Immigration

It’s hard to talk about Honduran culture without talking about immigration, mainly illegal, to the United States. This topic has become increasingly pertinent as the United States has started to deport more and more Hondurans. Often the news of the day here is that a couple planes full of Hondurans were deported from the United States.

One newspaper editorial a few weeks ago said that 1500 Hondurans had been deported from the United States just in the last week. According to the U.S. ambassador to Honduras, 70% of those deported were apprehended while crossing the border. Despite its small size, Honduras plays a large role in illegal immigration to the United States. Of people caught crossing the Mexican border, 70% are Mexican, 20% Honduran, 4% Nicaraguan and 4% Salvadorian.

Immigration seems to be on the minds of most Hondurans. They may have relatives or friends in the United States, they may have been there before themselves, or they may be hoping to go to cross the border mojado (wet) in the future. To go mojado means to go illegally, since those who cross illegally often get wet crossing the Rio Grande by night. While to call someone a wetback, the equivalent of mojado is an insult in the United States, going mojado is a fact of life here and nothing to be ashamed of. I have not met anyone who has been reluctant to share the details of illegal relatives or their own illegal travels across the border.

While vacationing on Isla del Tigre last weekend, we met José, who returned a couple years ago from the United States and is a co-pilot of a small ferryboat to the island. He was happy to share a couple beers with us as well as his experiences in the United States.

José  (left) on the ferry that he co-pilots. 

José was born on Isla del Tigre but left at a young age to find work in San Pedro Sula, Honduras’ most economically productive city. He worked there for over 20 years as a foreman on a sugar plantation. He built a house and had two children.

About six years ago José left for the United States illegally. One of his brothers had already been in the U.S. and returned. José made the trip over land, through Guatemala and Mexico, and arrived in Laredo, Texas. The trip to the U.S. border took him 14 days and he said he didn’t have any problems. As long as you have money, he said, you can bribe your way out if captured by Guatemalan or Mexican immigration. A relative who already lived in the U.S. helped José cross once he reached the border.

Upon arriving, José paid $1500 for a false I.D. and social security card that said he was from Puerto Rico. He memorized his new name and all of the information on the cards. He said employers always accepted his false papers, although it sounds like he mainly looked for jobs at places that employed other illegals as well.

José spent most of his four years in the U.S. working in Liberal, Kansas at a packing plant owned by National Beef. He worked a shift from 3pm to 1am and made $500 a week. He lived in an apartment with one other person and paid $450 a month rent. The weeks he didn’t have to pay rent, José said he was able to send $300 of his $500 check back to Honduras. Since there was no public transportation to get to work, he obtained a Kansas driver’s license and bought a car. He said that it is no problem for illegals to obtain licenses in many states, as long as they drive well. It is important not get pulled over by the police, since illegals are often deported when they are stopped for traffic violations.

After some time working in Kansas, José voluntarily left the job and headed east to look for other work. He spent 42 hours on a Greyhound that went to North Carolina via New York City and Virginia. He said the bus ride was quite stressful, since he speaks very little English and had to be awake the whole time to read the signs at the stations to know when he should get off.

I’m not sure what work José did in North Carolina, but about 2 years ago he decided to return to his roots in Honduras. He said that life in the United States was too much work and too much hurry for him. He did nothing but work, clean his apartment, shop and eat. On the return trip he traveled by airplane.

Here on the island, life is much calmer and easy-going, even though money is scarcer. José’s brother, the one who went to the U.S. before him, operates a general store out of his house and owns a 25 ft open boat with an outboard that provides ferry service to the mainland. José works every day as a co-pilot on the ferry and appears to be living a pretty comfortable life. He has enough extra money to drink a few beers on the beach and take the day off when he wants to. He is in the process of building a cement block house on the island where he will live.

José’s son joined him in Kansas while he was there and is still there working. His son wants to stay in the U.S. until he has saved enough money to build a house of his own in San Pedro Sula. Although José is happy to be back in Honduras, it is apparent that the money he and his family made working in the United States has made their lives more comfortable back home.

Trip to Isla del Tigre

Last weekend Carol traveled to Isla del Tigre an island on the south coast of Honduras accessible only by ferry. The island has one main 18 km road that goes around the perimeter. In the center is a 2500 ft tall mountain that was once a volcano. Although most of the people on the island are quite poor, it is very safe and full of natural beauty. They are trying to drum up a tourism economy, since the island is just a few hours from Tegucigalpa by bus.

 During our two days there we made an attempt to climb the volcano (we were forced to return halfway to the top due to a very steep path), swam on the beach, ate a lot of fresh fried fish, and got to know a few of the locals.

Playa del Burro, the quiet beach where we stayed

The pier in Amapala, the main town on the island.

Me on the Amapala pier, with the mountain we tried to climb in the background.

Water in Ojojona

For the most part, there is plenty of water available in Honduras. Nevertheless, many communities lack sufficient potable water. People who have running water in their houses often only have it a couple times a week, and it is rarely of high enough quality that I would feel safe drinking it.

As an example, I will explain the current water system in Ojojona, which I think is pretty typical for Honduras. Ojojona’s water comes mainly from surface sources: dammed streams or wetlands. These sources are located at elevations higher than the town so that water can arrive to houses by gravity. Pipes bring water from the sources to storage tanks and then to houses. Nearly all houses within the town have their own connections.

Ojojona has two different water systems: Agua Blanca and Payaguagre. Payaguagre is the older system and the one we are working with. The treatment plant we are working on is located next to the main storage tank for Payaguagre. All the water that comes from the three Payaguagre sources passes through the plant and then to the storage tank. Agua Blanca is a newer system with one source located about 12 km from Ojojona. In size it is similar to Payaguagre. Agua Blanca serves the house I live in.

Due to limited supply, most houses in Ojojona do not have reliable water everyday, even though we are currently in the rainy season. At my house in Agua Blanca we usually have water Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday for several hours. The houses in Payaguagre have water everyday right now, when there are no problems with the system. During the dry season, both systems have less water.

Since water does not run everyday, everyone has a way to store water in their homes. The traditional water storage device is the Pila. Pilas are large concrete basins, usually a few feet deep, about 5 feet long and a few feet wide. The have a tap running into them and usually have a washboard on top with a drain. When water comes, everyone turns on the tap to fill their Pila. When there isn’t any water in the tap, and even when there is, they dip water out of the Pila to use for everything from laundry to dish washing.

Pilas are not very sanitary. From what I have seen they are rarely cleaned and are always partly filled with water. They are easily contaminated by water splashing over the washboard or by people’s hands when they dip out water. Although Pilas are a fine option for laundry, they are not a good option for cooking or washing dishes.

In my small house, I have a Pila where I get water for laundry, bathing and flushing the toilet. I have a modern toilet and a sink, which I think are connected to running water, but since there usually is no water, I never use the sink and always flush the toilet with a bucket.

My Pila

People who can afford them have elevated storage tanks. These tanks provide running water even when the tap is dry. Esperanza has an elevated concrete tank she fills every time water arrives at the house. This tank supplies water to her shower, toilet and kitchen. She also has a couple of Pilas for laundry. On the other end of the spectrum, those don’t have Pilas usually have one or more 55-gallon drums under their one and only outdoor tap, which they fill with reserve water.

The water in Ojojona is of questionable quality. Water that comes from Agua Blanca is chlorinated but otherwise untreated. When the water comes clear, chlorination may be enough, but when it comes cloudy during the rainy season, chlorine doesn’t help much.  The water from Payaguagre used to be worse than Agua Blanca, brown and murky some days. Now, with the treatment plant, it is clear, chlorinated and potable the majority of the time. However, we are still learning how to operate the plant, and screw up sometimes. Since there is no operator at the plant at night the plant often stops working between when we leave in the afternoon and when we arrive in the morning. Although we’ve been improving, every week since we’ve been here there have been times when the Payaguagre water is not safe to drink.

Most people who can afford it buy bottled water to drink. Many Pulperias (local convenience stores) sell 5 gallon jugs of purified water. The first jug costs about $5 and then they are exchanged for full ones for 22 Lempiras (about 1.15 USD). I’d say at least half of the people here don’t use bottled water. Most probably drink the tap water directly when it looks clean and boil it when it looks dirty. They might also boil it all the time for their children. From what I’ve heard, it’s cheaper to buy firewood to boil water than to buy bottled water.

I still haven’t found any adults here who say they’ve gotten sick from the water. The people who drink it say that they’re accustomed and have strong stomachs. The water is more dangerous for children to drink it, since their immune systems are less developed. According to the doctor in the health center, there were 250 cases of dihrea in the first 10 months of last year. I assume  most of these were in children. In the first 10 months of this year, there have only been 133 reported cases. The doctor attributed this change to better health education, a cleaner community, and an improved water supply. We’re hoping that a significant part of this change is attributable to the water treatment plant.

Even though AguaClara donated nearly all of the resources to build the treatment plant we’re working on, clean water will not be free. Ojojona’s water board will have to buy chemicals for the plant and hire a full-time operator starting in January. This will require them to raise the water tariff from its current level of 30 Lempira (about $1.60) per month. If the tariff is just raised for users receiving water from the plant, they will need to raise it to about 50 Lempira to sustainably operate the plant. For people spending 200 Lempira on bottled water every month, this will be a small price to pay, but only if the have enough confidence in the tap water to drink it. The families who drink the water from the tap whether it’s dirty or clean might say that 20 Lempiras is too much to pay.

“People here don’t understand the value of water.” Many Hondurans who work with water have told us this. Some Hondurans, not necessarily rich ones, are willing to shell out $11 a month for cable, and even the poorest will spring for a Coca Cola or a bag of chips. When it comes to tap water, though, they aren’t used to paying much. In the next month or so we will be working with the water board on a campaign to raise awareness about the plant and convince people that the improved service will be worth the higher tariff.

Pictures from Sept. 15, Honduran Independence Day

September 15 is Honduran Independence Day. Every town and city celebrates with a large parade of students.The larger cities have parades for a few days. The kindergardeners parade on the 13th, the elementary school the 14th and the Colegios (high schools) on the 15th. On the 13th we happened to be in Siguatepeque to present at a Peace Corps convention. The youger children were already parading while we were there. On the 15th we were back in Ojojona where all of the students paraded on the same day.

Parade in Siguatepeque

Me in the Siguatepeque town square.

Parade in Ojojona

Important people from Ojojona watching as the students march into the town square. In the center is the Catholic priest. To his right is the mayore of Ojojona.

Part of my family in Ojojona. (L to R) Julia (Esperanza´s sister in law), Esperanza (the woman I live with), Adela (Esperanza´s niece who marched in the parade), Mario (Esperanza´s brother).