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
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