Over the last few days, my facebook inbox has been filling up with email chains about the suspected removal of Peace Corps from Honduras. Current volunteers serving in Honduras said that they were told they would be allowed to finish there service but now it appears they are being sent home or relocated as of January.
I can't put into words how sad this is for volunteers and the host country. Peace Corps has been sending volunteers to Honduras since 1963 and the 5,500 volunteers have countless projects and friendships with the people of Honduras. I feel a bit guilty that as Americans, we can just pick up and leave the unsafe "war zone" but my friends and past co-workers are trapped in the unsafe, jobless and impoverished country.
When events like this take place, we all focus on the bad, the dangerous and the news worthy...but of course not all of Honduras is unsafe. For the most part, I felt very comfortable in my town and NEVER once was I robbed, attacked or even truly threatened within El Negrito. However, due to the nature of Peace Corps, I had to travel often for workshops, regional meetings and programming logistic. I also had to go to the nearest city (2 hours away) every month to withdraw money to pay rent and buy groceries. It was usually during these travels that my heart-rate would go up and my general anxiety would increase. Consequently, during my 27 months in Honduras, I did see a lot of violence and probably more dead bodies than most Americans in a life time.
I witnessed a brutal machete attack while taking refuge in a cheese store bathroom. I remember Max holding the door shut with all his might and the woman next to me kneeling by the toilet praying. After what felt like forever listening to the horrific and mysterious attack, we emerged from the bathroom to find the entire store covered in broken glass and blood. At the time, I thought the man probably had a gun and I was convinced we were also going to be kidnapped, shot or attacked.
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| Baptism ceremony after losing a baby unbaptized |
Then of course there was the man that shot himself while twirling a gun outside the Internet cafe in my town. It was my 26th Birthday and I was just leaving the cafe after reading nice messages from home. I had my hand on the door and was only feet away from the man when he dropped his gun which bounced off the curb, went off and shot him in the leg. I switched into damage control mode and tried to cut off the blood flow by asking a stranger to remove his shirt and tie it around his leg between his heart and the wound. As the man went into shock, I thought for sure we would lose him but the nearby doctor was able to save him before he lost too much blood. SO many people in Honduras carried guns and my stomach would turn into knots every time I saw one.
The violence however didn't stop at the borders. When a group of us went to have a fish lunch in Panama, we witnessed a shooting just a few hundred feet away. I remember Molly yelling "get down" as we all hit the cement, threw some money at the waitress and ran to the car to evacuate the area as soon as possible.
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| My girls youth group |
Over the years, I can't even count the number of dead bodies I saw from car accidents, occasional shootings and random deaths. There were lots of stories of people getting attacked on buses and sometimes it felt like a game of Russian Roulette when traveling. Well, maybe thats an exaggeration but I can say that I felt like I was always pushing my luck.
With all of that being said...I guess I am not surprised Peace Corps is leaving for now but I hope and pray the country improves soon so we can reenter the country. I will be thinking lots this Christmas of all the volunteers and Hondurans grieving the separation.
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| Malnourished baby Darwin at the Nutrition Center |
Peace Corps Tribute by Rachel Papernick
Its sad, but at the end of the day, lets remember peace corps is bigger than any one country. They will be more effective putting those same resources into a safer country - a country with people who are just as deserving of help. That's what really matters.
ReplyDeleteI left early because I was stalked by a woman in Teguc. I also shuddered at seeing guns even at the Cristina bus stop where the watchman would carry them until this woman followed me into the rest room (I think she wanted to rape me?) and I locked myself in the restroom waiting for her to leave. When I went to the watchman, she had left but it's hard to work with those kinds of paranoid feelings. It seems that the changes in Central America are not going well but I hope that they will improve. My husband's uncle recently was killed while being robbed at his beach house this week for no good reason in front of his wife, son and son's family (7 year old granddaughter). It's so sad right before Christmas. There definitely needs to be a political and cultural change.
ReplyDeleteWow, Krista - I never realized you'd seen and been through such scary things while in Honduras. I was lucky enough to have a safe and peaceful experience the entire time I was there, although I witnessed my share of poverty and sadness. I also feel sad that PC is leaving Honduras but it sounds like it's for good reason. Hopefully it will be reinstated some years down the line, like Peace Corps, Colombia has.
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ReplyDeleteWow, that is crazy. I never realized all the experience you had when you were doing the PC work in Honduras. Sounds like you felt safe most of the times, but also had some experiences with violence. I read about them pulling out of the country and obviously the government must have known or felt something that was going to put the volunteers or American citizens in danger. Like you said, they have been there since the 60s, but you have to focus on the good work they were able to get done in that time and the opportunity others will have in new countries and posts.
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