Almost in the house! (by Laura)

We'll move tomorrow if we have a bathroom door and running water. The house looks great though I hope that we get dressers or something of the sort soon. Living out of a suitcase is getting old...I can never find anything!

To add to Todd's midnight description of Padre Daniel's birthday celebration, we had barking dogs outside our window going nuts and I thought it was a gunfight. Fortunately, Kathy and I were able to seek refuge in Lauren's bed where she comfortingly wrapped her leg around us.

In other news, James, Kathy, Lauren and I went to the children's Mass this morning and Lucian was presiding. He did such a great job! He introduced us to the kids and some drunk guy said something unintelligible in the middle of it, to which Lucian replied, "Excelente." I almost died laughing. Then Alberto, the keyboard player, invited the 4 of us up to the front of the church and had us dance while he sang some song I couldn't understand except that part of it was shouting out the movements. Super fun, making myself look like a goon is one of my favorite hobbies as most of you know. :)

The Hondurans have shown amazing hospitality so far and they are so interested in us and happy we are here, it's wonderful and makes the transition a lot easier. I just hope Olma, our next-door neighbor, will be ok answering all our questions about how to survive. Literally...we don't even know where to buy food or how to wash our clothes. It's crazy...like I'm starting over again and have to forget just about everything I learned growing up. What an adventure!

Well, I think I've gotten my money's worth...off to the rectory to entertain myself somehow. Maybe I'll finally try to reorganize my bags.

Bang in the Night! (by Todd)

Last night, a little after midnight, I woke to the sound of gunshots.

At least that´s what I thought for the first two seconds I woke up. As it turns out, it was Padre Daniel´s birthday, so at midnight, a bunch of the teenagers showed up at his door to sing. And they brought with them these ridiculously noisy fireworks, that I swear sounded like guns going off. But as soon as I woke up, I heard them singing and figured out what was going on.

I got another fright though when I opened my eyes. There were all these black silhouttes jumping at the window, and loud bangs and flashes of light from the fireworks, and even though I knew what was up, I got so scared. For a moment, I think I knew what it must be like to wake up to an angry mob at your door. Yikes!


While we´re on the subject of things that have given me a fright - Honduran drivers pass each other like madmen! Is there a blind curve coming up? A hill? Another car? And is that a big 18-wheeler truck we´re passing? No problem! We´ll pass anyway!!!

Of course, it´s not quite like in the US. They´re all driving much slower here. And people help you pass them - being passed doesn´t seem to constitute a threat to masculinity the way it does in the US. It´s probably more necessary when you have speedy cars, big trucks, and the occasional ox-driven wagon all on the same two-lane road. Lastly, the Hondurans are happy to make a third lane in the middle of the road if necessity dictates.

But nonetheless, it is scary when you pull out into the other lane to pass, and cut right in front of that truck back into your lane just moments before an oncoming car whizzes by. At least, it was the first few times :)


In other news, we have continued getting to know the people of the Talanga community and the Casa Pasionista. Here´s a funny story: the ladies at the Casa have taken to imitating Lauren, Laura, and Kathy, who do this little dance whenever they leave. I think it´s cute.

Alright, until next time. Hopefully I can get some pictures up soon!

Santo Borracho (by Laura)

We went to the park last night and met an old man named Santo who works in the park making sure nothing is amiss and he was drunk. It was rather interesting - he told me I was more intelligent than James and that Kathy and Todd should marry each other. The little kids her are adorable and the youth of the parish are really friendly and very involved. Padre Daniel (the priest here in Talanga) has the most infectious laugh I've heard in a long time and I love the noises Fr. Lucian makes when he eats good food. Those are my observations for now.

We have arrived!!! (by Todd)

At long, long last we´re finally here. I´m typing from an Internet Cafe in Tegucigalpa, about 2 minutes walk from the church.

We took off at 6am this morning from New York, and by the time we got out of customs it was 1pm in Honduras (which is right now the same as Mountain time). The day has been packed!

We were picked up at the airport by Padre Daniel, who is the pastor (priest in charge) of the Talanga parish and also by a man named Purificacion, who is the director of the Casa Pasionista where we will be spending some of our time. On our way out of Tegucigalpa, we stopped for chicken sandwiches at a gas station.

From there we drove to the Casa Pasionista, where we got the full tour, and met some of the people living there. During the drive, I was pleased to find that my Spanish was up to the task of communicating well. I tried as much as possible to pick the brains of Puri and his nephew for cultural information.

Before we left the Casa, we were treated to a surprise welcome cake. Then, we piled all the residents at the Casa into the van and drove to Talanga. The parishioners (members of the parish) showed us the house they´ve been preparing for us. It is beautiful!! Four rooms, much bigger than I expected. And they were so happy to see us and so happy that we liked the house. I was really, really touched. Also, the house is only a minute´s walk from the church, and our next door neighbor is one of the parishioners who helped get everything ready.

Which brings me more or less to the present. The house isn´t quite finished yet, so we´ll sleep in the rectory (pastor´s house) tonight.

¡Hasta pronto!

AIDS in Honduras (by Todd)

I've done a little research about AIDS in Honduras, and here's some of what I found. Unless otherwise indicated, all information comes from either:
- the 2004 Report on the Global Aids Epidemic conducted by the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). The report analyzes census data from 2003.
- or 2005 information on AIDS in Honduras provided by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) which provides $5 million annually to combat AIDS.

Global Perspective: Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest regional incidence of AIDS - 7.5%, with some countries as high as 40%. The Caribbean has the second highest incidence at 2.3%. Central America has the third highest regional incidence of AIDS, estimated at 0.9%.

Regional Perspective: Honduras has the highest AIDS rate in all of Central America; estimated at 1.8% - 63,000 people - in 2003. Even though it holds 17% of Central America's total population, Honduras accounts for 60% of reported AIDS cases in the region.

Some Numbers: Of the 63,000 people with AIDS in Honduras in 2003...
...3,900 were children.
...33,000 were women.
...4,100 died that year.

Regional Prevalence: The prevalence of AIDS in Honduras varies by region. It's highest by far in the Cortes region in the Northeast of the country, particularly in the large city of San Pedro Sula; it's also high in the capital city, Tegucigalpa.

Testing: The majority of people in Honduras do not know their AIDS status. In 2003, only 1% of the population sought testing from government-sponsored programs.

Stigma: There is considerable stigma against people with AIDS in Honduras, to the point that they may be shunned or abandoned by friends and family. This stigma has been identified as one of the major obstacles to an effective response (source: article on the stigma against AIDS in Honduras).


If you want a little more information, that report by USAID provides a good, concise overview.

Make a Donation to PVI (by Todd)

As volunteers with the Passionist Volunteers International, we really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers during the year. If you're interested in making a donation, we would be truly grateful! Even the smallest donation means a lot.

Here's how to do it:
- Make your check payable to "Passionist Volunteers International"
- If you want to earmark your donation for the scholarship fund, write "Honduras Scholarship Fund" in the memo line. If you want to earmark the donation for the medical brigades, write "Honduras Medical Brigades" in the memo line.
- Otherwise, write [your name] in the memo line.
- Mail it to:

John DeGraaf

526 Monastery Pl.

Union City, NJ 07087

(That's the Passionist office in New Jersey).

Thank you!

Inspirational quote to top off the post:
"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one." - Mother Teresa

Who are the Passionists? (by Todd)

Our volunteer organization, the Passionist Volunteers International, is run by the Passionists, an order of Roman Catholic priests. I myself had never heard of them before I applied to their program, so here's some information.

The Passionists are a religious order of priests within the Catholic Church (like the Jesuits or the Franciscans). What that means is that they are not necessarily in charge of parishes or churches. Instead they receive duty assignments from superiors within the Passionist order, which is based in Rome.

The Passionist order was founded in 1725 by St. Paul of the Cross (check out his life story). The Passionists' charism - the particular gift they seek to bring to the world - is to keep alive the memory of Jesus' Passion. (Jesus' Passion refers to his suffering, death, and resurrection).

The tasks performed by the Passionist derive from their charism. In particular, the Passionists try to see the image of the crucified Jesus in the poor and suffering of the world. They see Jesus' crucifixion as a call to heed and care for the poor. Through prayer and service, the Passionists minister to the marginalized throughout the world.

So how does this all apply to us, the volunteers in Honduras? It means we're going to Honduras to serve the poor and suffering, and to try to see Jesus in them. There's ample precedent - the Passionists have priests in almost 60 countries throughout the world. They spent about ten years in Honduras from around 1983 to 1993.

One more thing that's particularly important to us as Passionist volunteers: the idea of accompaniment. Accompaniment is a way of relating to those we serve; it means that we're they're to walk with them and develop relationships with them. The idea is that it's more important to be with the people than to just throw aid at them, and that the service is just as much in the relationships you develop as in the tangible services you provide.

Well, this was a lot of writing. I hope it wasn't too boring for everyone! If you'd like to find out more about the Passionists, look here (it's a really good read!).


PS
The picture at the top of this post is the Passionist insignia. The words, "JESU XPI PASSIO" mean "the Passion of Jesus Christ" in the languages Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, respectively - the languages of the early church.

Baxter (by Laura)

Oh, Baxter, you are my little gentleman...

I'm so glad that Lauren loves Will Ferrell. And more than I do - I didn't know that was possible. But I'm glad that we found a house with a third bedroom so we'll have a little more space. I just hope our outhouse is as good as if not better than the one at the last house. (By outhouse I mean detached bathroom, but don't worry we DO have running water.) At least the smaller house had it. This will be quite the adventure, this simple living thing, I might come home come and convert to being a mountainwoman or something, who knows? Well, it is almost time for another scrumptious meal with the Passionists. Until the next post...(probably won't be until a week after Todd erases this one at the rate I'm going)