solidaridad = solidarity

Honduras is experiencing an emergency as heavy rains over the last week or so have caused flooding and landslides all over the country. Currently, we have not been affected, minus a power outage for most of yesterday.

Here is where the numbers stand today (from Copeco)

Affected 192, 506
Evacuated 37,397
Staying in shelters 19,863
Affected communities 473
Damaged homes 4, 379
Destroyed homes 337
Damaged roads 157
Destroyed roads 7

Most of this was caused by Tropical Depression 16, but now they are warning of at least a few more days of heavy rains as Tropical Depression 17 rolls in. Here are also a few images from El Heraldo:

We have already managed some funds to make a donation of non-perishable food through one of the networks that is getting supplies to flood victims. If you would like to offer immediate help to those in need, you can contact me about the amount of your donation and I can buy more food and take it to a center that is distributing supplies.

Wednesday night

Guillermo is off on another trip for work = our first time being separated since we got married (boo hoo, I know) = I've gotten caught up on several projects and am going to watch a movie in a little bit

Tropical storm 16 is passing through Honduras = lots of rain and it is chilly = laundry takes ages to dry = Guillermo didn't have any dry pants this morning to wear to pack for his trip = I used the hair dryer and the fan to make it happen

We don't have a TV = I can't watch Honduras play Jamaica right now in an important World Cup qualifying game = I used Guillermo's ESPNDeportes link to find the score (losing 1-0 right now) = clearly someone is rubbing off on me

The other day a bat came into the house while Guillermo was reading on the couch = I come home and find "how to i get rid of a bat" as the latest search on Google = Guillermo is a resourceful husband

At the time of this post, the bat has not returned = I am very thankful

Copan

The last part of our trip was to Copan, mostly work but some play. Anibal (Guillermo's supervisor) and his wife Yadira, picked us up in Yamaranguila and we drove through Gracias, Lempira all the way to Copan Ruinas. Saturday morning Guillermo and Anibal went to a VM event called a cabildo (a sort of mock-government made of children and youth). Yadira and I slept in, took in a lazy breakfast and stoppped by the event. In the afternoon, we got to go to the Copan ruins, which was a first for me. They were beautiful, especially since it was a green time of year. We had a little time to rest before the big game: Honduras vs. Canada. Honduras won with 3 golazos!!! On Sunday we drove back to the city. Here are all the pictures from our trip.

At the ruins, we found a spot that we recognized:

second home stay

After a night at a hotel in La Esperanza, we journeyed to another community called Los Mangos. We made a short stop in Yamaranguila to visit a World Vision office. The community of Los Mangos was much different that Los Planes. It was smaller and culturally had less traditional Lenca culture. We were greeted once again by the Community Develpment Board, who was led by a sharp young woman named Pati. We walked accross the soccer field to the school house, where we had a short introduction to the community. We got to visit with young students, board members and families. Guillermo took advantage to play futbol with some of the kids and I mingled and took pictures.

Looking at the community's plan with the board

After that, we took the long walk through the woods to the home of our new host family. I wish I had been more prepared for a homestay because we ended up having to have several people help us carry our bags. Our host family, Don Fidel, Doña Lidia and their children have a cozy home on the side of a beautiful valley. They have some fish ponds and a sell plants among other projects. We enjoyed great meals and lots of time to chat with them when we weren't out in the community with the members of the Board.

Our host family

In the morning, we were showered and ate breakfast by 6:30 in order to take all of our luggage to a spot a ways down the road, before the entrance to the community. After walking about 45 minutes, we arrived to where a big truck was waiting and many people were gathered. This morning there was to be a regional prayer meeting, an annual gathering of families who are part of World Vision projects in the area. Along with around 600 others, we journeyed to a meeting center. Guillermo and I got to ride in the back of the truck, which was an adventure. The prayer meeting was many things, including a Catholic mass, singing, sharing, a raffle and a lunch.

back in time

I'm blogging from our dry and warm hotel room in La Esperanza. We have been having a great trip so far. Yesterday we drove from Tegucigalpa through La Esperanza to Los Planes del Rio Grande, a small community of 130 families. After we left the main highway in Siguatepeque, the scenery became more and more beautiful and the climate became more and more cool as we drove up into the mountains. We were not sure what to expect of our trip. We knew we would get to meet people, see projects and possibly stay in a community. I'm learning that this is a very standard flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of trip in Honduras.

We were greeted at the Catholic church by the "Junta"- the Community Development Board of Los Planes. They took us on a short walk to a school/tutoring project they had recently managed to put into place. I immediately began to feel that I was in another culture, even though we were still in Honduras. The faces of the people have strong indigenous traits. Most of the women wear very bright colored dresses and skirts and some head scarves.

On the walk up to the school, all of the women (except for me) walked about 50 ft behind the men. The accent is slightly different and I've noticed they had a distinct way of talking both while they breathed air in and breathed out. As the fog and darkness crept in around us, we heard many of the members share about their experiences of working for the community. With the help of World Vision, the Comm Dev Board has worked to do a diagnosis of the community and to also make a development plan for the community. They now have a kinder, school and this special high school. They also have helped many families better their homes (replacing grass and wood huts with brick walls and solid ceilings). They have put a few economic development tools into place as well. It was very inspiring to hear the vision they had for their community and for the next generation.

With some members of the Board

After this short meeting, we walked down to a home where we had dinner with a couple of the staff of World Vision and some from the board. It had started to rain, so the walk down the trail and accross the cow field was a bit of an adventure. We dined in the glow of candlelight and flames from the wood stove (ie: a wood burning stove in the corner of the kitchen used for cooking). We drank a sweet coffee and a kind of sweet atol (sort of like thick corn pudding) and ate beans, fat little tortillas, quajada cheese, fried eggs and potatoes. We walked back to the house where we would be staying and settled our bags. A few men from the Board came to continue talking with Guillermo and to show him the diagnonsis and plan they had made. It seemed sooo late! Besides being tired, my mind was playing tricks on me because it got very dark around 6:30. There is no electricity in Los Planes, so the pace of life is different. Around 9 pm, we went to bed. Did I mention it was cold? I was wearing a fleece I usually use in Colorado in the fall and winter. There was so much fog, it was hard to see across from the house to the bathroom. We snuggled into our single-size bed, which was fine because we were freezing. The rain on the clay-tile roof was a nice sound to go to sleep to.

The shower experience

In the morning, we woke up and then we woke up some more when we took a cold shower outside under the sprinkling rain. It wasn't as bad as you think, and it was kind of funny because the shower was obviously not made for people of our height! We walked back to the same house for breakfast, which was chicken and vegetable soup and milk with cinnamon. Our food experience here is not one you find many places in the world. Almost everything is grown locally: vegetables from the garden, corn from the field for tortillas and atol, beans, chickens, milk and cheese from local cows,. We took a few pictures with the women from the board who were with us that morning and who made our meals. They took us on a walking tour of the community where we met individual families. Later in the morning we came back to La Esperanza and met more World Vision staff from the region and ate lunch. Tomorrow we are heading up to Yamaranguila where we will also stay with a family... more adventures to come!

On the road

This week I get to accompany Guillermo on a trip for his work. He has started working for World Vision in the area of development strategy. We are going to visit three Area Development Programs in Western Honduras as part of his induction process. World Vision has 30 of these Area Development Programs in the country. We will spend most of the week in the department of Intibuca. We will be in the towns of La Esperanza, Yamaranguila and Intibuca. Then we will spend a night in Gracias, in the department of Lempira. Lastly, we will be staying in Copan Ruinas in Copan. I'll get to see the ruins while Guillermo works, a first for me, even though I have been through there several times. You can see our route on the map below. We will come back to Tegucigalpa through San Pedro Sula, instead of the way we came. I am looking forward to a great week! We will be in some of Honduras's most mountainous areas as well as some of its poorest rural areas. You can bet I will be taking lots of pictures!