A Mini Victory

One half of this marriage was supposed to go to Central America this weekend. Instead, we stayed together and bought a car.

Stay tuned these next seven weeks as I track the building of our Mini and gradually say goodbye to the Green Dragon.

Sticking Around

I was supposed to go to Honduras today. Instead, Bryan is staying away from the lab and we are spending the whole day together. So far, we've had breakfast for lunch at our favorite weekend spot with Louie. If you can't go to Central America, it's not a bad alternate.

"Banker to the Poor" by Mohammed Yunus

Finally, a cure for the hopelessness I felt about humanity after reading this book. If you haven't heard of Mohammed Yunus, he is a champion of micro-credit, which extends no-collateral loans to the poorest people on this planet. This autobiography (now eight years old) includes his early life, but mostly focuses on his efforts with Grameen Bank, and his views on poverty eradication. His bank is actually solving the problem of poverty by enabling people to take control of their lives.

The Honduran arm of Grameen Trust, Adelante ("Go ahead!" in spanish), also has an insider's look at the political unrest in Honduras.

"Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

Forgive me if this blog entry runs a bit long. This book hit me like a Mack truck.

I picked it up in part because it was featured in the "One Book, One San Diego" library program, and in part because its story begins in Honduras--a place I have a plane ticket to.

I came away from the book:

A) Convinced that illegal immigration is bad for all involved parties, which includes:

-The immigrants

-Their families

-Their home countries

-The countries they pass through

-The United States

B) Completely pessimistic about humanity.

Actually, there is one group that does profit from illegal immigration: Americans who (cheaply) hire them to raise their kids, work as cheap labor, and tend their yards.

This is the true story of a Honduran boy who comes to America to find his mother, who left him 10 years previous because she was literally unable to feed him and his sister. She sends back money and toys from America, but it is not enough to make an appreciable difference in their lives, and anyway they resent that she left them.

Enrique makes seven unsuccessful attempts to come to America before making it through. Along the way (riding the tops of Mexican trains) he is beaten and robbed, endures extreme temperatures, struggles to find food and clothing, and is treated like an animal.

I don't want to give a play-by-play of what happens, but suffice to say this is not a happy, mother-son reunion story. Enrique finds his mother, but he feels that she abandoned her, and she feels that he is ungrateful. Everything is complicated by Enrique's girlfriend back home (and the baby he's never met), and I came to think that dividing families like this is just not good.

The ultimate solution is that the poor need to, somehow, be enabled with opportunities so they don't have to leave their countries. But hell if I know how to do it. Honduras, which was just starting to shed its Banana Republic moniker, may very well be about to collapse.

Anyhow, you should really read this book. Even if it will bum you out.

I Hear Their Spanish Has a Softer, Faster Cadence

Wouldn't you know that two days after I book a flight to Honduras (para estudiar español en una escuela idioma), the army hauls the President off to Costa Rica and puts in someone else? I hope things will be settled soon for the sake of the Honduran people. And for my four-week departure date. And for the people who'll have to encounter my embarrassing spanish skills if I don't get two weeks of intensive study.

In reading about the conflict, I'm finding a HUGE disparity in how the events have been portrayed (media bias or sloppy work--surprise, surprise). By and large, Western media are labeling it a military coup and calling for the President to be reinstated. Media in Europe and Central America are claiming the President's attempt to stage an illegal poll is only the most recent in a string of actions that go against the country's Constitution.

The fact that Hugo Chavez supports the Honduran President makes me question the President's actions and intentions.

I hope all media do a little more homework in covering this tense situation.