Solidaridad

Not long ago, two of my North American friends were talking about this word, solidaridad (solidarity), about how they didn’t hear the word much until they lived in Honduras.  At the time I couldn’t remember hearing that word, but since then I have heard it used several times.  And I’ve been thinking about what it means, and why it seems to be such an important concept in this culture.

The other night I went with my host mom to a prayer service at my neighbor’s house.  My neighbor, known best as Dona O, cleans at the elementary school and is one of the kindest and most down-to-earth people I’ve met here.  She’s around my parents’ age and she recently lost her mother and father within a couple weeks of each other.  Dona Juanita (my host mom) was on her way out the door when she asked if I wanted to come.  I went, even though I didn’t know what I was going to.  It turned out to be a group of women who filled Dona O’s living room.  I was the only one not wearing a skirt or head covering and not carrying a Bible, but that seemed to be ok because I was welcomed with open arms.  We first sang a few songs, then a couple women spoke for a while, and finally people took turns praying over Dona O (I just listened).  What I kept thinking about was how amazing it was that came together just for her, and clearly cared very deeply about her.  They cried together and laughed together.  They all gave her hugs and words of comfort.  It made me think about how the situation would have likely been different in the U.S.  Sure, good friends will go out of their way to comfort someone when they are suffering, but to me the big difference is that Dona O openly accepted it.  Surely this huge amount of support made her pain a little bit less.  In our American culture I feel like we are so private with our personal lives and with our feelings, and probably would not want to inconvenience people even if they did want to go out of their way to help us.  I don’t know if that’s good or bad, I just think it’s interesting.  These women also have such a deep love and trust for God, and they kept saying that even in the painful times we can’t turn away from Him, that He is ALWAYS good and will always help us through the pain.  I admire that. 

A couple of months ago my baby sister, Allison, was very close to death.  She was in the hospital for a month and spirits were very low in our house.  The doctor said he was going to try one last medication, and if that didn’t work there was no hope for her.  To make a long story short, it did work.  It felt like a miracle had happened.  People came from Marta’s church and packed into our living room for a service of thanksgiving to God.  It was really cool to experience.  Dona Juanita also told me that when she was sick with diabetes right before I came, a group came to her house every day for the week that she was sick to pray and be with the family.  I see other small examples of this kind of community almost every day.  It’s definitely not a private culture, which is one thing I am continually trying to adjust to.

It is so inspiring to me to see this kind of solidarity and hope and joy, especially in such an impoverished community.  Whenever I see this kind of thing, I have to think that I’m not at all surprised that people living in poverty can still have such joy.  They have joy because they truly love God and they love each other.  Isn’t there something about that in the Bible somewhere? :)  I am again reminded that wealth does not bring happiness.  It is solidaridad, loving and being with each other, is that brings happiness.  Maybe it’s easier to have that when you don’t have very much else.  

Ok, Christmas update:  I just found out that we will be spending Christmas with extended family in La Paz!  We (Dona Juanita, Paolo, Hector, and I) will leave on the bus around 5:30 tomorrow morning.  I’m excited about this because it’s the first time I have gone on any kind of outing with my family; I’m also a little nervous because I have been sick for the past few days, and am hoping that it’s finally passing.  I would appreciate your prayers for health and safety while we travel.   By the way, in Honduras Christmas is celebrated on the 24^th, when I have heard people celebrate into the wee hours of the morning with food and fireworks.  The 25^th is a day to rest/recover from the day before. 

Feliz Navidad a todos! 

Recargas

I think it’s safe to say that I have unofficially become a part of the family business—selling recargas.  Recarga means something like “re-charge”, and here it means putting more money on your cell phone.  There are 3 phone companies in Honduras—Tigo (which I have), Claro, and Digicel.   There are two possible ways of putting money on your phone: one is with a tarjeta (card), which gives you a code you can punch into your phone at any time to get more minutes.  The other is a recarga, where you give your phone number and give them money, and they somehow transfer that amount of money to your phone, giving you minutes.  Also, every phone has it’s “bono dia” (bonus day), where you get triple saldo for what you pay.  Saldo is the amound of money/minutes you have left on your phone.  For example, my bono day is Sunday, so I always try to get recargas on Sundays because I get more for my money.  So it’s super convenient that all I have to do is walk into the living room to add saldo to my phone, instead of finding a house or pulperia where it is sold.

Anyway, this is what happens about every 5 minutes at out house:  someone will come to the door (it’s more like a gate with bars, so people can see inside) and yell “Recarga!”  Then Marta or whoever is closest yells back, “ya voy!” (I’m coming).  She then asks “de cual?” (which do you have), they respond with Tigo/Claro/Digicel, she asks for and writes down their number and how much money they want to put on, they  slide the money through the door, she gives them change if necessary, and she uses her phone to transfer saldo to their phone.  Since this scenario happens every few minutes, I had the process figured out not long after becoming part of the family.  One time when Marta was nursing the baby and no one else was around, I offered to help with a recarga… since then, it’s become kind of expected that I will help out if I can.  I don’t mind, and it’s helped me get really good at Spanish numbers—writing down phone numbers is harder than you might think, especially when they are talking crazy fast. 

I know I haven’t uptdated my blog in quite awhile, so I’ll give a quick update on my life.  In mid-November I started vacation reading programs, as school is out from November until February.  I have two groups of kids; one group comes Mondays and Wednesdays, and the other comes Tuesdays and Thursdays.  It has been a struggle to get kids to come, especially for my older group on Tues. and Thurs, but numbers have slowly been increasing.  I now have about 6 kids in one group and 10 in the other, which I am happy with.  I spend a lot of time planning for these club meetings… I try to make it fun, but sneakily (sometimes not sneakily) we are learning about reading, math, social studies, or writing.  I also try to incorporate themes of respect, cooperation, teamwork, etc. because kids here don’t seem to learn these skills anywhere else.  Sometimes that is the hardest part of my job, but I think it’s important.  This has been a challenge as I am completely in charge of these programs, and I am not used to leading things in Spanish… I think it has helped me a lot, but it’s not easy.  I have also been working a lot on organization in the library… something I don’t think I’ll ever be done with.  With help from Kathy Troyer, another MCCer in Tegus, I have made a lot of progress on the teacher books and resources… I just hope the teachers will take advantage of them now.  At this point there are very few teachers who do, and I don’t really understand why. 

Last weekend I went with Mike, Christa (our awesome new SALTer from Bolivia!), and Megan to visit Charissa in Santa Rosa de Copan.  Last year Charissa worked and lived here in Nueva Suyapa; this year she has her own apartment and works in Santa Rosa.  I had a great time!  The town is small and safe and very tranquilo.  She took us to some awesome restaurants, we spontaneously went to a Christian rock concert on Saturday, and on Sunday we took a short trip to the aguas thermales (hot springs) in Gracias.  On Sunday night we went to her church, and ate chicken with her awesome youth group afterwards. It was nice to get away from Suyapa for a little while and experience another part of the country. 

Other than that, I’m just looking forward to spending Christmas Honduran style on the 24^th… I have no idea what to expect, but it is sure to be filled with lots of food and family time.  We assembled and decorated our Christmas tree a few days ago, which was a fun experience.  It reminded me a little of being home, except with more yelling and confusion and kids running around.  Oh, and there’s another thing I’m looking forward to—I finally get to see my wonderful boyfriend on the 27^th!  Yes, Sam has bought his plane tickets and is coming to visit me for a little over a week… I couldn’t be happier! 

For anyone who hasn’t given up on my blog, thanks for reading. J  I hope you are all doing well and listening to lots of Christmas music as you prepare for the holidays!