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. |
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. |
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.
Awesome!
ReplyDeleteGreat great great, Malinda. Looking forward to reading more as the journey continues!
ReplyDeleteGreat beginning! I look forward to reading more as you continue to experience guancasco!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your reflections, Malinda. I look forward to more.
ReplyDeleteJust back from CoB Annual Conference where my amendment to the Climate Change paper -- to screen out companies that prolong dependency on fossil fuels from Socially Responsible Investing -- failed, as did the paper itself. La lucha continua.
By the way, it's PVC (polyvinyl chloride), instead of PCV.
Thanks for all the comments - looking forward to reading more in the future! Duane - sorry to hear about the Climate Change paper! Let me know how that continues to develop. And thanks for the technical catch...I think in Spanish we have been calling it PCV, so I didn't even think twice about it while I was writing the post! Thanks again.
ReplyDelete