Student Prayers

By Katie

The exams are done and school's out for the year at Luz y Verdad. Just before the end I got some fun work in from the students in computer class. Their assignment was to write a series of prayers by drawing a picture in Paint, then saving it and inserting it into a Word document where they typed the words to the prayer. That they all were able to do this is showed the progress that they had made throughout the year. Many could hardly use a mouse at the beginning of the year, and only one or two knew how to save their work.

Here's some of the pictures they created and the prayers they wrote, translated into English.

By Oto (fourth grade)

Our Father in heaven, holy be your name. Come to do your will on the earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our sins. Also help us to forgive the sins of others. Help also the politicians that they can resolve the problem in the country and that all can return to normal. Amen.

By Fernando (third grade)

Father God we ask that you guard all the people of the earth including the people of the world, for the pastors and for Mel and Michelleti. Father, guard us. Amen.

By Adela Michell (third grade)

Lord, I pray for the children that they can learn. Amen.





By Estefany and Cintia (fifth grade)

Our Father in heaven, protect the forests, the animals and the people in our country. Amen.




AMEN!

Gift Catalog

By Katie

This year's CRWRC gift catalog is out and again includes some things from Honduras. I thought I'd highlight the items specifically for Honduras. There's lots more gifts to choose from around the world; check out the entire catalog by clicking here.

Moringa Tree ($2 usd)
"Purchasing animal feed in Honduras is expensive and has the added environmental cost of transportation. Moringa trees provide highly nutritious leaves and pods that can be eaten by cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, and rabbits." Humans can eat it too!

Of course, this is our personal favorite. Matt does trainings on the moringa tree very often and the purchase of these trees would continue the funding for even more trainings, seeds and seedlings.

Nutrition Kit ($17 usd)
"A nutritional kit containing soybean milk, vitamins, and anti-parasite medication can help a Honduran child gain the nutrients and protection she needs to grow strong and healthy."

Two nurses work for Diaconia in southern Honduras where very high rates of malnutrition exist. They distribute these kits to trained health leaders in the communities. These community leaders run mini-pharmacies and are sources of knowledge in their communities.

Water Filter ($50 usd)
"A plastic filter that uses water and sand to filter out germs can clean stored water and make it healthy to drink."

These are also distributed through the health program in the south.



Water Containers ($65 usd)

"A water storage container, or PILA, can help a Honduran family gain regular access to water."

The people fortunate enough to have running water in Honduras don't experience running water like we know it in North America. It rarely comes every day, sometimes up to once every fifteen days. In the mean time, we keep stores of water to use. The alternative to having a pila is filling up 3 liter pop bottles little by little and keeping them for storage. Even those who don't have running water find it much easier to store the water from the hand pump in a pila rather than so many small containers. Pilas are essential for life in Honduras.

Popular Honduran Music

By Katie

One of our favorite Honduran musicians is singer/songwriter Polache. He often sings about Honduras, and this song, "Mirá a Honduras" is very popular lately. This song is especially popular among folks who want to remind Hondurans that Honduras can be more than just another country ruled by corruption. The song takes on extra significance this month as we gear up for elections on November 29.

Have a listen!



Mirá a Honduras

Que no te tapen los ojos, Ojos con la corrupción y la incomprensión, la indiferencia y la delincuencia que con frequencia amigo uno se encuentra en esta nación, ponele mucho atención a esta canción de corazón, es más lo bueno que aquí tenemos más los que queremos, creemos en esta tierra que es una bendición

CORO
Mirá a Honduras con otros ojos que esta es tu tierra
Descubrí que al mirarla con otros ojos vas a merecerla
Mirá a Honduras con otros ojos, tenés que quererla
Descubrí que al mirarla con otros ojos, vas a merecerla.

Laralala…

Que no te tapen los ojos, la desforestación y contaminación, la pobreza, injusticia y bajeza, que con frequencia amigo uno se encuentra en esta nación, ponele mucha atención a esta canción de corazón, es más la riqueza, grandeza, nobleza, y más la belleza que hay en esta tierra que es un bendción.

CORO BIS

Translation:
Look at Honduras

Don’t let them cover your eyes, see the corruption, and the incomprehension, the indifference and delinquency that with frequency friend one finds in this nation, pay much attention to this song from the heart, it’s more the good that we have here, more the ones that we love, we believe in this land that is a blessing.

CHORUS
Look at Honduras with other eyes ‘cuz it’s your land
Discover that to look at it with other eyes you’re going to deserve it.
Look at Honduras with other eyes, you have to love it
Discover that to look at it with other eyes you’re going to deserve it.

Laralala….

Don’t let them cover your eyes, the deforestation, and contamination, the poverty, injustice and lowness, that with frequency friend one finds in this nation, pay much attention to this song of the heart, it’s more the richness, grandness, nobleness, and more the beauty that is in this land that is a blessing.

We Have Water!!!

By Matt

Yes that's right, the water project in our barrio is finally done and running water comes to our house!
On my birthday (Sunday, Oct 18th) we had a big inauguration party for the water project which included cake, lots of pop, and Tapado Olanchano which is an amazing stew-like dish that Olancho is famous for. To make the tapado someone in the barrio killed a cow, cut it up and put big hunks of it in a huge kettle, then added yucca (cassava), green bananas, sweet ripe plantains, spicy sausage, and a bunch of coconut juice and let it cook slowly over a fire with pepper and spices. Let me tell you that it was just about the best birthday meal I could have asked for. I had to go sleep for a while afterword because it was so heavy!





Here are some pics of the water tower which includes the project title "gift of God" and Psalm 120:1, "I call on the Lord in my distress, and He answers me".

Because the tank is not huge the water is distributed on a schedule (this is very common in Honduras). Water should arrive every other day for a couple hours in the moring.
Diaconia helped out with a little bit of the funding for the project too.
It is really cool to see this neighborhood rally together and raise funds, and then complete such a big project on their own initiative. It was a great birthday.

Early vacation and free passes for everyone!

By Katie

The latest drama in the Honduran education system is that the school year will be cut short by about three weeks, as decided by the current government. This rule applies to the private school where I work as well as the public schools. Now our last day will be Friday, and we only learned this less than two weeks ago.

Understanding that this would make it difficult for teachers to have time to properly test their students, the current government said that each student in all grades will pass; there will be no one in the country repeating a grade this year! Kids on the edge love the idea while the studious ones are disappointed.

Why end the year early? Answer: The teachers are taking a hard line against the current government (hence the strikes I mentioned in an earlier blog). The elections for a new president will be at the end of November, a few days after school was originally supposed to end. Public schools are used to house the polls. The current government feared that the teachers would take over the schools if let allowed to stay there for too long. Now as soon as school is done, it is said that the military will occupy the schools.

For me this is a lesson in not taking myself or my work too seriously. I admit, I'm upset about this; it's not fair for the students and I had some cool lessons planned for the end of the year. But I also need to work on not letting my ideology or would-be plans stress me out. I need to tackle what I can, let go what I can't.

Grant Proposal

By Katie

Matt's been busy lately (so busy he can't write his own blog post, so I'm doing it for him). He's working on a proposal to an agency in Canada to help fund Diaconia's Agriculture and Environment program where he works. The proposal is quite long and intricate and there's been plenty of bumps along the road in writing it. But he's getting much-appreciated input from CRWRC staffers from all over. Please pray with us that the writing goes well, and that this grant could be approved to help fund the agriculture program.

World Cup update

By Katie

I wasn't paying any attention to the playoff soccer games last night until I went outside to do the dishes. All of a sudden, shouts arose from every single house in the neighborhood and I judged that Honduras had won. I ran over to the neighbor's house and there learned that not only had Honduras won the game, but the US had tied Costa Rica in a nail-bitter. With those two outcomes (that happened within moments of each other), both Honduras and the US will advance to the World Cup in South Africa. Today I had two people tell me how grateful they were that "my" team had helped their team beat Costa Rica in points, thus allowing Honduras to advance. It was sweet because they really meant it.

After the game last night I went and sat outside on the front porch for a bit, just listening to the noise around the neighborhood. You could hear many loud excited voices coming from many of the neighbor's houses, lots of fireworks, whooping and hollaring, and car horns honking. One lone teenager whizzed by on his bike and, for no audience in particular, threw back his head and yelled, "¡Viva Honduras!", "Honduras lives!".

I love what sports and a little bit of good news can do to humans.