By Katie
It's been three months since the June 28 coup that deposed Mel Zelaya. He recently snuck back into the country and shook things up quite a bit. Mel continues camping out at the Brazilian Embassy. And the news keeps on coming...
I've tried on several occasions to write blogs about the current political situation but keep erasing them. The problem is that the news changes dramatically every few hours. There have been bouts of violence from both sides in the capital. Curfews of varying hours were set for every day in weeks past. The de facto government suspended five civil liberties, and in turn invaded and shut down several media sources. About 24 hours later they changed their mind and reinstated the civil liberties, thank goodness! There has been cracks in the support that backs both sides lately, which may point us closer to a compromise.
So far everything has been very calm in Catacamas, although sometimes things are canceled as precautionary measures, including Catacamas' Bible Day celebration.
It's undeniable that something in Honduras has to change and that there's a few roads that Honduras could take in the future. Please pray that Honduras can be transformed for the better through this crisis, and that it will end peacefully.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Hiking up La Picucha
By Katie
In late August we went on an amazing hike up the mountain just outside of Catacamas. I'm playing catch-up on blogging now, so the story's a little late. At any rate, I hope you enjoy these pictures!
Day One: Five-hour hike
How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Psalm 104:24
You didn't want to go walking around at night at this campsite-- the land went straight down to both the left and right of our cluster of three tents.
Day Three: Eight-hour hike
We woke up to see the sun rising and the clouds below us.
We packed up in a bit of a drizzle, then did a hike/run down the mountain and made it back to catch the last bus back to Catacamas. We were tired, very dirty, and very satisfied.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19:1-4a
In late August we went on an amazing hike up the mountain just outside of Catacamas. I'm playing catch-up on blogging now, so the story's a little late. At any rate, I hope you enjoy these pictures!
Day One: Five-hour hike
Our team of hikers consisted of Lisa, Brayan, Matt and I, Sarah, David, Jordan and Calixto the guide. With the exception of Brayan, who is a youth from our church, all the others work or volunteer in various parts of Honduras. You can see two peaks in the background; we camped on top of the one on the left, and hiked up to the taller one on the right. On this day we had a donkey and a mule to carry our bags and give us rides.
Our campsite the first night was amidst a coffee plantation in the cloud forest.
On this night we cooked and slept in a shack that houses the coffee pickers during the harvest season.
Day Two: Six-hour hike
The day of big adventures!
Straight up!
Calixto built this trail himself with a couple of other people. He continued clearing the trail with his machete as we went up.
Just before the peak of the mountain we arrived in the dwarf forest, a unique ecosystem found in areas of high altitude, high wind and humidity. In this picutre you can see a bit of the dwarf forest overlooking the cloud forest and then valley below.
How many are your works, O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Psalm 104:24
You didn't want to go walking around at night at this campsite-- the land went straight down to both the left and right of our cluster of three tents.
Day Three: Eight-hour hike
We woke up to see the sun rising and the clouds below us.
We packed up in a bit of a drizzle, then did a hike/run down the mountain and made it back to catch the last bus back to Catacamas. We were tired, very dirty, and very satisfied.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.
There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
Psalm 19:1-4a
Running water, Here We Come!
By Katie
The last few days in Honduras have been interesting, to say the least. On Monday the old president returned and all day Tuesday and most of Wednesday the entire nation was under curfew to prevent people from traveling to the capitol city.
Fortunately, the days off of work coincided perfectly with our community’s water project. Soon and very soon our barrio, Colonia Villa Verde, will have running water! This is no gift from the government; it is entirely a project of the people who live in the neighborhood. There’s a group of community leaders who started almost two years ago petitioning different organizations (such as Diaconia Nacional), as well as their own neighbors, for the money to put a tank, pump, and tubes in for the neighborhood. Bit by bit the tower for the tank was built. Last Tuesday was a national holiday, so people had the day off of work. They spent their time digging the trenches in front of their homes and community spaces for the pipes. Then, this week when we all had another surprise day off because of the curfew, the neighbors all set out to work again, this time laying the PVC pipes in the trenches and covering them back up. It has been amazing to see the community come together for the project. On work days you can see everyone out in the streets working for a total of about four square blocks—pure people with shovels and pickaxes! Everyone is there to work and encourage each other, young and old.
While there’s plenty of disunity in the capitol, our neighborhood has shown what a little bit of working together can do. It’s encouragement we all need these days.
The last few days in Honduras have been interesting, to say the least. On Monday the old president returned and all day Tuesday and most of Wednesday the entire nation was under curfew to prevent people from traveling to the capitol city.
Fortunately, the days off of work coincided perfectly with our community’s water project. Soon and very soon our barrio, Colonia Villa Verde, will have running water! This is no gift from the government; it is entirely a project of the people who live in the neighborhood. There’s a group of community leaders who started almost two years ago petitioning different organizations (such as Diaconia Nacional), as well as their own neighbors, for the money to put a tank, pump, and tubes in for the neighborhood. Bit by bit the tower for the tank was built. Last Tuesday was a national holiday, so people had the day off of work. They spent their time digging the trenches in front of their homes and community spaces for the pipes. Then, this week when we all had another surprise day off because of the curfew, the neighbors all set out to work again, this time laying the PVC pipes in the trenches and covering them back up. It has been amazing to see the community come together for the project. On work days you can see everyone out in the streets working for a total of about four square blocks—pure people with shovels and pickaxes! Everyone is there to work and encourage each other, young and old. 
While there’s plenty of disunity in the capitol, our neighborhood has shown what a little bit of working together can do. It’s encouragement we all need these days.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Church in Patuca
By Matt
In the ag progam we have been working with a group of farmers down in the southern part of olancho in a town called Patuca. It takes us at least 4 hours to get to Patuca, and the trip is both difficult and beautiful. We cross over a mountain range and then follow the mighty Patuca river for quite a while. In town you see a lot of boats from the travelers coming in and out of the Moskitia on the river (this is the very undeveloped, rainforest/lagoon region on the eastern side of Honduras).
The farmers are working land that is owned by Diaconia and paying it off bit by bit with every harvest.
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They always ask David to preach in the local Christian Reformed Church when we go there. This time I was able to lead a bible study with the farmer group focusing on how God was the first farmer and how he has given us the responsibility to care for the land. This was all great, but the best part of being in Patuca is the praise and worship with a band of very animated Olanchanos playing ranchera music on a variety of well-worn instruments. A couple of the farmers are also in the band. Here is a short video to give you a taste:
As we clapped and praised the Lord together, I was struck to think of how fortunate I am to have experiences like this. I love this job.
In the ag progam we have been working with a group of farmers down in the southern part of olancho in a town called Patuca. It takes us at least 4 hours to get to Patuca, and the trip is both difficult and beautiful. We cross over a mountain range and then follow the mighty Patuca river for quite a while. In town you see a lot of boats from the travelers coming in and out of the Moskitia on the river (this is the very undeveloped, rainforest/lagoon region on the eastern side of Honduras).
The farmers are working land that is owned by Diaconia and paying it off bit by bit with every harvest.
+568.jpg)
+633.jpg)
They always ask David to preach in the local Christian Reformed Church when we go there. This time I was able to lead a bible study with the farmer group focusing on how God was the first farmer and how he has given us the responsibility to care for the land. This was all great, but the best part of being in Patuca is the praise and worship with a band of very animated Olanchanos playing ranchera music on a variety of well-worn instruments. A couple of the farmers are also in the band. Here is a short video to give you a taste:
As we clapped and praised the Lord together, I was struck to think of how fortunate I am to have experiences like this. I love this job.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Professional Development comes to Luz y Verdad
By Katie
A few weeks ago Escuela Luz y Verdad was blessed with an opportunity for professional development. I went to school that day thinking we were just going to have a regular teachers' meeting, so I was astonished to see Professor María Rodriguez of Calvin College show up to do a training for the teachers at Luz y Verdad and the teachers of a nearby town.
I had Prof. María Rodriguez´s sister as a professor in the Spanish department at Calvin, and her other sister Blanca works here in Honduras for Worldwide Christian Schools. Accompanying María and Blanca was Elaine Helmus, who is a former missionary with CRWM and was integral in starting the school about 20 years ago. It was truly an honor to have them come to visit our little school.
Professor María gave an excellent workshop on teaching strategies for improving reading skills and examples for providing more hands-on, high-interest learning activities in the classroom. It was exciting to see Professor María talk about these things for several reasons. First, the examples she gave were very much in-line with the style of teaching that I try to promote by example in our school. This style is contrary to the more popular mode of copying off the board or doing book work. But María, who was born and raised in Honduras, was able to be very convincing to the teachers that we need to shift our methods to reflect changing times where group work skills and creativity are necessary for success in life. She explained that, although this was not how they were taught, it is a necessary shift that needs to be made by today´s educators. Also, parents might be skeptical if they see that students play games all day long, so the teachers need to educate the parents on the new learning techniques too. Professor María said in a few short minutes what I´m hoping the teachers glean from me in the two years that I´ll be with them.
The results of the workshop were immediate. The next day the English teacher, Marcos, developed an activity that combined an activity that Professor María had shown with one I had done with another group the week before. It was encouraging for Marcos to see that not only did the students learn the new vocabulary better, but they behaved much better too. Now he is incorporating pre-planned activities such as this into his classes more often. Another teacher, Cendy, had her kids create posters for something they were learning, and those posters are now hanging in her classroom. You can see in this picture that teacher Jarmin also hangs student work in her classroom and has the students interact with it.
Bit by bit change is coming to Luz y Verdad. With the support of trainings from highly-qualified professionals like Professor María Rodriguez, these changes can become permanent pieces of our identity as a school, so that we can better reflect our calling to be a Christian school dedicated to real learning for ALL of the students.
A few weeks ago Escuela Luz y Verdad was blessed with an opportunity for professional development. I went to school that day thinking we were just going to have a regular teachers' meeting, so I was astonished to see Professor María Rodriguez of Calvin College show up to do a training for the teachers at Luz y Verdad and the teachers of a nearby town.
I had Prof. María Rodriguez´s sister as a professor in the Spanish department at Calvin, and her other sister Blanca works here in Honduras for Worldwide Christian Schools. Accompanying María and Blanca was Elaine Helmus, who is a former missionary with CRWM and was integral in starting the school about 20 years ago. It was truly an honor to have them come to visit our little school.
Professor María gave an excellent workshop on teaching strategies for improving reading skills and examples for providing more hands-on, high-interest learning activities in the classroom. It was exciting to see Professor María talk about these things for several reasons. First, the examples she gave were very much in-line with the style of teaching that I try to promote by example in our school. This style is contrary to the more popular mode of copying off the board or doing book work. But María, who was born and raised in Honduras, was able to be very convincing to the teachers that we need to shift our methods to reflect changing times where group work skills and creativity are necessary for success in life. She explained that, although this was not how they were taught, it is a necessary shift that needs to be made by today´s educators. Also, parents might be skeptical if they see that students play games all day long, so the teachers need to educate the parents on the new learning techniques too. Professor María said in a few short minutes what I´m hoping the teachers glean from me in the two years that I´ll be with them.
The results of the workshop were immediate. The next day the English teacher, Marcos, developed an activity that combined an activity that Professor María had shown with one I had done with another group the week before. It was encouraging for Marcos to see that not only did the students learn the new vocabulary better, but they behaved much better too. Now he is incorporating pre-planned activities such as this into his classes more often. Another teacher, Cendy, had her kids create posters for something they were learning, and those posters are now hanging in her classroom. You can see in this picture that teacher Jarmin also hangs student work in her classroom and has the students interact with it.Bit by bit change is coming to Luz y Verdad. With the support of trainings from highly-qualified professionals like Professor María Rodriguez, these changes can become permanent pieces of our identity as a school, so that we can better reflect our calling to be a Christian school dedicated to real learning for ALL of the students.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Youth Retreat
By Katie
Recently youth from all over Honduras gathered at a church camp in the mountains just outside of Tegucigalpa for the national youth retreat. It was a weekend of new experiences for many youth, some of whom had never been to the city before.
The sessions started with Ana Joya, who works for CRWRC, leading a session called “To love is to wait”. Ana did an excellent job speaking to the youth about this topic.
She started out with group work, which is not something commonly done in the rural areas outside of Tegucigalpa. It was a great opportunity for the youth to have their voice heard and to develop teamwork skills. To finish the session, Matt and I gave our testimony about our dating relationship and how God guided us through that time of our lives.
On Friday night, we had the ever-popular Honduran tradition: Open Mic Night. Here’s a video of a couple of guys from Olancho singing a ranchero song, a Honduran country song. The crowd is going nuts because they love it.
Some youth from the city had entirely different presentations for open mic night. Here’s a group that made a skit about how only Christ leads to salvation, not other lifestyles like rock n’ roll, goth, etc.
There was one last thing you thought you’d never see in Honduras: A little Christian Reformed *bling*bling*:
It was a great opportunity for the students to get together and push their limits of comfort, expand their circle of friends to include people all over the country, and to challenge their hearts and minds to live more fully for Jesus Christ.
Recently youth from all over Honduras gathered at a church camp in the mountains just outside of Tegucigalpa for the national youth retreat. It was a weekend of new experiences for many youth, some of whom had never been to the city before.
The sessions started with Ana Joya, who works for CRWRC, leading a session called “To love is to wait”. Ana did an excellent job speaking to the youth about this topic.
She started out with group work, which is not something commonly done in the rural areas outside of Tegucigalpa. It was a great opportunity for the youth to have their voice heard and to develop teamwork skills. To finish the session, Matt and I gave our testimony about our dating relationship and how God guided us through that time of our lives.
On Friday night, we had the ever-popular Honduran tradition: Open Mic Night. Here’s a video of a couple of guys from Olancho singing a ranchero song, a Honduran country song. The crowd is going nuts because they love it.
Some youth from the city had entirely different presentations for open mic night. Here’s a group that made a skit about how only Christ leads to salvation, not other lifestyles like rock n’ roll, goth, etc.
There was one last thing you thought you’d never see in Honduras: A little Christian Reformed *bling*bling*:
It was a great opportunity for the students to get together and push their limits of comfort, expand their circle of friends to include people all over the country, and to challenge their hearts and minds to live more fully for Jesus Christ.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Public school teachers still on strike
By Katie
No one has felt the effects of the political crisis more than the students of public schools in Honduras. Since the coup occured on June 28, the public school students have not been to school more than three days a week in most cases. The teachers' union is very strong and is has been striking for eight weeks to show their support of the ousted president, Mel Zelaya. For the first three weeks there was no school at all, and now they only strike Mondays and Tuesdays and give classes the other three days of the week.
This is infuriating because it is especially affecting the poor students in Honduras. Anyone who can at all afford it does not send their children to the public school. The teachers have a history of striking far too many days, so any other school is better than the public schools, as long as they give classes most of the time.
However, I do know some public school teachers who are fighting against their unions and truly looking out for the students they teach. One of these is my Spanish tutor, Delvin, who is the president of the local chapter of the teachers' union. He does not take a political stance in the Mel vs. Michelletti game, and does not support the strike because it is not the fault of the students that their president was ousted. He is working with a few local teachers to move the strike to only one day per week and to teach four days per week. He'd like to teach full five-day weeks, but realizes that there is only a small minority of teachers who want to stop the strike and sees the one/four option as a compromise.
Other teachers keep teaching despite demands on them not to. The teacher of the second graders in my neighborhood holds classes in the afternoons for struggling students on the days of the week when she is not supposed to be striking. Many of those kids are in my after-school program, so I make sure they go to her classes on those days so that I can show my support of her efforts. Other teachers are holding classes on Saturdays in order to keep educating their students.
Please pray with us that this situation gets resolved soon, and does not last the entire year. Pray especially for the strength of people like Delvin and the second grade teacher in our neighborhood who face strong opposition for their support of putting students first.
Photo from La Tribuna, a newspaper in Honduras. The school called Rafael Pineda Ponce says "We want classes, We want teachers".
No one has felt the effects of the political crisis more than the students of public schools in Honduras. Since the coup occured on June 28, the public school students have not been to school more than three days a week in most cases. The teachers' union is very strong and is has been striking for eight weeks to show their support of the ousted president, Mel Zelaya. For the first three weeks there was no school at all, and now they only strike Mondays and Tuesdays and give classes the other three days of the week.
This is infuriating because it is especially affecting the poor students in Honduras. Anyone who can at all afford it does not send their children to the public school. The teachers have a history of striking far too many days, so any other school is better than the public schools, as long as they give classes most of the time.
However, I do know some public school teachers who are fighting against their unions and truly looking out for the students they teach. One of these is my Spanish tutor, Delvin, who is the president of the local chapter of the teachers' union. He does not take a political stance in the Mel vs. Michelletti game, and does not support the strike because it is not the fault of the students that their president was ousted. He is working with a few local teachers to move the strike to only one day per week and to teach four days per week. He'd like to teach full five-day weeks, but realizes that there is only a small minority of teachers who want to stop the strike and sees the one/four option as a compromise.
Other teachers keep teaching despite demands on them not to. The teacher of the second graders in my neighborhood holds classes in the afternoons for struggling students on the days of the week when she is not supposed to be striking. Many of those kids are in my after-school program, so I make sure they go to her classes on those days so that I can show my support of her efforts. Other teachers are holding classes on Saturdays in order to keep educating their students.
Please pray with us that this situation gets resolved soon, and does not last the entire year. Pray especially for the strength of people like Delvin and the second grade teacher in our neighborhood who face strong opposition for their support of putting students first.
Photo from La Tribuna, a newspaper in Honduras. The school called Rafael Pineda Ponce says "We want classes, We want teachers".
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