Good evening network... As you may have guessed, we
are "ramping up" for the Conference on Honduras 2005
(http://www.projecthonduras.com/conference). I have
traveled to Honduras to meet with our in-country
planning team and representatives of Copan's chamber
of commerce. I am sending out the last of the 1,000
written invitations this week. I am writing some
promotional material for the press. I am encouraging
people to register early. And I am starting to
brainstorm with others about the format of this year's
event.
Now that I've begun planning in earnest for this
year's conference, I have felt the need to revisit the
comments provided by numerous people who attended the
Conference on Honduras 2004. I've pulled out a number
of letters and e-mail messages, and I've started to
reflect upon the suggestions. I've posted some of
these at
http://www.projecthonduras.com/conference/conference2004/feedback.htm
... if you're interested.
One of the persistent themes in the feedback is
clearly the desire to have more "break-out" sessions
consisting of smaller groups to discuss common issues.
We did this, to some extent, last year with Kathy
Tschiegg's 40-person Workshop on Sustainable Programs.
I will try to build on that model and see if we can
do more of these type of sessions. To some extent,
our ability to do this will depend on available space.
There are many other suggestions which I promise I
will digest and attempt to implement, if
possible.
At any rate, I want to thank all of you who took the
time to write and share your thoughts with me. I
responded directly to some of you, and I may have
failed to do so to others... I'm very sorry about
that, but I assure you I've read everyone's messages.
One of the messages that I received was a long one
from someone in Honduras. I've read it several times.
It is a particularly thoughtful one which I'd like to
share with all of you because I think it contains
sentiments that those of us going to Honduras to help
should take to heart. I've edited it somewhat, but
the core of message remains intact.
Here you go...
>>
When I first moved to Honduras, I was eager to get to
work. I arrived with my laptop, all sorts of ideas of
how I was going to fix things, and full of enthusiasm
to share my wealth of knowledge. Ha! My supervisor
told me that my first assignment was to do absolutely
nothing for six months—just listen, watch, learn. I
was told that for six months, minimum, I would not be
in a position to do anything useful as I would not
understand the culture, the people, the needs, the
possibilities. I thought my supervisor was crazy.
Surely, with my background and education, I would
quickly be able to access needs and get to work with
(my) solutions.
Well, six months came and went, and I knew by the end
of that period, my supervisor was absolutely right.
Now, after five years, I am still learning and amazed
at some of the things I thought and did in my first
couple years here. Thankfully, Hondurans are a
generous and forgiving people and we all laugh
together now at my naive assumptions.
I know that the people at the conference are
well-meaning people, their hearts are generous and we
are delighted that so many people want to help
Honduras. However, there might be a role for
projecthonduras.com in educating people as to the
realities here, the culture. Perhaps there is some way
to teach people, through the Internet connections we
have something about humbly entering into service and
being the resource provider for the Hondurans.
Hondurans know and understand the problems in their
country; they know and understand the solutions; they
simply lack the resources to make the solution happen.
For example, when discussing your concern about
medical brigades coming into the same area and
providing the same service, giving vaccinations to the
same children over and over again... Do the medical
brigades link with the Ministerio de Salud to learn
about the vaccination program of the government? Free
vaccinations are given at every Centro de Salud in the
country and, in fact, teams go out all over the
country every year, going from house to house, shack
to shack, vaccinating every child living in every
area.
Your idea about coordinating the efforts of medical
brigades is terrific, exactly what is needed. Perhaps
as well the network could be in touch with the
Ministry of Health and ask them: where do you need
these groups to go? Which areas of Honduras lack these
types of service? What types of medical services
should they provide? This could lead, I think, to a
much more effective service to the people
I don't want to sound overly critical. I know that the
intentions of all these folks, and many others from
around the world who come here, are good. I see groups
arriving at the airport all the time, matching
t-shirts, all piling onto buses to go and do their
couple of weeks of service. We see them year after
year, all giving out parasite meds and leaving
thinking they have "helped." Sure they have, but do
they understand that next month the same children will
be infested with parasites again? Do they know that
the toothbrushes they gave out will have become little
guns and shovels for the children to play with? Do
they understand that in a few months another brigade
will arrive and treat the same children for the same
problems?
We recently had a group of well-meaning people arrive
to build a clinic and some housing in town. They all
came in and set to work actually building the houses–
and insisted on wood houses, complete with asphalt
shingles! No one would listen to the people about
using cement blocks for the houses and putting up a
zinc roof. Honduran laborers who had no work were not
allowed to help build the buildings. They even worked
straight through the day, ignoring the wisdom of the
people to take a break in the hottest part of the day.
Many of them fell ill due to heat exposure. And the
roof won't last the year.
I know that the goals of your groups are wonderful.
The desire to help Honduras is so well intentioned.
But the reality here is something that few people
living outside the country understand.
Does all this mean the "short-term" people should just
go home and give up on Honduras? No. But we have to
all work together to help people understand the
reality of this country, and to come here with an
attitude of respect for the culture and religious
values, come with humility to accept that our ways are
not the ways of the US, come with an openness to the
Honduran perception, ask what the problems and the
solutions are, and see if they can help provide the
resources to the Hondurans themselves to bring about
the changes needed.
I hope that this has been expressed in a way that is
not overly critical– again the intentions of all are
great and we who live in Honduras appreciate the
efforts. I just hope that a way can be found to
channel these intentions in a way that lead to
long-term change, working with those in the private
sector and government here to coordinate efforts, to
address real needs, to find real solutions. The goal
is not to turn Honduras into a mini-US, but to allow
the wonderful richness of Honduran culture and the
inherent greatness of the Honduran people to be lifted
up.
To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/travel-to-honduras/
travel-to-honduras-
:
|
