Conference in Copan

Over the next week or so, I will be giving you snippets from a conference I attended in Copan. Over 150 people from a large number of NGO's (Non-Governmental Organizations) working in Honduras met for three days of sharing and learning. Sessions were in English and Spanish so a couple hours of concentrated listening each day.

Saturday we had a visit from the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras. She arrived in a convoy of three bullet proof cars and with about eight armed men.  She was dressed casually but the effect, nonetheless, was anything but. Her talk was short and informative. The drug trade, rather unsurprisingly, was an important part of the talk.

Statistics to amaze. The U.S. is 5% of the world's population. They consume 90% of the world's illegal drugs. 60% of those drugs funnel through Honduras. You can understand how the 50 Million dollars spent on drug traffic control is certainly horribly outclassed by the billions garnered by the trade itself. When you consider that many of the traders pay for their services with drugs, the problem in Honduras is multiplied.

The gangs are fuelled by the drug trade. There are more gang members in Honduras than in the rest of Central America combined. I don't see the gangs so much here in Santa Cruz, but the recent increase in drug related killings suggests that they are very much present.

Their power was brought home by the story of one man who runs a children's home. One of his girls is between 15 and 16 years of age. She decided to run away and was seen in the company of gang members. The man posted flyers asking for help in getting her back. A mistake as it turns out. The gangs realized that this girl was valuable for more than just the tricks she would turn. They are now tracking this man and asking for money for her ransom and also making threats against him, his staff and the other children. The poor man was completely distraught by all this. Police are powerless (willingly or unwillingly) to assist him.

Final sobering paragraph. Only 20% of birth certificates in Honduras currently name the father of the child. 3/4 of all households do not have a permanent male figure. Wow. A nation of fatherless children. Where is the future?

On the good news front. Many people were excited about our approach to education and the opportunities it offered for them in their work. We really are creating a product that will allow young men and women to have a focus of study and education rather than the alternative - gangs and nothing to do. That was very affirming.

I will talk more in the next few days and give some reflections as well.

TTYL

BB