Poverty

I have no pictures of the drive from the airport to Montana De Luz. I wish I could say it was for artistic reasons (fear of blurring scenes, an inability to frame a shot, etc). The blunt, honest truth is that I was just too overwhelmed with what I saw to take any pictures of it.

I have never seen as much poverty as I saw in Honduras. It is pervasive. From the moment we got in the van until the moment we arrived in Montana De Luz, we saw conditions that were deplorable: everything from concrete block houses with dirt floors, to quite literally, a piece of tin held up with 4 sticks. My words seem inadequate to describe the scene.

Even the "nice" houses are below what most of us would feel a reasonable standard living. One of the houses to the right is one of the Montana De Luz volunteer houses in the town Nueva Esperanza. The town was built after the hurricane largely to give housing to displaced families. Some of the Montana staff live there as well. Again, for Honduran standards, the houses are nice. But it was just a reminder to me how high our standard of living really is in the US.

Here is where I most wrestle as a Christian: What do I do? In my mind, (before the trip) I thought I would come back to the US and just get rid of stuff. "Live simply so that others may simply live" and all those wonderful bumper stickers. But that just doesn't seem to cut it. I'm not even sure it is an income issue. Governments are corrupt, the country is in debt, the is no infrastructure to speak of (roads can help an economy, I have heard)... but that DO have a damn nice statue of "Big Jesus."

"Big Jesus" (or his official name: "Jesus Christ in El Picacho") is a 2,500 ton, 100 foot tall statue of Jesus that was built in 1998 to the tune of Lps. 8 million (which isn't bad for such a hunk of rock!) The protestant pastors loudly opposed it, not because they would have used that money to... oh, I don't know, maybe feed people or build roads... but they opposed it because it is a "Catholic" Jesus. Whatever that means.

Former President Reina, along with his cabinet and a number of prominent Tegucigalpa businessmen set up a special foundation with the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa to raise funds for the project. The business sector responded immediately with a flood of donations and each of the cabinet members pledged a full month's salary.

Read that last sentence again... go ahead, I will wait.

[waiting]

Yes, the cabinet members pledged a FULL MONTH'S SALARY.

Now, go back up and read the second paragraph again. Go ahead... I'll wait again.

Yep. That is right. They gave a month's salary for a hunk of rock and yet there is so much poverty. Is there something wrong with this picture?

What do you do with so much poverty? Is it an issue? Do we embrace communism so that there is more equality? Is that the answer? Will that change anything?

And here are some questions: Is my quality of life all that better just because I live in a nicer house? Am I REALLY more blessed? Am I closer to God because of my wealth or does that wealth get in the way? Does my wealth really add anything tangible?

Looking at his disciples, [Jesus] said:

"Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when men hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

"But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when all men speak well of you,
for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.