Update

-
Greetings again from the land of coffee, coconuts and coups. I've been keeping quite busy here these past 2 weeks and have hardly had time to keep up with the day to day news regarding Mel and Micheletti (the interim President) in Costa Rica. As I've heard the first round of talks died - neither side wanted to give an inch...that's not entirely true; Micheletti changed his mind and conceded that Mel could re-enter the country on the condition that he be arrested and put on trial upon arrival. So yeah, things have been moving along at a snail's pace. On an upnote they couldn't have picked a better person to mediate this whole bit of nonsense; Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is just a good man, he's level-headed, good-hearted and visionary (which is not typical in Central American politcal theater. Most importantly he earned a Nobel Peace Prize for having mediated a violent Central American conflict during his first term as president back in the 80's. I can't say enough about Arias - he seems to be hopeful that this will all work out and is proposing another round of talks after a 1 week cooling-off period.
-
In other news I've been keeping pretty busy planning a trip for a group from the church here to visit the folks at Frazer Mennonite in Pennsylvania - it's a lot but we're getting down to the end and I'm starting to get excited. I did just get back from my personal trip up North and so I feel like I'm starting and stopping again with my work in Laureles but such is life I suppose. Speaking of Laureles, here are some recents fotos:
Memo has his 10th Birthday

Josue lights the candles

Javier

Oder Celebrates his 13th

Oder

The we played Futbol

Trekking through the bullrushes to go Mango picking

One side of the Mango Tree ridge

The other side

Kevin & Adonai picking Mangos

Enjoying the Fruits of the Kid's Labor

Pepe, Kevin, Anwar, Josue, Adonai, Chita, Nango, Memo, Carlitos, Tolo

That's all for now. Blessings to you.

Peace!

- matt

Comments

Galen and Phyllis Groff said…
Wonderful news and pictures to enjoy
Trusting the trip will go well.
When and how long with you be gone
Phyllis
July 15, 2009 at 7:03 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Another Migrant Crisis

-
I've lived and worked in Honduras for 10 years both as a missionary, serving the very poorest of society and now as teacher, where I give philosophy and history classes to the children of the very wealthiest. I don't pretend to be an expert on Honduran society and I certainly cannot claim to have many answers with respect to issues of immigration. The whole topic strikes me as far more complex and nuanced than what many voices on either the Right or the Left make it out to be. Nevertheless, I know the milieu in which I live, I know why many poor Hondurans choose to emigrate illegally, I know why many wealthy Hondurans fly to Miami or Atlanta to give birth to their children and I know that all else remaining constant, this current caravan is only the beginning. A poor Honduran lives his life with little to no hope of ever achieving anything approaching financial stability. The people I know make their livings off of garbage collecting, selling unripened bananas and day-laborin
Read more

Coming to Honduras

-
Image
The other day in philosophy class I was teaching about existentialism, a philosophy with which I have myriad problems. The universe is absurd, life is meaningless, authenticate yourself with irrational leaps of faith! Hopeless and disconnected from reality if you ask me. Get out of the café Camus, mix with some common folk! Nevertheless, as I was introducing the material I mentioned that the existentialists really probed the questions of Life's meaning and purpose: "How do I create myself to be unique and significant?" "How do I live an authentic existence?" "How do I give my life meaning and purpose in an otherwise meaningless universe?" These seem to be questions that are attendant to societies that possess extreme wealth and privilege and an over-abundance of leisure time. I have serious doubts that 15th Century English peasants or even nobles for that matter, spent much time contemplating how they might make their lives unique or leave a
Read more

10 Years In Honduras

-
Image
My good friend Jessiel Rivera reminded me the other day that it was 10 years ago this month that I arrived here in La Ceiba. I remember my arrival here from Costa Rica fairly vividly. I had been getting teary-eyed on the plane from a combination of sleep deprivation, my longing to remain with my friends in beautiful San Jose and some sad indie music on my iPod. It was a hot and terribly humid Sunday afternoon when I landed in the La Ceiba airport and when I stepped off the 10-seater hotbox of an airplane onto the tarmac I was sweaty, bleary-eyed and disheveled. I looked like a typical gringo backpacker except for my mountain of luggage that I had in tow. Two members of the Central Mennonite Church picked me up in their car; how they knew I was the Gringo they were supposed to collect was beyond me but they got it right. I remember them remarking on the number of suitcases I had brought (3) and their heaviness (maximum weight allowance); and the resulting weight of embarrassment I felt
Read more