The blog has lay dormant now for some time as we have lived
and worked in the US and traveled back and forth to Honduras over this past year.
Sorry to those of you that actually read this (all three of you). However groggy it might be, it is time to
wake the blog back up!
We will soon be returning to Honduras, likely sometime in
the first two weeks of April. Although we will once again miss our US family,
we are very excited to return to our Honduran home and family. So much has
happened over the past few months: new children, thousands of miles of travel,
a new business, and countless other things.
As much as has happened over the past few months, so much
more has happened over the past five years. Some of you know the tale well by
now, others are new to our life story. Regardless, as we look at soon returning
to Honduras, we thought that it might be productive for us to reflect over
these past five years and think of what we have learned and experienced.
As a result, starting today and continuing every Friday for
the next few weeks, we will be posting an additional installment of “5 Years”
that examines our life up until this point. We hope that you are able to know
us a little more through these reflections.
Section one starts right now...
(Re)introduction
10 years ago, Honduras was just another banana republic
to me, one of those forgotten, floundering narco-nations between Mexico and the
Panama Canal. In 2010, we made a brief visit to the country without any inkling
that it was soon to become much more than just a placeholder on the map. It was
to become Home.
Since 2011, we have there built a home and weathered
tropical fevers, deluges, and heatwaves. In the tiny town of Las Lomitas, at our
even tinier house, dogs, chickens, and goats have squished into the world, and
many have gone on to that great farm in the sky (Bought a ticket on Vulture
Airlines as the neighbors would say.) At this home our work became our life,
and our life became our work. The principles and practices that guided our work
also leaked inward, even as our beliefs flowed out. The process of community
development is no more an overnight process than that of a newborn becoming a college
professor. We knew when we started that this would be a long road to walk and
have been encouraged to see positive signs begin to show within our short time
in Honduras. These results have only been possible through the careful
investment of time, love, and resources, and we hope and believe that the
dividends will pay for many years to come.
Much of this investment has been made in Las Lomitas and its
500 inhabitants. Located on the top of a lush hill covered in coffee fields and
forest, the town is accessed by a three-mile dirt road that climbs to 3000 feet
in elevation. There we built our 500 square-foot block house on a small plot at
the edge of the soccer field and slowly put together a small homestead complete
with chickens, quails, dairy goats, banana trees, and vegetable garden. After
three years of living without electricity, we rejoiced with our neighbors when
a collective effort resulted in the extension of power lines into our town.
Water comes only three hours/week, so we collect rainwater in an underground
cistern which we hand pump into an elevated storage tank for our daily
necessities.
Beyond Las Lomitas, we work with Heart to Honduras
throughout the Yojoa region in approximately 20 villages to empower local
leaders in unity and collaboration as they seek to improve their communities.
We do not lay out a prescription for development to these communities, but
instead walk alongside them as they determine their own priorities. In the same
way, we do not provide all of the solutions and resources necessary for them to
accomplish their goals but support them in understanding what local resources
already exist and what local connections can be made – a process known as
Asset-based Community Development (ABCD). We often work specifically with the
local church leaders and patronatos (community councils) in an attempt to break
down the wall that has all too often been built between them.
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| Click chart to expand. |
Over the past five years, we have seen many of these
communities break out of their former shells of highly-dependent organisms that
sought all nourishment and resources necessary to their growth from outside
entities. Prior to the HTH CD efforts in these towns, many community initiatives
were identified by North Americans and funded 100% by international donors.
Through time, very intentional interventions, and the hope of Christ, we are
now seeing an average of ~40% of necessary resources be provided by groups
within the local community and government.
This improvement has far exceeded our expectations. Our
process has been far from perfect, and we have certainly learnt much on our way
forward, but the results indicate to us the great potential for local growth
that already exists in Honduras. As an organization, we are not creating
capacity, just simply uncovering what has been lying dormant just beneath the
surface. North American Christians are often surprised to find the evidence of
an active faith in Christ in many far-flung places, evidence of our egocentrism
– a scathing indictment of our pride. Christ’s power to redeem without us
should not surprise us. In the same way, we should not be surprised to find
great ability, resources, and resolve in a seemingly broken and impoverished
people. We have all been created with great potential, and that capacity has
been twisted and drained to varying degrees in each one of us. Let’s not fool
ourselves with who the real hero is, and who is actually doing the saving. No
matter how white and comely the horse may perceive itself, at the end of the
day the thing is still just a dumb beast doing the bidding of its master.
The "5 Years" series will continue next Friday.
