wfn.org | Volunteers pitch in to help in Honduras

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 9 1998        Contact: Linda Bloom*(212)870-3803*New York
{652}

By P.J. Heller*
 
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (UMNS) -- From the seventh-floor window of the
Honduras Mayan Hotel, members of the Tarrytown United Methodist Church
could look down on the surreal situation in the Honduran capital. 
 
"We could see furniture and refrigerators being washed away in the
floods," said church member Doug Aycock. "We could see the water
actually going in and taking down houses that were built close to the
river. We watched the water rise on warehouses until they would collapse
and then wash away. 
 
"From where we were, you could see it happening, and you didn't know
what to do about it," he said. 
 
What was happening was the immense destruction caused by Hurricane
Mitch, which brought heavy flooding to Honduras and Nicaragua in late
October and early November, killing at least 10,000 people in the
region.

The 17 members of the Austin, Texas, church, along with four United
Methodists from two other Austin churches, sought refuge in the
nine-story hotel after being evacuated from the central part of the
country. They had gone there to help build and equip a school library. 
 
Church members were no strangers to Honduras, having previously
"adopted" a village there.

"After two years, that official relationship ended, but we continued  to
send mission teams to that same area to help with various  things," said
church spokesperson Terry Junttonen. 
 
The church group is just one of many faith-based organizations with
strong ties to Central American countries. The groups often send teams
to Latin America to help the impoverished countries. Such connections
are expected to be helpful in the months ahead, as both Honduras and
Nicaragua struggle to recover from the devastation caused by Mitch. 
  
The Tarrytown group started out Oct. 24 on its mission to help the town
of Dos Rios. The trip soon turned into a mission to help thousands
affected by the hurricane. 
 
For Aycock, the experience left a deep and lasting impression.  

"It makes me feel guilty, shameful about what we take for granted, about
having clean clothes every day, about having an umbrella when it rains,
about having sidewalks wide enough to stay out of the puddles, about
having water to drink," he said. 
 
The church group made a harrowing journey from Rancho el Paraiso, where
they had been  staying while working with Honduras Outreach Inc., to the
capital. They had to clear mountain roads of mudslides and fallen 40- to
50-foot trees left in the wake of the hurricane.

They also tried to help drivers whose vehicles  became stuck in the mire
along the narrow winding mountain roads. One truck, carrying a husband,
wife and baby, couldn't be pulled 
 free and was abandoned. The couple and their child managed a ride  with
another motorist. 
 
"Shortly after that, the rest of the hill caved in, and that truck was
buried and pushed down the hill," Aycock recalled.
  
"In that particular place we all did have fear," he admitted, noting
that they faced mudslides from above or having the road wash out from
under them. "That was the only place that we all realized that we were
in a very precarious position." 
 
Had they remained at the ranch, he said, they would have been trapped
there for weeks, with no way to get out of the country. When they left,
the ranch area had no power, no telephone service and no water. He added
that it will be months before anyone can make their way back because of
the blocked and washed-out roads. The library they were building
survived the storm but remains unfinished. 
 
Church members loaded up two vans and a pickup truck and made the
journey out, first to Juticalpa and then to Tegucigalpa. What would
normally  be a four-hour car trip to Juticalpa took eight hours. When
they arrived in Tegucigalpa on Oct. 30, they found "the entire city was
in a state of chaos and riot," Aycock said. "They wouldn't let us leave
at night because of the  looting."

The team was scheduled to leave the country the next day but was forced
to remain at the hotel because the airport was closed. While waiting for
flights to resume, the group assisted relief workers by  preparing some
25,000 meals and helped do laundry at the hotel when  employees failed
to show up for work. They also went to refugee centers in the city to
help sort donated clothing and food.  

"If we hadn't been helping, we'd just be sitting around," said Robert
Durkee, a team leader. 
 
On Nov. 2, Aycock became the first of the group to return to Austin. The
50-year-old insurance salesman said he was happy to be home but felt the
journey "made me a better person."
 
"I think we learned a lot more from them (Hondurans) than we could  have
given to them," he said. "We learned you can find true happiness without
'things.' 
 
"The one thing I'm afraid of today is getting caught back up in the
business mentality of working and trying to succeed, and measuring
success by money as opposed to measuring success in your gift to
others," he explained. "I do not want to get caught up in the
materialistic values of life or the vanity of life. 
 
"What I really brought back is this desire to need less, to want  less,"
he said. "What we take as a normal dinner here, for instance, would feed
four people down there." 

# # #

*This story was provided by Disaster News Network, which can be visited
online at http://www.disasternews.net .
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