and pulperias. In the evening the Easter Vigil began with an hour long candlelight processional through the town. Obviously this event is rather important in the lives of the parishioners because many of them had specially made candle holders that would hold the candles high above their heads and keep the wind from blowing them out and wax from falling on their hands and shoulders. When I arrived at the church, no one seemed to really know where the procession was so I went into the church and sat to enjoy the relative quiet. As usual, the lights were off except for one at the lectern. The baptismal candidates were waiting in white shirts and black pants or skirts. I will have to track down who these people were because it seems so strange to have so many young adults being baptized at that age and willing to spend a year in preparation.

When the procession arrived the church went from a cool sanctuary to people standing in the aisles and hundreds of candles adding to the sudden rise in temperature. I was happy to have a seat. As the service progressed, it was obvious that many were suffering from the heat. I noticed a number of people slip out and return in a few minutes with bags of soda or bottles of water which they passed to the rest of their families.

Easter Vigil, especially the full meal deal which we enjoyed last night, is a long service. The readings begin in Genesis and wend their way through the Old Testament and Apocryphal writings into the New Testament and end with the resurrection story in the Gospels. Fortunately, I am somewhat familiar with the readings so was able to follow fairly well.

In addition to the readings there was blessing of the water, baptism and, finally, the usual Eucharist celebration. All this takes about four and a half hours so it was tough for the musicians and the people who were forced to stand in the aisles. Obviously, the holy water is a very important part of people’s lives here. I understand it is used for medicinal purposes throughout the year. Hundreds of people had empty bottles of various sizes to be filled. The bottles were filled at the end of the service and the lines for the water stretched out into the street. That is a first time for me to see this part of the service taken so seriously by the laity.

The music group opened with a wonderful Latino number that featured the pulsing Latino guitar sounds that are so traditional. The soloist was very good and so the effect was wonderful. They ended up with a mariachi band song complete with accordion and trumpets.

The young people had put together some small sketches to illustrate the resurrection and the subsequent conquest of evil. Jesus was complete in white robes and a reggae type wig (not sure that was as historically accurate as it might have been). Between the risen Lord and a friendly helper carrying a Holy Bible aloft the dark, evil character was finally vanquished out of the church.

I came to the office to water the plants but, alas, the water is off so it will wait until tomorrow. I see the plants are handling a couple of warm days quite well so that is nice. The high humidity must help along with the several tall palm trees we have on the property.

Two interesting stories from a conversation on Friday. A group of people were hoping to acquire land to start some projects. They didn’t have the money at the time. What they did was to organize a number of local peasants and landless people to move onto the land they were looking at and become squatters. Once the original owner had relinquished ownership, they paid these peasants a pittance and helped them return to their original home and, finally, had the land the wanted in the first place.

The second story revolves around a local man who has Down syndrome. His family moved here about twenty-five years ago when the dam was being built. After the mine was built the family moved away and left the young man to fend for himself. Somehow, he teamed up with a girl who is slightly mentally handicapped but smart enough to be his handler. Together they work the people and, thanks to Herman’s begging skills, are able to make a reasonable living. It is fascinating to watch them in action.

During the past two or three days a local establishment has generously shared their music at full volume during the daylight hours. The local churches take over in the evenings and into the night hours. With the warmer weather, windows are kept open so these musical and semi-musical offerings are able to permeate the house without obstruction.

In just a couple of weeks the town is going to celebrate fair days. A friend of mine showed me the local cock fighting arena and gambling venue that will be part of the action. Outside of town are the rodeo grounds which will also be full of action. It should be quite exciting.

TTYL
Bryan

Palm Sunday

While driving the last couple of days, we have come upon at least two big trucks heading into San Pedro Sula filled with palm branches. Obviously, there will be a market for these branches today. So, a whole infrastructure has developed to meet the annual market. It is always fascinating what little markets develop in the strangest places and for the strangest reasons.

Wherever there is a stoppage in traffic for some sort of construction a market place develops instantly for fruits, snacks and drinks. The creativity and effort put into marketing these tiny margin commodities is amazing. I wonder if there isn’t, in fact, something that is almost addictive about selling things in an atmosphere of movement, constant change, noise and slight danger. The idea of planting seeds, watering and tending seedlings while waiting for harvest is so incredibly boring in comparison.

A couple of religious thoughts from this week. On Wednesday, we dropped off my daughter at the Anglican Bishop’s residence so that she could stay with his daughter for a couple of nights. The bishop met us with a huge, vicious Rottweiler type guard dog that was part of the security arrangements surrounding his huge, multi-storied, complete-with-pool dwelling. For a diocese that seeks funding from outside Honduras to maintain its operations, this castle seemed rather incongruent.

A second conversation took place with a young priest who is busy translating the prayer book from the 1600’s into modern Spanish for use in Spain, Honduras and other Latin American countries. Evidently, there has been no organized translation of a book of service for Spanish speakers so this is very needed. However, the theology that drives this particular version is one which concentrates on the unworthy character of people and the huge need for grace that they consequently have. Nothing wrong with that, in a sense (we’ll go there some other time) but, what this theology does create is a market for grace. And, once you have a need, you then create suppliers. These suppliers of grace gain a huge power over the lives and minds of their customers. The Bishop has created a wonderful lifestyle from selling grace to ignorant consumers. Large church institutions are built upon the financial returns made from the sale of grace.

What would happen if grace became free? What would happen to the lifestyles of these temple sellers if their tables were overturned permanently and people could come and go without recourse to their pockets? Many new religious movements have begun with the idea of free and (horrifying to the sellers) infinite grace.

To change the topic – enough theology. It gives you a small idea of the dynamics of soccer fans here when the Red Cross workers who carry the stretcher out on to the field are clad in hard hats. We will know things are really serious when the referees wear hard hats as well.

Honduras was ecstatic this week because of a 3-1 victory over Mexico. This puts them back in the hunt for a spot in the 2010 World Cup. We watched the game on a large screen at a friend`s restaurant. Our hopes to attend the game were dashed by the failure of another friend to obtain tickets. However, one or two glimpses of the stands four hours ahead of the game and the fact that it was more than +35° that day made our seats and cold drinks in hand seem like the much wiser option.

After the game, we began the drive home. We did not realize that victories are celebrated by driving about and clogging up intersections with cheering fans and waving flags. Forty minutes later we found a back route out of town and were on our way. Lots of traffic even then because of many people heading home from the game. I was rather careful as the alcohol level of many of the drivers had to be somewhat elevated.

Friday night we passed an accident victim lying on the road. Print and TV media feature numerous shots of dead bodies each day and, obviously, the media had not yet arrived so no covering had been utilized. We didn`t stick around to wait for the media. Sobering though.

A week of hot weather and, if the forecast is correct, a hotter week ahead. Once temperatures rise above body temperature it really is testing. Fortunately, we have a fan at night so there is air movement and gradual cooling. Evenings are pleasant and people utilize the time to walk and visit. It is nice to see people out and about.

Have a good Easter week. For most people here in Honduras, the whole week is off. For the rest, Wednesday to Sunday is a holiday. Any body of water, including rivers, is crowded with people seeking to cool off and to enjoy the holiday. Not surprisingly, even river banks have vendors setting up for the coming throngs.

Bryan