Mel joins the jet set

First of all, a translation:

Estamos abajo del toque de queda lo cual empieza a las 6:30.

Colloquial translation: We are under a curfew starting at 6:30.
Literal translation: We are under a touch of stay starting at 6:30.

And we are under a touch of stay after a gripping day that has taken this country to new levels of tension. Ousted presidente Mel Zelaya, who has been using his fair share of fossil fuels by flying around Central and North America this week, was set to make his triumphant entrance this afternoon. Thousands of his supporters surrounded the airport to welcome him back to town. At around 5 p.m. we ran outside to cheering and the sound of an airplane. I looked up and saw the plane that was supposedly bringing him home. It made two laps around the city, acted as if it were going to land, and took off into the distance. The military had blocked the runways with humvees and didn't give Mel permission to land. He took off to Managua, and, later, El Salvador, promising that he will find a way in sometime this week. Though he has not succeeded in coming back to Tegucigalpa, he has been successful in keeping his name and face in the international media.

Today two were killed and two injured when soldiers opened fire on the crowd. It was the first blood to be shed and hopefully the last, but people are getting scared. Today our church was canceled for no reason and despite the fact that everyone lives within five blocks. A pastor I spoke with at a church fundraiser used the words "civil war" in a sentence. The country is becoming increasingly polarized to the point where it isn't as much about Mel as it is about the poor having a voice. Suddenly the formerly marginal socially minded groups, poor farmers, and folks from the country have something rallying them together and a target at which to direct the anger that has been building for the last twenty years of oligarchic rule. Mending this country back together is going to be very difficult, but maybe it is a good thing that the wounds of time are being exposed.

We continue to feel safe and look forward to the time when this standoff comes to a conclusion. It's stressful to live with such uncertainty and to see the poor suffer and lose hope.

Here is an article I co-authored with my boss, Kurt Ver Beek, in Christianity Today that explains a bit more about the situation.

6 days later...

It's 2:30 am and as I lay awake with a stomach-ache I started feeling a bit guilty to any faithful family and friend blog readers who might have been checking our blog this week hoping for some insight into the Honduran situation. My apologies. Something about wading through the deluge of blogs, local print, web and television news, international mainstream news, various rights-organization reports, and then finally many Honduran professionals' analysis of the situation - well, it left me a little speechless. And wary. Wary because so many of those sources came across so strikingly one-sided and in some cases downright false that I became struck by the power of words, and the responsibility we all have to be careful with how we use them. From a wary news-reader I have become a downright skeptic in the space of one week. I graduated!!

First for a personal note - the week has been a strange combination of building tension and anxiety, and absolute boredom. Andrew and I have logged in long hours in the casita just reading news and ruminating on what could happen here in the next days or weeks. The colonia we live in is on the edge of the city near the airport, so while we've had an up close and personal view of military plane and helicopter traffic all week, we're pretty far from the increasing (in size and frequency) demonstrations from both sides in the downtown areas. Andrew is much more connected to the goings-on as he commutes to the other end of town for work and has done some work interviewing and gathering information this week (I'll let him fill you all in on the fruits of that later). I, however, have spent most of the week sitting with my co-worker Ivonne in the empty library. Schools are canceled, nobody is coming in - I had to cancel the two new English classes I started this week. Tuesday's first day of class was a total bust as I was frazzled and my poor students had to squint to see the whiteboard during one of several power outages. The upswing of this is my craftiness is back on - I taught Ivonne to knit so together we produced two scarves and one hat during work. Military coup = crafty productivity.

On a less-personal note: tensions are running high as the new Honduran government installed after the military coup (many people calling it an arrest) refuses to back down and allow Pres. Mel Zelaya return. Micheleti declared that if Zelaya came back to the country he would be arrested and tried. As you all know from the international coverage of the situation - the international community, along with the Organization of American States, is backing Zelaya and threatening economic sanctions for Honduras if he isn't re-instated as President. The country is clearly divided and Hondurans supporting the ousted president are being silenced in scary ways. Local and international news sources that cast Zelaya in a positive light have been blocked, Zelaya supporters coming in from rural areas (most of his support lies in poor rural areas) have been denied access to cities by the military (here is footage on cnn.com of soldiers shooting tires out of 4 or 5 buses as protesters stood by), and yesterday we heard several reports from reliable sources that human rights organizations and leaders were arrested and detained by the military.

I think it's human nature to want to know who the good guys and who the bad guys are in situations such as these, so we can take the necessary steps to support the good guys, condemn the bad guys. In this case it's really not that simple. Zelaya is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a good guy. He made a lot of empty promises in order to gain the support of the poor. Micheleti is no better. I think this is a case of wealthy people and career politicians doing their best to retain their power and wealth. The ones who will lose in this political clash, as always, already are and will continue to be the poor. As the second poorest nation in the western hemisphere, this situation is the last thing Honduras needed. I keep thinking about people we've met out in the campo; people who were already struggling to get by day to day. The poor people that make up the majority of Honduras' population are the ones that will suffer from economic sanctions that will come if Micheletti and the congress refuse to negotiate and cooperate with the international community. The poor majority are fed promises and faulty information from all sides; they are the least educated with the least access to good information, and the most likely to suffer from this mess.

Coups

The Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, was taken from the presidential palace by the military this morning and is in exile in Costa Rica. This is the first military coups in Central America since the Cold War.

We were woken up by a phone call from one of our church leaders this morning informing us that the military had arrested Honduran president Manuel Zelaya this morning. He is currently in exile in Costa Rica. Here is an article in the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/world/americas/29honduras.html?_r=1&hp

The scariest part this morning was the lack of communication. They cut power to the whole country and shut down the media so there was no information about what was going on. Fighter jets flew right over house very low and there were helicopters taking off from our nearby airport. All of this was meant to be an intimidation, I think. The power is back on, however, and our internet seems to be working. People are definitely frightened and don't know what is going to happen, so people are staying home and out of the streets.

We felt blessed to have church this morning, attended only by a few people. But we prayed, sang, and talked about what was going on. Among the themes that emerged:

* God is always with us, even in times of strife.
* The powerful people who run this country (10 families) have tremendous power over the country. They tell us what they want to hear, they decide when we have power and information, and generally hold the country hostage.
* We have a duty to keep ourselves informed and not believe everything we read. Then, as Christians, we need to testify to the truth in all situations.

We are fine and feel hopeful. We don't know if the power will stay on, so if you don't hear from us it is probably because we are incomunicado for the moment. Please pray for the country. Pray for safety for everyone and a peaceful resolution to this ugly situation.

We'll be in touch.

When is an urn more than just an urn? When it's the 4th one.

Honduras today finds itself in the throws of political upheaval, and it all has to do with the fourth urn, more colloquially known as the fourth ballot box.

For the last few months trouble has been brewing in the Honduran government as President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya has advanced in his decision to include in the November elections a fourth ballot box that will determine whether Honduras will form an assembly to reform the constitution. This Sunday is the national referendum in which Hondurans will vote whether that fourth ballot box will be allowed.

So what is the big deal? It depends who you ask. The cuarta urna has its supporters and opposition, of course.

Those in favor of the cuarta urna say that the new constitution will provide the opportunity to rewrite the constitution to eliminate corruption.

Those against it believe that Manuel Zelaya simply wants to change the constitution so that he can run for a second term (presidents are allowed only one four-year term in Honduras). Not only that he wants a second term, but that he wants to install himself as dictator, a la Venezuelan Presdient Hugo Chavez, with whom Zelaya maintains a friendly relationship.

Everyone in the government -- the armed forces, the Congress (even Mel's own party), the attorney general, the Supreme Court -- is against Zelaya. The Supreme Court has ruled the move illegal and unconstitutional, but he's going through with it nonetheless. Rumors have been flying around for weeks now that there will be a military-led coups to toss Zelaya out of power before Sunday's referendum. Last night Zelaya sacked the head of the armed forces, and the rest of the military leaders resigned in solidarity, essentially leaving all of the military powers without a head.

It is hard to know exactly what to believe, partly because it is impossible to get reliable information. The media are all owned by the wealthiest people in the country who are decidedly against the cuarta urna and out of touch with the reality that most Hondurans live. Zelaya and his advisers, however, have provided scant information about what they actually want to change in the constitution, which smells fishy. It seems to me that if Zelaya did install himself as dictator and tried to run the country like Venezuela, he would run into major problems. For one, the country is essentially bankrupt and has no oil fields, as does Venezuela, to finance socialist reforms.

Today and tomorrow are important days for Honduras. No one knows how the situation will play out. No matter what, most Hondurans seem to think that no matter what happens the government will remain as corrupt as ever, looking out only for themselves and their own interests. It's a sad state of affairs, this hopelessness. With so much poverty, poor education, crumbling infrastructure, and now a financial crisis that is swelling the already double-digit unemployment rate, the future for this country looks dim. The fourth ballot box seems like just another dead end, not a light at the end of the tunnel.

Update: Here is an Associated Press article about the situation.

Another article from the Council on Hemispheric Affairs about the cuarta urna. Presents both sides fairly well.

The end of a very short era

Last Thursday marked the official end to my first round of English classes... although instead of having class we had a pizza party at my house, and admittedly spoke Spanish the whole time until I tried to start a round of "what do I like?" in English to wind things down, which effectively killed the party.

Here are a few pictures of my actual last day of teaching (I thought a game of Jeopardy would be fun, but nobody had ever heard of Jeopardy and in the end it got a little overly-competitive and was kind of a downer for the losing team. I inadvertently put most of the shy people on one team). A few people were missing, but this was about it by the end of the course - I'm hoping when I start the second round of classes next week I'll have more students! Along with this class I also taught one for highschool kids, and a conversation class of 4 students who already have a pretty solid English background. My goal is to have enough students by the fall to start a few intermediate classes.



Some things I really love about teaching English in Flor del Campo:
1. I'm always learning new things. Super cheesy but true.
2. Generally students are really, really motivated and really, really grateful for any extra time I'm willing to spend with them. Which not only makes me feel like it's always time well spent, but it also makes me feel like a super star.
3. English classes here are very expensive, so I love that my classes are free for everyone. I also love that several of my students are house-wives and normally don't have the opportunity to attend a class or learn something new.
4. I was walking down the street above our house the other day and a little girl I didn't recognize said "Hola Profe" (short for profesora and pronounced like "pro-fey"). I think when I go back to teach elementary school in the states I will insist on going by "profe".

Some things that were humbling about teaching English:
1. I asked for some feedback from my few and faithful remaining students at the end of our term, as to why they thought we'd lost about half the class. Most were quiet, a few said that a lot of people want to learn English but don't want to actually study, and then Brenda, ever honest, told me it's because I gave too many quizes. Point taken.
2. It turns out that English is very tricky and I've had to do a lot of work just figuring out how to explain some of the weirder parts of the English language. Should have taken that TESOL class at GC. But I think marine biology was probably way more fun.

Feeling good about La Campa

Amanda and I just returned from a refreshing, yet exhausting trip to visit Michael, one of our SALTers, in La Campa. Refreshing, because La Campa has to be one of the quaintest and most relaxing towns in Honduras. Exhausting because it required two 10-hour travel days (2 hours of which were spent in the back of a truck on very bumpy roads) of traveling to get there and back to Tegucigalpa.

It was worth it, though, to see Michael, and to participate in a good, old-fashioned campo cow slaughtering.

The festivities started on Sunday at 4 a.m. with a deep jab to the jugular. I missed that part, thankfully, but was present and fully awake for the subsequent skinning, gutting, dismembering, and sale of the beast. It was pretty amazing. At 4:04 a.m. it looked like this.


Here he was at 5.

And at 12:30 p.m.

(That's him in the bowl in the middle of the table.)

We ordered two pounds of rump roast, but they grilled it up for us so it was kind of chewy, but very fresh and local.

Otherwise, we enjoyed a morning in Gracias, Lempira; two hikes through canyon country; two nights at our favorite bed and breakfast; and some good discussion with a prominent member of the community about local-government corruption. For an interesting blog about that, check out Michael's blog entry.

Anyway, here are some pictures from our time in La Campa.

Colloquial/literal translations

Literal translations are funny. A guy down by the soccer field selling tomatoes just slapped me on the shoulder as I walked by and yelled, "¿Qué pedo, chele?"

Colloquial translation: "Hey, what's up, whitie?"

Literal translation: "What a fart, light-skinned guy."