Happiness and Sadness

It is already May 20—that means that in 2 months I will be in the United States of America!  I can’t believe how fast the time is going.  It’s exciting in some ways to think about coming home, but I wouldn’t mind if time would slow down a little… I don’t feel ready to leave yet.

 I want to thank everyone who sent me birthday wishes a few days ago!  It was fun to celebrate a birthday in Honduras.  My family gave me Hello Kitty earrings and a big sparkly Hello Kitty cake... haha it was nice to feel like a little girl again.  Kathy made me delicious cookies, and my MCC team made me a beautiful card.  Then yesterday my closest friends in Tegus—Elise, Mark, Franklin, Julie, and Katherine—surprised Debbie and I with a birthday picnic at the Villa Olimpica!  It was such a nice surprise and a lot of fun to be with all of them.  This year’s birthday is definitely one that I will never forget!

Despite celebrating my birthday, my heart has felt especially heavy lately thinking about the problems of the country I’m living in, and that I have grown to love.   Did you know that the current homicide rate in Honduras is 99 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, making it easily the most violent country in the world?  That lately there have been 25 to 30 murders every day?  And that only about 5% of them get solved?  Obviously, the ones that get investigated and eventually solved are the ones that affect the rich.  If a poor person is murdered, it is just another statistic.  That makes me so sad.  It makes me thankful for organizations like ASJ (Association for a more Just Society) that work for the rights of the poor in Honduras.  A few days ago a reporter was killed.  The whole country is grieving for him and for his wife and children.   Recently a boy from Nueva Suyapa was sexually abused and then killed by a church leader.  Another boy who volunteers at the hospital with some friends of mine was recently killed.  There are taxi drivers in Suyapa extorting people who get in their taxis, and gangs extorting the taxi drivers.   Watching the news is the worst, because that’s when I actually see the bodies lying on the ground, and hear the people crying.  I hear about things like this almost every day, and it is sometimes hard for me to not be angry and to understand why God would let this happen.  I also think about children, like my two little brothers, who see this on the news every single night.  Is it surprising to think that so many people are becoming desensitized to the violence?   I believe that God doesn’t “plan” for terrible things like this to happen.  And we can pray for Him to stop the violence, but we have to do more than that.  We have to educate ourselves, talk to people, do something about it.  I definitely don’t have all the answers, and most of the time I feel pretty lost about what my place is in all this.  But I feel strongly that something needs to be done, and that people can make change.   Even if it’s a tiny change, nothing is insignificant.  I pray to God that He would show us what we can do to bring healing to this place.