| Honduras
Newsletter Eighteen June 23, 2006 Dear Friends, Hello from Honduras! The weather has finally cooled off and my pace finally slowed down enough to realize that it has been MONTHS since I have written to you. Much has happened and I've wanted to write, but have been unsure of the response that I would receive. I'll keep it simple and write to you about last weekend in Olancho... I hadn't planned on going to Olancho last weekend. Typically I visit the Saint Nicholas community every two weeks and don't go two continuous weekends. However, Friday night after worship, lights off, and exhausted in Keyra's room, she finally told me the news she'd been guarding from me all weekend: The decision was made. She would leave mojada, illegal the following weekend for the United States. We had been discussing her decision to leave illegally for over a year. It was a conversation of arguments and brainstorming and tears that had spanned hours, days and weeks. Only once that night did I ask her, "are you sure, Keyra? absolutely sure?" Yes, she was sure. Keyra was the first person of my age that I had met in Honduras two and 1/2 years ago. I was standing in front of Christ the Liberator Lutheran Church in Olancho stamping fire ants off my feet and trying to painfully fumble my way through conversations in Spanish with the local congregation members when she arrived at the gate. Surrounded by a flock of girlfriends, she was currently working as the youth director. She came up to me, took my hand and walked me around introducing me to all the church members. Later that night, she decided that I would sleep in her house instead of on a mattress on the floor of the church. We walked down the road through the fireflies avoiding cow pies and laughing as I screamed at the 1/2 pound toads in the path. She gave me her bed and sat up late into the night with me patiently chatting and helping me through my awkward Spanish. Later, when leadership changed in the church, I was assigned to visit the community as a pastoral aid, helping the local leaders and teaching whenever I could. Keyra eventually became the church leader and local evangelist. Most who met her immediately commented on her maturity and ability to organize a group. She was gifted pastorally and an articulate and passionate speaker. In the national church offices, I spoke of her talent and promise and began to mentor her. Time passed and I learned more about the people and Keyra's family in particular. Like many Honduran villages, the Saint Nicholas community lived off the land. They cleared the earth and plowed the pine forest earth with mules. They hoed the land by hand and finally, at the end of the season harvested coffee, rice, beans, and sometimes even vegetables like avocados and bananas. The competition with large agro-businesses was too strong for many farmers and over time, many were unable to sell their products for a fair price. Family size had shrunk considerably in many homes, but it was still virtually impossible for some to support a family of 3 children on 2 or 3 dollars a day. Public high school education had a number of expensive fees and many youth didn't continue on with their education. The first wave of men began illegally immigrating to the US from Saint Nicholas about 15 years ago. Their economic success was unimaginable and absolutely attractive. More soon followed and the pattern became normal. Today there are 6 women for every 1 man in San Nicholas and I’ve held goodbye worships for dozens of youth and adults from the church and surrounding community. Hondurans leave to look for a better life. After living centuries of colonialism, military occupation, dictatorships, corruption, international debt, hurricanes and now the new colonial imperialism imposed by many western, wealthier countries, the country is left broken and tired. Education and health care are expensive. Even many city communities don't have electricity, consistent running water, or garbage pickup and are forced to burn their trash in crowded corners, the land is deforested and dry, and unemployment is the highest it's ever been. AIDS, TB and hepatitis plague the people. The gangs grow increasingly more powerful and the violence more pronounced. And people become hopeless. Keyra, though very intelligent did not finish high school. She began looking for work that might help her return to school. She looked in the nearby town and in Tegucigalpa. Her living stipend from the church plus her sewing business was barely enough to support herself and help her mother. Her dreams stretched longer and wider than Saint Nicholas or even Honduras would allow, and decided that the United States was her answer. The church is a light in the midst of the hopelessness, a song in the storm, and the prophetic fighter challenging institutionalized sin. To be clear, the Honduran Lutheran church does not advocate the people leave illegally for the United States, but understands the reasons that implore them to go. We held two goodbye worships for Keyra: one last Sunday night and one Monday afternoon before she left. Weeping, she called the children to her, one by one: Mika…Pelón…Pamela…Alan, and finally the three little ones she had been mothering since their mother left for Miami last year: Joanna…Nicole…Junior. Junior (named after his father that also lives in Miami) and bid them farewell. The last news we had was two weeks ago Wednesday afternoon. She and her group were to pass illegally into Mexico with the Coyote. Mexico is what terrifies people. People loose limbs on the trains, are robbed and raped and attacked by the gangs that live off the immigrants headed north. I know the immigration issues are very heated in the States right now and I simply wanted to share this story as a neutral way to explain the Honduran perspective of the story. We read Psalm 121 and put Keyra into God’s hands. We asked Him to have mercy on her life as she makes this journey. We have sent her off, one of Honduras’ best and brightest, and hope she is received with compassion. Please pray for her. With peace, Lindsay Lindsay Mack Iglesia Cristiana Luterana de Honduras Apartado Postal 2861 Tegucigalpa M.D.C. Honduras, C.A. |