I’ve come to enjoy Mondays in this country, but this Monday wasn’t the greatest. I should have known that it wouldn’t be a good day when I didn’t get to enjoy my favorite Monday morning activity, flushing the toilet, because the water wasn’t coming yet. The day was rainy already in the morning which is unusual, and it was even dare I say chilly… and yes, my standards have already changed here- it may have been 70 or so, but at least I haven't broken out the stocking cap and scarf like we've seen here already. School was good- it was the first time I have gone in a while because the teachers across Honduras have been having a lot of strikes thus canceling classes regularly- but it was good to see my 4th grade amigos again. Turns out, it was the birthday of one of my favorite classmates. Victor is the smallest kid in our class, he doesn’t talk much, and he doesn’t smile very often. Lately, he’s been visiting our house more with his older brother and cousin, sometimes even twice a day to exchange books or play games and hang out. He comes over despite the fact that he’s terrified of our dog- not because Oso is intimidating, because he’s definitely not… he’s pretty much the most worthless dog I’ve met, but that’s another story- but because he was bitten badly in the leg by a dog in August. That’s how I met him at school, because he showed me his disgusting looking open wounds on his leg and told me about how a dog had attacked him. They looked bad for a long time, but seem better now even though I’m not sure if he ever had them checked out since they never were covered with anything. He’s usually full of questions when he comes to visit… asking about my roommates and what they’re doing at the time. The other day he asked who slept in the hammock we have in the book room that’s in the front of our house and who sleeps on the small mattress we have out there as well for kids to play on when they visit. The answer is no one, but that often confuses most kids because mattresses are usually shared by more than one person and not something that you have extras of around the house. I was most amused when he noticed that Lauren and I shared a room in the front of the house while the guys all sleep in the back, and he asked why we sleep apart from them. I told him it was because the boys smelled bad, and he seemed to understand that answer. He wanted to know where everything that is hanging on our walls had come from and why it was there, and he commented on the “montón de cosas” in our house, which is something we get a lot from the kids here. They’re basically saying we have a bunch of things, but it’s always eye-opening when we hear that. We don’t really have much, especially compared to what we are used to back in the States, but compared to many of the homes here I can see what they mean. Anyway, he was all dressed up in a brand new outfit instead of the usual school uniform. We sang him a couple of songs in class then went back to doing homework. I asked him what he was doing for his birthday, to which he replied “nothing”. I left school at recess, but just a couple hours later Victor showed up at our door after he got out of school. He picked out a new book to take home, and we played the Dora the Explorer Memory Game- his favorite probably because he usually wins. I wish I could have done something for his birthday- made it fun somehow- but all I had to share was some candy that someone else had given me.
Later in the day, we had our Domestic Violence support group. We had just 3 of our women show up for the meeting, because apparently it was some sort of holiday that no one had told us about beforehand. One of them seemed to be particularly distressed though, and I was having a hard time understanding her because she was talking especially fast. Finally, I understood what she was trying to ask me… “What do you do when you have no money, no one to help you, and no food for your 8 children?”
How in the world are you supposed to answer that question?! Telling her that we have no children and we’ve never been faced with that problem won’t really help anything. Lauren and I wouldn’t really know how to respond to that question in English, let alone Spanish. Unfortunately, we don’t know much about the resources here yet or the services that are available. We’re strongly advised against giving out money or gifts of any sort, and especially in this case it would not be the best idea because the other women in our group are in similar if not identical situations as her. We tried offering a couple of suggestions, because I would think that churches here offer some kind of assistance in situations like these, and we know that the policewoman who works with the domestic violence victims does routinely helps these families. But at the same time, this is sadly a common problem, so it’s hard to determine who gets help and who does not. It’s extremely hard for us to rationalize our desires to give out money or gifts, but at the same time remember that doing so isn’t helping the root of the problem. We could easily give them a meal one night, but then they would still be without food the next. This is definitely one of the biggest challenges we face here. We’re used to being able to solve problems with a quick fix, mostly with money, but even with our resources here, there’s so much we can’t do. The problems here are much bigger than any we’re used to, and so far-reaching in this country that we often feel overwhelmed and hopeless here. We can’t feed all the people that are hungry or clean the water supply that isn’t safe for drinking. It's hard to look at other problems too, like health for instance, when you know that the biggest concern of most people is how they're going to feed or clothe their children. We were sent here by the Passionists, to live according to their mission of accompanying the poor, but we’re finally beginning to see how difficult that is despite how easy it may sound.
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