Is it really already September? August was very
busy, full of all sorts of new experiences, challenges, and opportunities as I
continued my solidarity work with CASM. It’s hard to believe that already two
months have gone by since I landed in Honduras. And since I am now 1/3 through
my stay as a solidarity worker, this past month has also been a good time to
regroup, review what I have learned, and make plans for the remainder of my
time with CASM.
But first, I owe you an update on the women’s
project. Long story short, the mayor of Nueva Frontera chose one of the
women from the OMM (the women’s committee that I was previously accompanying on
visits into the communities to organize women) to be the new coordinator, and
said that if this woman didn’t accept the position she would find someone else
to fill it instead. Her reasoning was that she needed someone in that position
with whom she trusted/could work effectively with. This led to a meeting with
OMM and CASM regarding how to proceed….there were three options: 1) Accept the
mayor’s decision 2) Reject her decision and continue with our plan to hold an
election, dealing with whatever conflict that might result or 3) Legitimize the
mayor’s decision by having it approved by the OMM committee and the
communities. Eventually it was decided by the OMM that the woman who
was chosen by the mayor was indeed qualified for the position, and had the
respect and trust of the OMM, as well as many of the women in the communities
(some of which had already asked her to participate as a nominee for the
election). It was also discussed that the filling of the women’s coordinator
position was not a political issue, but a woman’s issue, and that perhaps an
election would only create division within communities, rather than solidarity,
as they form their women's groups.
Now the task of the OMM is to return to the
communities we visited previously and explain to them this new situation, and
make sure that the women are in agreement with this change. They have had two
reunions in the communities so far, both of which were positive responses to
the idea of this woman as the new coordinator.
When I first heard about this new development, I
was frustrated – we had worked so hard to meet with and organize women in the
communities! But regrouping with the OMM and CASM reminded me that sometimes
our plans don’t always work out the way we want them to… but we can always
choose how to respond. (During my college days on the lacrosse team we called
this, “controlling the controllables”). My hope is that the energy the women
had for the election can now be channeled into the strengthening of their
women’s organizations and the petitioning of the municipality office for future
development projects. CASM is still committed to assisting in the future
organization of the women’s groups, and will continue to accompany the work of
the OMM and the new coordinator in whatever way it can.
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| Delmis discussing early childhood nutrition with the mothers |
In other news - at the start of the month I
assisted in a food and nutrition workshop in a community
called Brisas de Rosarios. The purpose of this two-day workshop is
to educate mothers the importance of infant/early childhood nutrition, and to
practice preparing foods that are both nutritional and accessible to families
(for example, vegetables and fruits that can be grown in subsistence gardens or
found growing wild nearby). I’d like to stress that the point of the workshop
is not to teach women how to cook (which would be pretty
presumptuous), but rather to provide suggestions for how they can improve the
nutritional quality of meals.
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| Finding foods that kids enjoy can be a challenge in any cultural setting. |
Children are often malnourished in their earliest
(and most important) years of development. For example, a common practice is to
serve young children rice with the seasoned water reserved from cooked beans, which,
consistency-wise, does make easy baby food! But families do not
realize that this water lacks practically all the nutrients of the actual
beans. In the workshop we propose the preparation of purees for very young
children (fruits, beans, vegetables, etc...who needs Gerber's? We’re talking
homemade, all natural baby food here!). In addition, we taught mothers several
recipes, which incorporate foods rich in additional vitamins that are important
for childhood development (and just good in general too!).
Other communities have already received this
workshop, and this Friday we are going to have a food festival in which each
community will bring a different prepared recipe, potluck style! I can’t think
of a more delicious way for the communities to share and review what they have
learned from the workshops. More news of that to come in the future…stay tuned!
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| Peeling ayote for the nutritional soup |
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| Having a good time while preparing carrot fritters |
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| Grinding chaya (a kind of spinach) and other vegetables |
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| Green tortilla mixing |
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| "Is it time to eat yet?" |
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| The ladies were very impressed that I already new how to form tortillas by hand. What can I say? I learned from the best! (Thanks, Delmis!) |
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| Finished green tortillas - mmmmm so good! |
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| Cesar (CASM staff) defying gender norms by helping us with the soy milk. |
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| Sometimes solidarity work involves fine dicing. |
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| Packing provision bags |
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| Roya |
I don’t consider myself a huge coffee drinker back
in the States (now I think I average at least 3 cups a day!), but I often
wonder how it is that I spent the past four years on a college campus without
ever hearing about the coffee rust problem? Sure, it’s hard to stay current
with the entire state of the world, but surely a Spanish/Sociology major,
studying things like social inequality and Latin American culture, and well
caffeinated for her 8AM exam, should have caught word of this agricultural
disaster south of the border? But perhaps it is only now, several years later,
that we are hearing more about the effects of the rust. You tell me – has the
price of coffee skyrocketed? Sadly, this may be our first clue to a disaster
occurring in another part of the world. We may even grumble about that pricey
latte, without even considering the coffee growers struggling on the other
side. Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to drink coffee again without
thinking about the people whose livelihoods depend on it.
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| Hermano (Brother) Julio, helping to load the provisions for delivery! |
But back to the food provisions. As part of the
effort to combat the negative economic effects caused by the coffee rust
outbreak, CASM spent several days this past month packing 260 provision bags
filled with rice, beans, corn, butter, sugar, and salt to give to the hardest
hit families in the communities. Once again, many hands made light work, as we
were very blessed to have the assistance of the Association of Pastors in Nueva
Frontera, who let us store the food stuffs in their churches, and also helped
out packing and distributing the provisions too!
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| Provisions ready for the communities! |
Like I said, this is the first year that CASM has
given out provisions, and only because of this emergency crisis. Our other
projects focus on capacity building; rather than simply giving donations we
provide training and the tools to help families sustain themselves for the
future. One problem we have encountered with this new project is that people
hear that CASM is giving out food donations, and they come to us feeling
entitled to the provisions. That is not to say that these people don’t actually
need the help… to paraphrase what one of my counterparts has said, “Everyone is
poor, but there are still some poorer than others.” Our technical staff goes
into the communities in which we are currently working and determine where
there is the greatest need in order to distribute the provisions. This past
month we have received several visitors to our office, inquiring (sometimes
demanding) about the donations…it’s hard to turn people away, especially
knowing that there is so much need. But our focus right now is in the
communities in which we are currently working (CASM capacity builds in a
community for a total of 5 years at a time), and to the people there who have
been most affected by the rust.
Nevertheless, despite the conflicts this project
may involve, the families that have received the provisions have been SUPER
grateful. “God has listened to our prayers!” was the comment of one woman, Doña
Olimpia Castilla, from the El Profundo community.
This month I will be *virtually* walking a Crop
Walk with my Lutheran campus ministry group back home. Crop Walk is a
fundraiser for Church World Service (CWS) that helps to make the work of CASM
and its many projects possible! It would
be AWESOME if you would join me in solidarity and make a donation to our team. As
I said before, there is a LOT of need, and so these Crop Walks are really important
for the work of CASM and other organizations supported by CWS!
You can access our team page at:
You may have heard the phrase, “Give a man a fish
and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
This is pretty much the idea when it comes to the rest of our projects here at
CASM. In fact, in the past few months, several communities have been trained
(quite literally) in fish farming! And after building their
respective fisheries, this month CASM delivered a primary donation of tilapia
to the new fish farmers to get their livelihood started. (Okay, so maybe we are
technically giving out fish…but training/capacity building definitely comes
first!) |
| Beti releasing her fish. - El Pino |
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| Some of our lighter loads to the communities! |
The theme of this post is regroup, something
I have had the opportunity to do this month. I have listened, learned, and
experienced so much already… and it’s only September! It has been a blast accompanying
CASM in their various projects and getting to know the people in the
communities. But now that I’ve had time to settle in, it’s time for me to start
contributing more independently to CASM. In mid-August I had an important
discussion with my counterparts about how I could best collaborate with them in
the coming months. Together, we decided that I will start giving charlas (talks)
in the communities, focusing on the topics of human rights (especially in
regards to gender equity) and environmental conservation. These charlas will be
given in the schools (grades 3-6), as well as with adults in organized
reunions. While I am not necessarily an expert in these topics, I am enjoying
the challenge of utilizing the resources available to me and coming up with
creative, interactive ways to present this information in the communities.
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| My first charla group! These women were awesome. |
At the end of August, I was able to give my first
charla on human rights to a group of women in the Cedral community. It was a
great first trial run! While there were definitely some moments of confusion
between me and the women gathered, I was very grateful for their patience, as
well as the assistance of César, one of the CASM technicians, for helping to
clarify certain points. By the end, I had gained all sorts of ideas on how to
improve the charla and make it better for the next group! But all in all I
would say that it was still a success... afterwards I was able to ask some of
the women how they felt about the charla, and was encouraged to hear that, even
despite the bumps here and there, they really enjoyed the discussion and looked
forward to the next meeting. One woman’s story, in particular, reminded me of
how valuable these talks could be simply on a relational level… a single mother
with two children, her parents have both passed away, and she often feels
isolated and alone. She told me, “This charla opened up my heart, and cheered
me up.” Her comments reminded me that while the topics I am sharing are
important, simply creating a space for people to discuss and feel that their
thoughts and opinions are valued makes a deeper difference – it helps to foster
solidarity within their own community!
Let’s see, is there anything else I can catch you
up on? In my last post I mentioned that we were going to have a cat in the
office…unfortunately this never worked out. Apparently the cat was “walking
sadly” the day before it was going to be given to us, and passed away. So sad!
Suffice it to say that we have managed to rid ourselves of the mice by other means…but
I’m still hoping for a cat in the near future!
Finally, I have one piece of exciting, personal
news. This past weekend I accepted an invitation to serve in the Peace Corps
next year! I am scheduled to leave in March for El Salvador, and will be
working in community development projects. I have to say how truly grateful I
am for the experiences I have had living in Honduras and working with CASM thus
far, as it really helped to affirm my decision to commit another two years volunteering
abroad.
Wow, that was a lot to regroup! I will try my best
to write more often and not so lengthy in the months to come. Thanks for
continuing to follow me and my experiences in Honduras. I also really love hearing
from you too, so please feel free to comment below if you feel so led!
In Solidarity,
Malinda
What a busy month for you! So great to be able to share in all the details. Sometimes its hard to explain to people exactly what you are doing in Honduras. The obvious answer: making a difference! So proud of mi hija! Love, Dad
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