Living in Honduras gives you a different outlook on everything. Some things I expected, and others were surprises.
Frederick comes home with a new bruise every day. No one is beating him up. He is not unsafe. He goes to school and the clothesline in the back, off to the right, smacks him in the face. While playing tag he gets poked by the thorns on the lemon tree. Did you know a lemon tree had thorns? He got bitten by a friend’s chicken because the hen lets you carry her around but the rooster, he wants nothing to do with you. He slipped and bumped his tailbone in an afternoon rainstorm that caught everyone off guard. He got slapped in the face with wet clothes when he was hanging his uniform out to dry. He got a bruise on his cheek from the plunger that got stuck to the bottom of our makeshift washing machine. He hit his head in the pool, fell off his bike and twisted his ankle in the trampoline.
Life in the USA is much more sterile. If you look for adventure, you can find it for sure but if you don’t you can most definitely avoid it. Here in Honduras the adventure starts and ends with each day. Getting dirty, bumped my head again, what’s to eat? no water, lights out – try to fall asleep. No one is coming to fix whatever’s broken. This brokenness is part of the culture. It is something everyone is used to living with. There is nothing to compare too.
I asked Frederick what he thought the problem was. He answered: “There is no problem. In Honduras, everything is helded up by poles. I just don’t know where the poles are.” Confident in his own ability to adapt, thirsty for a new adventure, and weary of poles; Frederick has been enjoying his time here. He has required more attention than usual because those booboos don’t heal themselves. They need plenty of kisses.
There is beauty in the brokenness that you experience naturally in this rugged place I now call home. Help is wanted, you are welcome, please do what you can. I submitted a workorder a few weeks back, but I don’t think anyone is coming. We are going to have to do it ourselves.
