Michael Jackson dies and Honduras loses the headlines.

Several people have emailed commenting on the fact that since Michael Jackson died there is very little in the media in the US about the crisis this country is facing. I myself was a bit disappointed that I haven’t been able to find articles on the happenings down here for several days on cnn.com. The King of Pop dies, and we forget that this country could be at the brink of a civil war. Is there something wrong with that?

So knowing that some of you might have little access to news about what’s happening here, I’ll do my best to keep you informed. It is a sad day when I turn into a news source…

Today from 1pm – 4pm there was a blockade on the border of El Salvador not allowing semis carrying goods to cross in either direction. The blockade ended up causing so much congestion at the border that even private vehicles and tour buses were also held up for hours. Those responsible for the blockade are from the FMLN party, the political party that recently came to power in the country. The party is more leftist and claims to work for the people. They are in support of the return of Zelaya to power.

Yesterday afternoon highways leading out of the capital city were blocked by Mel supporters (or maybe it is more accurate to say “those who are anti-Micheletti”). There are also reports of there being a blockade on the border of Nicaragua – Las Manos – by Nicaraguans supporting the reinstatement of Mel to presidency.

El Heraldo, one of the local newspapers, published today that one of their sources informed them that “Plan Caracas” – the plan of Hugo Chavez to initiate an “attack” on Honduras, is indeed true. This plan includes the destruction of means of communication, the burning of vehicles…bombs. A “massacre” has been mentioned more than once in the news – that a massacre will happen at a demonstrations. The plan also includes the closing of Toncontin Airport, the blockage of the main highways, as well as the unannounced return of Mel Zelaya in one of the inhospitable zones of the country, known for drug trafficking.

According to El Heraldo, when the armed forces was asked if they were ready for this possible threat on their country, their response was “the Armed Forces are the first to be prepared and they are at the side of the people to defend them…when the people need them, the Armed Forces will be there and are always be prepared to defend the people and democracy”.

The interim government has put the curfew back into place, claiming to be doing so to prevent violent manifestations by Zelaya supports. I’m not sure how effective a 12:30am – 4:30am curfew is. Seems like more demonstrations tend to happen during the day…but may the government do as they wish.

Chavez is saying that he expects this crisis to turn into another Central American civil war. He also reports that Zelaya has expressed his certain plan to return to the country, and is prepared to die upon entering if that is what it takes. In the newspaper there was a quote by Zelaya – “I will return, and when I do I will arrive with my international supporters, and you will arrive with your guns. This time when you decide to shoot somebody, don’t shoot the child as you did last time (meaning the 19-year-old that was shot at Toncontin Airport when Zelaya attempted to make his dramatic return to the country), but shoot me instead. I am ready to take your bullets.”

From my point of view by the way Zelaya is egging on the entire country by saying such things is only making matters worse. It seems now that this is no longer an issue of him returning to power because that is the democratic thing to do, but because of him wanting the power…wanting to be the hero and wanting to divide the country even more than it already has been divided. He has been quite dramatic about it since the beginning if you ask me.

Micheletti has apparently agreed to give up the presidency under the circumstances that Zelaya is never put back into power. The interim government has called for the arrest of Zelaya to put him before a judge for the crimes that he has committed (violating the constitution and accusations of being involved with drug trafficking in the northern territories of Honduras).

It saddens me and the people of Honduras that the peace talks that were held in Costa Rica last week were anything but fruitful. It is hilarious to me that the two men who are supposedly running this country couldn’t even bring themselves to see each other face to face. What is that?

Some interesting things I’ve heard about what’s happening…

1. People present at the pro-Micheletti (or anti-Zelaya – however you want to look at it) demonstrations are all paid 300 lempiras (about $15 USD) to be there. Their employers pay them this money to show their support, so the crowds are larger in hopes of gathering more supporters. Since Zelaya has shown more support for the poor of the country than for the upper class – for example by greatly raising the minimum wage – large companies are in favor of Micheletti.

2. The vote by Congress as to whether or not they should strip Zelaya of his powers supposedly was not unanimous. I was told that something like 20 members of Congress voted against it. They apparently were then thrown out of Congress, leaving only those in favor of Micheletti taking over power.

3. Supposedly in this “survey” that Zelaya was going to perform on June 28^th (the day he was flown out of the country) he not only wanted to ask the people their opinion on the presidential term – if a president should be able to serve more than just four years – but he also wanted to ask the people their opinion on putting a limit on terms in Congress. If this indeed is true, it makes sense why the Congressmen would be upset, no?

4. I’ve mentioned before that for days after the removal of Zelaya, means of communication were cut – phones, as well as news channels. The only news stations that were left functioning were those pro-Micheletti. The other stations that would normally broadcast news in favor of Zelaya were showing cartoons instead. Interesting how that could happen. What was it that the interim government was trying to hide?

5. When Micheletti was asked in an interview what he plans on doing now that so much financial aid has been cut off to Honduras, his response was “Honduras will be fine until November when elections are held. We have funds saved up that will get us through.” Interesting, because I was always under the impression that this country didn’t have enough funds to really be able to save. Seeing the poverty in this country I’m wondering where this money is coming from???

Now, I cannot promise you that all of this is 100% true (well, #4 is fact). I have only heard it from a couple of people. Like I’ve mentioned before, it’s really hard to know what’s true and what’s just been completely made up. I just mention it here so you can all read what people down here are reporting.

I spent a couple days last week in Tegucigalpa because I needed to take care of some things for work, and the city seemed to be functioning as usual. I’ve heard that the international press has been showing images that don’t exactly give the most accurate picture as to what’s really happening. Of course, the most dramatic shots are shown, which isn’t a good representation of the reality here. Like I have said, the demonstrations for the most part are non-violent.

I hear there was a plan of “meeting” in Costa Rica again with Arias on Saturday, in the hopes of coming to some sort of reconciliation between Micheletti and Zelaya. It would be nice if they at least met face-to-face this time, however I am unfortunately not too hopeful that will happen.

More to come I’m sure…continue to pray for peace.

What it’s all about…

Sometimes while stuck in all of the frustrations of trying to manage medical care in Latin American countries, it’s easy to lose motivation, and the hope of improving the system diminishes. I get so caught up in the work that sometimes I lose focus and wonder how I can possibly continue. It’s not that I forget why I do what I do, because I have to remind myself daily of that otherwise I would have thrown in the towel long ago. But it’s that I don’t have the daily interaction with the kids that I have grown to love. In regards to the nursing aspect of my job, the “patient” contact is next to none, which is one thing I really love about being a nurse.

Over the past week, I’ve been blessed with some beautiful moments with the children, and I just wanted to take the opportunity to share a couple of them with you. Because these moments are really what it is all about.

Last weekend one of the evening activities was held down near where all of the boys live. Some of the boys were playing soccer against another team from a nearby town. I had just arrived, and had only been talking to one of my friends for about 3 minutes, when a 10 year old boy came up his tio (“uncle” – what they call the caregivers in the homes) that was standing right next to us. He was at the point of tears, and told the tio that his ear hurt. The other 10 year old that he was with saw me and said, “Hey, there’s Annie. She’s a nurse! She can help.” So at that point I crouched down and asked Tomas what the problem was.

We walked up to the clinic together so I could take a look and get him something for the pain. He held my hand so tightly while pressing his ear to my side the entire walk up (about 10 minutes when walking with a child with short legs and in pain).

I checked him out and got him some medicine. At this point he was softly crying because he said it hurt so badly. I asked him if he wanted to sleep in the clinic so the nurses could take care of him during the night. His response was, “No. No, I want to sleep in my house because I just can’t sleep without my brother.” His twin brother, Jose, sleeps in a bed just next to him in the dorm of 20 some other young boys. I told him that if his ear was still hurting in the morning that he should go back up to the clinic to look at it again. He said, “Yes, but I’d really like it if my brother would accompany me tomorrow.”

By the time we were ready to leave, it was dark and had started pouring rain, so we detoured up to my room quickly to get a raincoat and flashlight. He again squeezed my hand and pressed his head against my side until we got to my room. I threw my raincoat on him (pretty huge on a 10 year old Honduran boy – but at least it kept nearly his entire body dry, down almost to his toes), and I threw a hoodie on myself, and off we went.

When we got back down to the activity, obviously the soccer game outside was cancelled due to the rain, but everybody went inside to watch the Honduras vs. Granada soccer game on the tv. I plopped myself on the floor, and a couple of “my boys” joined me – one on my lap, another one hanging on my shoulder. Just minutes later Jose (the brother of Tomas) came and threw his arms around me and gave me a kiss on the cheek and thanked me for taking care of his brother. Not too much later, Tomas came and sat with me. First thing he said was, “Tia Annie thank you so much for taking me to the clinic. I feel much better – my ear doesn’t hurt anymore. I really appreciate you taking care of me”. Yes, he actually said “appreciate”. He as well gave me a big hug and kiss on the cheek. My heart almost melted. These boys are just too adorable. They love each other so much, and are just the sweetest things.

You know – it’s not like I did anything extraordinary for that boy. I guess it shows how special they feel when somebody takes the time to really care for them. I try to imagine myself as a child, without a parent to provide that attention for me. I can’t imagine being sick and not having a mom or dad to take care of me. These kids live in houses with maybe 2 caretakers for a group of 20 something other kids. One-on-one time unfortunately is a luxury that our kids don’t get too often.

We’ve got about 500 kids and young adults here that really need the one-on-one attention. They need somebody to relate to, somebody to truly care for them. Unfortunately with the resources we have, that’s just not possible in many cases.

We currently have 21 HIV positive children living in our home – all children that I got to know on a quite personal level in 2007 when I worked on developing a health care management program for them. Over the years, I’ve shared a lot of smiles and laughter with them, but have also shared tears and frustrations with them.

We just recently discovered that one of our older boys, a young teenager, had stopped taking his medications for about three weeks. One day I was walking past the internet café on the Ranch, and he called me in to talk to him. It was a pretty intense conversation – both of us had teary eyes at one point or another. A life and death conversation with a young teenager was nothing I was prepared for as I walked down the path en route to go wash my clothes. Those talks are never easy, but I thank God for allowing me to be a person they can come to when life just isn’t going right, and for giving me the strength to try to help them through rough times.

This job is by no means easy. However, I am so blessed to have a job that I love, where I can work towards improving the lives of children I truly care for. There are new challenges to be faced daily, but there are also beautiful moments to be shared, and it is those moments that give me the motivation to keep going. They are what this is really all about…

power's on, but no soccer found anywhere...

Disappointment sets in...the generator came on just in time for game time. I walked all the way down to the boys houses in the rain because I was sure they'd be watching the game, right? WRONG. I guess it doesn't come as a surprise that the younger boys weren't watching - they had just finished their homework and were getting ready for dinner. HOWEVER, even in the house where all of the guys in their early 20's live, no soccer. The television was on, but tuned to a telenovela! Spanish soap operas. REALLY?? What 20+ year old Honduran male watches soap operas instead of the Honduras vs US soccer game??

What a disappointing evening...

Well, things appear as though they are moving in the right direction to resolve the crisis that has taken hold of the country over the past week and a half. Tomorrow Manuel Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti will meet in Costa Rica, where talks will be mediated by Oscar Arias, President of Costa Rica and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his involvement in putting an end to the civil wars in the region.

Zelaya says it is non-negotiable whether or not he will return to power as President of Honduras. At the same time Micheletti is not willing to reinstate Zelaya as President. Micheletti, the previous head of Congress, who was named President just hours after Zelaya was sent into exile in Costa Rica on June 28^th, has been trying to get his voice heard across the world that what happened that Sunday morning was not a coup, but that the removal of President Zelaya by the military occurred following orders from Congress and the Supreme Court of Honduras. Those currently in power feel as though they are upholding democracy, by withdrawing the previous president from power, as they had ruled his desire of holding the referendum to revise the Constitution as illegal. As a result of Zelaya disobeying their ruling, they had a unanimous vote to withdraw him from power. Reports say Zelaya has committed 18 crimes throughout his presidency, which led to his removal.

I have heard that peaceful demonstrations continue in the city, and across the country. From the sounds of it, highways have not been blocked as mentioned in the previous post (this was reported by one of the local newspapers). National borders remain open, and Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa was reopened today.

People here are hopeful that the mediated talks that are to be held over the next few days will provide some sort of resolution for the leaders of this country in need of peace.

In other important news, the Honduran national soccer team is scheduled to play the US in just matter of minutes. And of course, as luck would have it, just as I was getting ready to take off to watch the game (sorry – but I put on my Honduran jersey for this one) a storm rolled in and the power went out. Maybe they will deem the soccer game worthy of generator power? We’ll see…

Today’s news…

After the plane Zelaya flew back to Honduras in yesterday afternoon was denied access to land at Toncontin Airport in Tegucigalpa, he flew to El Salvador where he met with the President there, along with the Presidents of Paraguay, Ecuador and Argentina, as well as the Secretary General of the Organization of American States. From there, he returned to Managua, Nicaragua and met with one of his major supporters, Daniel Ortega, President of Nicaragua.

The people of Honduras continue to have demonstrations in support of both Zelaya and Micheletti. Today some 2,000 Zelaya supporters held a peaceful rally outside the presidential palace – now 8 days after the Honduran president was taken from his home in the early morning by the Honduran military as ordered by Congress and the Supreme Court. Today the supporters of the government run by Zelaya have announced their plan to change their protesting strategy. They have decided to no longer just congregate in the streets of the capital city, but have agreed to block the highways leading into and throughout the city, which means a blockade of transporting gasoline and other commercial goods, as well as closing off the nation’s borders.

However, the current government, under Micheletti, has promised that there will be no interference with importing gasoline and other such goods.

Tomorrow, Manuel Zelaya is scheduled to return to Washington D.C. to meet with the Secretary of State – Hilary Clinton, where he is expected to urge her to impose economic sanctions, according to the BBC. This would restrict essential aid to one of the poorest countries in Central America – where 70% of the population lives below the line of poverty.

The current government has given orders to keep the Tegucigalpa airport closed until July 10^th. They say it is for safety reasons – to prevent protesters from gathering, and thus preventing more possible deaths such as those that occurred yesterday at the time of Zelaya’s arrival.

A notice was issued today stating the Honduras is going to take action against Venezuela for flying one of their airplanes in Honduran airspace without permission. This was the plane Mel Zelaya flew in yesterday in his attempt to return home.

Under Micheletti apparently a new law has been put into place – where anybody for any reason may be detained from their home even if no warrant exists. This has led to the detainment of 98 Nicaraguans currently in Honduras. The current government is still concerned that Nicaraguan troops have been prepared at the border, and therefore they are detaining Nicaraguan citizens they find throughout Honduras as they are concerned they are involved somehow with possible military actions.

Zelaya reported to CNN that “within hours” he will be returning to take power in Honduras. We’ll see how the meeting goes tomorrow with Hilary Clinton – by the sounds of it he’s expecting to attempt his return again quite soon.

Today our office workers and teachers came back to work, although it was only for the morning. They left at 1pm in order to make it back into the city in plenty of time before the 6:30pm curfew. One of the employees, a good friend, was telling me about the demonstrations he had been at over the past couple days. I asked whose "side" he was on - he made a good point, which is how I think a lot of Hondurans are feeling right now. He's not really on either "side" - but just wants democracy and peace restored to his country. It is no secret that Zelaya's support has diminished drastically throughout his term as president. However, many don't support the ways of Micheletti either. They just want peace...