Have you ever read a book that was touted as a must-read page-turner? Sometimes those books live up to the hype and sometimes the plot leaves you asking, “What just happened?” A couple of years ago, I read a suspense novel that promised a “surprise ending.” I kept waiting for the surprise ending, but it was more like, “Surprise! It ended!” If someone were to write a book about the drama surrounding COVID-19 restrictions in Honduras, it would probably feel a little like that book. This is not meant to make light of how much lockdown restrictions affected Honduras. There was and is true suffering and it will take quite a while for people to recover from economic devastation and the long-term effects of starvation and malnutrition. But, by and large, the saga of the country’s opening is currently in the “What just happened?” phase.
The Honduran government has allowed people across the country to go back to work. This is a gigantic praise in a country where there weren’t many people able to work from home via Zoom meetings. There was no governmental safety net. No one was collecting unemployment. No one received a stimulus check. And, to make matters worse, very few people had savings accounts. Most people were living hand-to-mouth before COVID-19 shut everything down.
Schools and all of the privatized transportation companies are the only things that have not completely reopened. As far as transportation goes, a few bus routes are running between larger cities and domestic flights are operating. Only approximately 10% of Hondurans own their own vehicle. Without local buses, vans, and taxis getting to and from work is difficult. In Gracias, small, open-air taxis were able to start running again after they were fitted with plexiglass to separate the driver and passengers. Other forms of privatized “public” transportation will be able to operate after the vehicles are retrofitted to meet the new government guidelines intended to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
As previously mentioned, HERE, the borders are starting to open back up, too. Hopefully this will open up the way for tourism to return to the parts of the country that depend on it. The border reopening is also great news for Kelsea and Kirstin, who couldn’t get back into Honduras prior to this.
Since the public school year in Honduras ends in November, it is likely that schools will reopen for the 2021 school year in late January or early February. Bilingual schools, such as the one RJ attends, follow the U.S. school calendar. The students at these schools usually come from more well-to-do families and have access to the internet and computers, so they are having classes online. The majority of families, of course, do not have access to such luxuries.
As far as the food situation goes, Sowers4Pastors is seeing a decrease in the number of pastors coming to pick up food. God be praised, the urgency has peeked and it is starting to go down. The situation is far from over, however.
Trish broke out her analogy skills to describe the situation in these terms, “The hurricane has passed. The sky is blue, but there are still houses knocked down. There’s still a lot of work to do in regards to nutrition. We will see a renewed need to help people suffering from malnutrition. We had some pastors in the past saying they no longer needed the supplemental feeding centers in their communities. COVID-19 brought a renewed need for these centers - a need we do not see going away for some time. For the new communities that just joined us, we’re not expecting them to stop any time soon. We have food on the ground and are monitoring the supply to be sure it doesn’t run out on us.”
While this may feel like a book without a solid ending, it’s probably better to consider this a new section in the same story. Honduras has turned a page and the tone has changed, but the basic theme continues. Please continue to pray with us that the situation comes closer to something looking more like a proper resolution! In the meantime, please continue to pray for the Honduran children affected by the lockdown.
- posted by Christi.
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