Almost a year ago several
AHMEN members
got together to talk about increasing our organization's web
presence. Since then, some of us have started a blogging
campaign. Others have joined ongoing email conversations.
The
AHMEN web page is evolving into something more functional, and
Facebook has helped centralize
AHMEN's mission statement as a part of
our daily consciousness. With the Internet we are all starting
to realize that working with
AHMEN is not confined to a single yearly
visit to Honduras. With the communication tools available to us
we can mobilize a perpetual conversation between everyone involved in
building Honduras' stable bridge to the future. As we begin
talking, though, what we say counts. As we spread the good
news, we must consider our word choices. Using some words can
impede the development of the type of constructive relationships
AHMEN seeks to build. As missionaries we may need to be more
careful using some of the following words and phrases:
American
On our final evening in Copan for the 2011
Project Honduras Conference,
the
AHMEN contingency and our new friend, Raquel, sat down to a
delicious meal and a lively conversation. In the midst of a
monsoon of epic proportions, we visited one of the locally-run
restaurants and ordered a "meat party" for the table.
This particular meat party came with grilled steak, pork, chicken,
and sausage, but one would have thought it was full of
lengua the
way everyone began discussing their perception of the term
“American.” With such an assorted group at the table (1
ex-military from the US, 1 ex-military who grew up in Honduras as a
US citizen, 1 Honduran-born US citizen who worked for the World Bank,
1 doctor from US, 1 teacher from US, and 1 Brazillian volunteering in
Honduras), we heard an array of opinions...and not a few strong
feelings.
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| Will the REAL American Please Stand Up? |
So what does it mean to be an
"American?" Well, the two most obvious ways to define
the term are geographically and nationally. First, any
second grader can tell you that anyone living in the Western
Hemisphere lives on one of the two American continents. People
living in North and South America are "Americans."
People from these two continents living elsewhere in the world are
also still Americans. On the other hand, people from the United
States of America describe their nationality as American. Many
people throughout the Americas find this behavior offensive. To
many, claiming the title "American," to only signify a
person from the United States revives a colonialist/imperialist
mentality the 3/4 world would prefer relegated to the past.
For others, the term "American" symbolizes the freedom and
opportunity for success specifically foundational to the United
States. It can be misleading for a person from the United
States to speak in such a way as to suggest "Americans" are
only from the United States; however, there is no other word in the
English language to define a person from the United States.
People from Canada are called Canadians. People from Mexico are
called Mexicans (Mexicanos). People from Honduras are Hondurans
(Hondureños). Nonetheless, Canadians, Mexicans, and Hondurans are
all "Americans." Perhaps it is time to coin a new
term to refer to people from the United States. Some
vacationers we met in Copan suggested the term "United
Statians." I have started beta testing the term with mixed
results...
Gringo
During our missions experience this
past summer in La Esperanza and Utila, our team took part
in a discussion of cultural sensitivity. One word that kept
coming up during these conversations was the word "gringo." After
asking several Hondurans about the term, our team learned
that the term refers to non-Spanish Speakers, people from the
United States and Canada, and Europeans. To make the subject a
little more confusing, I have also been told by several
Mexican-Americans that the term "gringo" only refers
to white people. I don't know whether this is the case in
Honduras, but I feel like the term is across the board more
descriptive than derogatory. Being called a "gringo,"
however, can be an entirely different situation altogether. In 1788
there was a difference between being labeled an “Anti-Federalist”
and one using the term to describe one's own political leanings. In
missiology there is a HUGE difference between viewing one's self a
“heathen” and being called such by a missionary. Our
legendary friend and taxi driver in Copan, Daniel Quintanilla, says
he does not use the term "gringo" because it's bad for
business. He says "United Statians" don't like being
called gringos because it singles them out in a land where they are
already obviously different. Whether using the term is also bad for
mission work is up for debate. In mission work, as in life, I
guess we have to be aware of our audience.
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| ....but it might help further our shared goals in Honduras |
OrphanageTwo summers ago I
traveled to Limon with Dr. Fran Kunda's team from CarolinaHonduras Health Foundation. This particular visit changed the
way I think about what is possible in Honduras. Dr. Fran's team
has built a special relationship with Sister Leonarda's Home of Hope,
a home for children who have lost their parents and caretakers due to
the tough living conditions in Honduras. Some of the 50 or so
kids living there lost their parents to violence, the economic necessity
of a remittance lifestyle, and health problems such as HIV-AIDS.
I was aware of the situation before ever setting foot into Sister
Leonarda's home, and to be honest, I did not expect a very positive
experience. As usual, however, I was waaaay off! As I walked
across the sandy, beachfront patio through the dark, sea-bitten door
into Sister Leonarda's, an immense positive energy hit me like a ton
of bricks, and I immediately began to weep through an emotional overload. In the middle of
nowhere, in the midst of uncertain living conditions and dire odds,
these children flourish in a home where their basic human needs
for worldly and spiritual bread was/is being met. Taken aback does
not explain the way I felt...
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| No Words Necessary |
Toward the end of the week I met with Sister Leonarda to talk with her about the
future AHMEN-SIFAT workshops coming to the area. In my
comically-beleaguered Spanish I opened with the phrase "Estoy
impresionado con su orphanato." As if I kicked her in the
stomach, Sister Leonarda quickly corrected me by saying "Este no
es un orfanato...Este es nuestro hogar!" (This is not an
orphanage...This is our home!). She went on to say that an
orphanage is for people without a home, who do not have a family.
Sister Leonarda told me that none of the children living with her
could be considered orphans because they have both a home and a
family. What she was telling me was that "orphan" and
"orphanage" are terms used by onlookers and not by the
people being judged. In other words, "orphan" and
"orphanage" are pessimistic terms; notwithstanding, the positive
energy of the children, teenagers, and young adults living at Sister
Leonarda's Home of Hope is anything but negative. Their energy
is an example of what a strong, caring leader and community can
achieve.
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| Sister Leonarda and her family |
The fact that these terms came to light at this year's Project Honduras Conference lets me know we need to pay attention.
On more than one occasion a speaker at the conference would use the
words "orphan" or "orphanage" to describe a child
or group of children living apart from one or more biological
parents. And as if in some "call and response"
do-se-do, during the question and answer period an individual would
stand up to say how the terms "orphan" and "orphanage"
were misleading and offensive. One of the most endearing responses came from
Director of Legal Affairs with Amigos de Jesus, Suyapa Sabillon who
said calling a child an orphan tears at his self-worth like the
bacteria in Honduran drinking water devastates foreigners' GI tracts....WOW! Hearing that taking offense to the terminology was not
isolated to one children's home in Limon let me know that we should
be very careful when using the terms "orphan" and
"orphanage." AHMEN can't risk muffling a growing child's
sense of self worth...- - - - - - -
The three
preceding terms are ones which have been brought to my attention.
What terms have you come across which we might need use with more
discretion? What terms should we use more freely?
AHMEN has
built a special relationship with local communities across Honduras
for over thirteen years now. When we leave the United States
and cross the border into Honduras we have to remember that people do
pay attention to us....and it's not just the chartreuse green t-shirts!
Knowing this, we have to represent what is best about our country. When we
travel to Honduras with
AHMEN we do so as ambassadors of the United
States and
AHMEN. This is an issue less about
political correctness than it is character. One word
can make
a difference when building relationships based on love, trust, and
mutual respect....Let's make sure we use the most appropriate ones!
Tonight somewhere in Honduras a baby
will be born nearby a manger to a set of parents with little option but to settle
down in their hometown. Present at her commencement ceremony will be
the “Three Kings” of the 2/3 world: crippling poverty,
malnutrition, and little social mobility. She may become a Queen of
Queens, or she may be prevented from reaching her full potential as a
human being due to the same inequalities against which Jesus
spoke. She might unwillingly become a prisoner to human trafficking,
or she could become the future Honduran leader capable of both
liberating and ecumenical transformation in Honduras. 
