La Buena Fe January 6th

January 6th

The next morning, roosters greeted us as we woke, alarming us of the morning. Other birds chirped softly and cheerfully in the background which made it a little less annoying. We had a relaxing morning, half of that may have been the fact that most of us did not have our checked luggage, so our choice of outfits was somewhat limited. We took our leisurely stroll over to the Casa Blanca (white house) for our breakfast. The breakfast was wonderful. There was porridge with milk and cinnamon, pancakes with honey (or maple syrup was also available) and fresh fruit. They roast the coffee bean after it has already been sweetened, so there was no need to add sugar to your morning coffee.

After breakfast, we took a tour of the project here at La Buena Fe. We had a chance to walk around the grounds and see all of the organic farming that is being done here. They have been able to actually cross pollinate bean seeds in order to make them resistant to drought and other hazards. All of the farming is purely organic, no chemicals are being used. We walked to the compost piles and dug through the beautiful black dirt that the worms are making out of the stalks from the beans.

We had the opportunity to share lunch with two women from El Salvador that shared with us after lunch about their project in El Salvador focusing on education and heard of a new problem that they are currently facing: lead poisoning. It’s a tragic story about a battery factory that was dumping their waste into the water and it has now penetrated basically everything in the community. Children are dying, people and cows are mutilated, and the treatment for lead poisoning will cost each person $2500, which is just an impossible amount of money for the people in El Salvador.

In the afternoon, we took a walk through the town. Walking down the path, we were greeted by the local people who all came to the doorways and windows to look at the bunch of white people walking through town. Children would giggle as they spoke their bits of English that they knew. Several curious individuals followed us along the way as we walked. We paused to take pictures of the dense foliage on the mountainsides.

New sounds were all around us. Animals are all around us, goats, cows, horses, chickens, dogs, cats, lizards. There is a heavy undertone of crickets playing in the background at night.

After dinner, we all had the opportunity to cram into the ambulance. Yes, that’s right, we had 10 people packed in an ambulance on the way to church. No one was injured, we simply were using the ambulance as a means of transportation. The members at the church were waiting for us when we arrived. I think that we overpopulated the local people that were there, but they seemed excited to have us there. We were without a translator at this part, so we got by with the little Spanish that we had. We started off the service by sharing in music. We sang “This Little Light of Mine” in English and then the congregation shared in a song in Spanish. The minister was from Tegucigalpa and had traveled to this small church for the first time. He was wonderful at engaging the congregation and was very energetic in his message. It was obvious that he had a lot of experience in being a minister and giving powerful messages. They took up an offering, which I think was more money than they may have gotten all year long, even though some of us were being much more modest than what we would put in the offering plate at home. They sang another song in Spanish and then I attempted to lead what I know to be the words to Santo, Santo, Santo. Fortunately, it appeared anyway, that what I was saying was close enough to the actual Spanish words, that they were able to pick up on the song.

Cramming back into the ambulance was even more interesting this time, because we picked up an extra passenger, the minister. Also picture, in your mind a windshield that is completely fogged up and no defroster functioning. So Terry had to wipe away a clear spot on the windshield with a Kleenex. The roads here are not what I would call paved for the most part either. I don’t think anyone hit their head on the roof when we went over bumps, but it wouldn’t have surprised me. All in all, we made it back safely and dropped of the minister who was spending the night at La Buena Fe.

I can’t get over how much I feel at home here in this place. It’s strange to be in a foreign place where nothing seems foreign to you. Except maybe throwing the toilet paper in the waste basket. That still seems a little awkward to me.

Erin Clark