Currently, a large team of 30+ MTSU students and faculty are working on a variety of projects in Honduras. You may follow along with their efforts at the MTSU Honduras Project. Please stop by their blog and wish them well.

Besides kind of putting everything in one place, the new things added were a link to paul's teaser video, 12 photos from Chansin and a new article set by Chansin and I:

"Below are accounts of Chansin and Nathan as they enter the same home in Honduras for the first time. Chansin writes of the team’s first visit to the house. Nathan writes of the group’s second visit, when they return with a large mattress to complement the family’s broken cot:"

(Scroll Down past the visuals to get to the article part)

In just a few hours, the first Belmont Vision of the Spring 2006 semester will hit the campus. I haven't seen it yet but I understand that Chansin and Nate have written articles and published pictures from their Honduran experiences early this month. The Belmont Vision Online will also carry additional photos and a reference to video projects...sooooo, the 3 minute clip on this post is a sneak preview of our day at Clemintina's soup kitchen and one of the painting days at the nearby school.

The rough edits on this clip are compliments of Windows Movie Maker (not my favorite editing software but it is packaged with Windows XP and it works on my handy laptop)...and the background music is a free download by Tariq Harb playing a Handel Minuet on classical guitar. There is more video coming. This is just a sample from the raw video files that have been digitized thusfar. Enjoy.]]> tag:forum.belmont.edu,2006:/honduras//49.4366 2006-01-18T19:00:00Z 2006-04-30T14:38:26Z

Music of the Big Band era surrounded my childhood. One of those old standards, Among My Souvenirs, has been stuck in my head for the last day or so, following the discovery of a handwriiten note from an orphan that I met named Areliah. We did not talk very long...I simply don't command enough Spanish to carry on a long conversation. She was quite curious as to what I was doing and I took a few minutes to let her record several seconds of video. After I played back the tape for her on the camera's small LCD screen she asked if I had a paper and pen. She sat next to me and penned the following note (in Spanish), and then handed my notebook back with a warm hug.

To Paul from Areliah,
Hello, how are you? I hope that when you go away that you will remember much about me. You are the first American friend that I have known in my life. May God bless you and be with you the rest of your life.
(signed)Areliah

It is probably a good thing that I did not know what she wrote at the time, I may have attempted to smuggle my small friend home in my luggage. Of all the things that I brought back from Honduras, Areliah's simple note has to be my favorite. It speaks volumes about the people we met and compels me to remember the importance of the little things we do.

And for those who are not familiar with Among My Souvenirs, the last verse goes like this:
"...And, as the teardrops start,
I find a broken heart
Among my souvenirs"

Now, where's the Kleenex when I need it.

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Where do building materials come from?
We witnessed entrepreneurial people in small villages digging in clay from their yards and packing wooden forms to make adobe block. It was not uncommon to find someone selling sun-dried adobe block on the side of the road or near the market. At the prison in Macala, inmates were mixing concrete to manufacture what appeared to be 6" hollow core block using a mixer and hand made forms. Raw materials and basic skills seem to be in place, albeit less organized and consistent than one might expect. Out of the city, there are no Home Depot's or Lowe's where one-stop shopping for all-things-residential is possible. Loosely translated, a traditional American timeline for construction would require modification to allow for the logistics and (often) fabrication of basic components (i.e. block, tile, and timber)...but there appears to be a workforce capable of these tasks. I would contend that they can do much more with adequate training and small-scale manufacturing equipment.

OK, bottom line. How much for a decent respectable house and who can afford it?
Let's start with a small plot of land. It should be enough for the house, a garden, an out-building, and a perimeter fence (or wall). Land cost: approximately $2,000 USD. A respectable home of 1,000 sq. ft. would cost approximately $5,000 USD by the estimation of an area school leader. Assuming that these figures are reasonably accurate, $7,000 USD builds a 'respectable' home. For the Honduran farm-worker family with a mom and a dad earning a combined 800 Lempira per month ($42.43 USD) the $7,000 price tag (132,300 Lempira) for a respectable home is out of reach. Habitat for Humanity already has affiliates in other areas of Honduras...again, resisting that as the best solution, I would consider it a point for discussion.

How Many Homes are Needed?
I am not certain that we have adequate research figures to know the real needs in Cane for housing. My guess is that 100 homes would make a significant difference in the lives of the desparately poor (if local resources and labor are mobilized).. .if my math serves me correctly, that's about $700,000 USD and housing for aound 500 Hondurans. On the other hand, one medium earthquake would level many (if not all) adobe structures and would set construction needs to the catastrophic level of the destruction of hurricane Mitch in 1998...meaning that there are perhaps as many as 500 to 700 homes that need to be upgraded from decent to respectable.

Matt has contact sheets from his black and white film, a set of 35mm color slides, and a handful of prints from his color print film...probably enough for a good show.

My Top 40 Honduras Pictures

“I’ve been changed” ... “I look at life differently.” People say these things when they come back home.

But how? In what way are they different? I don’t hear that answer quite as often.

Before I left for Honduras, I was worried I’d have nothing to say. I asked God to move in my heart so I could come back a more mature disciple of Christ.

Now it’s time for me to evaluate. How have I changed, and what has been accomplished?

* I have grown in the area of generosity. I plan to give of my own money and work to raise funds to help Cane and Clementina. Since this past summer I’ve planned on donating monthly to Compassion International, but I kept putting it off. Now I feel compelled to give the money I would have sent to the other organization to The KidSAKE Foundation instead so the soup kitchen can feed more kids. Now I look at each dime as a meal for a child in the soup kitchen, and I am more careful about what I buy. I realize how little it takes to fill a need.

* My desire to learn Spanish has been renewed. Communication wasn’t too difficult while I was there because I know Spanish basics and an interpreter was always nearby, but if I ever go back there or to another Latin American country, and if I really want to connect with the people and get to know them, then I must know their language. The children easily dismissed our talking problems; they just wanted to play. But if I want to really share God’s Good News with them from my own lips, I need to learn Spanish well. I’m not sure how I will do it, but I know I will try.

* The fact that God’s timing is perfect is further etched in my mind. I wanted to do mission work last summer, but God said no. If I had already gone on a mission, then I doubt I would have gone on another trip to Honduras over this Christmas break. Things would have turned out so much differently.

* I found a living example of what true self-sacrifice and compassion is. Jenny Rogers is an amazing woman that I’ve come to love. I hope to take after her example of servanthood because she takes after Christ.

* This trip was confirmation in my heart that God’s will for my life (to serve Him through writing) is the only thing that will satisfy me. I was able to get a taste of it this week. I more specifically want to write about foreign missionaries and document how God is moving in other countries, but this trip was a wonderful first step in reporting while on the mission field. I know I have much learning and improving to do, and I’m excited about these next years as God develops my writing skills.

* Ultimately, God showed me where He wants me to invest some of my time, prayers, and money. I believe in the work of Jenny and The KidSAKE Foundation, and I want to partner with her in helping Cane build the new soup kitchen. I believe God will use many people to see the village rise out of poverty and become self-reliant.

WHAT WAS ACCOMPLISHED THIS WEEK (from what I saw):

* Clementina now has the money to start her nonprofit foundation.

* The plans have been set and people on both ends understand what steps need to be taken to build the new soup kitchen.

* Cane’s elementary school has a freshly painted library, new lights, and hundreds of new books.

* The children had the joy of taking pictures from their own disposable camera.

* The soup kitchen has better electricity.

* Photographs and video footage have been collected to create promotional videos to raise money for Cane.

* A blog of personal thoughts and articles has been created to explain the need of Cane, the purpose of The KidSAKE Foundation, and to document the trip.

* Needs have been assessed – from the school, the soup kitchen, the villagers, and several nearby orphanages.

* Toys, medicine, and other items have been left for the villagers.

* Item such as purses and bracelets have been collected for The KidSAKE Foundation to sell to raise money for Cane.

* Contacts and phone numbers have been exchanged to help with future mission trips.

* The future involvement of team members has been solidified.

During our last afternoon in Honduras, we visited five orphanages. There wasn’t much time to spend at each one, but the children welcomed us and opened up to us within minutes.

I could tell they longed for attention. I didn’t even have to seek them out. At one particular orphanage, as soon as I stepped inside the gates, little Maria in a ruffled purple blouse grabbed my hand. We were instant friends.

Out of all the children I met this week, I think those little girls cared the least that we couldn’t say much to each other. Laughter is the same in English and Spanish, and that was all we needed to understand.

I pushed the girls on the swings. We played their version of ring-around-the-rosy. They showed off their monkey tricks in the tree. They pointed out the pictures on the walls and introduced me to the older orphan girls who served the food. We practiced our skipping and showed each other dance moves. They posed for pictures and climbed on my back. And then it was time to go.

Even though the orphans don’t have a family, financially most of them are better off than the poor children in Cane. They receive clothes and don’t worry about food. But how they long for attention! How easy it is to be welcomed into their hearts! How earnestly they asked me to come back!

Thanks again to all of you who prayed, added comments to the blog, and supported this team financially and otherwise. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You!

The MTSU faculty on the team were a joy to work with (and they are already scheduled for two more trips to the area). Jenny Rogers, the executive director of the KidSake Foundation, has a passion for the mission and ministry in Cane, Honduras that is contagious. As for the Chansin, Nate, and Matt...Belmont has every reason to be proud of the manner in which they represented their institution and their faith...to say that it was amazing to see them in action does no justice to the great things these young people did.

There will be some follow-up stories comming now that we have more accessible/reliable Internet access. Those of you who signed up for email notifications will receive an alert when more pictures, stories, and videos are uploaded.

We are weary. We are blessed. We are greatful. We are Home!

Anyway, all of us made it through Houndras immigration and are resting at the American Airlines gate awaiting our departing flight. If we have access in Miami, we'll drop you a note...if not, we'll see you in Nashville (or Dallas).

Adios!

He replied with lofty words and political jargon.

I nodded slowly, pretending he made sense. I hated the fact that life was not simple. I was drawn to my friend’s knowledge.

What I didn’t realize was that I was one of those rich people in the world. I should have asked myself: Why don’t you give a percent of your wealth to the poor, Nate?

Yes, I am that good. I have it all figured out.

Well, Tic-Tac-Toe that is.

The problem is my God-suit doesn’t fit so well. The suit tends to make my mind wander in a terrible race. To know all feels… unnatural for me.

I wonder, I wonder, I wonder:

“God, why do you allow poverty and suffering?”
“How can I love you without seeing you?”
“How can I love others when I struggle to love myself?”

Why why why and a bottle of whine is my favorite dish.

Here’s the deal. Some things may become clearer, but I am no less of a man for not having answers.

God is more qualified than me to know all, so maybe I shouldn’t beat myself up for not performing tasks in God’s job description in the first place.

“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know they do wrong. (2) Do not be quick with your mouth, / do not be hasty in your heart / to utter anything before God. / God is in heaven / and you are on earth, / So let your words be few.”

-Ecclesiastes 5:1-2

“Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God.”

-Ecclesiastes 5:7

Jenny Rogers, a single mother of three, read letters from her best friend’s brother. Chief Jones was in the Air Force and based in Honduras. He wrote home about the Honduran people and his experiences.

Jones’s stories made their way into Jenny’s hands. They were stories of desperate Hondurans accosting the airmen as they threw their trash and spoiled food in the dump... Stories of villages in the mountains where the poor Hondurans generously shared the little they had with the visiting airmen... Stories of shoeless children who waited for visitors at the airport to carry luggage and raise 10 cents to buy food.

“They were letters that would make you cry, and you would feel such compassion for the people,” Jenny said.

Four months after reading the first letter, she traveled to Honduras herself to see how she could help.

It was Thanksgiving weekend in 1999. Chief Jones had an itinerary for Jenny and her videographer. The sergeant planned on taking them to several of the orphanages and mountain villages.

First, though, he told of a lady named Clementina who ran a soup kitchen in a nearby village. Jenny was interested in finding her, so they drove to Cane. Chief Jones didn’t know Clementina, but in the past someone from the Air Force had been involved in helping her. Because military men transfer so often, Clementina lost her support.

“There are plenty of needs everywhere, but all the orphanages and villages I visited later in the week were hooked up with some organization, branch of the military, or form of help,” Jenny said.

Clementina had nobody. She was all by herself feeding 85 kids a day, twice a day.

The day Jenny met Clementina, the petite, old woman said, “I was praying the military would come back in my life so that I could get help. You are the angles God has sent to me.”

The 69-year-old woman had been serving the kids in the soup kitchen for 27 years. She had retired from teaching and opened a soup kitchen when she realized the children couldn’t concentrate in school because they were so hungry.

“We decided right away to help,” Jenny said. “She didn’t have anybody.”

This is a many-layered project, Jenny said. The main problem for the poor families is hunger. It pulls kids out of school so they can work to buy food. But that halts their education, which forces them to remain in a level of poverty.

Just over a month after her first trip to Honduras, Jenny filed papers to create a nonprofit organization called The KidSAKE Foundation. She knew it would be easier to get grants and aid if people could make tax-deductible donations.

“I just keep putting my hand out because I don’t have any money to do it myself,” Jenny said. “I had to rely on a donation to pay the $500 to become a nonprofit.”

Throughout the first year, she did whatever she could to send money to Clementina for the soup kitchen. Because of her foundation’s involvement, the Air Force picked up Clementina as a project again. They’ve stayed connected. Jenny sends a cashier’s check to her contact at the base when she can. For five years, during their off-duty, volunteer hours, airmen at the base have helped. They pick up Clementina, take her shopping at the market and deliver the food to the soup kitchen for her.

“Now we’re supposed to send $400 for the 90 kids each month, but I haven’t been able to keep that up,” Jenny said. “They’ve had to turn away half of the children. I don’t send it on a regular basis because I don’t have regular supporters.”

She needs people that are committed to donating every month so that the soup kitchen can continue, Jenny said.

Ten cents a meal, or $1 a week would sponsor a child.

Jenny is going to continue to work on raising money so the children can eat each month, but she and Clementina have another project on the horizon. They have drawn out plans to build a community center that would include a new soup kitchen with modern appliances, a medical clinic, an educational resource center, dorm rooms for visiting missionary or volunteers and a meeting room as a place for training.

“We don’t want to just build a building, but we want to help the community build itself so that it can be self-reliant and have a brighter future,” Jenny said.

She believes they have an opportunity in this village to set up a model. Partnerships with Universities and donors can help a community become independent and rise up from the dregs of poverty.

The past five years have been a struggle, and the hardest part is yet to come, but apart from her family, Jenny says. But, there’s nothing she’s done in her entire life that has been as rewarding as being able to work in this village and join with other people to give hope to the children and to the mothers.

“It’s on my heart all the time,” Jenny said. “Everyday I think of Clementina—ever since my first trip here. I knew my life would change because I am softhearted. I didn’t know it would change this much.

“I know that Honduras will always be a part of my life ... for the rest of my life.”

We left their house promising ourselves to do something about it. Beds are expensive, we were at the edge of our budget and we didn’t even know where to find a bed for sale. But we wanted to give those children a place to rest their heads. The cold, dirty floor and crowded, broken bed were not sufficient.

After a phone call, he informed us all the beds had already been given away.

“But we have other things in the warehouse, and you can pick anything,” Hermes said.

We were on our way to Comayagua anyway, so we stopped at the mission. We walked through the warehouse looking for something to give that family.

“Look! There’s one bed left!”

It was a king sized bed. Hermes immediately offered it to Jenny for the family.

“Those are the things that keep me going because I know God is watching,” Jenny told me later in the evening.

We were excited to drive toward the family’s home last night with a huge mattress strapped to the back of a pickup truck. I couldn’t wait to see Dania’s face when the bed was placed in her home.

The mother and her two youngest were the only ones in the house when we arrived. Some of the children were in the mountains with their grandmother and a few of the children were in the park, the petite mother said. We were disappointed to not see Dania and the children, but we happily set the new bed in the woman’s rented house.

We had woken the baby when we entered the house, but he stopped crying and quickly as fell asleep as he was placed on the new mattress and box springs.

“I didn’t think in my whole life I would get a bed,” the mother said.

It only makes me wonder how many more families in Cane are in dire need of beds? How many more children lay dirty and cold at night? How many mothers need to be educated and taught how to make a better living so their children can go to school? How many lives can we help change?

There are always one or two pictures that stick out each night.

At the public school in the small town of Cane, close to the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, a shot came to me.

After a bit, a shot flashed through my mind. I positioned myself so the sun was just behind the tallest girl. She carried a baby. The girls became backlit with an angelic glow.

They stood towering toward the sky, staggered and strong. Their gaze, caught in that click, seemed to have a piercing power.

I saw the taller girl yesterday, but actually she was quite short. I had remembered that click.

I will have these shots when I return to America, but I keep wondering if I am taking too many pictures home with me instead of taking enough lasting relationships.

I don’t want to know people so I can put their picture on my wall. I want to know them,

So sometimes my camera disgusts me.