By Matt and Katie
This describes the weather and, yes maybe our state of mind for the past week or so. Suffice it to say it has rained a LOT! "Tropical Depression 16" has been dumping water all over Honduras for the past week. It has caused a lot of destruction and deaths. Hundreds of people have lost their houses due to flooding and mud slides including the mother of our neighbor Noè. Her house that was made out of adobe got saturated and fell over last Sunday night. Thankfully she got out of the house before it collapsed. In Catacamas we have been without power for 7 days, and are not sure when it will come back. So today we drove 45 minutes to Juticalpa to get some things and use the internet. But it has been sunny for the past two days and things are starting to dry out. The military is working really hard putting up new power lines and the municipality is repairing the roads. Please pray for the people of Honduras who have lost their livelihoods and families in this storm. We are seeing first-hand that during disasters like this it is usually the poor who are most affected because their property is often not suitable for building, or their houses are not made of strong enough materials.
We just thought we´d let you know why you haven´t heard much from us lately. We are doing fine, and did not have any major problems with water in our house because it is on high ground and is well-built with a ditch along the road. We will post more updates as we are able.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Gardening
October 9, 2008 By Katie
We’ve spent some time working on building a garden and a compost hole lately. Don’t be deceived by the pictures—Matt didn’t do ALL the work (although he did do quite a bit of it). Our neighbor Noél and I pitched in too.
We’ve spent some time working on building a garden and a compost hole lately. Don’t be deceived by the pictures—Matt didn’t do ALL the work (although he did do quite a bit of it). Our neighbor Noél and I pitched in too.
Only in the Tropics
October 9, 2008
By Katie
The other night I found this little frog in our house. It was about an inch long and was jumping more than four feet. Do the math: that’s forty-eight times its own body length! I got Matt out of bed and we chased it around the house for a little while to marvel at it. Entertainment is pretty cheap around here.
By Katie
The other night I found this little frog in our house. It was about an inch long and was jumping more than four feet. Do the math: that’s forty-eight times its own body length! I got Matt out of bed and we chased it around the house for a little while to marvel at it. Entertainment is pretty cheap around here.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Dia de la Biblia (Bible Day)
September 30, 2008
By Katie
It had been about a week and a half since there had been a parade in Catacamas, so luckily there was another one this last Sunday (I think there is one this coming Friday too to celebrate our great town, we’ll have to see). This Sunday I got to march in it. The parade was for Dia de la Biblia and included many of the Christian schools and organizations in town. It ended with a big church service in the park. It was really a neat thing to be with so many Christians gathered in one place, proclaiming Jesus’ sovereignty in their town. I was glad to be a part of it. All of Honduras celebrated Dia de la Biblia with many other parades and celebrations all over the country.
The movie is a little fuzzy, so you’ll have to trust that the girl in the brown dress under the umbrella is me.
By Katie
It had been about a week and a half since there had been a parade in Catacamas, so luckily there was another one this last Sunday (I think there is one this coming Friday too to celebrate our great town, we’ll have to see). This Sunday I got to march in it. The parade was for Dia de la Biblia and included many of the Christian schools and organizations in town. It ended with a big church service in the park. It was really a neat thing to be with so many Christians gathered in one place, proclaiming Jesus’ sovereignty in their town. I was glad to be a part of it. All of Honduras celebrated Dia de la Biblia with many other parades and celebrations all over the country.
The movie is a little fuzzy, so you’ll have to trust that the girl in the brown dress under the umbrella is me.
Language Learning and Grace
September 30, 2008
By Katie
Matt and I were humbled this Sunday when a family at church spent quite a bit of time talking with us and getting to know us. They showed an amazing amount of perseverance in the conversation since it’s not easy to talk to language learners like ourselves. The time they spent laboring through the conversation meant a lot to me. They could have smiled, shook our hands and then talked amongst themselves. Actually, this family is only one example of the many people we encounter each day who show us grace by working hard at communicating with us (especially with me, as my Spanish is weaker than Matt’s). I’ll never be able to repay some of these people who I encounter, so I hope that the readers of this blog might read this account, and in turn choose to show such grace to the language learners they meet. Please help us pay it forward!
By Katie
Matt and I were humbled this Sunday when a family at church spent quite a bit of time talking with us and getting to know us. They showed an amazing amount of perseverance in the conversation since it’s not easy to talk to language learners like ourselves. The time they spent laboring through the conversation meant a lot to me. They could have smiled, shook our hands and then talked amongst themselves. Actually, this family is only one example of the many people we encounter each day who show us grace by working hard at communicating with us (especially with me, as my Spanish is weaker than Matt’s). I’ll never be able to repay some of these people who I encounter, so I hope that the readers of this blog might read this account, and in turn choose to show such grace to the language learners they meet. Please help us pay it forward!
Classes and more classes
September 27, 2008
By Katie
After the week of many holidays, I was able to return to the school Luz y Verdad for a full week of classes. It was very nice to see better how the school runs and where I will fit in there.
The school serves K-6 with kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third/fourth grades, and fifth/sixth grades. There is one English teacher named Marcos who I work with. English is the only special and all students have it everyday for 20-40 minutes.
About halfway through this week, I took over the third/fourth grade and Marcos and I split the fifth/sixth grade into two small groups. I teach the fifth grade in that class. There is a textbook that the teacher uses, but it has limited use since only a few kids still have their photocopied versions of the text and there is no teacher’s edition which has many of the instructions for the activities. I’d like to see what other supplementary material we can come up with to boost the program a little.
School is done at noon every day and I ride the school bus home with the kids. I had been praying about what to do with the rest of my time. The housework and making all our food from scratch has been keeping me busy, but if you know me, I like to keep things moving faster than that! But, no worries, a situation has presented itself.
I had been getting to know my little neighbor girl, six-year-old Briana. Her friends liked to shout “Katie!” to which I would respond “Hola!” repeatedly a dozen times per day. Doris told me that Briana can’t read and that she may have to repeat first grade. I talked with Briana’s mom too and she told me that the entire first grade class can’t read (except for one person). Katie’s After-school Program was instantly born. Just like that, I’ve got about 12 kids (with more every day) coming over to my front porch in the afternoons for classes from 2:00-4:00 five days per week. The students take this very seriously and everyone who walks by starts cracking up. I think it must be quite a sight! I’m thankful for the answered prayer of an opportunity to do what I do best and am praying now for the students that they can learn and see God in the classes.
By Katie
After the week of many holidays, I was able to return to the school Luz y Verdad for a full week of classes. It was very nice to see better how the school runs and where I will fit in there.
The school serves K-6 with kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third/fourth grades, and fifth/sixth grades. There is one English teacher named Marcos who I work with. English is the only special and all students have it everyday for 20-40 minutes.
About halfway through this week, I took over the third/fourth grade and Marcos and I split the fifth/sixth grade into two small groups. I teach the fifth grade in that class. There is a textbook that the teacher uses, but it has limited use since only a few kids still have their photocopied versions of the text and there is no teacher’s edition which has many of the instructions for the activities. I’d like to see what other supplementary material we can come up with to boost the program a little.
School is done at noon every day and I ride the school bus home with the kids. I had been praying about what to do with the rest of my time. The housework and making all our food from scratch has been keeping me busy, but if you know me, I like to keep things moving faster than that! But, no worries, a situation has presented itself.
I had been getting to know my little neighbor girl, six-year-old Briana. Her friends liked to shout “Katie!” to which I would respond “Hola!” repeatedly a dozen times per day. Doris told me that Briana can’t read and that she may have to repeat first grade. I talked with Briana’s mom too and she told me that the entire first grade class can’t read (except for one person). Katie’s After-school Program was instantly born. Just like that, I’ve got about 12 kids (with more every day) coming over to my front porch in the afternoons for classes from 2:00-4:00 five days per week. The students take this very seriously and everyone who walks by starts cracking up. I think it must be quite a sight! I’m thankful for the answered prayer of an opportunity to do what I do best and am praying now for the students that they can learn and see God in the classes.
Biodigesters
September 27, 2008
By Matt
This past week David (of Diaconia Nacional) and I have been working with a technical institute in Honduras (INFOP) to train communities on how to make biodigesters. A biodigester is basically a large plastic bag in a trench filled with water and manure. Bacteria digest the manure and produce methane gas. The gas travels from the inflated bag through a PVC pipe to the kitchen where it is used for cooking. This is helpful because the traditional cooking fuel used here is wood, which can be scarce at times, and the smoke causes health problems. Diaconia and INFOP collaborated to build a biodigester in the town of Guacoca to serve as a model and a means of training for the community.
We worked really hard on the biodigester this week. We hauled water, cow manure, and equipment to the worksite. Dug a big trench and filled the bag with a mixture of water and manure. About 12 community members helped out and the entire process was very interactive so that now they are trained to build their own biodigesters. In the end everything looked good. Now we will just have to wait about 15 to 25 days for it to start producing gas. To maintain the process the owner will need to put in a 5 gallon pail of half manure, half water every other day. There are a lot of cows around, so this should not be a problem.
Diaconia has a long term relationship with the community of Guacoca because there is a Christian Reformed Church there. Most of the people we worked with are members of that church. We spent the whole week working there, so it was a great chance to get to build relationships and get to know my brothers and sisters in Guacoca.
By Matt
This past week David (of Diaconia Nacional) and I have been working with a technical institute in Honduras (INFOP) to train communities on how to make biodigesters. A biodigester is basically a large plastic bag in a trench filled with water and manure. Bacteria digest the manure and produce methane gas. The gas travels from the inflated bag through a PVC pipe to the kitchen where it is used for cooking. This is helpful because the traditional cooking fuel used here is wood, which can be scarce at times, and the smoke causes health problems. Diaconia and INFOP collaborated to build a biodigester in the town of Guacoca to serve as a model and a means of training for the community.
We worked really hard on the biodigester this week. We hauled water, cow manure, and equipment to the worksite. Dug a big trench and filled the bag with a mixture of water and manure. About 12 community members helped out and the entire process was very interactive so that now they are trained to build their own biodigesters. In the end everything looked good. Now we will just have to wait about 15 to 25 days for it to start producing gas. To maintain the process the owner will need to put in a 5 gallon pail of half manure, half water every other day. There are a lot of cows around, so this should not be a problem.
Diaconia has a long term relationship with the community of Guacoca because there is a Christian Reformed Church there. Most of the people we worked with are members of that church. We spent the whole week working there, so it was a great chance to get to build relationships and get to know my brothers and sisters in Guacoca.
Stuff
September 26, 2008
By Katie
Being in a country where “stuff” is more scarce brings up a lot of questions about what to use and what not to use. We have a car to use on the weekends, but is it ok to be the only people who drive to church? Am I being too extravagant to ask my students to write things down in my class rather than just listen and read what I wrote on the chalkboard in order to save paper and pencils? How often should we shower since water here is scarce? As we are spreading our wings here in Honduras, we are constantly confronted with questions about how we should act and how we should approach the use of the things we have at our disposal. It would be nothing for me to buy a notebook for each kid at school, but in so doing would I set up myself as a person who has stuff to give, and diminish my effectiveness at identifying with the people? There aren’t black-and-white answers to these questions, so Matt and I spend a fair amount of time discussing them and praying about them.
By Katie
Being in a country where “stuff” is more scarce brings up a lot of questions about what to use and what not to use. We have a car to use on the weekends, but is it ok to be the only people who drive to church? Am I being too extravagant to ask my students to write things down in my class rather than just listen and read what I wrote on the chalkboard in order to save paper and pencils? How often should we shower since water here is scarce? As we are spreading our wings here in Honduras, we are constantly confronted with questions about how we should act and how we should approach the use of the things we have at our disposal. It would be nothing for me to buy a notebook for each kid at school, but in so doing would I set up myself as a person who has stuff to give, and diminish my effectiveness at identifying with the people? There aren’t black-and-white answers to these questions, so Matt and I spend a fair amount of time discussing them and praying about them.
The Hidden Honduras
By Matt
Three years ago when I was studying here in Honduras our class read a book called “Don’t Be Afraid Gringo” written by a Honduran woman named Elvia Alvarado (She also visited our class at the end of the semester). In the book Elvia talks a lot about how the poverty of Honduras is hidden, and out of reach of the average visitor. She is speaking about the lives of average Hondurans, specifically those who live in rural areas. One way this shows up is in the huge contrast between rich and poor. In a big city like Tegucigalpa you will see fancy hotels and beautiful shopping malls, but if you happen to make it to the outskirts of town you will see many people living in tiny shacks with dirt floors. In Santa Lucia where we studied Spanish there were huge mansions up on the hill with manicured lawns and vineyards. One day we took a walk with the family into the woods behind the mansions to a community of little shacks without running water or electricity where people were living in pretty rough conditions. We see the same contrast as we walk down the street to our house each day. There are nice little brick homes painted green and pink with glass windows and cars in the driveway and two doors down will be a house made from dirt blocks with limestone coating which seem to be slowly melting because of the rain. Honduras is truly a country of contrasts.
Three years ago when I was studying here in Honduras our class read a book called “Don’t Be Afraid Gringo” written by a Honduran woman named Elvia Alvarado (She also visited our class at the end of the semester). In the book Elvia talks a lot about how the poverty of Honduras is hidden, and out of reach of the average visitor. She is speaking about the lives of average Hondurans, specifically those who live in rural areas. One way this shows up is in the huge contrast between rich and poor. In a big city like Tegucigalpa you will see fancy hotels and beautiful shopping malls, but if you happen to make it to the outskirts of town you will see many people living in tiny shacks with dirt floors. In Santa Lucia where we studied Spanish there were huge mansions up on the hill with manicured lawns and vineyards. One day we took a walk with the family into the woods behind the mansions to a community of little shacks without running water or electricity where people were living in pretty rough conditions. We see the same contrast as we walk down the street to our house each day. There are nice little brick homes painted green and pink with glass windows and cars in the driveway and two doors down will be a house made from dirt blocks with limestone coating which seem to be slowly melting because of the rain. Honduras is truly a country of contrasts.
Internet Famine
By Katie
Our apologies to our readers who have been checking our blog the past two weeks only to find we STILL hadn’t updated anything. For one reason or another, we couldn’t get to the internet for a long time... but now you can feast on all the blogs we’ve been saving up!
Our apologies to our readers who have been checking our blog the past two weeks only to find we STILL hadn’t updated anything. For one reason or another, we couldn’t get to the internet for a long time... but now you can feast on all the blogs we’ve been saving up!
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