Visit with the Organizations MCC Honduras Supports

Tegucigalpa from our Hostel

Tegucigalpa

Our SALT/YEMEN Group

Tegucigalpa Mennonite Church

Last week as part of the SALT and YAMEN orientation we traveled to various parts of the country to visit several of the organizations that we support in this country. I was fortunate enough to go along and to meet our partner organizations and to experience some of there work.

We traveled two hours to Siguatepeque where MCC supports a Christian organization with a project creating and supporting initiatives to allow for victims to declare when there is domestic violence. In a country where Machismo is very strong and where sexual violence is common, there are so many barriers to people coming forward.  We witnessed how the organization advocates for the rights of people, builds accountability and transparency in community and government structures, offices, police force and schools, and makes sure people are aware of their rights when victims and how they can access resources.

Tilapia Fish Tanks

Seedlings Fertilized by Tilapia Poop

Kara's host mom

We then traveled to Tegucigalpa where we visited a children’s school where one of our SALTers, Kara, will be placed. We heard from the daughter of the founders who had encouraged her parents to do something about the children of trash collectors in the city dump. It is an amazing story of how they have built this school and day center for kids to come during the day where it is safe and where they have the opportunity to learn. They are wanting to expand to include technical training so they have options to leave the life of a trash collector since many generations just cycle back to the same life. We saw tilapia raising tanks and vegetable production which is an experiment in income generation and teaching resource for children. We saw the multiple buildings with names of the churches who had built them in the ‘brigadas’ (brigades), their name for short term mission groups that come to Honduras.

Keyla's Host Family

View from their home in mountains outside of Teguc

Water Storage Tanks: they get water once a month on city system

We also visited a larger organization in central Teguc where our YAMENer will be working. They are working for justice for the ‘least of these’ in education, health and government systems. For many poor the systems do not work, they are corrupt and they don’t have access, teachers do not show up for class and there is political influences and organized crime which affects their functioning. The organization we visited is concentrated in calling accountability to the government to follow the laws, to provide universal education, health and policing, and is working in the system to make it more transparent, cycle out corrupt workers and doing advocacy with parents and communities so they have a voice to demand that the government do what it is supposed to do. This is a tricky dance because we have Christian organizations that work at this in different ways and some do not agree with working so closely with what they see as a proven corrupt government and are calling for a distance from government and a change in leadership and corrupt laws. This includes a lot of partner sand churches with which we work, so it is not easy work. But there are different ways of working for the ‘least of these’ and organizations are approaching it differently.

Dam for Piped Water

Conservation Agriculture: Second Growing Season

Drying Corn

Grain for Food Storage

Finally, we visited the Brethren in Christ church (anabaptist and related to Mennonites) and their work with farmers in the south. We heard from them how climate change is affecting their lives over the last ten years. How the first or the two rainy seasons has all but disappeared and they are struggling to adapt. They are encouraging farmers in conservation agriculture, providing metal storage containers, introducing drought and disease resistant crops, constructing water capture systems (dams, piping) and organizing farmer savings groups to provide local savings and loan systems for the families and communities. What was most interesting to me was how they have to negotiate rich landowners who have control over the water that they need for household use and who own all the farmland and how vulnerable they are. It is a risk because advocating for land rights in Honduras is a death sentence since it is controlled by the rich, govt and organized crime. It is also influenced by global companies, and in their case, a Canadian gold mining company who through a govt contract (possibly illegal) has purchased the mountain and forest above their communities and whose activities would destroy the land and water from which they derive their very survival. I was amazed by the courage they have in confronting such issues in the name of Christ, the persecution they face and how they go into gang-controlled neighborhoods and plant churches everywhere they go. I was also challenged in that they have not lost the peace witness that we have in the North American church, it is front and center in their mission to be Jesus in this place.

Welcome to our YALTers (SALT and YAMEN program)

It has been a while since we have written on the blog. We have been busy throughout the last couple of weeks. We spent two weeks in Copan working on Spanish. We were able to take advantage of that time to meet some people at the hostel we stayed at and to see several of the parks in the areas including the ruins of Copan and the bird park that had toucans, parrots, parakeets and macaws.

We returned home to San Pedro Sula to welcome our new group of Salt and Yamen participants.

For those who do not know. Serving And Learning Together (SALT) is MCCs program for younger participants from Canada and the U.S. The idea is that they come for a year and are seconded to work for a local organization, live in a host family and participate in team activities throughout the year. In some ways it is like an internship or Peace Corp with the idea that they will serve but also learn. We believe at MCC that learning about another culture, engaging in local mission and the church and living with the people builds understanding and builds for peace. I would add to that, that where one or two are gathered, there God is, and we gather believers from different parts of the world to serve together, a little taste of what the many tribes gathered will look like in God’s new world. Young Anabaptist Mennonite Exchange Network (YAMEN) is almost identical to SALT but is for people coming from countries outside of the U.S. and Canada. This year we have on YAMEN participant from Columbia and two from the U.S. (Baltimore and Boulder). We also have sent, a participant (a doctor) to Guatemala to serve with MCC there. We also have a third program IVEP, which is a one-year program that takes people form outside of U.S and Canada and places them in host stays and volunteer work in the U.S. and Canada. We have a coordinator for the program in this country who gives oversight to the program and helps participants work through the application process, works with in country organizations we partner with to place participants and find host families.

The participants have been in orientation over the past week, learning how to ride the min-buses, catch taxis, know where things are and learn a bit about culture and living in Honduras. This week we are traveling to visit partners in various places in Honduras, so they have an idea of what MCC does. One person will be placed in our office to give oversight to external and internal communications which means gathering stories for MCC and our face book page and MCC and working at communicating to our constituency within the country. Another person will be placed with a school that is a day center and school for children from families who work in the trash dump in Tegucigalpa. The other one will work with an organization fighting for justice for communities to access schooling, education and reduce corruption in the public sector. They are excited and ready to be involved. They all have some Spanish already but will also have two weeks of language study before starting their jobs.

Copan and Lanuage School

Macaw Mountain Park

I was thinking today that there will probably be many pictures of us having fun at some really fascinating places. Honduras is a small country but it has great beauty but also great poverty as we witnessed on our way from San Pedro Sula to Copan for our Spanish language study. Some may say that we don't tough it out like missionaries used to or that it seems like we are on vacation most of the time (I have heard that said of other missionaries). The reality is, however, that most of us take pictures when we are having a good time and that is often when we are traveling or on vacation. This is true of us in the states. So if you should think that we are having a good time, we are, but we are also working as well. But we do want to show you the highlights of life here because we often don't see that in the news. So we will show you some highlights. But know we are also working as well. These two weeks we are in Copan Ruinas, where the Mayan ruins are located near the Guatemalan border. We are here for language study. The climate is cooler and the town is safe and peaceful, yet vibrant with life. It has colonial buildings with tile roofs in the Spanish style. Today we went to see a refuge and sanctuary for macaws, other parrots and toucans, castaways from people who no longer wanted them as pets. We spent the morning walking through forest along a stream mixed with coffee plants and pens where they are kept. Apparently once they are adults they can no longer fly because they have been in cages. The hope is that there children will be able to do so and be released to the wild.

The Language School on the third story of a building

But besides the fun, we are in language study. This means four hours for each of us with an individual teacher in the afternoon. Our brains work hard and we are tired by the end of it. But they are great teachers, friendly and compassionate and we laugh a lot. I am so impressed by the school. We are getting a good education and I know this is important.

Party for Dona Elena (Center under light)

Tonight we celebrated the birthday of the lady who owns our B&B, Dona Elena. She is such a kind and caring soul and she cooks amazing food three times a day with help from a few other ladies. The amazing thing is that both our lodging and the Spanish school business are owned and run by women. I think that is so neat in a very 'macho' country. We celebrated with cake, soda and singing with the full moon over our heads.