Nueva Esperanza para la primera vez

I´m here in Nueva Esperanza. We arrived this evening (Sunday) around dinner time. We stayed with some friends from Goshen College from Goshen, Indiana (Ben and Joy Metcalf) this morning and afternoon to see where they were teaching in the capital, Tegucigalpa. It is neat to see some familiar faces in this area. They are teaching at a private Christian school located just up in the mountains of Teguc. It was interesting to see such an Americanized school in this area. Many kids of the Honduran elite and ambassadors attend this school. It was so different to see it after touring the MAMA project in the slums of San Pedro Sula. It seems to be more evidence of westernized culture, for both good and bad. The resources this school had were awesome and I´m sure they give these kids an amazing Christian education. Part of your heart just wishes they could reach so many more kids, especially the ones on the streets and working around the clock in local tiendas or kitchens. Que sera?
Afterwards, we drove about 45 minutes to Nueva Esperanza and walked around the Mountana de Luz grounds to meet a lot of the kids. The kids seem to be amazing, wanting to hug and be held. One kid in particular was named Hector and clung to Amanda, my SALT director here in Honduras. His face was covered in scabs and evidence from his infection of HIV-AIDS. His love was so much worn on his sleeve that it was impossible not to want to just play with him there in the dirt. There are for sure the tough ones that don´t want to look at strangers and are scared to give their hearts away to some new volunteer. It´s going to be great though getting to know these kids more and being able to be a more steady presence in their lives. I am also ready to work with younger kids and experience the different rewards and challenges that come along with that. I love how kids love! I love how they play and can become consumed with their task at hand, forgetting about the sorrows of life and the poverty surrounding them. It will be a great year of reorienting my sense of time and accomplishments. I know there will be plenty of things that I ¨want¨to achieve and I´m sure God has his own plans as well. I am working on reorienting my heart to his voice and understanding what his heart is for his people.
Here in Honduras it is easy so far for me to just become frusterated with systems. To begin with, the government is a corrupt system that does not provide adequate health care or social programs for starving people. There is so much hypocracy. Yet, in the midst of this ugliness I am working to remember that these are God´s children too. God is passionate about the government workers just as he is for me. Yes, they have made some mistakes just as I have. How can we reorient our minds to allow for this type of grace? How can we find hope in this struggle to redistribute resources based on a principle that isn´t capitalism, unitarianism, or economics that seem so logical?
I was reading about the Grameen bank started by Muhammed Yunus in Bangladesh. He set up a bank that the poor could own and take out their own microloans. This truly improved the conditions of many of the poorest of the poor in this country. Also, his banks spread to other countries. It seems that we spend all this time trying to solve poverty when really we need to give the tools and opportunities to those who we are really trying to affect. Every person has something to give and we often act like the poor do not. Yet, they have skills and various internal resources that must be tapped into. Check Yunus out. He started as an economics professor and has made an enormous change for his country. He´s an incredible guy.
I have been impressed so far with MCC Honduras and all the different organizations we are able to support. We just got done having our team meeting in La Campa, where Michael is for the year. We visited various agricultural projects put on by CASM, the Comite Accion Social Menonita. The group in this area were helping farmers stop cutting down trees by helping them plant cocoa trees and finding new alternative stoves to cook with. Also, they helped the workers there build more efficent pins for chickens and rabits. It was empowering to see the farmers show us their work and the pride with which they spoke about it. Within one community, one woman even spoke up and told about the women´s community gardens and other animal projects they had specifically been doing. While I know that not every project is this well organized, the community and sense of accomplishment with this group was phenomenal. I truly enjoyed visiting these areas and am anxious to see what projects Michael will see accomplished and what type of environmental educating he will do.
Let´s see, I´ve been running a little bit. Often it is hard to know if I am in a safe enough area. I really crave exercise but sometimes things just don´t happen like you desire. I´ve learned that Hondurans are crazy patient people. They are just always waiting for something. If they say a show or event will begin at 7 pm, usually that means around 8 or 830. I´ve just gotten used to wating for buses more and appreciating the environment around me. Also, I´ve gotten used to being dirty. At first it was a bit uncomfortable. Now, I feel like once I´m dirty I forget to notice it and I´ve even gone about 3 or 4 days without showering and not even noticed. Its actually kinda refreshing not to have to worry about showering or smelling good. Also, it makes me realize how concious we are about being clean in the U.S. We change clothes frequently and put on good smelling perfumes and cologne. It just feels natural to be here. I´m sure I will get tired of things smelling after a while and there really is nothing like the day after laundry day, especially when your laundry has dried in the sun.
Also, I am enjoying having less technology. I have an MCC-issued cell phone to call people in-country. It is nice not to have to worry about checking messages (cuz you all know how I would wait until I had 9 or 10 messages in the U.S.) and just take life as it comes. Man, let me tell you the frozen fruit pops or paletas are literally and figuratively ¨the bomb.¨ The flavors are so sweet and leche here just is different. I don´t know how to describe it but milk and cheese are just different. There are various types of cheese and I think I like this dry crumbly cheese the best. But watch out, because it will definitely sneak attack your stomache the next morning! Haha.
Well, for now that´s all. Tomorrow I get to sleep in and just get oriented to Montana de Luz and this new town, Nueva Esperanza. Andrew and Amanda and Rachel are leaving to take Rachel to her assignment with micro-loans in Teguc. I´m very much looking foward to being on my own and finally being emmersed in Spanish. Its been comforting speaking Spanglish with my fellow gringos but its time to jump into Honduras and the world of kids. I love working with kids because they are not humble about correcting you or laughing at your mistakes. This truly helps you learn because often adults are too polite to laugh at the ridiculous things you say. Learning Spanish has helped me understand the difficulty of being a foreigner and being frusterated at not expressing your thoughts always. Sometimes your head just begins to spin and nothing makes sense at all. That´s when you hit the sack and start the day anew. It also sheds new light on the experiences of immigrants and the truly tough life that this is. Well, more on that subject later because this will get far too long if we breach that subject.
May you each be blessed in your own piece of the world. May God shine his face upon you, as you reach out to those in your community and with a heart that has been set for the task before you. May you realize the true joy in giving of your material possessions and of your time, knowing the richness that life can offer you.