Silence

I'm in the process of adjusting to life back at my home in Maryland. Spending time with family, biking to coffee shops just for the enjoyment of the ride, sitting on the screened-in porch and listening to the sounds of the night -- it's easy to nurture an appreciation for this life. But at the same time, it's Friday evening and I don't have any clue how I will entertain myself throughout the weekend. My house is silent, except for the intermittent hum of the air conditioner. There's such a thing as too much solitude. But reconnecting with old pals is a lot easier said than done. Despite all our little electronic devices of communication, some people are hard to get in touch with. Plus, people change. Finding words to fill the empty spaces between us is no simple task. I know that many of my friends are busy with the lives they've been contently living in my absence, just as I was busy with a life I created thousands of miles away from the folks who call this area their home. Yet, despite the challenges, I'm happy to be where I am.

My job search has been fruitless so far (if anyone can offer an tips, connections, guidance, etc. -- please get in touch), but I know I'll find employment eventually (perhaps in 2012?). In the mean time, I do enjoy the slow pace of my life. I'm reading a lot and catching up on movies and shows that are old to most people but still seem new and strange to me. But this slow pace is unsettling when I contrast it against the frenzied development of the tragedies and frustrating realities that I just spent a year studying.

For example, Honduras is a wreck. Reports are emerging that the police have been on a rape spree since the coup. Suppression of the media and other human rights violations are rampant. But this story has faded from news headlines. In an effort to draw your attention to the appalling reality of the situation in Honduras (and the Obama administration's deafening silence in response to it) I beseech you to read this article: Obama's Deafening Silence in Honduras. An excerpt:

The millions of Americans who gave their votes, contributions or energy to Barack Obama's presidential campaign in the hope that he would change U.S. foreign policy probably didn't expect to see this administration fishing around for rightwing allies to help block Latin America from trying to reverse a military coup. But that appears to be the reality.
-by Mark Weisbrot

A Small Request

I received an email regarding school sponsorship from an organization which I befriended when I was volunteering in La Prusia, Nicaragua. My neighbor in La Prusia, a 19 year old girl named Chilo, inspired me to initially contact this organization about school sponsorship programs. Chilo is a sponsored student; a woman who also volunteered where I did pays yearly for Chilo's school fees, uniform, and books. Chilo is incredibly bright, and aims to attend university next year in Managua, hoping eventually to study outside Nicaragua.

La Prusia is an extremely poor neighborhood just beyond the borders of Granada, Nicaragua. The people who live there are marginalized by the government, which doesn't recognize them as legal landowners and therefore provides no sanitation, electricity, clean water, or schools for any of its more than 500 residents. The youngest children are sent to school in Granada, and their parents must pay school fees equivalent to about $100 yearly, which is usually more than each family earns over the course of 3 or 4 months. Most children do not go on to secondary school because of the high cost and because their help is needed in generating family income.

La Esperanza Granada funds a free school in La Prusia, but their teachers are volunteers and therefore there is a high changeover rate among staff. To help students who are most dedicated to their studies, the organization helps match deserving students with sponsors who pay for secondary and university education.

Chilo implored me to sponsor a student, and I intend to fulfill my promise to her. I'd like to start a sponsorship collection fund. I think it would be great if everyone donated as much or as little as they are able. In 2009, school fees will be $210. I'll make up the difference between whatever we collect and the $210 sponsorship cost. A link to the La Esperanza Granada website is below. To contribute to the collective sponsorship fund I proposed, just click the button. You can contribute online via PayPal!

Click here to donate to the collection fund!




La Esperanza Granada (click on Projects and then Sponsorships for details)

El Diaro Che

Poverty is forced passiveness. To be wealthy is to be able to live life aggressively.
And this kind of wealth should never be forsaken and unappreciated, wasted, or lost.

Ernesto "Che" Guevara as a pop culture icon bothers me. My adoration of Guevara is not based on the concept of him as a counter-culture, fuck-the-man, martyred-by-the-CIA figure. Guevara is a symbol of what it means to explore, to set out on the open road, and to be touched by people. He is the one who said "Let the world change you, and you can change the world." And he did. He really did change the world. It was for a short time, but he fought and won a revolution. He led resistance in the Congo and in Bolivia. He was the ultimate destroyer of systems, ignorer of structures, inspirer of masses. It was convenient that the slang of his country allowed him to wear such a populist nametag as che -- dude, buddy, friend. At how ironic that such a name would always highlight his roots in South America's most European country. How fitting that he wore that badge, the blood of the Spaniards so strong in his veins, while fighting for the cause of the single, mestizo race of Latin America.

Guevara was the ultimate traveler, couchsurfer, idealist, visualizer, thinker, dirtbag. He should be studied for his thoughts, his journal-keeping, his experiences, his goals. He is not a lesson in failed populism, CIA intervention, halted revolution, or narrow-minded idealism. Guevara is a lesson in the value of the journey, the importance of the daydreamer, the power of the open heart. Those lessons would do everyone a lot of good.

He changed the world, and it all started with a backpack and the road.