Green Leaves

On Saturday morning, I cut a number of stalks of Chaya to make cuttings for planting at a project. Julia graciously harvested the leaves that I trimmed off and from the tops of the stalks. As well, Santiago had found a large branch of a Moringa tree on the ground. We harvested some of those leaves as well. The branch went for planting.

This morning I brought the bag of leaves to school. In addition, we had a small bag of beet leaves (Chepe and I found them sitting in a box by a vegetable seller destined for the garbage bin). We were having a cooking class for four girls who are going to make some posters about green leaves.

We began by chopping up the leaves and setting a small bunch in the pan for steaming. As the leaves finished steaming, we tried them alone, with vinegar and, finally, some butter (heavy cream). We tried both the chaya and the beets that way. The first bunch weren’t too well liked (the chaya are not a taste treat by themselves), but by the third or fourth set, they were being eaten quite happily (much to my surprise).

First taste of greens - rather apprehensive

The next session was to cook leaves in oil along with onions, jalapeño pepper and tomatoes. To this we added, in various batches, peanut butter, cheese (with peppers) and coconut milk. The peanut butter was the all round favourite with the coconut milk a close second. We needed a different variety of cheese that melts better.

All in all, a successful morning. The girls even took the leftovers home to let their families try. Again, a surprise for me. Yeni, one of our staff, has been cooking with leaves for a couple of weeks now so was a stalwart supporter of the whole enterprise. Other students meandered by to check on things. There will be many stories told tonight.

Professional tasters - more than one bite

Saturday morning, at about 5:00 a.m., Blanca, a worker at one of the projects, had her baby. It was number three so came rather quickly. When I arrived at 11.00 a.m. the house was cleaned, lunch was on cooking and she was ready to deal with project business. Her companion was obviously digging in and helping but she certainly had things under control. Rather amazing.

I took a bunch of food, diapers and what not. The lady in the store selling diapers was a great salesperson and did her best to make sure I went fully laden. I refrained from most of the stuff but did buy the small red band that was supposed to go around the baby to protect the healing navel. The person I was with assured me that this was an important item. I have no idea but enjoyed the sales pitch enough to cave in.

Saturday evening, I took in the farm and ranch show in San Pedro Sula. It was amazing to see the cattle and horses on display. Some beautiful animals. The Brown Swiss cows were my favourite and it certainly made me start calculating how I can get one or two. Will likely have to settle for a local breed first.

TTYL

BB

Tela Beach Day

Sunday morning, 120 students, family members and the CPI Honduras board went to Tela to spend a day on the beach. Incredibly, we left on time (before 7.00 a.m. from Santa Cruz – earlier for the first bus stops). Just after 9:00 we passed Tela.

We travelled past Tela to Triunfo de la Cruz, a Garifuna village. The Garifuna are descendants of the slaves brought to work the Sugar Cane plantations many years ago. They continue to maintain their own language and, to a certain extent, their own culture. The Garifuna language has many West African roots and one can hear the similar sounds to West African languages as they talk (not that I am an expert ... but I can still count in Hausa).

We piled off the bus and headed to some rickety shelters made of bamboo and coconut fronds. The villagers have a monopoly on items such as bathrooms and change rooms and make full use of it. The charges are what the market can bear so it is okay ... I guess. They have kept the facilities rustic.

The water was beautiful. Enough of a wave was hitting the beach to make it fun for all but not enough to cause problems for first timers. The beach sloped gently for a long ways so people could find their own preferred spot without any trouble.

Two months ago, the board of CPI Honduras felt that they should be contributing to the project in a financial way. So, they thought of how to raise funds. Their idea was to organize this excursion. Along with Manuel, Yeni and Edel, they made up tickets, sold them in their communities and organized small snacks to be sold along the way and at the beach.

I am so delighted with the whole venture. It was a success on so many levels. First of all, the trip went off without any hitches. So, everything else is beyond expectation. Having the board take ownership of this project and look for ways to contribute is so very encouraging. As well, we had people from a variety of communities which meant that students and families were able to make new friends and give our program a much bigger ‘face’. Other schools aren’t doing this so it was a real achievement for our school. For several of the young people, it was their first trip to the ocean (100 km away).

What was especially exciting was the fact that Santos and Esperanza came with many of the students they have helped enrol in the program. Two years ago relations were very strained with these lovely people due to a former employee’s maliciousness. To have them back as friends and contributing to the success of our school is extremely rewarding.

We arrived back in torrential rain. I carried about ten students in my truck to their village. All vestiges of salt were well taken care of by the time we pulled into the village centre. Being inside the truck meant that I had to wash off in the house.

Other news. Friday, Santiago and I found some Vetiver grass and were able to buy five large sacks. We planted two sacks’ worth at the school with the help of the students. They enjoyed the project and we practised English phrases as we separated the shoots and set them out to grow. A tiny bit of excitement ensued when a foot long snake appeared in one of the clumps. Everyone agreed that it wasn’t poisonous (rather a surprise in itself – generally all snakes are ‘poisonous’) and so we released it on the other side of the road.

The town of Santa Cruz is in shock today because one of the local doctors was kidnapped and killed last night. His body was discovered some distance away. Rather bizarrely, it was at the junction of three different regions so there is a squabble about which region is to do the forensics. We are still not sure what the whole story is. There was a meeting recently of the town business community to talk about crime. He wasn’t politically involved so it doesn’t seem to be motivated by that.

This morning, the local representative of the Educatodos program dropped in to see us. She talks at auctioneer overdrive speed so much of what she said went well into my stratosphere. One of the things she mentioned was that she has not received her salary for eighteen months. Can you imagine? I have no idea what keeps her going.

TTYL

BB