there and back again

I'm back. I've been back for a bit actually. I flew back to GR on Saturday, Jan 29th, spent Sunday being sick with the Honduras that lingered with me, and started a new semester on Monday the 31st. The trip went well--incredible, really. When I was packing, I was frustrated with the sheer variety of activities that I needed to be prepared for--touring, hiking, swimming, working, business-type meetings, church. However, the reality of experiencing all of that in three weeks was excellent.

Essentially, the first ten days of the trip were spent with my class from CTS, and we toured around Nicaragua learning about the various ministries associated with the Nehemiah Center and looked at them thru the lens of Shalom, the biblical understanding of peace and wholeness. The Nehemiah Center should really be thought of more as a network than an organization as it's made up of nine NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that work together. By working together they draw on each others' strengths and avoid covering the same ground. What was really inspiring to me was to talk to people (mostly women) who had received just a bit of training in an area (perhaps education about HIV/AIDS or healthy family relationships and domestic violence). With just a bit of training, these women were empowered to be advocates not only for themselves and their families but for their churches and communities.

Here's our CTS group.

After the Nicaragua portion of the course on Shalom was finished, most of the class went back to GR to learn about a few organizations working for Shalom in West Michigan. My friend Thyra and I stayed back, however, because we had arranged to visit the Association for a More Just Society (AJS) in Honduras. In Honduras we joined a team from GR who was coming to learn more about AJS as well. This organization is a group of brave Christians who are trying to work for justice in Honduras. Rather than just critiquing the government, they're essentially trying to help the government work they way it's supposed to. They're a group of lawyers and journalists who do investigative work and legal counseling and work in the areas of labor rights, land rights, transparency in government, violent crimes, and more. They work quite closely with the Attorney General's office and regularly share information with them and cooperate with them to do justice. Their work is quite incredible, and the lawyers are regularly threatened by those who stand to lose if justice wins.

With AJS we also got to see a wide variety of projects that they are involved in. One contrast that really stood out to me was on the afternoon we met with the Honduras country director of USAID (United States Agency for International Development). After going thru security, we spent an hour around a big conference table talking with him and few others about their support for AJS and their work in Honduras in general. Following this meeting, we went directly to a gang prevention program for youth aged 12-14. They were just getting ready to play a game that translates as Monkey, Child, Horse. With your partner, you have to pantomime each of these characters when the leader calls out the name. So, I went from a USAID board room to holding 13-year-old Honduran boy in my arms like a child in a matter of 20 minutes.

Also while we were in Honduras, I stayed with a host family for about four days. They had some cute kids, but I'm pretty sure no one remembered our names for the first couple of days because they always just referred to us as "Amigos!"


After our time with AJS, we were in need of a break; they days had been packed. To relax, I finished out my trip with a little vacation for a few days at the end. I swam, biked, snorkeled and read Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible which is phenomenal and especially intriguing to read at the end of trip like this one (It was my first Kingsolver novel; what took me so long!? I don't know.)


Then, it was back to GR and back to the snow. Calvin Seminary even canceled classes on Wednesday; I guess the last time they canceled was in the 1970s. I really appreciated it as it gave me more time to write my final paper on my trip, and more importantly, read the news about Egypt. Fascinating. It's hard to believe it's been four years ago already, but I used to be in Tahrir Square (where the protests are) several times a week during my semester in Cairo.


PS. No, I am not dating Thyra.