Heartbroken and Grieving for our Homeland
September 17, 2001
Dear Family and Friends,
We are in the middle of our Field Based Training (FBT) ,one week of which we will spend together in our future permanent site (the city we will live in for the next 2 years), we will then be separated again for 2 weeks to finish field based training. We are back in our original training site in Valle de Angeles for 3 days to meet with the training staff, get some money for traveling and meet our counterparts who we will be working with for the next 2 years. During our 3 days in Valle we have access to email and wanted to take advantage of it to send out a short update.
We are grief stricken and mourning the recent attacks in the U.S. We have access to TV here and the day it happened our classes were suspended and we all huddled around a TV to watch the events unfold. It was devastating to see the destruction and imagine how many lives were lost before our eyes. I (Shawn) had an interesting discussion with a few Honduran men in my FBT about what exactly Honduras was expected to do in the wake of events in the U.S. One thought they should be sending beans and rice to the U.S. to aid in the efforts, since they don't have any money to send. The other said that they just needed to stand behind the U.S. and show solidarity and be supportive. It is encouraging to know that even the poor people of Honduras are grieving and disgusted by this cowardly act. Someone sent me an email with some comments from a Canadian writer which is at the end of this email. The statistics and commentary made me proud to be a United States Citizen.
We are doing well, under the circumstances, the embassy here has been taken down to a skeleton crew and the Peace Corps office has some shiny new razor wire around the top of the outside walls. The local police, who are armed and look more like military troops, have 4 to 5 officers standing guard on the perimeter of the peace corps office and all Peace Corps volunteers have been ordered to stand fast and stay in their sites, minimizing travel in the country. Oh, one of the things I don't think I have mentioned before is that inside the peace corps offices there are always 3 to 4 armed guards on duty. They have shot guns and side arms and man the front and back gates. To get into the Peace Corps office you have to go through a security check point. It is a nice safe place to go. Not that Honduras is a likely terrorist target, but I've noticed a larger police presence the last few days and they are checking all vehicles coming and going in and out of the capitol. I can only assume that this is happening all over Honduras especially along the Pan American highway.
I (Jennifer) have felt very heavy hearted and saddened by the news back home. On Wednesday, after the tragedy, I was working in a small village with a group of battered woman, all single moms who live in a community together and are learning new skills to support their families. My trainer and I were teaching them how to make recycled paper, which they then decorate and sell to tourists. Suddenly, during our session, I started to cry. My attention was far from the project at hand and my mind was racing with thoughts of despair for the many American families who had lost loved ones. I excused myself from the room to sit outside for awhile. Shortly after I had left, I felt a gentle touch on my arm. Margarita, a 30 year old mother with her newborn in her arms, stood by my side. She hugged me and asked what was wrong. When I looked up at her, I noticed her eyes were filled with tears. I whispered that there had been a tragic accident in my country. Margarita took my hand and replied, ¨When you are sad, I am sad¨. So simple, yet so comforting. Without saying anything more, I knew she understood. The Honduran people know what it is to suffer pain and yet they are some of the most generous people I have met.
Faithfully, Shawn and I are praying for the American people, the victims, their families and for peace. We send our support and love to all of you during this time of trial.
In the midst of such sadness, we also are writing to share with you the exciting news of the town we will be sent to, to serve in for the next 2 years. We will be moving to our new town ¨Concepción de Maria¨ in five weeks. On Sept.18th, we leave to visit the site for 5 days and look for a house, so that everything is in order when we arrive permanently at the end of October. It is a small town in the South East part of Honduras in the department (or state) called ¨Choluteca¨ (20 minutes from the Nicaraguan border). Choluteca was where we had visited the other couple a few weeks ago and people here say it is where the devil lives because it is so hot. Our new home will be in the mountains, so we are hoping it will be a little cooler, and with a name like ¨Conception de Maria¨ we don't think the devil will be anywhere near.
I hope to update the web site in about a month with new stories about our FBT adventures. We have many more fun stories to share. On Tuesday, Sept.18th, before we go to our new site, I (Shawn) am going to get my tooth fixed. Unfortunately, not in the U.S. due to the current flight complications. We did however, find a dentist/oral reconstructive surgeon who is going to try to save the tooth or give me an implant. He is one of the best dentists in Honduras and has done many of these before. I will give an update on the website as to what comes of that. (there are over 100 people on our email update list and almost everyone who replies wants to know about Shawn's tooth saga!) We have such caring friends.
A friend on our trip gave us this quote of encouragement this week that we would like to close with...We hope it will encourage you as well.
LIVING EULOGY
by Mary Anne Radmacher Hershey
They danced. They sang. They took. They gave. They served. They loved. They risked. They created. They dissented. They grew. They enlivened. They saw. They sweated. They changed. They learned. They laughed. They shed their skin. They bled on the pages of their days. They walked through walls. They lived with intention.
In respect and tribute to our fellow Americans who died not of choice, but with courage, we pray that our lives will be lived with intention and thankfulness for the gift of each additional day.
Shawn and Jennifer
News Article from Canada
Subject: America The Beautiful
In the wake of the election fiasco and the national tragedy, this is worth reading. We still live in the greatest country in the world and sometimes we forget what we have worked so hard for. This, from a Canadian newspaper, is worth sharing.
America: The Good Neighbor.
Widespread but only partial news coverage was given recently
to a remarkable editorial broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair,
a Canadian television commentator. What follows is the full text
of his trenchant remarks as printed in the Congressional Record:
"This Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans
as the most generous and possibly the least appreciated people
on all the earth. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain
and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans
who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions
in debts. None of these
countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining
debts to the United States.
When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans
who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled
on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it. When earthquakes
hit distant cities, it is the United States that hurries in to
help. This spring, 59 American communities were flattened by
tornadoes. Nobody helped. The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy
pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers
in those countries are writing about the decadent, warmongering
Americans. I'd like to see just one of those countries that is
gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its
own airplane. Does any other country in the world have a plane
to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star, or the
Douglas DC10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all the
International lines except Russia fly American Planes? Why does
no other land on earth even consider putting a man or woman on
the moon?
You talk about Japanese technocracy, and you get radios.
You talk about German technocracy, and you get automobiles.
You talk about American technocracy, and you find men on the
moon - not once, but several times - and safely home again.
You talk about scandals, and the Americans put theirs right in
the store window for everybody to look at.
Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are
here on our streets, and most of them, unless they are breaking
Canadian laws, are getting American dollars from ma and pa at
home to spend here. When the railways of France, Germany and
India were breaking Down through age, it was the Americans who
rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York
Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are
still broke.
I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to the help
of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when
someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think
there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is
damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. They will come
out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they
are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating
over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one of those."
Stand proud, America!
