About the “military coup” in Honduras

I have no way to check, but I’m guessing Ronald Reagan was President of the U.S the last time the word “Honduras” was on the front page of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, on the same day and “above the fold.”   But events over the weekend have caught the attention of the world press.  In case you missed it, Honduras’ president, Mel Zelaya, was removed over the weekend in a dispute about his desire to amend the Honduran constitution to remove presidential term limits in the constitution.  The Honduran Supreme Court judged his actions to be illegal, and with the support of the Honduran Congress, ordered the military to remove him from office.  Unfortunately, almost all of the press coverage outside Honduras has portrayed these events as a “military coup” of the kind that was common in the 20th-century history of Latin America.

Press accounts have paid little heed to the fact that  every important democratic institution in Honduras, including Congress, the Supreme Court, and Mel Zelaya’s own party, regards the military as having acted with restraint and only after legal authorization by the other branches of the Honduran government.  The Honduran press and the vast majority of the population seem very supportive of Zelaya’s removal.

Here is an excellent article that offers a view more consistent with what I’m reading on blogs from Honduran nationals and American expats living there.

Zelaya has previously aligned himself ideologically and politically with the Chavez/Castro wing of Latin American nations, so it’s no surprise he has found support with them.  But I am surprised that the leaders of more centrist countries like Costa Rica and Colombia, who ought to know better, haven’t been more supportive.   For years now Zelaya has been cozying up to Hugo Chavez and blustering against the U.S., so I can’t imagine why U.S. diplomats would have felt a need to head this off and keep him in power.  Honduras’ Congress,  Supreme Court, and interim President will need to do a better job of getting the full story out, or else world opinion will force Zelaya’s reinstatement, at least until the fall elections.

“That’s not fun. I don’t like this one.”

Cockpit View of a Jet Landing into Tegucigalpa Honduras TGU

The landing into Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa is legendary among those who travel to Honduras.    Sometimes the passengers will burst into applause upon landing.  Why?  The mountains in the area require the pilot to take a swirling kind of approach before leveling out at the end very close to the ground, just before landing.  Here’s a cockpit view.  Have your sound on.

Increasing Hunger in Honduras

Here is the latest update from John and Ana:

Greetings from Honduras,

We are busy!! The two pictures taken at the beginning of the day [see below] could easily have been taken at the end of the day and they would look the same except the faces would change. We are seeing hundreds of patients every week. 468 last week alone. On days we know we will see lots of patients we take another doctor with us to help.It seems the people are poorer every week. Famine is beginning in some parts of Honduras due to the high cost of food. The poor have no resources to fall back on. They live day to day. There is no government assistance such as welfare or food stamps. They work hard just to eat. More and more cannot afford to purchase the beans and rice or eggs which they need to survive. There was an article in the paper last week about people subsisting on tortillas and salt. Can you imagine eating only tortillas and salt and then trying to work?  Your body would waste away; which is what is happening to the poorest of the poor.  I think I told you in my last e-mail that Ana & I are helping one family that was living like that and with the help of the First United Methodist in Tuscaloosa we began helping another 4 month old baby that was starving to death. With less and less nutritious food the body becomes more susceptible to disease which we are seeing more evidence of.

Ana and I appreciate your supporting our efforts to help the poor in Honduras and we hope that you will continue to do so. We know that things are becoming difficult in the states. Everything costs more. But multiply that effect by several times and that is what is happening in Honduras right now. Added to this, the government of Honduras has subsidized many things to help keep the cost low for the poor people. Well now they are removing many of the subsides because they can’t afford to subsidize gas, electricity, and other commodities any more. This is hitting the poor really hard. We ask you to keep us and our work in your prayers and continue supporting us as God leads you.

Smoke in Tegucigalpa

For most of our trip last week, we were dismayed to see fires burning in the Tegucigalpa area. The smoke from these fires got worse as the week progressed, and by the time we left visibility was greatly reduced. By the end of the week the smoke was quite an annoyance to some among us with respiratory issues.

Here is an article from El Heraldo (translated into English, somewhat competently, by Google) that describes the situation. According to the article, and unbeknownst to us while we were sitting at the airport on Saturday, the smoke actually caused the runway at Tegucigalpa’s Toncontin airport to be closed Saturday morning and Sunday. Am I the only one that thinks it’s a little eerie that the authorities decided it was safe to fly during the times US flights were taking off and landing, but not so safe other times? I can’t say the visibility was any better between the morning and the time we took off.

Update Friday, April 25

For the past two days we have been working at Fuerzas Unidas Iglesia Metodista (United Forces Methodist Church), which is a church on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa. The church is in a very poor neighborhood called Colonia Jose Angel Ulloa, which is plagued by gang activity and many other problems. The wonderful pastor there, Sandra Carcamo, is a light to this community, and her church is an oasis of love and grace for the people who live in this area. In addition to to hosting medical teams, this church provides day care to 21 children, and offers bible classes and classes in sewing, construction, and health and hygiene. Although public education here is “free,” many children do not attend school because their families cannot afford the expense of uniforms and supplies, which are required. The church provides scholarships to fill this gap.

See this link for more about Fuerzas Unidas.

Today and yesterday we served nearly 300 patients in total. The consensus seemed to be that overall the health of this community has improved greatly since members of our team were first here a few years ago. First UMC of Frankfort, KY also sends teams to this church (including one last month), and their commitment is bearing fruit here.

One unfortunate girl today had a very severe skin condition. When we first saw her we thought she was a burn victim. Her left eye was mostly swollen shut and her vision in her right eye was also impaired. The mother was told upon the girl’s birth that the condition was due to a lack of prenatal vitamins, but the doctor in our group that examined her was highly skeptical of that diagnosis and believed it may be some type of genetic disorder. We were able to take several pictures and we will send them to a dermatologist at Vanderbilt upon our return. The girl was brought in by someone identified as a “guardian.” The girl’s mother lives in Houston, Texas, and our best translator was able to talk to her via cell phone and tell her that we were going to try to get the girl some help through Vanderbilt. We took contact information for the girl (in Honduras) and the mother (in Texas), so we hope to be able to do something more for her.

At lunch today, a lady who spoke English saw some of us in scrubs and figured out why we are here. Most of us had been through the line and sat down but she insisted on buying lunch for two people in our group. She had tears in her eyes as she told them how thankful she was that we came to help here, and said the least she could do was buy lunch for them. This kind of response illustrates how profound the needs are here.

We have a little shopping time before our return flight, but our service here is done for this trip. We will sleep well tonight (and late, because our flight is not until 1:45 P.M.). I see that quite a few people are checking for updates, so thanks to everyone for your interest, support, and prayers.

Update from Honduras (Wednesday April 23)

Greetings from Honduras!

Today was day 3 of our trip. We are just now getting the time to post an update, so I’ll just summarize the whole first three days. Day 1 was mostly a travel day. We all met at church at 4 A.M. and left from there via church bus to the airport for a 6:10 A.M. flight. The flight and connection were uneventful and put us in Tegucigalpa in the early afternoon. Everybody had a little time to settle in and get organized for the rest of the week.

Day 2 took us to a remote mountain village called Acaguaque about 2 1/2 hours away from Tegucigalpa. The drive was very arduous, with about half of the trip being over bumpy dirt roads and up a motion-sickness-inducing mountainside road (imagine taking the Blue Ridge Parkway by minibus, but if it was made of dirt and gravel, with potholes and/or livestock to dodge every 100 yards or so). But the trip was well worth it, as we were blessed with the opportunity to bring medical and dental care to over 200 very needy adults and children. This village is very remote, and is unreachable during much of the year because rain washes out the roads. Because of this, they have very little opportunity to receive visits from medical teams and do not otherwise have access to medical care, so they were very grateful for our being there.

Today we were in an area called Los Jobos, somewhat near Talanga, about 90 minutes out of Tegucigalpa. We served about 200 people in somewhat similar circumstances to the people yesterday. Again, everyone was grateful for our presence and we enjoyed connecting with this community. One woman had a heart murmur and may have been having a heart attack, so we had somebody drive her to the main road and gave her some money to catch a bus to the nearest hospital for further help.

We have been pleased to be able to help so many people in such dire circumstances, but the depth of poverty and dysfunction here can be overwhelming. Many aspects of daily life are difficult for average Hondurans, and especially so for both the rural and urban poor here. The people here are poorly served by their leaders, as all levels of government are plagued by corruption, waste, and incompetence. Those reading this in the US may sometimes complain about their leaders, and with good reason. But so many of the things we take for granted about our political and economic life are but a dream for anyone living in Honduras.

Here is a link to some early photos.

More tomorrow, following the first of two days in a community called Fuerzas Unidas, on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa.

A few more items to bring to Honduras

You may have seen my earlier post about what to pack in your suitcase. But I didn’t mention some other things that are essential to bring along. Such as:

1. A Christ-motivated desire to serve others. First and foremost, we will be in Honduras as representatives of our church, or perhaps more accurately, as representatives of Christ. Our trip will be most successful whenever we are aware that the reason for our trip is to be the evidence of God’s redemptive purpose working in the world. Having this mindset will help us to keep the focus on God’s vision for the people we are connecting with and serving, rather than on our goals and hopes for the the experience.
2. A heart prepared by prayer. How is your prayer life? If you have a disciplined prayer life, hopefully you have been bringing all aspects of our trip before God. But if not, now is a great time to make a fresh commitment by regularly praying for our trip. Ask friends and family to pray for you as well.
3. A positive, flexible attitude. When traveling anywhere, but especially in a developing nation, it is impossible to predict what situations might arise to test the patience. We might be presented with a difficult customs clerk, a washed-out road, a lengthy power outage, a lack of some important supply or tool, or perhaps something even more interesting. Whatever happens, your willingness to “roll with it” will help shape whether the situation is just a bump in the road or something that hinders the spiritual success of the trip. If you experience something inconvenient or uncomfortable, consider whether what is troubling you is actually a routine situation for the people we are there to serve. Your perspective will change when you realize you will soon be back in the relative convenience and comfort of home, while most of those around you will be there indefinitely.

Certainly we could think of other intangibles that are important to bring along, but if you have these three you will be well on the way to doing your part for the success of the trip.