I have known the wealthy in poor counties set up meaningless foundations and charities that function in name only and which are pulled out as needed to demonstrate their commitment to the poor. It’s sad, but too often “serving” the needy only seems to serve the person doing the donating.

This week is the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina hitting the US Gulf states five years ago. I recall how many community groups generously mobilized to offer support, including the church we attended at that time. Besides a one-ton generator, our church filled a huge truck with supplies and sent several reconstruction teams over the next few months. I pulled several shifts in collecting and organizing donated supplies like tools, cases of bleach, blankets, baby formula and clothes, and sorting them in huge plastic bins. We worked from a very detailed list of needed items provided by the Episcopal school that was acting as a collection and distribution point—sadly, they were the only building still standing in their Mississippi community. (8/31/10)

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The Lobo administration and the teachers' unions yesterday ratified a previously signed 17-point accord putting an end to a month-long general strike by tens of thousands of teachers in Honduras. Public school students affected by the strike were scheduled to return to their classrooms this morning. Among the main provisions of the agreement is a mechanism for the government to pay US$194 million in past-due contributions to the Imprema teachers' pension and benefits fund that had accumulated since 2007. Teachers agreed to work extra days in September and October to make up for days lost during the strike. A provision requiring the dismissal of Minister of Education Alejandro Ventura, which the teachers had demanded, was not included in the deal. (8/31/10)

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There exists a social movement in Honduras led by the National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP) that proposes the establishment of a National Constitutent Assembly to review and rewrite the Constitution of Honduras. Part of Honduran society supports this idea, and part does not. It is an extremely divisive issue, particularly becaue it is unclear what the alternative to the current Constitution, approved in 1982, would be... and whether it would make things better or worse in Honduras. Honduras Weekly believes that the first step in any thoughtful discussion about the Constitution is to understand what is contained in this document. We have begun the process of translating the Constitution into English for our readers who do not have command of the Spanish language. There are English-language translations of the Constitution online, but we're hoping to improve on these. Of the document's 378 articles, we have translated 24 of them thus far. Click on the "Read Article" link below to track our progress. (8/30/10)

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Teach the youths of Honduras how to fend for themselves and take care of their families and communities, rather than endlessly relying on government, wealthy business people, and clever caudillos who promise the world. Teach well and long, and create a powerful and confident middle class that is the key to every great modern society.

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The amount of money sent to Honduras by Honduran nationals living abroad rose by 3.2 percent through August 27. According to the Central Bank of Honduras, remittances for January-August totaled US$1.547 billion, compared to US$1.499 billion for the same period in 2009. The increase represents good news for Honduras, as remittances are the primary generator of revenue for the country, easily surpassing the maquila, tourism, and agriculture sectors. In 2009, remittances to Honduras accounted for US$2.408 billion in income -- a decline from the previous year due to the world financial crisis and, to a lesser degree, the rise in deportations of undocumented Hondurans from the United States. The Central Bank has been tracking these money transfers for many years. In 2001, remittances were estimated at US$460 million; in 2002, US$770 million; in 2003, US$862 million; in 2004, US$1.134 billion; in 2005, US$1.763 billion; in 2006; US$2.359 billion; in 2007, US$2.512 billion; and in 2008, US$2.707 billion. (8/28/10) (photo courtesy Internet)

I was confronted with one heartbreaking story after another related to the human cost of low-priced coffee -- the despair and suffering of families unable to keep their kids in school or feed themselves on such low wages had an incredible impact on me. Before I knew it, I had a plane ticket to Honduras.

By Arondo Holmes
I never intended to be a coffee farmer. All I wanted, really, was a nice little piece of land in Central America that I could use as a retreat. You know, something simple where a guy could go to relax and get away from it all. So how on earth did I end up owning a Honduran coffee farm and importing, roasting and marketing my own coffee brand in the United States? It all started with a casual conversation with a despondent co-worker here in the US who, despite owning hundreds of acres of land and several coffee farms in Honduras, found himself working illegally in the US just to support his family. The price of coffee was so low, he told me, that he could not make a sustainable living there. (8/27/10)

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By Doña Bárbara
I was still in elementary school when Robert F. Kennedy was shot in 1968, and other than vague memories of my parents being glued to their little black and white TV set as events unfolded, it really had no impact on me. What has stuck with me over the years, of course, is his paraphrase of the Serpent in George Bernard Shaw’s play Back to Methuselah: “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask ‘Why?’ I dream of things that never were, and ask, ‘Why not?’” Robert Kennedy often used this line to end his speeches. Asking “why not?” kind of shakes the brain from its well-worn pathways and forces the neurons to make new connections. Asking “why not?” in the face of a challenging problem, traditional thinking or unmet need generates what I call “possibility thinking” -- creative solutions, interesting ideas, and unique or novel approaches. “Sure, why not, let’s give it a try” or “Hey, what if we tried this….” has been the beginning of many new enterprises -- and probably quite a few adventures and mishaps too. (8/26/10)

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... how crazy it is to ask a street boy to shut down those pleasure centers and to keep delaying gratification for ten years or so until they can graduate from high school. Moving forward in life is hard, hard work: it is so much easier on the streets to just get through the day.

By Michael Miller
Axel should not be on the streets right now. He should not be sleeping in a stall in the outdoor market that sells shoes by the putrid river that runs through Tegucigalpa. He shouldn't be crossing the bridge every day at lunch to beg food from the lunchtime crowd downtown. He should not be running with dangerous people, who make their living by the gun that they hide in their clothes. He should not be back on the streets. He shouldn't, but he is. (8/26/10)

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... the US government is expending too much effort on [blocking] supply and not enough on [curbing] demand. People must be stopped from wanting drugs. Granted, this is a Quixotic quest in a world where greed, deception, the mathematics of death, and the politics of silence prevail. The alternative is bleaker still.

By W. E. Gutman
FThe United States boasts the world's largest and fastest growing prison population. More than 65 percent of inmates -- their ranks have doubled in the last decade -- are serving time for drug-related crimes, which now account for better than one-third of all felonies. Substance abuse in 2009 reached calamitous dimensions. Narcotrafficking now generates $600 billion a year in revenues. Recognized as the single major cause of violent crime, drug addiction accounts for rising health costs exceeding US$100 billion annually. It is also contributing to an alarming rise in absenteeism, vehicular accidents, and premature deaths. (8/23/10)

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Honduras Weekly is proud to be an official co-sponsor of the 11th annual Conference on Honduras planned for October 14-16 in the town of Copán Ruinas. As part of our contribution, we will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of advertising on our site to conference organizer projecthonduras.com to help offset the costs of staging the event. We are now offering discounted rates for banner ads on our opening page. Full-size ads (with hyperlinks) on the right-hand column are available for US$500 per year. Small ads at the bottom of the page are priced at US$100 annually. For information regarding design and payment options, e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Honduras Weekly receives more than 2 million site hits every month. (8/21/10)