Celebrate!+Solidarity

The first Friday of September was the “Feria Gastronómica” (food festival), which I described as a “potluck” affair in my last post...yep, that was my preconception of the event. I anticipated that the women would gather again (although in greater numbers since several communities were invited), bring the food they had prepared, there would be a brief devotional/prayer, and maybe a short charla by a representative from the office of health (if they ended up accepting the invitation to come), and everyone would eat and chat and that would be it.

I love potlucks. Whether it’s with my church (Lutherans are infamous for their coffee hour…but their potlucks are just as good, if not better!), my family, or just friends, it’s a great way to get together with your community for conversation, and the best food around! But our gathering in the Cedral community – I don’t think it's fair to call it a potluck. The people from the communities went all out for the event, and it was quite the party! Here are some snapshots….

Lupe (El Cedral) preparing the nutritional soup. It smelled (and tasted) delicious!

Erasmo jamming out on his guitar
(he was really bummed I didn't know how to
sing any of his songs...)

"What was your favorite food that you learned in the workshop?"
- "Carrot Fritters!"

Women from El Profundo hard at work preparing soy milk and soy chorizo.

Maira and company (El Pino) preparing green tortillas

A band showed up to serenade the women while they cooked!

We began the festival program with a devotion by one of the community pastors.

Singing the National Anthem of Honduras

Presentations by the women on what they had learned from the workshop (Pictured here: El Profundo)

Members of El Cedral sharing the benefits of each ingredient in the nutritional soup.

Students shared poetry....

...as well as songs.

And the band continued to play!

"Buen Provecho!" (Bon apetit)

People of all ages came out for the fun

We expected 100 people total to attend the event….there were 190, and that's not including all the kids! I was worried that there wouldn't be enough food for everyone, we hadn't expected so many community members to show up! But it ended up being a real loaves and fishes experience - somehow there was plenty of food, and even leftovers! 

The best part of the feria was seeing how the nutrition workshop had given the women not only ideas for healthier eating, but also empowered them in other ways too! The presentations by the women, for example, were awesome...it gave them a forum to share what they had learned and teach others who had gathered for the feria. In short, it provided them an opportunity to be LEADERS. The women from El Profundo were especially inspiring, after their workshop they organized themselves into a group called the "women who know how to cook" and it was powerful to see how something as simple as a food workshop could generate this kind of solidarity. They even shared with us a fantastic original song they wrote about who they were as a group, what they had learned, and expressed thanks for CASM's work in their community!

This Friday we will have another Feria with another group of communities who have also received the workshop in the past. It will be hard to top my first Feria experience, but I have high hopes!

Pastel de Zanahoria (Carrot cake)

This past week was also filled with celebrations for a very special someone's birthday - my Honduran brother! His "cumpleaños" (birthday) was somewhat of a week-long affair.... the weekend prior Delmis and I tested out baking my mom's carrot cake recipe (my brother specifically requested this for his birthday) - it was a delicious success! 

His birthday was the 10th of September, the same day as El Dia del Niño (Children's Day), a holiday which all the kids celebrate in the schools here in Honduras with games, piñatas, cookies and other treats (think elementary school field days!). Unfortunately, I missed out on the Children's Day festivities here in the communities as I needed to make a trip to the city to request a visa extension (lame!). 

But at least I was able to enjoy my brother's birthday festivities, as the party continued over the following weekend in Tela with family and friends...

Knock the bottle over with the ball - didn't quite make the mark,
but great effort!

Balancing stick competition

Team races

Pinning the bow on the "Meekah" (aka Minnie Mouse)

I promise they had a good time! The kids were just way more
interested in the pinata than taking a picture!

Feliz cumple hermano!

Birthday boy gets the first bite of the cake...

Finally, yesterday was Independence Day for Honduras (as well as most of Central America). September 15th marks Honduras' (as well as Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala's) independence from Spain in 1821, after which it became a part of the Central American Federation. However, this date is a bit of a misnomer, as the declaration of independence didn't actually declare independence - but rather postponed the decision for a Congress that would meet in March of 1822 (and never did). In short, the Bill of Independence of 1821 was just an aristocratic maneuver to prevent a full-blown revolution that was brewing...aristocrats wanted to maintain the colonial regime under the same authoritarian rule - just without being accountable to Spain! 

In 1822, Honduras was annexed by the Mexican Empire with the help of the aristocracy, which they arranged in order to maintain their privileges (which a true democratic and republic revolution threatened). Then, July 1st in 1823, Honduras won independence "again" from Mexico, and became part of the Federal Republic of Central America. The Republic was supposed to be a federation of states - similarly organized into a democracy like the United States. But, once again, it experienced strong opposition from elite conservatives who wanted to preserve the oppressive caste system of the Spanish colonization. This resulted in a civil war, and General Francisco Morazan, the head of the state of Honduras, before later becoming president of the Federal Republic, led the fight against the anti-democratic reaction . Still remembered as a national hero today, Morazan was executed by a firing squad in 1842, and the conservatives won (We'll be celebrating Morazanwith another national day, Soldier's Day, on October 3rd). What follows is a long history of repression, violence, neoliberalist subordination (for the benefit of United States banana companies), and, sadly, an utter lack in independence for Honduran people. Even today there continues to exist internal corruption in the government (remember the Golpe del Estado of 2009 from one of my earlier posts??), but bit by bit Honduran people are demanding transparency and the protection of their democratic freedoms.

Having learned more about this "day of independence" makes my human rights work with CASM in the communities all the more exciting. Sometimes it's challenging working with this issue; human rights is a pretty abstract concept...although they exist according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948 - United Nations), these rights are constantly violated all around the world. But my hope is that knowledge of our history can help us to make changes for a freer, more equal, and more just world in the future! 

So maybe September 15th wasn't really a day of liberation. But hey, we partied it up anyway! I celebrated in Trinidad - sadly, my camera battery was being finicky, so I'll apologize in advance for the lack of pictures! There were torch processions and fireworks the night before, and a huge march the morning of the 15th, involving all the schools, elementary to university levels (You will see pictured below the youngest groups)! La Siembra also participated in the march, dancing along on their stilts to the music of the high school bands that played in front of them. The march really brought me back to my high school days with the Cave Spring Marching Knights!

"We the children want peace for Honduras"

My counterparts at CASM have assured me that there will be many more festival days to come during my time in Honduras. In fact, today is "Teacher's Day" and all the teachers and students have the day off! Likewise, the women in the communities are already planning and preparing for the the "Day of No Violence," which will be celebrated locally here in the Nueva Frontera municipality next week.

A close friend of mine told me the other day that I have "one of the coolest jobs ever" and I couldn't agree more. My time in Honduras as a solidarity worker is truly a one of a kind opportunity, and I am super grateful for everything that I am learning, experiencing, sharing, and celebrating while here. I keep warning myself how difficult it is going to be when I have to leave come December! But I'm not even half way through yet, so instead of dreading the end of this chapter, I'm trying my best to just enjoy the present moment! 

Salud! (Cheers!) and thanks for joining me virtually for the party!  

In Solidarity,
Malinda