This blog was created to record a week long exploration of the new companion relationship with the Episcopal Diocese and Lutheran Church in Honduras. Under the guidance and leadership of the Hondurans, a group of around 10 people, including Bishop Payne, will visit churches, clinics, schools and various mission centers. This is an opportunity to meet the people who will help us as we plant the seeds for a long term relationship. Ruth Dietze, Laurie Gardner, Pastor Priscilla Hukki, & Donna Searchfield of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Ellsworth, Maine will be participating. We will fly out of Boston on January 15th going to San Pedro Sula via Miami. We will be traveling by bus through some of the country, flying back on January 22nd. A huge thank you to all who helped in any way with the rummage sale – we made a little over $1000! To our excitement, Thrivent matched that amount. Some folks have asked about assisting with finances – you are welcome to put a designated donation in the collection or leave it in the office. Some facts about Honduras – Physical. Honduras is located in Central America, with the Caribbean Sea to the north and El Salvador and Nicaragua to the south. It covers an area slightly larger than Tennessee. Capital: Tegucigalpa (pop 995,000). The terrain in Honduras consists mostly of mountains in the interior and narrow coastal plains. Natural resources include timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish and hydropower. Environmental concerns: urbanization; deforestation; land degradation and soil erosion; mining pollution. The climate is subtropical in lowlands and temperate in the mountains. People. More than 6.8 million people live in Honduras. Spanish and Amerindian dialects are the primary languages spoken by inhabitants. The ethnic make-up of the country includes Mestizos (mixed Amerindian and European, 90%) Amerindians (7%) and Africans (2%). The religious distribution is almost entirely Roman Catholic (97%) with a Protestant minority. Indigenous tribes have religions that often exist alongside Christianity and incorporate elements of African and Indian animism and ancestor worship. Life expectancy: Men, 65 years; women, 67 years. Infant mortality: 29.64 deaths per 1000 live births. 53% of the population lives in poverty. 1 physician per 1,586 people. HIV/AIDS rate in adults: 1.8%. 76.2% of adults are literate. Government. In Honduras there have been frequent changes of government, which, despite numerous constitutions and authoritarian leaders, have been unable to resolve basic problems such as widespread corruption. Current President Ricardo Maduro, elected in 2002, has focused on cracking down on the rampant crime wave, undoubtedly influenced by the loss of his son in 1998 to criminal violence. But social problems must be addressed as well. Fortunately many of the 300,000 refugees from Nicaragua and El Salvador have returned home, eliminating a source of much violence in the border regions. Economy. Honduras is a poor country. In 1998, just as the economy was recovering somewhat, the financial crisis in Asia and Hurricane Mitch—which destroy- ed the nation’s infrastructure, homes and thousands of lives—set Honduras back yet again. The website for the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras is: http://www.anglicano.hn . Facts about Honduras (from the ELCA website http://www.elca.org)
