Random Happenings

This week has been filled with a variety of activities. I will flit from one to the other because they are still rumbling around my mind in a disorganized fashion.

One evening this week I approached my house and heard a great deal of giggling. A gaggle of tiny, primary school girls were headed home. Obviously, a block of giggles had left a few of them in desperate straits. By my house there is a metre deep ditch and so several of them had squatted down to solve the problem. Of course, having a big, bearded expatriate come strolling along only increased the hilarity and had everyone shrieking with laughter. I studiously looked the other way as I unlocked my gate and headed into the house. Too funny.

An American has been visiting our school and lives nearby. He introduced us to the idea of a dome shaped house - much like something made of ferro-cement. This week we have begun building a prototype. We are going to build a tiny structure that is 10 feet in diameter and 8 feet tall. We are having a frame constructed which can be unassembled once the cement sets. Friday was the day to pour the floor. The man I had arranged to come help with the cement work didn't show so I put in a call to another man, Edis. He arrived just in time to help us figure out how to level the floor. His method was much simpler than the one I knew and we managed to get everything poured by the time an early afternoon rain hit. The cement here sets up very quickly and so we had to move with alacrity. We had a number of students to do the mixing of the concrete - all done by hand.

Monday, we will put colouring on the floor and later in the week we should have the structure up. Lots to think about and plan. Always tricky trying something new when only one person has a relative idea of the final product. If this works, it is a very forgiving and flexible way of building. Hopefully, it will be a cheaper one as well.

On Wednesday, we had a glimpse of the underlying fear that many people live with. It is easy to forget that there is a great deal of violence around us and in the history of Honduras. Some of this violence has been perpetrated by parts of the army. Tom and I wanted to raft down a river. We headed for the launch site but were stopped by army personnel. Our driver, Lico, just froze and hung on to the steering wheel with both hands and answered in  monosyllables. In the end, the soldiers would not let us through so we had to turn around and cancel the trip. I suspect that had Lico not been so fearful a small arrangement could have been made. Fascinating to see the fear that Lico displayed.

Today I had to ask a family to leave the property they were supposed to be in charge of. It turns out that they were planting marijuana and a few other unsavoury things. I was so disappointed as they had such a good opportunity to grow their own food, live in a private house and have a constant income. As we probed, we found out that they had a bit of an unsavoury past so this activity isn't surprising. The economic value of marijuana is such that one can understand the allure.

They were obviously expecting something as they were ready to leave in twenty minutes. Imagine having all your stuff for a family of five packed and ready in twenty minutes. Another family was ready to move in to take their place and they too were ready to go in twenty minutes. We bought a mattress for them as they didn't have their own. It struck me, again, just how rich I am and how quickly I accumulate things wherever I live. I really do try to live simply ... but ... I have a great deal to learn from these people.

Thursday and Friday, Edel gave a training session to people from Samaritan's Purse in the use of our delivery system. They already have students lined up for the program. They are a much, much bigger organization than we are so it will be great to have them on board.

TTYL

BB

Sandwich Spread

Value adding is one way in which to increase the income potential of a product – you knew that already. One of the things we have been thinking about for the women’s fish product is finding a way to turn small fish into a saleable food product. Finally, this week, we got around to trying one of our ideas.

Tom Heller, a Canadian teacher, is here for three weeks to help out. Among his many skills is the knowledge of how to prepare fish neatly and efficiently.  Those two adverbs are not part of my skill set when applied to fish. I do a mean chicken ... but fish ... ‘nother story.

Finished product

Sandwich Spread on Bread

Tuesday morning Manuel and I went out to meet with the ladies at their fish pond. Their second batch of fish is now three months old and from 1/3 to ½ pounds. They are growing more quickly this time. Part of this is because the ladies have more management skills and are better able to see problems early on.

We bought nine small fish (about 2 ½ lbs) and took them home. Tom did the honours of scaling, cleaning and taking off the heads and fins. I cut up an onion, pressed some garlic and juiced two small lemons. Fish and so forth ready we put them into the pressure cooker. Small problem, the glass pyrex dish I had didn’t fit. Plan B. A small angel food cake tin fit nicely and in went the fish, a little salt and the onions, etc. We put on the lid, let it build to pressure and then set our stopwatches for ninety minutes.

Ninety minutes later we depressurized the pot (Tom’s first experience with a pressure cooker – no major steam jets to make it exciting) and looked to see what we had. Amazingly, the fish was perfect. The small bones were easily chewed and the flavour was outstanding. It was very much like tuna and didn’t seem to resemble tilapia at all.

We gave the fish a test drive ourselves, to Gladys, our neighbour and to the staff at the school. Everyone was delighted. What was left went into the fridge until today.

This morning Manuel and I went back to El Cipres to show the women the new product. We took a bit of mustard and mayonnaise and a couple of tomatoes along as well. Once there we had them try the fish by itself and then I mixed a bit of onion, tomato and the condiments to make a sandwich spread. We put it on a baguette and then passed it around. Four small fish became enough for everyone to have two small sandwiches – almost Biblical (but about 4994 people short).

With this way of treating the fish a number of potential things happen. The first, something I had never thought of, is that the fish is easier for children to eat. Yakie’s small daughter was delighted with the fish and was able to eat it without any worries.

Cooking the fish with bones increases the calcium available. This is important for women and children especially. Although we didn’t use the heads this time, they will make excellent soup stock. There are numbers of people in the area who enjoy munching parts of the head so that is another experiment waiting to try.

When the fish are cooked like this, each fish can be served with a plate of rice or tajadas and a vegetable for $2.00 - $3.00. Since the total cost of nine fish was $1.50, you can start to see the potential.

Whenever the women raise fish there a number of stunted ones which they have trouble selling. This is a way to use them for income generation. As well, focusing on smaller fish allows for a quicker turn around time, alternative feeds and breeding stock, less problems with theft and opportunity for higher stocking rates.

The next experiment will try to play with different flavours. Then we will look at ways to package and preserve the fish so that it can be sold. There is lots of work ahead but it was an exciting start.

Official Tester - Gives Thumbs Up

Tom helped with another experiment this week. We made Githeri, an East African Kikuyu dish. It combines beans and maize with some vegetables to make a stew that has all of the amino acids. This is a wonderful dish for people without money for meat. It is filling and quite tasty. We didn’t soak the maize and beans overnight – something we will do next time – but, with the pressure cooker to help, it turned out quite well. Some of the students didn’t like the carrots that peeked out – they said they were allergic to carrots ... hmmm. But, generally speaking, the dish was well received. The staff here who are used to new flavours and who also have a grasp of the economic and nutritional potential of things were much more eager to try the dish. It is amazing how different the cuisine is in different places even though many of the ingredients are the same.

Small note:  If you remember a few months back, we began a school in Victoria in the home of Consuelo. Today she came to the school with a woman from another village who wants to start a similar school in her home. What a pleasant surprise.

That is enough for now.

TTYL

BB

Back Doors

The good news in Honduras – there is always a second way to get things done. The bad news of course – there is always a second way to get things done.



Monday morning I had another lesson in the back door method of getting things done. My residence permit application has languished for more than a year. Finally, the lawyer’s son, Diego, took over the file (he is articling and needs some cases to work on). Diego is over six feet tall and built along the extra large model line. In addition, he has had a lifetime of certain privileges. When he walks into a room he is rather intimidating and exudes the air of expecting things done ... now. It is rather fun to be with him and, for a change, be the little guy in the picture.



a. Go to the office for police checks. Pick up form for bank payment (due to accounting vagaries, you cannot pay at the station but need to pay into their account at a local bank). The line up for the form was around the corner. But ... there was a back door and a friend inside. The form appeared in seconds and off we went.



b. Bank. No back doors here. We got a ticket – number 96. Number 68 was showing on the counter so I was prepared for a long wait. However, virtually everyone else was in the bank for the same thing so the numbers flashed by quickly.



c. Back to the office in ‘a’. Back door again. Hand in the form and wait for the police clearance certificate. It appeared in five minutes but with my name misspelled. Miraculously, it appeared again, correct this time, in another five minutes. Generally this process is a two to three day process (without the correction). You may ask yourself, as I did, just how thorough was the police check (not that I have anything for them to discover) in five minutes. Hmmmm. Good question.



d. On to Security Clearance (don’t ask me what the difference is). First to another bank to get the receipt of payment. With Diego’s cousin, Jacob, (another articling lawyer-to-be) in front, we got the receipt in record time. As always, my Leatherman was waved through the security scan because the case looks a little like a cell phone. No one seems to wonder about a tool with two four inch knives. I fail to demonstrate the capacity of the tool in the interest of fewer complications.



e. Off to the office of Security. Once again, Diego found the person he knew and within seconds was inside with the papers. Out he came to say we needed the 100 Lempira receipt and not the 30 Lempira one.



f. Jacob and I rush back to the bank. We discover long line ups have formed since our first visit. We each get into one and wait. Four minutes in and Jacob taps me on the shoulder to say, “Let’s go.” We arrive back at the Security place to find Diego waiting with the clearance certificate magically stamped for 100 Lempiras. Don’t ask.



g. Back to the office to rewrite the letter of employment that was a year old. The ‘correct’ signature is soon applied and it is done.



h. Off to a third bank to buy the medical certificate. This was a drive in bank with the pneumatic tubes to carry cylinders with papers and cash in them. I find them so magical. Harry Potter movies have nothing on these machines.



i. To doctor’s office. The doctor is an old friend and Diego and he begin catching up. The doctor looks at

me and asks, “Are you okay?” I say, “Yes” and he begins writing his learned diagnosis. Several minutes later and the form is completed, stamped and signed and we are done.



j. On my way to the Terminal, Diego phones to say we forgot to get photos. I was able to get that done in Tegucigulpa in the evening and they will be delivered today.



k. With all the various papers in hand, the whole application simply needs to get to Tegucigulpa and there another friend will see that it gets processed. Who knows? I may have a residence permit before the end of the year.



l. As far as I can tell, only the Canadian police check is truly valid in this whole process. Of course, the real question is, “Why did it take a year to get all of this done?” Again ... don’t ask.



Mandala - April 1, 11




Mandala - August 1/2011



The afternoon was spent bussing to Tegucigulpa for a Tuesday meeting with the Ministry of Education. The meeting went well and we hope that some positive results will come out of it. We see various ideas and suggestions that we have made in the past eighteen months starting to creep into government planning so that is encouraging.



On Monday we switched Internet providers. We now have to get everything reorganized. Lightning took out our router so we are back to one computer at a time. This morning the power was off here for three hours. Now, power is back on here but not at the Internet Providers. So, we are still without connection. You never know how much you enjoy and use something until it is gone.



This morning we had a mother come in with two children to enquire about our program. They are spending $25.00 a week on transport and food to go to the local school. The last two weeks have been without classes because of strikes by teachers and students. The mother is looking for plan B. They have a computer at home so this will be great for the family. ($25.00 would by a weaner pig which could be fed out over a few months and then marketed for more than $200.00.) We shall see what happens. Tomorrow the kids are to start learning how to use our system.



Enough for today.



TTYL

BB