Together we learn - The Courageous Women

I have been meeting the past several Tuesdays with the Mujeres Valientes (Courageous Women) Baking group. These women are all residents of Nueva Suyapa and survivors of domestic violence. To learn a bit more about the history of the group and ways Stewardship of Christian Ministries (SCM) is supporting them; see the SCM website. About ten women and two of their daughters from the Courageous Women have recently formed a weekly baking group. Each Tuesday morning they meet at the SCM high school kitchen to bake cakes and rolls. The bake goods are then sold in the community to try to raise funds so that they might purchase their own equipment and start their own bakery.

I happened to be visiting SCM on the day they were having an organizational meeting and was introduced to the ladies. They seemed like such a fun and friendly group and I asked if I could join them as a means of getting to know some women in the community and practice my Spanish. They have enthusiastically taken me in with open arms and a great deal of patience when we try to communicate. On my first day of visiting, one of the women said, "so what are you going to teach us today?" I told them I was first coming to learn from them and could later bring them some recipes for cookies and cakes if they liked. They seemed fine with that and excited to try new things. I wished I would have brought a camera that first day to show the head coverings they used. A few had head scarves and one had an old surgical cap but the majority, myself included, covered our heads with plastic shopping bags!

The kitchen of the high school is large and roomy with two Kitchenaide mixers, three large work tables, several refrigerators and three cook stoves. Unfortunately, it seems that only one of the ovens works (presently) and there is no running water to the wash sink...so we carry water in in five gallon buckets. But none of this seemed to dampen their enthusiasm. We made several sponge-type cakes and a pan of rolls that day....and had a group of approx. 30 youth ranging in age from 10-15yr who came to visit the baking group and learn how to bake cakes as part of a summer youth program to keep kids busy and off the streets. Some kids measured the dry ingredients, others sifted the flour, others broke eggs and the lucky ones got to run the mixer. Most people in Nueva Suyapa do not own a stove like we know it. They may have an electric or gas two-burner cook-top or may cook with wood, but having an oven is a rarity so the process of baking a cake was a new experience for many.

After the kids all left and the last cakes were baking, the ladies cooked lunch of rice, beans, and tortillas and we sat down to eat together. I went home happy but exhausted.

This past Tuesday I went a bit more prepared. I had baked some Chocolate drop cookies and Oatmeal cookies to take for them to taste and consider as recipes they might like to make. I also rummaged through my fabric box and found fabric to make them each head scarves and several pot holders. I love to recycle so the pot holders were made from worn out MCC towels and an old pair of pants and and the scarves were the linning of a curtain that I bought for a quarter in the discard bin at a used clothing store. The ladies loved their scarves and especially liked the pot holder that had a pocket on it. Just slip your hand into the pocket to hold the potholder in place when using it to lift out hot pans. Because baking is new to some in the group, I think this may have been their first exposure to potholders.

When offered cookies to try, nearly everyone picked the oatmeal cookies first. But later they tried the chocolate drops and when asked which they liked the best said, "both!" I realize now that chocolate is not a common flavor for them or persons who eat strictly Honduran food. Peanut butter is the same way, which makes using American baking recipes interesting. So many recipes use one or the other...or both! But there are lots of other fun recipes to explore: Snickerdoodles, Carrot cake, Lemon bars etc.

One of the women, Cruz (in white top) previously worked as a cook for North Americans for several years so she was thrilled to explore my Orrville Mennonite Cookbook (laying on the table beside my Spanish dictionary). She doesn't speak English but can read recipes and took the cookbook home to pick out the recipes she thought they should try for the next group baking day.

Although it is a bit nerve wracking each time I ride the bus to Nueva Suyapa for the Tuesday baking day, at the end of the day as I ride the bus home I realize the rich experiences I have been given and the blessings of new friendships and understandings I am receiving each time I meet with this group. I know they will pave the way to making it an easier transistion for Virgil and I as we move to Nueva Suyapa in the coming week.

If you would like to see photos of baking day #2, check out our photo album.

The Whole World's Happy

As our MCC Reps say: "Obamanos"

El Gringo Pobre

Commerce in Honduras is still based largely on cash transactions. Most people, including us, carry around the cash they need to buy everything: groceries, bus tickets, laundry, meals and the occasional cup of java at Espresso Americana. I have a hard time getting used to that, especially since the exchange rate is close to 20 Lempiras to 1 US dollar. So you end up carrying around these humongo bills if you are going to buy anything of consequence like groceries (easy to go over 500 Lempiras) or bus tickets for a group of MCCers (2,400 Lempiras yesterday).

Two times in recent history we experienced what it's like to not have enough money to buy what we need and having to forgo purchases. The first time was rather humiliating. We were stocking up at Stocks (a version of Sam's Club) and thought we had calculated our cash-vs-purchase ratio, when all of a sudden I realized the tab on the cashier's screen was adding up to more than we had planned to spend, in fact it was demolishing the cash we were supposed to have in reserve to buy sleeping mats in another store. I had to stop the cashier in front of a whole line of waiting shoppers and push the rest of the stuff to the back of the counter telling her we couldn't afford them. I have seen that done before - folks watch the tally and as it approaches a certain Lempira amount, stop the flow of goods past the cashier. But this was our first time and by our reaction was obviously not a planned event. Pobrecito Gringo!

Actually, when we got back to the apartment we realized the problem: we paid 856 Lps for three rolls of toilet paper - that's ~ $14/roll. It had gotten rung up as three cases of TP! We did get our money back. And it's all a very funny story.... now.

Then yesterday we took a fistful of high denomination Lempiras to pay for hotel rooms for MCCers coming south on Monday, buy bus tickets for a group of us, and to buy food at the market and the grocery store. But I also had a shiny new never-been-used debit card from my brand new bank account at BAC/Bamer - ready to swipe and sign and be done with this cash thing. I planned to use it to buy the bus tickets. But - when she swiped and I got my pen ready to sign, I got the "look".... your card was denied Senor. (Turns out check deposits don't clear real fast here). So I pulled out my wallet and prayerfully counted out 2,400 Lps. Whew - we had them.

No big deal - except now we were running a little on the low side of cash and still had bus fare, market, grocery, and bus fare to go. We were not in dire straights by any means, but it was really a strange feeling to be walking around very carefully deciding what we needed to buy, what we could afford, and what we would just have to defer until some other day. It seemed like everyone was watching us.... was it that obvious? And to top it off the butter that was marked 14 Lps rung up as 72 Lps. Uh-oh, here we go again. So we contested - the cashier told us butter NEVER costs only 14 Lps and to verify that she called over someone else who said 14 Lps would never buy butter, but it would buy the margarine, would we like her to go back and get the margarine for us instead. Ahhhhhhh - just dig me a hole please.

We got our margarine and skedaddled home passing two Espresso Americanos and our favorite bakery-coffee shop just up the street from the French bilingual school and I have NEVER craved a cup of coffee more than on that walk.

It was a good lesson. We are not going to go hungry and I can get more cash on Monday and I have a stash of US dollars in the sock drawer to pay the rent. But many folks here have to make those types of decisions every day all the time and it's not deciding whether or not to have a cup of coffee.