The Right Place at the Right Time...

Today I was able to be in the right place at the right time, only by the grace of God.

After going to the doctor's for a physical so that I can renew my driver's licenses, then to the bank to pay for my licenses,  I ended up at the salon to get a hair cut.  I almost rode right by, planning to just enjoy a ride in the sun, but at the last moment, I pulled in to the parking lot and found that the salon was open.  So I got my hair cut.

I left the salon, got back on my motorcycle and started to pull out, when I realized that I didn't have my sunglasses on.  Although I was in the shade at the moment, in about 2 seconds I was going to be in the blazing sun.  I quickly stopped the motorcycle and cut the engine.  My purse was in the trunk, so I had to get off the bike to get my sunglasses.  And that's when it happened...

As I was getting my sunglasses out, I was approached by a mother holding an infant, with another young girl at her side. She asked me for some money.  I shook my head and said, "Lo siento.No."  "I'm sorry. No."  I almost never give money to anyone begging.  The mother didn't move, she just stood there and asked again.  And again, I shook my head and said, "Lo siento. No."  But as I looked at her face, into her eyes, I was moved to compassion and action.  I asked her if she needed milk for the baby, to which she replied yes. 

I quickly scanned the area and saw that there was a pulpería across the street and up the way a bit.  I told the mother that if she and her daughter would walk over to that pulpería, I would buy her some milk.  They did just that.  In fact, they made it across the street before I did since  I had to put my purse back into the trunk and wait for traffic so that I could pull a U-turn around the median on the motorcycle.

I had already decided that I would see if the pulpería also carried disposable diapers and try to get some of those.  They did have diapers, and since they were individually packaged, I told the woman how many I wanted.  Then I asked for milk.  They didn't have any, but the owner told me that they had it at the pharmacy across the street - literally, right next to where I had just been.  I asked the mom and her daughter if they would like a Coke and bought them a drink, too.  The owner of the pulpería told me that God saw what I was doing and that He would reward me.  I tried to tell her that I wasn't doing it to get a reward, but only because I felt it was what God wanted me to do.  She then told me that the North Americans are always blessing the people of Honduras. 

Because the milk was back across the street, I told the woman with the baby to wait where she was, in the shade and I would go back over to the pharmacy.  I started to get back on my moto, but then turned back to the woman and told her that because there was no return in the road for me, I would have to drive a bit further down, but not to worry, that I wasn't driving off.

At the pharmacy, I ended up buying some formula, an infant bottle (the baby is 2 months old) and some bags of water. I was pretty sure that the woman wouldn't have a bottle.  I was also positive that the woman is dehydrated, which means that she probably can't produce enough milk for the baby, and that the baby is dehydrated, too. When I went back to the woman, I explained to her how to prepare the formula.  I figured that the woman in the pulpería would probably go into a little more detail, and that it might be better received from a Honduran.  So, after asking God to bless the woman and her family, I left.

Back at home, I was making lunch when I felt God dropping a Scripture into my heart:  "What you do for the least of these, you do for Me." (my paraphrase)  It was a cool thought.  An awesome encouragement.  Then I started thinking about how it all happened:  My sunglasses.  If I hadn't forgotten to get them out while I was paying for my hair cut, I would have totally missed this opportunity show someone God's love in a practical way.

I was in the right place at the right time...

HUGE DISCLAIMER: This story isn't about me.  It's about me learning to listen and be obedient when God is prompting me to do or say something.  I have no doubt that every one of you would have done something very similar.

Another Day, Another Fire...

No, I'm not trying to sound complacent.  Not at all.  And, yes, there was another huge fire today in Honduras.  This one was in Comayagüela, which is part of Tegucigalpa, about an hour and a half away from Comayagua.  It happened in the mercado, the market. 

Thankfully, it appears that there has been no loss of life from this fire.  Several people were injured and many, many people lost their entire businesses, but no one died.  Thank God for that!

The fire appears to have mostly affected the part of the market where people were selling clothes and shoes.  500 stalls burned! The businesses were not insured, so that basically means that these people lost everything.  Here's an article that was on Yahoo! News about the fire.  On the news here, it's getting lots of exposure.  Lots of pictures.

And lots of looting.  Before the fire was barely extinguished, the police were trying to control the looters who were going in to find (and take) anything salvageable.  I was watching a few minutes of it on TV and saw several people sifting through rubble, including a woman who kept lifting up a pair of singed jeans, with the tag still on it, trying to determine if they were worth taking.  She kept looking at the TV camera, then back at the jeans, holding them up, surveying the damage.  In the end, the jeans won out as she walked away with them.

Right now, there's an overall attitude here in the country of "What next?  What more will we have to endure?" But I believe that the Honduran people are resilient.  I believe that Hope will be brought to people who have no hope right now.  I believe that Peace will come to people who are in turmoil.  And I believe that Light will shine in a country that is so engulfed in darkness these days.

I was going to write today about this morning's bike ride ~ something a bit lighter than the news I've had so far this week.  What I didn't know was that as I was riding my bike, soaking in the sunshine and enjoying the sights and sounds around me, tragedy was striking the country once again.

Please continue to pray for Honduras and for us.  Pray that we will shine as God's light in dark times, and that we will know how to meet people's real needs.

The Lingering Pain...

While news of the fire at Comayagua's prison is quickly fading from memory in the United States, it is front and center in the news here.  As I write this, it is less than 72 hours since the first flames of that tragic fire.  Throughout the country, you can't turn on the news or open a newspaper without there being a myriad of stories about the fire. 

The final body count is not in yet, though it's currently being reported as 382.  The number of prisoners who escaped is not known, though that number is being whispered at about 100.  The cause of the fire is unknown, though there are many rumors and theories.

What IS known is that the prison was grossly over crowded, which added to the loss of life.  The prison is old, with no centralized way of opening cells, which added to the loss of life.  More than likely, the guards feared a massive riot, slowing their initial response, which added to the loss of life.

And what is that loss of life?  It has touched so many people that I know:

One of our guards lost his brother, just ten days before he was to be released after serving 6 years in the prison.

A staff member, A., lost two uncles and three cousins.  That's five family members.

Another staff member, R., lost one uncle and three cousins.  Four family members.

Our staff member, F., had a brother there.  Thankfully, mercifully, F's brother survived with only some burns and a broken leg.

I was talking to one of our young volunteers at the Center, W. I asked him if he lost any family members. He looked at me like I was a little crazy, cocked his head to one side and wrinkled his nose, then said, "¡Bastante!" "Tons!"  W. is one of the street kids who has been volunteering here for a while now.  He is trying to rise above his circumstances and spends as much time here as he can.  He wants to make sure he doesn't end up as a statistic in the jail.  If he keeps going like he is, he won't.

Normally, I use first names here, but just felt that I should only use initials today.  I'm sure you understand.

A friend asked me a question on Facebook, about whether any or many of our school kids were affected by the fire.  My response was that if just these four people that I've mentioned were (and I'm sure there are more within our staff), that I have no doubt that many of our school kids lost family members this week.

Please continue to pray for the survivors, the families, and the officials.

More Details...

The smoke is still clearing from Tuesday night’s deadly prison fire.  By early Wednesday morning, reports of at least 275 dead were circulating.  One of our staff members, R., was outside the prison, trying to get news about his uncle.

It was while R. was there that the crowd, waiting for news of their incarcerated loved ones, got out of hand.  They began to riot and demand answers.  They demanded to see the bodies, to know for sure that their family members were or were not dead.  They stormed the outer gates of the prison.  They threw rocks at the police and soldiers who were there.

The police responded in kind: by shooting their weapons into the air, over the heads of the people and by releasing tear gas.  All this was in the morning, while we were starting our first day of school.  Even several hours later, as the wind blew in our direction, my eyes were just a bit irritated by the tear gas.  Several teachers mentioned the same thing to me.

I spent some time on Wednesday afternoon and early evening watching the news.  Now, if you’ve never watched Honduran news, it’s definitely a different experience than watching news in the States: no detail is spared from view.  If a bloody body can be seen, you can bet that they will show it on camera.  Again.  And again. And again.

When I turned on the news, I happened upon scenes of workers carrying body bags to a waiting 18-wheel container and loading them in, stacking them as high as they could.  Other reports said that many of the bodies have been so badly burned that they are fused together with other bodies.  Or, when the workers try to pick up a body, they are basically like charcoal and disintegrate in their hands.  And still, family members are waiting for word on their loved ones.

Yes, many of the prisoners were drug dealers, gang members, murderers, rapists, and thieves.  Others were waiting for their trials, which can take years to get to.  Regardless of the crimes they were in for, these men were human beings.  They were someone’s son, brother, husband, father.  Unlike the comments I’ve been reading on some of the news sites, they didn’t deserve to die this way.  No one deserves to dies in such a horrific manner.  The world is not better off without them.  I guess it’s easy for some to dismiss mercy and compassion when the victims live in a Third World nation.

May God comfort the families and all those who mourn these losses.  May He bring peace and hope to people who have none.

Here are some photos I took from the second floor of one of our buildings.

To put this in perspective, the black tower in the foreground is on our property. The greenhouses are toward the edge of the prison property and the row of people and structures across the middle of the picture are at the prison.

You can see a journalist standing on top of a structure to get a better view.  Also, there are two streams of water being used, probably to put out hot spots.

The man with the orange cart was headed to the prison to try to earn a few Lempiras.

You can see a wall of blue as the police form a line against family members wanting news of their loved ones.

For more photos, you can follow this link to a  Yahoo News photo story from inside the prison grounds.

In my next post, I'll tell you about some of the people, some of my friends, who lost family members in this fire. 

A Tragic Day...

Late last night a fire broke out at the prison here in Comayagua.  The prison is about 500 yards away from us.  I didn't hear about it until early this morning, right before our devotionals.  At the time, the death toll was estimated at about 275.  Right now, it's looking like 350, with projections saying the death toll will top 400.

What was supposed to be our first day of school, a day of celebration, ending up being anything but.  We did start the school day as planned.  I got some great pictures of our first assembly with the first through twelfth graders.  However, within an hour of our first assembly, the school was on lock down.

Almost immediately after parents dropped off their children for school, we started getting phone calls from parents concerned about their children's safety.  We assured them, as best we could, that their kids were safe and that we were not letting anyone on the grounds who did not belong here.

As the kids started going to recess, we told them that they all needed to be IN the Center, not out on the courts or on the playground equipment.  Parents were very concerned about the reports of prisoners who had escaped during the fire.  We were vigilant with their kids. 

Then the parents started arriving to pick up their children.  We had a system in place that greatly aided us in avoiding utter chaos.  The parents needed to wait at the front gate, and the teachers there filled out a form with the name and grade of the students.  Another teacher would come to the cafeteria (the Center) to get the children and then walk them to their classroom to pick up their backpack or any personal material, and finally, the teacher delivered the children, personally, to their parents.  No children were permitted to be anywhere on the property without a teacher escort.

School was scheduled to end at 12 noon today anyway, so we had about 2 1/2 hours of this.  Because of our proximity to the prison, and in order to really protect our kids, school is cancelled for tomorrow and Friday.

Look for more posts to follow, including some pictures I took from the second floor of one of our buildings.

No Power, No Internet. All In a Normal Day...

Well, as I start writing this, our internet is down, so I’m writing in Word and will copy it over later.  Our power went out for about 1 ½ hours this morning, but it was really strange:  I could hear major humming coming from the power substation that is a few blocks away.  The lights flickered, dimmed, and then surged more than I’ve seen in quite a while.  For some reason it reminded me of those scenes in a movie where someone tosses a toaster in on some guy in a bath tub. [As an aside: Seriously?  A toaster?  In a bath room?  You could try a hair dryer or maybe an electric razor.  But a toaster???]

Anyway…

It was still early, just after 5:30am, and I hadn’t taken my shower yet, so that meant a pila shower:  get some buckets of water from the pila and take a cold (very cold) sponge/bucket shower.  I didn’t feel like heating up water on the stove.  Brrr…

I also hadn’t brewed any coffee yet, so I was very thankful when I went over to Sandi’s house and found out that, not only had she brewed some before the power went out, but she had put it in her thermal carafe.  Ah, coffee.

Well, the power came back on just before 7:00am.  All in all, not bad for a power failure.  However, it left another problem in its wake: The internet was down.  Our network had come back up, but without internet access.  I went over to the bodega to check on things and reboot our modem, but that didn’t help.  There were only two lights working on our cable modem. I talked to Daya and asked her to call the cable company and see if they were having problems.

The problem was with the cable company.  We didn’t have cable TV either.  Not that any of us were watching TV, but I turned it on to check.  Snow.  (Hey, just like Kansas today!)  After about 5 hours, the internet came back.  For 30 minutes or so.  I guess the repair is a bit more involved than they thought.

So, I’m sitting here writing this in Word and will copy it to my blog sometime later when the internet is back up.  It’s interesting that, even here, we’ve come to expect “always on” internet service and feel quite cut off from civilization when something happens.

I was going to say something like, “Such are the difficulties of living in a Third World nation”, but the internet goes out everywhere.  We may just have to put up with the outages a lot longer.

1:40pm and the internet is back up.  For now.

Picnic Time...

During our school vacation, I've been teaching a class to the children of our staff.  It's geared for children in first - third grade.  The purpose is to help keep the kids' skills sharp during vacation and to keep them immersed in English.  I had the idea for the class as a way to give back a little to our staff.  It is my gift to them.  When I first started mentioning it to some of the staff, their first question was, "How much will it cost?"  Since it's a gift, I quickly made sure that they knew there's no cost at all, that I wanted to do this as a blessing to them and their kids.

We met for a couple of weeks in December and then started back again in January.  Class meets 3 times a week, for an hour-and-a-half.  It's supposed to be fun. I mean, who wants to be stuck in a classroom for hours and hours during vacation?  14 children were invited to be part of the class, but occasionally I had as many as 18 kids in the classroom as some 4th graders and kindergartners "sneaked" in.  (I couldn't say 'no'.)

Class rules are simple and each child has them memorized: #1 ~ No speaking Spanish.  #2 ~ Have fun!  Well, they all seem to do just fine with Rule #2, but the 'No speaking Spanish' part has been a bit more of a struggle.  During each class, we spend some time talking, reading, doing math, and playing games.

About two weeks ago, we started reading "The Wind in the Willows".  In the very first chapter, Mole and Rat go on a picnic, so one of the girls asked me if we could have a picnic together before our class was over.  I thought that was a great idea!  Ashley and I began planning the picnic and kept it a secret from the class for a few days before telling them about it. Since this week was the last week of class, we had our picnic on Monday.

I tried to have our food be fairly close to that of Mole and Rat, so we had fried chicken, cold ham (sandwiches), vegetables and  watermelon.  We had jugo de tamarindo, tamarind juice, instead of lemonade, but no one seemed to mind.  They also didn't mind that I chose not to serve tongue, even though Mole and Rat ate that.

So here's a picture from our picnic.  Some of the kids had left before I thought to get out my camera.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

I've never posted a recipe before, so I'm going to give it a whirl ~~ complete with pictures.  No, it's not a Honduran recipe, but one that is very easy and can be duplicated in YOUR kitchen with so little effort.  I get a lot of good comments whenever I post pictures to my Food Porn album on Facebook, so I thought maybe you, my dear, faithful readers, would enjoy this.

If you like the idea of me occasionally posting recipes, let me know ~~ either in a comment below, or a Facebook message.  Heck, you can even send me an email.  Your choice.

Creamy Curried Butternut Squash Soup
(Since this is a soup, the quantity of ingredients is not a hard and fast rule.  I'm starting with suggested amounts.  Adjust to your taste.)

1 medium onion, chopped
3-300 cloves of garlic, to taste, roughly chopped
1 or 2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" or so cubes
Olive oil, salt, pepper
1-2 Tbs. red curry paste, or to taste
4-6 cups chicken stock or broth (homemade is always best, but use what you've got)
1-2 cups milk
Sour cream, for garnish
Freshly grated nutmeg, for garnish

Toss the onion, garlic and squash in a large, heavy saucepan.  Add some olive oil and begin to saute over medium heat.

Stir occasionally, for 20 minutes or so, until the onions caramelize a bit.

 Add some salt, pepper and red curry paste, to taste.  Make sure you scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen all that deliciousness.

Add the chicken broth and let everything simmer for another 20 minutes or so.

When your soup looks like this...

Get out the immersion blender and whir away.  You can also do this in a regular blender, but let's face it, an immersion blender is pretty freaking cool!!

Add some milk and blend a bit more if you need to.  Reheat.

When all is said and done, your soup should look something like this...

Ladle into a bowl, garnish with sour cream and freshly grated nutmeg, and enjoy!

Now, wasn't that easy??  I used very little salt because my chicken stock had salt in it when I made it.  I didn't use any other spices, other than the curry paste, because I wanted the squash flavor to really stand out.  You could use coconut milk instead of regular milk.  Ditch the chicken stock for some veggie stock and you've got a vegetarian dish.  Vegan, too, if you use coconut milk.

If you'd like to see more recipes from time to time, let me know.  If this was enough, or too much, you can tell me that, too.  I can take it.

Also, are there any other topics you'd like to see me write about?  Any questions you might have about my life in Honduras?  Here's your chance to tell me what you're thinkin'.