A lesson to appreciate the conditions of our UK lockdown

I had along chat with Cesar, via his sister Glenda who translates for us. The Corona virus numbers from Honduras is 308 infected and 22 dead. These figures mean little, as they do not have the ability to test many. The actual scale of the problem is unknown to us, except to say that the country is enduring a severe four-week lockdown.  One person per household is allowed out on one day a week, between 6am and 3pm, to buy food or do other priority jobs like going to the bank or pharmacy. The day on which you can go out is determined by your ID card number, which will be checked by the army, who are policing the streets.  The road between the Valle de Angeles village and the capital is closed. It took Cesar nearly four hours to queue and buy food at the super market yesterday. There was a long queue, even though he was there at 6am when they opened.

The health service is very fragile.  It has been seriously degraded over the years by corruption.  The entire country can only field ten working ventilators.

The poor, as usual, are very badly affected. They cannot go out to work. With no store cupboard and no money to buy food, many are going hungry including the children. A donation of money has been given to the government to buy food for the poor during lockdown. This money has been given to the Mayors to spend and distribute. The mayor for the Valle area is excellent and has been working with CH Trust for many years. It was Will, the mayor, who closed the state park so that we could use it to unload our containers during the latter years of sending. He asked Cesar for advice as where to buy food at the best prices and how to buy and bag them for distribution, in the same way that is done for CH Trust. The problem, as always, is that there is not enough money to buy food for all in need, even though the bags of food are smaller than those we provide. There is only enough to help 3000 families, which is nowhere near meeting the need. The food provided has to last the family for two weeks. The bag is less than half the size of a carry bag. Those families who have the ability to work do not qualify and will not get a bag.

That is the bad situation that Honduras faces at this time. How have CH Trust helped and how can we help going forward? There was CH Trust sourced food remaining in the schools and feeding centres when the lockdown started. Cesar provides food to them in batches intended to last about three months. The teachers are organising distribution of the remaining food to the families most in need. This has to be organised on the day that the head teacher is allowed out. Unfortunately, it is too early in the year to be harvesting any food from the school gardens. In fact, it is the time when they should be planting seeds.

Sabaneta usually feed 77 children from their own school including kinder. They also feed 10 children who are walking past their school on their way to college. These are children they know desperately need that meal. Cesar is coordinating the schools. Many from Chiquestepi and Guanacaste walk for two hours to catch the bus to college and two hours home again. This is why we like to sponsor children for education, they work so hard to receive an education and many parents cannot afford to buy the school books they need. No text books are provided by the school.

In spite of the lockdown, the hen houses are still being run by volunteers and the eggs collected and distributed to those with the greatest need. For the first time, some hens are being raised for meat. I gave permission to have some killed and given to families who had nothing else. This will also happen to hens that have stopped laying.

Cesar is not allowed to go out and buy food for the schools etc, even though he has asked and pleaded. The biggest problem will be at the end of the two weeks, when there has been no provision made to buy more food. Also, after the lockdown ends, many will not have jobs to go to. No job means no food. The sugar factory, which employs a large number of people from the rural areas during and around the Easter period, is only allowed to employ a few key people to work the machinery. The income from the sugar factory employment allows many families to manage for the whole year. This will not happen this year. There is also a risk that the company will decide that they can manage without the local labour in future years. Such a decision would impact Guanacaste, Sabaneta, Chiquistepe and Naranjal i.e. all the villages where we feed children in the schools or run feeding centres.

As the hunger grows, I have given Cesar permission to buy and feed as many children as possible through the schools and food bags. Currently he is not allowed out to buy and distribute food. However, we can trust Will, the mayor, to work with us to find a way to service this important project. As already noted, the mayor has permission to use the army to help purchase and distribute food bags. He has also purchased some food such as sugar from the local shops, as this helps them to stay in business and feed their families.

I find the situation in Honduras frustrating, as we can do so little. But what we can achieve, with Cesar’s hard work, can mean everything to those who receive our help. Please pray for Honduras and the health of those working to bring the country through this desperate situation. Thank you for your prayers and donations that are allowing us to help so many, now and in the coming weeks.

God bless you and keep you safe

Jenn