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