December 18, 2004
Dear Friends,
Merry Christmas from Honduras!
I hope you are all enjoying December and your Christmas preparations. Christmas is here in Central America complete with advent wreathes, santa in the mall, and tamales. I haven't written for awhile, I've failed my "one newsletter every month" goal. I admit it was a little over-ambitious, but I blame dengue fever for last month's defect. There's been a little epidemic in Tegucigalpa over the last several months and I fell prey to the dirty mosquitoes. Thank God I'm healthy again!
The last several months have flown by. I've been in and out of communities, and running around like a nut in the office with the ladies planning workshops, devotionals, reports and writing letters. Thanks for all of your correspondence, packages, letters and emails over the past few months.
We just completed our second Lutheran Identity Workshop with Leaders and youth from the community. Attached, I have included several photos. Two are from the event and one is from a recent trip to Olancho.
This latest workshop went very well. We spoke about globalization and how it is effecting Hondurans. We talked about the increasing cost of sugar, and the average salary of a country peasant (about $2.50 a day). We talked about the recent privatization of the national energy provider and the continued privatizations the Hondurans will see as the government complies during this next year with the World Bank's conditions. We talked about the recent governmental cuts to the national health care plan and the continually floundering public education system. We talked about the United States' power in the global economy and it's harsh effect on the average, poor Honduran. The adults spoke worriedly about the deteriorating economic situation, disintegrating family, and increasing poverty. The youth spoke of the difficulty of finding work and of their peers that have graduated from highschool and in economic desperation, fled illegally for the United States.
I listened to the Hondurans define the daily, ordinary injustices that exist in their everyday lives, and it's frustrating. I rage internally to see people that I care about living in tin huts, cooking tortillas over open fires, and leaving their 9 year old daughters in charge of their 3 younger siblings while they leave to look for work. It makes me crazy that countless children drop out of school because the never learn to read, and it saddens me that I see, way too often, that blank, empty stare in the eyes of a child with a tired, battered soul.
In response to our conversations, we theologically explored the concept of a people, a pueblo, crucified with Christ on the cross. We talked about a God that manifests Herself in the youth that fight to graduate from highschool, and the women that sell tortillas in the streets on sunday mornings before worship. And in the purest of liberation theology and Christmas spirit, we talked about Jesus that was born into this sad, frustrating and simply unfair world of poverty.
This evening, driving through Tegucigalpa, it again struck me, the amount of children, old men, and tired women I see wandering through the streets, weaving through the traffic, tapping on the car windows and trying to sell bananas, gum, and lottery tickets. Or they ask me with palm outstretched, "give me a limpera?" They roll over on the street, lift their heads and, mumble for help. Sometime they walk into the church and sit timidly in the corner and smile nervously.
Jesus is not only born into this dirty, wilting world on Christmas, he walks the streets daily. He stares at me out of those empty eyes of a child, and blazes in the youth that fight to succeed against the odds.
Time has flown and I'm wrapping up my first year in Honduras. I leave for Chicago this weekend to spend Christmas with my family. I wish you all safe travels and rest with the people you love.
Feliz Navidad,
Lindsay
Lindsay Mack
Iglesia Cristiana Luterana de Honduras
Apartado Postal 2861
Tegucigalpa M.D.C.
Honduras, C.A.