Naaman was a powerful general. Like all generals, in every army, he wore the accoutrements of his position whenever there were eyes about, whenever there was an opportunity for rivals to evaluate his current strength.
Naaman was a leper. Underneath the clothes of a general was an outcast, an untouchable, someone less than a person ... a dead man walking.
Naaman was lucky. He had an emperor who looked beyond the clothes. He had an emperor who looked beyond the leprosy. That is a long, long journey for any eyes to travel.
Naaman had a slave girl who looked even further. She looked beyond death and saw life. Maybe only a child still has the vision to look that far. Deaths’ shadows have not yet clouded the heart with cataracts of hopelessness. She, being a slave, was well acquainted with death but, somehow, life still shone.
Naaman was sent by the slave girl who could see life and the emperor who could see beyond leprosy to find healing. Being a general, he, of course, wore a general’s clothes. He went with a general’s escort. He went with a general’s status.
Naaman met a king. Generals always go to the top. They are the top. The king was afraid. Generals he could deal with. Emperors he could deal with. Death he could not. He did not see any life in the situation at all. Consequently, and rather expectedly, he was afraid.
Naaman was sent to a prophet. This prophet was not very professional. He didn’t live in the temple grounds. He didn’t have incense burning about. He didn’t seem to have much of anything. Certainly all that Naaman could see was a small house, seemingly rather removed from the power centres of palace or priestly halls.
Naaman never met the prophet. In fact, he only met a servant. The servant seemed rather confusing. Impressed but not impressed, polite but impolite ... or was that the prophet? No rushing about. No special seat or carpet. No pitcher of warmed water to wash a general’s dusty feet. No cooking fires lit to barbecue a fatted calf. No activity whatsoever.
Naaman got a message. That is all. Just a message. And the message was not very helpful ... at least it didn’t seem so to Naaman. Go bathe in the River Jordan.
Naaman got the message. He wasn’t happy about it at all. In fact, he was afraid. And, as is usually the case, because he was afraid, he got angry.
Naaman was afraid because he was told to take off his clothes. In daylight. In front of others. In a foreign country. He wouldn’t be a general. He wouldn’t be a man. He would be a leper. You may respect the general as long as you can’t see underneath the clothes. But ... if you can ... and he is a leper ... well ... that changes everything doesn’t it?
Naaman had a servant who could also see beyond death. He saw beyond the strangeness of foreign scenery, foreign gods and foreign environments, fraught as they surely must be with dirt, dishonesty and disease. He looked at the options available to a leper and asked Naaman to be honest for a moment. Honest for a moment, as far as
Naaman was concerned, was for a lifetime and a rather momentary one at that.
Naaman faced death. No cell phone cameras to upload to a waiting Facebook audience at home but, nevertheless, just as deadly. The general’s escort was watching. The general’s escort would remember. The general’s escort would talk.
Naaman got out of his clothes. He stopped being a general. He stopped being a man among men. He stopped being a person at all. He became a leper and waded into the water.
Naaman was no longer a leper. But, in a way, he was no longer a man either. He became, it says, like a small child. He still didn’t look like a man’s man or a general. He looked like someone starting over. And, really, he was.
Naaman became a general again. Did his decisions, previously so besotted with death, begin to have greening tinges of life creep in unexpectedly? Did he look beyond the suits that surrounded him and see people? Was he afraid anymore? Did hope begin to whisper and drown the shouts of anger?
Naaman discovered that without clothes there is no emperor. But ... equally ... without clothes there is life. He also discovered, hopefully, that nothing is more threatening to an emperor than losing his clothes. But ... equally ... only by losing the clothes is there hope for life.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Waiting for a Truck
Today we just tried out a new vacuum sealer unit that I brought to Honduras. We have some ripe plantains and tried peeling and vacuum packing them. Four people are taking a package home to put in their refrigerator and, from there, we will see how long they last.
There are a number of reasons for this experiment. Over half of the bulk and weight of the plantain is in the skin. As well, the skin is highly nutritious for animals. By keeping the skins in the rural areas, they can be used for animal feed. Shipping something less than half of the bulk is much easier. The downside is the use of plastic. I need to find some ways to package in bulk with reusable containers. Any ideas or leads would be appreciated.
Last night was a Honduras night all round. I was told to be at place X at 5:00 p.m. to sing with the music group. As well, I was told to wear a purple shirt. Five o’clock came and I was still eating supper (didn’t want to venture on an adventure without some fuel). Five fifteen it began to rain. Still raining at 5:30. How late did I dare be? Put on a jacket and wide brimmed hat and headed out. By the time I had walked four blocks, my pants were very damp. I arrived at place X. No one there. Traveled on half a block to one of the homes of the group. None of the group there. Sat and waited till 6:15, helping one of the girls with her English homework in the meantime. Finally one of the group arrived and asked why I was wearing the wrong colour of shirt. I explained that, in English, this colour was indeed purple. Sigh. Mauve is ‘purple’ and purple is ‘maroon’. Now I know.
At 6:15 we headed to the location of the presentation. Two of the group were setting up the equipment. Eventually found out that the program was for 7:00 p.m. So, I helped set up stuff and, generally, hung around in wet trousers. I had really hoped that hanging around in wet pants wouldn’t start for another twenty years or more. All depends on the situation, right?
At around 7:30, the music started. At 9:00 p.m. we were served a plate of fried plantains, some salsa type toping and a soft drink. By 9:30 I was able to graciously leave and head home.
One neat thing happened during the evening. The house we were at was on the upper edge of a wide valley. It began to rain on the far side of the valley and as the rain moved across, the roar of the rain on the tin roofs grew louder and louder. At first I thought it was a truck climbing the far side of the valley but as the sound grew in volume it became apparent that it was the rain. Since our group had their amplifiers, the rain was not a hindrance to the festivities.
We have one group of bees that have built their combs on the outside of a trap hive. Last Friday, Santiago dressed in the equipment and climbed up to put some holes in the hive near the bees to encourage them to make the step to the inside. He got stung a couple of times but is ready to try again tomorrow. He will try and make the hole a bit bigger. The first attempt used too small a bit. It seems so strange to have these bees in the rain but ... they seem content.
My truck was to be ready this week. We are still keeping our fingers crossed for Saturday. I am worried about the cost of fuel the first week or so as my list of things to do in various places is growing daily. I have a zillion seedlings to move and that will mean several trips right there. Then to find some fruit trees, coffee seedlings and so forth. I hope they will all get planted successfully by the end of August.
We are now at 96 students in Grade 7 alone. We listen to the stories of the students from the rural communities and are so pleased with what we are doing. Only about 10-20% of Grade 6 students continue on to Grade 7. The “official” numbers are better but the anecdotal numbers from people counting themselves are grim indeed.
I will also post a reflection on Namaan later. We are so ready to evaluate others by their outward presentation. I keep hoping that it will be easier to look past that as I gain more experience (meaning ... get older). Hmm. Wonder when that will happen?
TTYL
bb
Last night was a Honduras night all round. I was told to be at place X at 5:00 p.m. to sing with the music group. As well, I was told to wear a purple shirt. Five o’clock came and I was still eating supper (didn’t want to venture on an adventure without some fuel). Five fifteen it began to rain. Still raining at 5:30. How late did I dare be? Put on a jacket and wide brimmed hat and headed out. By the time I had walked four blocks, my pants were very damp. I arrived at place X. No one there. Traveled on half a block to one of the homes of the group. None of the group there. Sat and waited till 6:15, helping one of the girls with her English homework in the meantime. Finally one of the group arrived and asked why I was wearing the wrong colour of shirt. I explained that, in English, this colour was indeed purple. Sigh. Mauve is ‘purple’ and purple is ‘maroon’. Now I know.
At 6:15 we headed to the location of the presentation. Two of the group were setting up the equipment. Eventually found out that the program was for 7:00 p.m. So, I helped set up stuff and, generally, hung around in wet trousers. I had really hoped that hanging around in wet pants wouldn’t start for another twenty years or more. All depends on the situation, right?
At around 7:30, the music started. At 9:00 p.m. we were served a plate of fried plantains, some salsa type toping and a soft drink. By 9:30 I was able to graciously leave and head home.
One neat thing happened during the evening. The house we were at was on the upper edge of a wide valley. It began to rain on the far side of the valley and as the rain moved across, the roar of the rain on the tin roofs grew louder and louder. At first I thought it was a truck climbing the far side of the valley but as the sound grew in volume it became apparent that it was the rain. Since our group had their amplifiers, the rain was not a hindrance to the festivities.
We have one group of bees that have built their combs on the outside of a trap hive. Last Friday, Santiago dressed in the equipment and climbed up to put some holes in the hive near the bees to encourage them to make the step to the inside. He got stung a couple of times but is ready to try again tomorrow. He will try and make the hole a bit bigger. The first attempt used too small a bit. It seems so strange to have these bees in the rain but ... they seem content.
My truck was to be ready this week. We are still keeping our fingers crossed for Saturday. I am worried about the cost of fuel the first week or so as my list of things to do in various places is growing daily. I have a zillion seedlings to move and that will mean several trips right there. Then to find some fruit trees, coffee seedlings and so forth. I hope they will all get planted successfully by the end of August.
We are now at 96 students in Grade 7 alone. We listen to the stories of the students from the rural communities and are so pleased with what we are doing. Only about 10-20% of Grade 6 students continue on to Grade 7. The “official” numbers are better but the anecdotal numbers from people counting themselves are grim indeed.
I will also post a reflection on Namaan later. We are so ready to evaluate others by their outward presentation. I keep hoping that it will be easier to look past that as I gain more experience (meaning ... get older). Hmm. Wonder when that will happen?
TTYL
bb
Monday, July 19, 2010
Waiting for the Ministry – Again ... Still
Warm, humid days with plenty of thunderstorms continue to make things green and, at times, change schedules. Generally, because the rains last less than an hour, everyone stops where they are and waits for a stoppage before venturing on. Consequently, meetings and appointments go on hold when a thunderstorm hits. Of course, this sometimes goes awry as there are, occasionally, rains that last for several hours. I still haven’t acquired the ability to tell the difference so, as a result, have, several times, gotten a good soaking for nothing. I may have to take the bold step of buying an umbrella – another thing to lose and, unfortunately, not really all that useful in a major downpour, especially if the rain is slanting at all.
Last Thursday or Friday was scheduled to meet with the Vice Minister of Education here in Santa Cruz. By Thursday afternoon it was obvious that that was not to be the case. A late afternoon phone call assured us that: a. The meeting was not on Friday. b. The meeting would be the following Thursday. Well, today, we got another phone call. The Minister has taken a trip outside of the country and, consequently, the meeting is postponed again. Understandably, having the Vice Minister of Education 200 kilometres away from her desk at such a time could be disastrous for the Ministry should a national emergency (a shortage of pencils, a case of discoloured uniforms or ... the prospects are simply too horrifying) arrive. Sigh.
The good news for us is that we are able to organize more and more of the materials we have and some of the new things we are gaining. In the last week we have found two digitalized “libraries” of sorts. We are now going through them and finding what books are there, what level they are and how we might use them in our program. It is very exciting to have at least some books to begin with. Hopefully, by week’s end, we will have a list from the first “library” and can then get on with loading them for our students to read. It will be such a huge step for them to be able to read stories for, in reality, the first time in their lives.
World Cup soccer is over for another four years and, as the Honduran soccer league has not begun it second half of the season, thousands of Honduran soccer fans are bereft of their fixes. Soccer Fans Anonymous is setting up free drop-in centres to help us out. Even worse news, the team I cheer for, Reál España, is changing their stadium to a city a further twenty kilometres away. My hopes for the odd game are, I fear, gone up in the smoke of political firestorms. As their line-up has had no substantial changes from the first half of the season, this may not be as devastating a blow as first glance would suggest.
On Saturday, I was invited, along with the music group, to a birthday party for a pair of twins turning eight. Obviously I missed a considerable amount in the translation as only two of us from the group showed up. The party was, I was told, to start at 1:00 p.m. That was going to allow me to play in a soccer game at 3:00 p.m. and a rehearsal at 6:00 p.m. Well, you can stop laughing because you already know what happened. I left the party early at 4:00, went home and then was stranded by two hours of rain. The upside was a chance to meet a couple who had studied English and French a bit so were aware of a few words in English, and, more importantly, aware of how to translate my Spanish into Spanish. We had a lovely visit.
The satellite centres (where we have one or more computers in a village) are doing well and we are getting more students all the time. They are progressing fairly well and we will see how they do on exams. One centre came in today with marks and they are reasonable. I suspect that we will find the marks a little lower but, possibly, more realistic of what we can expect. When students study here, they have access to help and that skews their results.
On Friday, I went in to San Pedro Sula to look at a truck that is being prepared for me. It is exciting to think of having wheels to haul seedlings, sand, people, computers, etc. It will save a great deal of time. It remains to be seen what it will do to the budget though. I may be using the public transport for many things because of cost savings. What having a vehicle will do for the most part is allow me to work on things in the late afternoon without fear of missing the last bus home. That means that I can work in the office until two or three and then accomplish something else for a few hours. Working at four in the afternoon is so much cooler than at twelve noon.
As with many countries, Honduras participates in the Insurance Write-off market. When a car is in an accident in Canada or the U.S., it is, often, written off because of the high cost of repair in comparison to the value of the car. These cars are put up for auction on the internet. Over 1000 vehicles per day (according to my source) are sold this way. They are then shipped to the country of purchase, repaired and sold there.
The vehicle I am looking at is such a vehicle. It was in a minor accident in Florida and the box and tailgate were damaged. It runs well and the rest of the vehicle is in reasonable shape. By week’s end, the dents will be repaired, the body repainted, the interior cleaned, etc. I should, I hope, by next week be able to drive it out and about. The price is much cheaper than any other vehicle I can get so that is also a bonus.
As is so often the case, finding the people to accomplish this takes time, fortune and relationships. This was easy. The step-brother of a girl I taught in San Pedro Sula who, incidentally, runs a layer operation, (the step-brother that is) has a brother-in-law who imports cars as an aside to selling car stereos, fancy add ons and so forth. The brother-in-law’s wife speaks English and, as long as it concerns makes and models of cars and trucks, so does he. How much easier does it need to be? Only took a couple of years of relationships to find that out.
Time to run.
TTYL
bb
Last Thursday or Friday was scheduled to meet with the Vice Minister of Education here in Santa Cruz. By Thursday afternoon it was obvious that that was not to be the case. A late afternoon phone call assured us that: a. The meeting was not on Friday. b. The meeting would be the following Thursday. Well, today, we got another phone call. The Minister has taken a trip outside of the country and, consequently, the meeting is postponed again. Understandably, having the Vice Minister of Education 200 kilometres away from her desk at such a time could be disastrous for the Ministry should a national emergency (a shortage of pencils, a case of discoloured uniforms or ... the prospects are simply too horrifying) arrive. Sigh.
The good news for us is that we are able to organize more and more of the materials we have and some of the new things we are gaining. In the last week we have found two digitalized “libraries” of sorts. We are now going through them and finding what books are there, what level they are and how we might use them in our program. It is very exciting to have at least some books to begin with. Hopefully, by week’s end, we will have a list from the first “library” and can then get on with loading them for our students to read. It will be such a huge step for them to be able to read stories for, in reality, the first time in their lives.
World Cup soccer is over for another four years and, as the Honduran soccer league has not begun it second half of the season, thousands of Honduran soccer fans are bereft of their fixes. Soccer Fans Anonymous is setting up free drop-in centres to help us out. Even worse news, the team I cheer for, Reál España, is changing their stadium to a city a further twenty kilometres away. My hopes for the odd game are, I fear, gone up in the smoke of political firestorms. As their line-up has had no substantial changes from the first half of the season, this may not be as devastating a blow as first glance would suggest.
On Saturday, I was invited, along with the music group, to a birthday party for a pair of twins turning eight. Obviously I missed a considerable amount in the translation as only two of us from the group showed up. The party was, I was told, to start at 1:00 p.m. That was going to allow me to play in a soccer game at 3:00 p.m. and a rehearsal at 6:00 p.m. Well, you can stop laughing because you already know what happened. I left the party early at 4:00, went home and then was stranded by two hours of rain. The upside was a chance to meet a couple who had studied English and French a bit so were aware of a few words in English, and, more importantly, aware of how to translate my Spanish into Spanish. We had a lovely visit.
The satellite centres (where we have one or more computers in a village) are doing well and we are getting more students all the time. They are progressing fairly well and we will see how they do on exams. One centre came in today with marks and they are reasonable. I suspect that we will find the marks a little lower but, possibly, more realistic of what we can expect. When students study here, they have access to help and that skews their results.
On Friday, I went in to San Pedro Sula to look at a truck that is being prepared for me. It is exciting to think of having wheels to haul seedlings, sand, people, computers, etc. It will save a great deal of time. It remains to be seen what it will do to the budget though. I may be using the public transport for many things because of cost savings. What having a vehicle will do for the most part is allow me to work on things in the late afternoon without fear of missing the last bus home. That means that I can work in the office until two or three and then accomplish something else for a few hours. Working at four in the afternoon is so much cooler than at twelve noon.
As with many countries, Honduras participates in the Insurance Write-off market. When a car is in an accident in Canada or the U.S., it is, often, written off because of the high cost of repair in comparison to the value of the car. These cars are put up for auction on the internet. Over 1000 vehicles per day (according to my source) are sold this way. They are then shipped to the country of purchase, repaired and sold there.
The vehicle I am looking at is such a vehicle. It was in a minor accident in Florida and the box and tailgate were damaged. It runs well and the rest of the vehicle is in reasonable shape. By week’s end, the dents will be repaired, the body repainted, the interior cleaned, etc. I should, I hope, by next week be able to drive it out and about. The price is much cheaper than any other vehicle I can get so that is also a bonus.
As is so often the case, finding the people to accomplish this takes time, fortune and relationships. This was easy. The step-brother of a girl I taught in San Pedro Sula who, incidentally, runs a layer operation, (the step-brother that is) has a brother-in-law who imports cars as an aside to selling car stereos, fancy add ons and so forth. The brother-in-law’s wife speaks English and, as long as it concerns makes and models of cars and trucks, so does he. How much easier does it need to be? Only took a couple of years of relationships to find that out.
Time to run.
TTYL
bb
Back in Honduras – July 12
A short two and a half weeks has flown by. My daughter graduated from High School so a trip to Canada was in order. There were many other things that needed to be done as well so the trip was filled with activity. Alberta being what it is, huge in comparison to Honduras, a great deal of time was spent travelling from place to place.
This morning the power is off so, fortunately, my laptop has enough battery power to work for a little while. I just showed two of the workers pictures from the graduation so that seemed to use a fair bit of the battery.
Trees and plants have grown considerably in the two weeks I was away. One group of bees is still hanging around and building on the outside of the hive. So strange to have them clustered about in the elements when twenty centimetres away is the entrance to a dry and safer location. Obviously the queen said she wasn’t moving. I see that a number of cuttings have been planted and are sprouting. That is always so exciting to see.
My trip to Honduras was made eventful by my stupidity. Going through the security check in Edmonton, I sent the basket with belt, watch, pens, vest, coins, shoes and the kitchen sink through the scanner. As it disappeared, I realized that my wallet was still in my pocket (I am sure you picked that up while reading the last sentence.). Dutifully, I shoved it into a front pocket of my carry on and zipped it up. On the other side, distracted by someone who was having trouble going through the body scanner, I emptied the basket and went on my way, forgetting to rescue my wallet. Well, by the time I reached Minneapolis, I had forgotten about where I had put the silly thing and, upon reaching for a business card, began to panic. I was sure that I had left it in the basket. So, a frustrating hour finding the phone number for Edmonton lost and found, buying a phone card, phoning home to put holds on credit and bank cards. Fortunately, I have a classy Tilley vest (by the makers of the incredible Tilley hat line – if you are over 50 you know just how incredible it is) where I carry all my different currencies, passport and other valuables. Only my Canadian money was in my wallet. To make a long story short, the next morning, in a last, vain attempt to double check, I went through my carry on and, of course, found the missing wallet.
Atlanta airport has a wonderful feature. They have a curbside check-in service. So, instead of finding a cart (they charge $4.00 there) or wrestling with luggage through the terminal (the busiest in the world), you can check in at the curb, get your boarding pass and then waltz through the terminal (good thing for me as they changed my gate from Terminal E to A and back to E) with only your carry on.
On the plane to San Pedro Sula were several groups of people coming to do projects or mission work in Honduras. Their group T-shirts made them very obvious. One group had the logo, “Harvest Honduras” on their shirts. Several thoughts crossed my mind. Who did the planting, the weeding, the watering? Who benefits from the harvest? In a nation with churches on virtually every other block, who is the harvest for?
Coming through customs in Honduras was lovely. The Bronze medal game of the World Cup was due to start in ninety minutes and all the officials and workers were feeling the pressure to get things cleared before kick off. As well, having a number of groups tends to focus attention on their luggage and behaviour so my usual strange collection (this time two small incubators and a vacuum food sealer) was waved through with only a casual glance.
I took a taxi to the terminal and then a bus home. I missed the game but was happy to get home in the early afternoon. It is good to be back in Honduras again. We will see, as the morning progresses, what all has to be done. We are having official visitors later in the week so I imagine there will be a bit of stress in the next couple of days.
TTYL
bb
This morning the power is off so, fortunately, my laptop has enough battery power to work for a little while. I just showed two of the workers pictures from the graduation so that seemed to use a fair bit of the battery.
Trees and plants have grown considerably in the two weeks I was away. One group of bees is still hanging around and building on the outside of the hive. So strange to have them clustered about in the elements when twenty centimetres away is the entrance to a dry and safer location. Obviously the queen said she wasn’t moving. I see that a number of cuttings have been planted and are sprouting. That is always so exciting to see.
My trip to Honduras was made eventful by my stupidity. Going through the security check in Edmonton, I sent the basket with belt, watch, pens, vest, coins, shoes and the kitchen sink through the scanner. As it disappeared, I realized that my wallet was still in my pocket (I am sure you picked that up while reading the last sentence.). Dutifully, I shoved it into a front pocket of my carry on and zipped it up. On the other side, distracted by someone who was having trouble going through the body scanner, I emptied the basket and went on my way, forgetting to rescue my wallet. Well, by the time I reached Minneapolis, I had forgotten about where I had put the silly thing and, upon reaching for a business card, began to panic. I was sure that I had left it in the basket. So, a frustrating hour finding the phone number for Edmonton lost and found, buying a phone card, phoning home to put holds on credit and bank cards. Fortunately, I have a classy Tilley vest (by the makers of the incredible Tilley hat line – if you are over 50 you know just how incredible it is) where I carry all my different currencies, passport and other valuables. Only my Canadian money was in my wallet. To make a long story short, the next morning, in a last, vain attempt to double check, I went through my carry on and, of course, found the missing wallet.
Atlanta airport has a wonderful feature. They have a curbside check-in service. So, instead of finding a cart (they charge $4.00 there) or wrestling with luggage through the terminal (the busiest in the world), you can check in at the curb, get your boarding pass and then waltz through the terminal (good thing for me as they changed my gate from Terminal E to A and back to E) with only your carry on.
On the plane to San Pedro Sula were several groups of people coming to do projects or mission work in Honduras. Their group T-shirts made them very obvious. One group had the logo, “Harvest Honduras” on their shirts. Several thoughts crossed my mind. Who did the planting, the weeding, the watering? Who benefits from the harvest? In a nation with churches on virtually every other block, who is the harvest for?
Coming through customs in Honduras was lovely. The Bronze medal game of the World Cup was due to start in ninety minutes and all the officials and workers were feeling the pressure to get things cleared before kick off. As well, having a number of groups tends to focus attention on their luggage and behaviour so my usual strange collection (this time two small incubators and a vacuum food sealer) was waved through with only a casual glance.
I took a taxi to the terminal and then a bus home. I missed the game but was happy to get home in the early afternoon. It is good to be back in Honduras again. We will see, as the morning progresses, what all has to be done. We are having official visitors later in the week so I imagine there will be a bit of stress in the next couple of days.
TTYL
bb
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