People living in the United States enjoy privilege few in the world know. Our neighbors openly defy mask orders and threaten to vote politicians out of office for simply taking the best advice of scientists into account. What do politicians do? They cower in fear and dissolve mask orders like sugar crystals in freshly brewed, still-warm sweet tea. What a bitter pill to swallow.
Meanwhile, 1,400 miles from Music City, the people of Honduras have a small reason to trust the government. The politicians there know that their underfunded healthcare infrastructure cannot withstand a mass Catracho contraction of COVID-19. The governments there are keeping orders in place keeping people home and masked when out of the house. While the pipes connected to the pueblo are not flowing with purified water, a significant contributor to public health disparities, Hondurans can rest assured that some degree of common sense rules the day.
I say a degree of common sense because Alberth Centeno, Milton Martínez, Suami Mejía, Gerardo Róchez, and Junior Mejía are still missing after being kidnapped by the police. Yet, the attack on Garifuna personhood is the long story in the history of Honduras in the 21st Century. I pray that I am put in a position to extend my privilege to the Garinagu so that Tocamachu is as important in the eyes of the Honduran people as Tegucigalpa, that Limon belongs on the national currency just as much as Chief Lempira, and that a statue of Dr. Alfonso Lacayo Sanchez becomes a chief landmark as much as any statue of Columbus in the country.
But again, these are the words of a privileged white man from the American South. The story of Garifuna justice deserves to be told by Garifuna men and women. Similarly, the story of the coronavirus in Honduras deserves to be told by everyday Hondurans.
Here are those words:
Vivimos dias dificil sin trabajo sin comida. Este pais es un Caos. Hay mucho Covid 19. No hay medicamentos. No hay tratamientos. Mucha gente mayor a muerto en Yorito. Los politicos y gobernates an robado todo el dinero asignado. Nosotros como ACSI no podemos actuar porque estamos todos en las mismas condiciones.
Van a abrir el pais en el peor momento .
We live difficult days without work, without food. This country is in chaos. There is a lot of COVID-19, no medications, no treatments. Many older people have died in Yorito. The politicians have stolen all the money assigned to relief. We as ACSI cannot act because we are all in the same conditions. They will open the country at the worst moment.
-Fanny Aviles of ACSI Yorito
Hola, actualmente pues la mayoría esta luchando por sus clases en líneas ya que en el país no se ha normalizado las clases presenciales aún, luchando ya que se vive en comunidades rurales y hay poco acceso a Internet, computadoras y celulares.
Lo más que hemos podido hacer es grabar Spot sobre la prevención del embarazo y unirnos algunas campañas. Ahora estamos trabajando con una de niñas y adolescentes para la prevención del embarazo precoz. En estos días estaremos repartiendo cincuente y cinco kits de higiene para niñas y adolescentes.
Hello, currently, most of them are fighting for their classes online since face-to-face classes have not yet been normalized in the country, fighting since they live in rural communities and there is little access to the Internet, computers, and cell phones. The most we have been able to do is record Spot on the prevention of pregnancy and join some campaigns. Now we are working with one for adolescent girls on the prevention of early pregnancy. We will be involved in distributing fifty-five hygiene kits for girls and adolescents.
-Eliany Barralaga Guardado of ACSI Jutiapa
When you read the words of our brothers and sisters in Honduras it can feel like our experience with the pandemic is similar. I implore you to understand, though, that our experiences are not the same. As we continue to shop freely in the grocery story full of food, families go hungry in Honduras without the ability to leave the house to shop. They lack work to buy the food they need, and the stores lack the supply routes that once kept shelves full of basic needs. The small reason to trust the government I spoke of above is minuscule indeed. If you would like to contribute to ACSI and their efforts to continue delivering life-saving education, and possibly relief supplies, to Honduran communities, please contact me here. One act of kindness goes a long way.
Together, we are the difference.
