My comment is not so much about the article itself, but about writing about the Miskito area and Miskito place names. Both Spanish and English authors should at least try to keep the original Miskito spellings. My brain had to do a couple of shifts before I translated Ahuas to Awas. Miskito does use the w, and the letters "c" and "q" do not exist in their language. I know many Hondurans insist that Miskito is not a language, but we should at least concede them the dignity of their own spelling when referring to their own area.
As García Marquez wrote in El otoño del patriarca -our government is spilling feces from the mouth and laws from the anus ("echando caca por la boca y leyes por la popa")
There's only one recipe for this spiriling crisis: cut government corruption and unescrupulos spending...
Corrupt governments just pass the buck onto the employers, thinking that money is easy to make for everybody in the system. If government spending/ corruption was lower, then employers would not leave the country with thousands of unemployed people...Now the governemnt will not take care of these people and their families
For 15 years I have been one of those crazy gringos who has tried to help Hondurans. I have sat for hours over the years at the malls in Tegucigalpa and watched stores without customers that can only be explained as money laundering points. I have seen the so called middle class who drive vehicles that cost more than most houses in Honduras! So manythings that will not add up unless you factor in drug money.
I have also witnessed the people of Honduras who very seldomly help their neighbor for any reason. It is a good idea, but based on a USA frame of mind that is not even dreamed of by the people who I have had the opportunity to meet. Just as an example I will relate to you one event. Once we tried to have a supper in one of the churches with everyone bringing something to share for the meal "A Potluck Dinner" We explained what we were doing for weeks, the night came for the dinner and the people brought almost nothing, later I found that they had kept their food at home, they ate a little at they church, then returned home for the meal, they didn't trust each other enough to even share in a meal together. I agree with your idea to reach the people, but I am at a los to understand how.
I am also convinced that if you remove the drug money, Honduras would colapse financially, there is no method of accounting or math to explain the amount of money spent here considering the income level. I keep hoping we will make a difference but I am not very encouraged, however I must remain faithful.
A lot has changed since this author has visited Honduras. Miami is no longer the sole destination. Most come looking to work and will relocate to places like Nebraska and Delaware if the jobs are there.
The motivation has changed also although I doubt immigrants were so selfish as the old man describes. Drive through a neighborhood or village, and it's easy to tell which homes have sons or daughters living the the U.S. The homes are nice, painted and might even have an air conditioner sticking out of one of the windows. After working long hours on your feet for little pay, the immigrants manage to send enough money home to support three generations of family and put their siblings in good schools, maybe even a university.
And they don't just take. Their contribution they make to the U.S. is immeasurable not just in economic terms but also in their cultural contributions. Cuajada and baleadas and platanos fritos and pupusas and sopa de mondongo and the music of Los Roland de La Ceiba and their family values. I'm so glad they come.
I just got back to Canada from a volunteer trip to Honduras...there was this one day when I had to go to Las Cascadas Mall in Tegucigalpa to use an ATM, the young fellow who went along with me, asked me if I felt like I was back in NorthAmerica while being at the mall, I replied.."No...this looks like a gruesome charade of sorts...!!!I replied.places like that makes you wonder a lot, specially where is all of that money coming from..?for when you drive outside the city then you are faced with the cruel reality most Hondurans have to deal with.
Louis Alvarado
I just got back to Canada from a volunteer trip to Honduras...there was this one day when I had to go to Las Cascadas Mall in Tegucigalpa to use an ATM, the young fellow who went along with me, asked me if I felt like I was back in NorthAmerica while being at the mall, I replied.."No...this looks like a gruesome charade of sorts...!!!I replied.places like that makes you wonder a lot, specially where is all of that money coming from..?for when you drive outside the city then you are faced with the cruel reality most Hondurans have to deal with.
Louis Alvarado
I have to side with Miss Ramsay, another thing...perhaps Mr.Alcorn ought to be told that Honduras is in fact in AMERICA and not Europe or another continent....when are United States nationals ever going to get that right...!!!!for goodness sake...learn to speak right and write better if you are going to....America starts at the very top of Canada and ends in Argentina in a place called Tierra del fuego!!!!!
Mr.Louis Alvarado
HONDUFRACAN
Santa Barbara, Honduras
I didn't know that TWO more were under construction. I knew about one, but it is going really slow. I don't think they need it, BUT the parking lot at Cascadia is gridlocked with potential shoppers. In the past, there was no opportunity to shop at Walmart. I was always saying, 'How do these people LIVE without a Walmart?' I think business is good for Honduras. Maybe it is rich people spending the money. I see a lot of average looking families shopping, too. Anyway, it provides jobs for the clerks, the waitresses, the little band that plays at TGI Fridays, the taxi drivers, car washers, etc. Honduras needs jobs. Maybe this is the way to help themselves.
I may be mistaken, but I believe I heard that Mr. Nasralla is a trained engineer. He plans on improving the infrastructure, which God knows, Honduras needs. I think that is very practical. It is better than a lot of fluff and rhetoric.
This wandering article left me searching for the point. Based on experiences from the very distant past, the author promotes stereotypes that are repeated constantly on the internet by the racist haters who blog there. No English? Many children are learning English in the schools IN Honduras today. My friend's children speak better English than they do. My fiance is taking a Saturday class when he can get off from work. In Tegucigalpa, not Miami. We have many Hondurans in Maryland. Miami is just an airport to us. True, most people take any job they can get. In this economy, the same is true with native born young people. My son and his friend just got a job in the kitchen at Golden Corral. My fiance is promised a job roofing. Some of my Central American friends work 3 jobs. Many of my Latino friends report that they are paid less than native born americans even if they are citizens. So who is taking advantage of who, huh?
It's very possible that some of these malls are being used as ways to launder drug money. Even in our area in western Honduras drug traffickers are alleged to be buying legitimate businesses - supermarkets, hotels, etc. - for money laundering.
There's only one recipe for this spiriling crisis: cut government corruption and unescrupulos spending...
I have also witnessed the people of Honduras who very seldomly help their neighbor for any reason. It is a good idea, but based on a USA frame of mind that is not even dreamed of by the people who I have had the opportunity to meet. Just as an example I will relate to you one event. Once we tried to have a supper in one of the churches with everyone bringing something to share for the meal "A Potluck Dinner" We explained what we were doing for weeks, the night came for the dinner and the people brought almost nothing, later I found that they had kept their food at home, they ate a little at they church, then returned home for the meal, they didn't trust each other enough to even share in a meal together. I agree with your idea to reach the people, but I am at a los to understand how.
I am also convinced that if you remove the drug money, Honduras would colapse financially, there is no method of accounting or math to explain the amount of money spent here considering the income level. I keep hoping we will make a difference but I am not very encouraged, however I must remain faithful.
The motivation has changed also although I doubt immigrants were so selfish as the old man describes. Drive through a neighborhood or village, and it's easy to tell which homes have sons or daughters living the the U.S. The homes are nice, painted and might even have an air conditioner sticking out of one of the windows. After working long hours on your feet for little pay, the immigrants manage to send enough money home to support three generations of family and put their siblings in good schools, maybe even a university.
And they don't just take. Their contribution they make to the U.S. is immeasurable not just in economic terms but also in their cultural contributions. Cuajada and baleadas and platanos fritos and pupusas and sopa de mondongo and the music of Los Roland de La Ceiba and their family values. I'm so glad they come.
Louis Alvarado
HONDUFRACAN
Montreal, Canada
Louis Alvarado
HONDUFRACAN
Montreal, Canada
Mr.Louis Alvarado
HONDUFRACAN
Santa Barbara, Honduras