February 26, 2008
The other day I asked a question: how comfortable should a Christian be surrounded by poverty in Honduras? Over the last couple of days I have discovered a more appropriate question: how uncomfortable can a gringa be from the poverty in Honduras?
The bug infestation in our “country house in the city” has not gone away. In fact, I’ve been told by Hondurans that we need to keep the geckos in the house to eat the cockroaches. And I’ve seen the trail of baby ants in other houses no matter how clean and realized they are just something I will have to learn to live with.
We also don’t have water because I guess the city turns it off every couple days during the dry season (which is most of the year). Our reserve tank doesn’t work. It is much hotter here than I remembered and after a very sticky, stinky day for baby and me, a sponge bath with bottled water was a great luxury. We are living by the rule: “if its yellow, let it mellow…if it’s brown…take it out!” (If you’ve been here you remember the plumbing system can’t handle toilet paper).
As I get more used to real life here—not the sort of life you experience on a vacation or a mission trip—I realize what simple treasures are available to us in the US. Just the fact that you can get real parmesan cheese at the grocery store (instead of powder), choose from several different breeds of tomatoes and many different sorts of frozen foods if you don’t have time to cook, and find baby wipes that feel soft on baby’s bottom and a cushion to change him on. In the US when you leave your garbage out all of it is picked up instead of leaving a trail of refuse in your neighborhood. There is so much available there: from nice, used furniture in good condition, to low priced “luxury items” like microwaves and toasters.
Unfortunately (or some will say fortunately) for those in Washington, real life in Tegucigalpa is making me rethink how our work teams experience Honduras. I am thinking of finding a way for our teams to stay in places that don’t have maids to keep away the bugs and don’t always have a proficient water supply. And having the teams make their own food and wash their clothes in a pila. In fact, I should just have everyone camp on our very empty living room floor! Luckily for the Adult trip next week, their accommodations have already been confirmed at the nice retreat center in El Hatillo.
The other day I asked a question: how comfortable should a Christian be surrounded by poverty in Honduras? Over the last couple of days I have discovered a more appropriate question: how uncomfortable can a gringa be from the poverty in Honduras?
The bug infestation in our “country house in the city” has not gone away. In fact, I’ve been told by Hondurans that we need to keep the geckos in the house to eat the cockroaches. And I’ve seen the trail of baby ants in other houses no matter how clean and realized they are just something I will have to learn to live with.
We also don’t have water because I guess the city turns it off every couple days during the dry season (which is most of the year). Our reserve tank doesn’t work. It is much hotter here than I remembered and after a very sticky, stinky day for baby and me, a sponge bath with bottled water was a great luxury. We are living by the rule: “if its yellow, let it mellow…if it’s brown…take it out!” (If you’ve been here you remember the plumbing system can’t handle toilet paper).
As I get more used to real life here—not the sort of life you experience on a vacation or a mission trip—I realize what simple treasures are available to us in the US. Just the fact that you can get real parmesan cheese at the grocery store (instead of powder), choose from several different breeds of tomatoes and many different sorts of frozen foods if you don’t have time to cook, and find baby wipes that feel soft on baby’s bottom and a cushion to change him on. In the US when you leave your garbage out all of it is picked up instead of leaving a trail of refuse in your neighborhood. There is so much available there: from nice, used furniture in good condition, to low priced “luxury items” like microwaves and toasters.
Unfortunately (or some will say fortunately) for those in Washington, real life in Tegucigalpa is making me rethink how our work teams experience Honduras. I am thinking of finding a way for our teams to stay in places that don’t have maids to keep away the bugs and don’t always have a proficient water supply. And having the teams make their own food and wash their clothes in a pila. In fact, I should just have everyone camp on our very empty living room floor! Luckily for the Adult trip next week, their accommodations have already been confirmed at the nice retreat center in El Hatillo.
2 comments:
Hi Elise, this is Tiffany and David. You are so strong! You, Rey and Elijah give us so much strength and encouragement in our daily lives to hear that dreams can be made possible with constant effort and prayer. Thank you so much for always working towards your life commitment to God.
As a member of the Adult team for the past two years, I would not be adverse to experiencing "true" Honduran living next time.
It'd be an adventure!
Karen h
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