Experiencing
a hurricane in a third world country is eye-opening…
We heard
about Hurricane Eta about 12 hours before it touched down in Nicaragua, on our
Monday afternoon after lunch. We learned
that it was a category 5, and it was moving slowly but we had to wait until it
touched down to see how destructive it would be. We also learned that we needed to prepare our
bags in case we might be evacuated from our beautiful beachside home
ground in anticipation of flooding. The
preoccupation was that the rivers would overflow (a common occurrence) and
flood, and because the storm had not yet touched down, we weren’t sure if
flooding meant ankle-high, knee-high, or roof-high. The uncertainty was great.
“Hay que
confiar en Dios,” one of the tias reminded us.
Trusting in the Lord is the only true security we have.
In the
afternoon, one of the maintenance men collected our bags in the busito (little
paddy-wagon-like bus) to drive them to the other side of the plancha… Planchas are an interesting thing…They are
roads that rivers cross over. They are
made from concrete, and are much steadier than bridges, as bridges here are
made from unsteady materials. The river
flows, crossing the plancha, and continues on it’s way. Planchas are very common,
and there is no way to leave the finca or neighboring community (besides
walking on the beach) without crossing a plancha. The problem with these planchas occurs when
the rivers se crecen (grow) because of heavy rainfall. In this case, it’s not possible to cross them
(in car, on foot, on horse) without being swept away with the river. The plan was that we would wake up around 2
AM and walk from the Finca, cross the plancha (because the water would be too
high to drive through, but not too high to walk through) and the busito would
be waiting for us. We would then
continue on to our destination… a storm shelter of sorts.
On Mondays,
the missionary community has our “community night.” We played a few rounds of
charades filled with many laughs and silly-heartedness. Megan, our missionary coordinator, came with
the news that we had 15 minutes to get our things and that we were being
evacuated sooner than expected. We
prepared the house by closing the shutters and unplugging everything
(refrigerator included), and I ran to the clinic to do the same.
They picked
us up around 9:30 PM and off we went.
The little girls, adolescent girls, and tias (18 total) went to stay at
a convent and the little boys, teenage boys, tias, and missionaries (19 total)
went to stay at a house owned by the diocese.
We arrived there around 10:30 or 11 PM, and there we stayed for 3 and a
half days.
We shared a
three-room corridor, each room with metal bunk beds and foam sleeping
pads. The 3 younger boys were in one
room with their Tia; the 3 older boys with their house parents in the other;
and the 10 missionaries in the third room.
The winds
were very strong, as to be expected with a hurricane, and the rain fell by the
bucket. The water (from the spigot)
quickly dissipated from a light trickle, and we went the next 3 days without
water. We put a large pot outside, which
quickly filled to make our portable kitchen pila. And we washed all dishes under the abundant
waterfall of rainwater that fell from the grooves in the tin roof. Everything was saturated. The second night we were there, I washed my pants, tshirt, and underwear-it
was already so saturated that I figured it might as well be clean too. And I
hung it under the roof to try to dry. (by day 4, Thursday, it had dried) The
electricity was spotty, until on the night of the election, we lost power for
good. No electricity, no cell phone
service, no nothin’. We were completely
powerless (double-meaning)…
In all the craziness of moving from our home, trying to entertain kids, figuring out
meals, and sleeping 10 missionaries to a room, I easily got caught up in my own
discomfort.
On day two,
during my prayer time, the Lord spoke to me in a profound way about the
suffering of those in Nicragua, y de los demas en Honduras. It really brought
me to my knees. As soggy and chilly as I
was, there were people, MANY MANY people, people who I call by name who were
truly suffering during this storm, and my raisin-toes were no match. As I watched the rain pour and saturate everything
in its path, my mind was flooded.
Flooded with images – the image of Dona Migdalia’s* mud and stick walls
melting. The image of Belky* and her 5
kids huddled together on their damp and musty bed (the only bed in the house)
trying to keep warm. The image of
roofless houses because the banana leaves or manaca couldn’t withstand the
wind. The image of Doris* and her poor children
hungry because they couldn’t cross the plancha to buy food for 4 days. (*Names changed) My mind was littered with
images, feelings, and deep pain. This is
the reality that my friends live. This
is the reality that I witness and cannot do much to change. This is the pain that I pray that the Lord
carries when it’s too much for my friends to bear.
We, here in
the Finca, live a good life. Easy, some
might say…We never really have to worry if we are going to have food, or about
other basic necessities. And that is
thanks to the goodness and generosity that we have experienced, and the
generosity that we currently experience from all of our bien-hechores. But not all in Honduras, or even in our area,
live like we do. Actually, very few
do. And while I can serve our neighbors
in the clinic and try to be present to them during this COVID pandemic, there
is nothing that I can do to change
their situations.
The faith
of the people I have encountered is amazingly profound. We in the states get caught up in doing all
the Catholic things. Asking all of these
thought-provoking questions or arguing gently about doctrine or other things. But true faith, true Faith, at least for
myself, lacks so so much. True faith is
TRUST. Trusting that not only the
abstract plan for my life will be good, but also that although the brigade
isn’t sending all the meds this year (because of COVID), we will still get the
medications we need to serve our neighbors.
Trust in the Lord is not only the abstract but the very VERY material
tambien, y posiblemente even more-so. He
is just so good, so so good to us, and we overlook it every day.
A missionary
from another city in Honduras visited us (hace ya dias) and in the prayer
before lunch, she said, “Lord I ask that there always be bien-hechores
(good-doers) in the lives of those who most need to be served.” How beautiful is that!? God, the Holy Spirit,
works through other people. He is the
impetus for any and all good that we do, and it’s so easy to mistake him for
the goodness of people alone.
I think of
a quote from the movie, Miracle (about the 1974?? US Olympic men’s hockey
team). In a classic scene, after a huge
loss, Herb makes the men get back on the ice to do torturous drills, and at one
point he says, “You think you can win on talent
alone…Gentlemen, you don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone.”
We often
times think that humans are the source of goodness, whether that goodness be
money, parties, medications for the clinic, a relationship with another
person. Humans don’t have enough
goodness to live on our “goodness” alone.
We can’t and don’t (even if we want to) EVER do it alone.
Anyway, the
hurricane…I so easily get derailed…
A few
things:
1. After four days of no water, hot
three-stall bathrooms smell rank. So
much so that self-dehydrating may seem the best option…
2. Teenage boys can turn any word, any
word, into a dirty word by the way they say it.
EYE ROLL
3. Honduran tias like to be I charge in
the kitchen
4. Showering outside in the pila or the
rain (fully clothed) is a great way to save water and time because you pretty
much wash your clothes too! And it’s liberating.
We entertained
the kids (or at least tried) for a few days.
The Red Cross came a few times to drop off food, water, and medications
to us. And by Friday afternoon we
returned to the Finca well-fed, moderately-bathed, and ready to be back, only
to encounter the aftermath of the storm.
There are 3
giant trees, with roots the girth of my thigh, which have been uprooted and
sunken into the sandy ground. And a few
more that were broken and fell. Things
smelled pretty rank, but we cleaned up joyfully. All in all, everyone is happy to be back at
the Finca. After almost 8 months of not
leaving the Finca, it was a welcomed get-away for the kids (and
missionaries). Gracias a Dios!