Listen+Solidarity

                When I started to create this blog I really wrestled with its naming. Since my next six months would be spent as a “Solidarity Worker” in Honduras (click the tab above to learn more!), I wanted to somehow express the idea of solidarity in the name. “Walking in Solidarity” was my first thought, but then I began to think of all the ways in which solidarity could be shown. Walking is just one phrase… I could also say that we “live in solidarity” or “work in solidarity”. Yet, all of these phrases are somewhat vague, and do not fully convey what we are doing specifically that promotes a sense of solidarity. My assumption is it that it is what we do on a day to day basis, the little actions that contribute to the overall demonstration that truly makes up solidarity. So, I've decided to call the blog [verb]+Solidarity, and each post I will select a different action that reflects my experience at the time. Is it cheesy? Maybe. Brilliant? Barely. Honest? Absolutely.

                Interestingly, I began this blog thinking very much like the typical American. Action! I arrived at the airport in San Pedro Sula, Honduras fully ready to dive in and get involved in the work at CASM, my partner organization here. My friends will attest to my “workaholic” ways, and my Go Go Go! mentality. In fact, it’s probably that part of my personality that led me to jump on a plane and spend six months in Central America after only three weeks of preparation. I couldn't stand the thought of not doing something after my graduation, and accepting the Solidarity Worker position did not take much convincing!

                But since my arrival six days ago, I have been quickly humbled. Life here is not as fast-paced as it is in the United States, and rather than diving straight into the culture of Honduras and the work of CASM, I find myself slowly immersing myself into it all, step by step. For instance, although I consider myself to have a good handle on the Spanish language, even claiming professional fluency, being in Honduras has been a real linguistic challenge so far! Hondurans talk much faster than I am accustomed to and there are also many new regional phrases that I am learning as well. As a result, I have found myself listening much more than conversing while in Honduras, as I am absorbing not only information, but also the language itself.

 Being forced to listen like this has made me realize how much I talk in the U.S., and I am starting to wonder how much we are missing by not listening more! I also wonder, in a global context, if we, as Americans, ever give other people around the world a word in edgewise? The United States government does not have a good track record in Central America, that’s for sure! But many people don’t even realize what negative influences we as a country have around the world, and it’s probably because we don’t bother to listen to our global neighbors in the first place. Even with the Latin American studies I have taken in college, I don't think I fully grasped the ways in which our government has used other countries to its advantage like pieces on a chessboard. If anyone is interested in a really eye-opening book that touches on this subject, look no further than Don’t Be Afraid, Gringo by Elvia Alvarado. This compilation of interviews with a Honduran community organizer gives a very honest perspective regarding the United States’ involvement in Honduras (and Central America) historically. I probably never would have heard of this book if it weren’t recommended to me by Don Tatlock of CWS prior to leaving for my trip, so hopefully now that you know about it you’ll read it too! (Clarification: While Elvia’s work is important, it is not the same work that I am doing in Honduras with CASM).

Delmis giving me an overview on CASM

But even aid organizations with good intentions can do damage by imposing their charity and planned projects on people without having listened to their needs first. Listening could help us to actually get to the root of the problem, instead of nursing the symptoms. This is one of the reasons that I applaud the New Community Project (NCP) in their work, because through their learning tours they actually meet with their community partners around the world, and listen to what the true needs are of each. On the learning tour to Nepal this past January, I vividly remember the director of a fair trade workshop being so impressed that our group actually took the time to come spend time with them, and to learn about their work and overall situation. Although they had partners in the United States with whom they sold their fair trade products, they had never been visited by these groups in person! This is how I know that the work of NCP is actually helping people around the world, because it takes the time to LISTEN. (My understanding is that CWS also visits Honduras regularly as well, although I have not accompanied them on a trip.) And now, in Honduras, I am reminded of how imperative listening will be for my contribution to CASM to be successful.

Karen, Maira, and Belkin (3 women closest to me in the photo)
invited me to enjoy a delicious almuerzo (lunch) in their home
today while I was working in the community. 

I know that in these blog posts I will be expected to report on the progress and activity of CASM as it works to improve life in Honduras (which I will), but I want to emphasize from the start that it is not the projects that we should be here for, but the people. Just because a row of plantains is planted, or a latrine is built, does not mean that progress is being made if these projects are not actually helping to empower and enable the people they were built for in the first place! It is my intention that through this blog you will get to know some of the people who live here, their stories, and how these projects affect their lives (and if the projects are not helping, how they think we can improve them!).

These women are also participating in a fish husbandry
project, as seen here in these three tiered fish ponds.

Yesterday was my first visit to a community called El Nuevo Pueblo, where I accompanied Orfelina, a CASM technician, to install a biodigestor in a family’s home. A biodigestor is a really cool piece of technology, that essentially works like a stomach to produce methane gas for an energy resource. Biodigestors greatly reduce the amount of wood used in traditional ovens.

"With this oven I would have to use two loads of wood
every week." - Soliapa, biodigestor owner, Nuevo Pueblo

Fredy aligning the plastic nylon pieces from the inside

The biodigestor we installed was actually the repairing of an older biodigestor’s components that had stopped working after two years, according to Magdaleno. When I asked Magdaleno if he liked his biodigestor, he said yes, and for this reason he is investing in another, which he hopes will last longer as he has built a cement encasing and roof for the new one. (Without protection, biodigestors are more susceptible to being punctured by rocks, branches, and animals.) According to Orfelina, the stove is the most expensive part of the project, costing approximately 800 lempiras (~40 USD). A basic, new biodigestor (including the stove) in total would cost 1200-1300 lempiras (~55-60 USD).

Luckily, Magdaleno and his wife Josefa already have the stove component that connected to their first biodigestor, and so this repair will not be as costly. While I do not know how much the roof and cement work cost them, it seems that the new biodigestor will cost less than $10! This is likely because of the recycled materials used in the project. For example, tire tubes from motorcycles, cars, and bikes, are used to wrap around the PVC pipe and plastic bag. Likewise, PVC pipe can be reused for a variety of purposes so long as they do not have any leaks.

Orfelina and Magdaleno cutting recycled tire tubes

Magdaleno cutting PVC pipe for the biodigestor

The fuel for the biodigestor consists of animal
excrement, water, and other organic material,
which is more economic for the family.

A biodigestor, depending on its size and the number of stoves, can provide as much as 2-3 hours of energy.  CASM hopes to install more biodigestors in its various communities in the future.

Orfelina and the family of Magdaleno preparing
the biodigestor

Afterwards, I visited El Barranco with Orfelina and Delmis, to deliver plantain seeds to the community members. The seeds are huge! They will be planted later in the “microcuencas” (individual family’s parceled gardens) this week, and eventually diversified with other crops such as coffee.

Community members unloading plantain seeds. 

You may notice in these pictures that many hands make light work here in Honduras. This is very true, and it seems that whenever a project needs to be done, at least half a dozen or more people emerge to help out!

The theater group members are called "zanqueros"
because they do all of their acting on stilts!

            
 To end this post, I leave you with the word "guancasco" (pronounced “wahn-kahsko”).This past weekend I had the opportunity to accompany my host father and his dramaturge troupe to San Pedro Sula, where they performed at a FNRP political festival (I can honestly say that this was never what I imagined myself doing my first weekend in Honduras!). FNRP stands for the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (National Front of Popular Resistance). While I am still learning more about the political situation in Honduras, and can’t say that I have much of an opinion of any of the political parties here as of yet, the experience did allow me to encounter a Honduran rock band! Yes, I did “listen” to the group and enjoyed their variety of music, but what I loved was what one of their fans told me at the concert….he said that the group’s name was “Café Guancasco” and that guancasco meant the intermixing and exchange of culture, which he demonstrated by interlacing his fingers together. True, the music group did an excellent job of mixing all sorts of kinds of music genres with Honduran passion and flair, but they also provided me a new way to express what I am doing here. My work is solidarity, but so much of this involves guancasco. Guancasco is in every word and phrase that I integrate into my speech. Guancasco is the impromptu English lessons I have with the CASM staff, as some of them prepare to visit the United States in October to share their stories in person. Guancasco is in the new foods I try each day, and in the homemade strawberry jam I brought for my host family to experience. Guancasco is the stories I tell Orfelina about permaculture I learned as a volunteer at NCP in Harrisonburg, and in her teaching me about the construction and process of a biodigestor.Guancascos is what I hope will be my current life in Honduras, as well as later, when I return to the United States. And Guancascos is what I hope you feel every time you read this blog, and that it compels you to think about the ways in which we can [verb]+Solidarity across cultural difference and social circumstance.