Received some bad news the other day. No students will be accompanying me to Honduras this summer to work on a village water system.
I have been working with some good folks at West Point - yes, that West Point - involving a project my foundation, the Ann Campana Judge Foundation, will be undertaking this summer in Honduras.
The ACJF plans to fund and help build a potable water system in the village of Las Mejias, in the mountains of northwest Honduras west of Puerto Cortés near the Guatemala border. Las Mejias has 310 residents, and 45 homes. I was hoping to get the project started this June, with my Honduran friends Rolando López and Alex del Cid doing the heavy lifting
West Point became involved when Major James Cook, an environmental engineer, called and asked if I had a water project this summer that his students could work on. My colleague Aaron Wolf had dropped a hint to Cook during a visit to West Point that I might have something for their cadets.Cook told me that they had spent parts of the last three summers working in Honduras on Water For People projects but that nothing was available in 2012. I told him I had something and he became enthusiastic. He wanted to take 4-8 cadets down there for 2-3 weeks to give them some experience building water systems in developing regions, among other things. He started the process to obtain permission.
After Major Cook was transferred I began dealing with Dr. Marie Johnson, a geologist who heads the environmental program at West Point. We had a couple of phone conversations about the expectations and conditions, and she soon shared Major Cook's enthusiasm.
Then, last week, came the bad news: the defense attaché at the US Embassy in Honduras, concerned about rising violence in Honduras, decided against the cadets' participation. A BBC story was the deciding factor. It mentioned that Honduras reportedly has the world's highest annual murder rate (82 per 100,000) and there have been articles about the Mexican drug cartels' activities in Central America. Things have gotten so bad that Peace Corps is pulling its volunteers (PCVs) from Honduras and is considering doing the same in El Salvador and Guatemala. My source tells me that one Honduras PCV was raped and another shot in the foot.
You may think it odd that West Point cadets, who soon will be serving in places like Afghanistan, need to be 'protected' from violence. But remember - these men and women are still students (in loco parentis) and also will not have the military support system (medics, etc.) available to them. The West Point folks were shocked when I told them the nearest medical facilities would be a two-hour mule ride away and then a 20 minutes' drive to a private hospital.
The news is both sad and bad. Sad that Peace Corps, whose Honduras ex-PCVs are among the most loyal, will be leaving a country where they have done much good. I've seen a number of PC water systems in Honduras and have been impressed. When Hurricane Mitch struck in 1999, many former Honduras (and other countries') PCVs literally dropped what they were doing to head down there to help out.
And it's bad news for a number of reasons. Just more violence and sorrow for a country that can ill afford more.
The good news is that Johnson wants to keep channels open in case things change. I'm glad she does. Suggestions have also been made to me that OSU might support student trips to Honduras like the ones I conducted at the University of New Mexico from 2001 through 2005.
The ACJF will go ahead with the project. I'll head down there for a couple of weeks, not because my presence is required, but because it has been too long (2005!) since I've gotten my hands dirty on a water project. And I love the country and its people. I've made 16 trips since January 2001. It will also give me a chance to assess just how bad things really are. As many of you know, US embassies and consulates often paint more dismal pictures than reality indicates (Really? Duhhh...).
I am hoping exaggeration is the case this time as well, just like it was when I worked in Panama's southern Darién Province in 1999-2000. Oh, and Belize in 1996. And...
"For great ills, great remedies." - Honduran proverb
Q: How many Hondurans can you fit in a pickup truck? A: One more. - Honduran joke, told to me by a Catracho
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