Visiting Santa Katarina

A house in Santa Katarina

Some of graduates in their graduation dresses

One of the tiny school classrooms where children attend school

A shared pila with the hand pump

The site of the new feeding center

Yesterday we went to Santa Katarina. As we traveled south, I could tell the dry season was beginning already. Everything was dry and brown. What a contrast to when we last traveled that way, with it raining and flooding. We could not get to Santa Katarina in October. The people swam rivers to get to us.

We turned off the highway and the road was dry and dusty. Even as dry and dusty as it was, we had to cross water four times to get to Santa Katarina. The rivers were low enough that we could drive across. These were the same rivers that the people had to swim across in October. They were so hungry that they gladly swam the rivers just to get some food for their families.

As hard as the rainy season on these communities, the dry season is usually harder.

Our friend, Carlos, took us to the site where the feeding center will be built next summer. The people in the community have already started clearing the land.

Carlos then took us to his house. By Honduran standards, it was a fairly nice house with a concrete floor. There was only a small table inside the house. They sat us down and fed us chicken, rice, potatoes, tortillas, and coke. Hondurans are always gracious, even when they can't afford. It would have been the highest insult not to eat it, but I felt so guilty eating their food when most in Santa Katarina are starving.

There are eighty six houses in Santa Katarina, some don't look too bad and some are horrible. In these 86 houses, there are 600 people, 300 of them are children. What we saw in Santa Katarina looked like what we see on tv when organizations show pictures of starving children in Africa. Many of the children had thin, thin hair, streaked blond. Two sure signs of malnutrition. Also we saw many bloated, distended little bellies. We also more family units; mom, dad and several kids. These people are so far from town, they rarely see gringos. A lot of the children were afraid of us.

Not everyone has a pila. There a few pilas shared by all. The pilas have a hand water pump and everyone has to pump water in order to wash clothes. What a hard life. Don't we have a lot for which to be thankful.

After we ate our wonderful meal, we went to the school. It was graduation day. Fifth grade graduation. Graduation is a really big deal in Honduras. People don their finest clothes. The beginning of graduation was held until the gringos arrived. What an honor. We were in jeans and t-shirts. There were seven graduates. Seven. In a community with 300 children. How sad. None of these kids were 10 or 11 like we would expect fifth graders to be. Most were 13 or 14. There is no secondary school in Santa Katarina. For most of these young people, their education is over. The only way for any of them to continue their education is to walk for three hours and then ride a bus into Choluteca. Most parents, as much as they desire for their children to have a better life, could not afford the daily bus fare, much less the tuition, books, and uniforms.

Everyone was friendly and greeted us warmly.

I am still processing and reflecting on the things I saw yesterday. I am excited that we will be able to help this community.

Terri