wfn.org | Episcopal bishops' spouses build houses in Honduras

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

For more information contact:
Episcopal News Service
Kathryn McCormick
Kmccormick@dfms.org
212/922-5383
http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens
2000-059
Bishops' spouses build houses, and relationships, in Honduras
by Kathryn McCormick
     (ENS) They shoveled sand and heaved cinderblocks. They talked with
families still recovering more than a year after a storm's devastation. They
visited a clothing factory and heard about abusive conditions in other,
similar places where thousands work hard to earn a paltry wage. And they
made time to meet and play games with their young hosts, the girls who live
in Our Little Roses Home for Girls in San Pedro Sula, seat of the Diocese of
Honduras.
     In all, 21 spouses of Episcopal Church bishops spent a tightly
scheduled week in Honduras last February seeing not  only the work of the
Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief, which has been active there since
the country was overwhelmed by Hurricane Mitch in October, 1998, but a bit
of the country as well. 
     "Initially I thought we were going there just to help build houses" in
the 95-home community rising under the fund's sponsorship outside San Pedro
Sula, said Kate Smith, wife of Bishop Andrew Smith of Connecticut. "We ended
up being immersed in Honduran culture."
     The group arrived on February 5 ready to work. After Sunday worship at
the cathedral and a meeting to learn about the fund's housing project,
called "Faith, Hope and Joy," the spouses began the next day at the work
site. They would spend a total of four mornings in their weeklong stay
helping to move piles of sand, smoothing the dirt inside freshly built
houses so that cement floors could be poured, forming a chain to move
cinderblocks, and gathering pieces of wood left around the site by the busy
construction crews.
'We made friends'
     "We worked beside Hondurans of all ages," said Betty Creighton, wife of
Michael Creighton, bishop of Central Pennsylvania. "We met and talked with
the families that would occupy the homes, and we heard devastating stories
of their suffering during and after Hurricane Mitch. We spoke in halting
Spanish, and we made friends." A number of spouses noted that they were far
from the first in their dioceses to volunteer at the work site, and that
many, especially members of Episcopal Church Women, had enthusiastically
raised money for the project. Clergy spouses in the Diocese of West Texas
underwrote the cost of two houses.
     Since the project's ground-breaking last June, more than 40 houses have
been built and about 10 families have moved in. Plans are being made now for
finishing the water system and installing sewerage. Volunteers from
throughout the Episcopal Church have continued to flock to the building
site, according to a supervisor, who noted that a total of 112 had arranged
to come during February. 
     Each afternoon, after showers and a pause for lunch, the spouses made
short trips to a variety of sites to learn more about the country.
     One visit was to a maquila, a huge factory where pieces of cloth are
assembled into ready-to-wear clothing sold by U.S. chains such as the Gap,
J.C. Penney, Walmart and Old Navy. The maquilas pay very little, but many
clamor for the work in a country where the unemployment rate soars. Workers,
who start at a wage of $4 per day (with subsidies for meals and bus fare),
average about 25 years old, according to Kate Smith. 
     The spouses heard from several women who had worked in these factories,
and from Anna Reyes de Monje, a graduate of Our Little Roses who currently
serves as a monitor of four maquilas that do work for the Gap, the only
company that has such monitors. The Diocese of Honduras pays her salary, she
explained.
     Using her experience from four months of work in a maquila, where she
saw abuses including forced unpaid overtime, ever-changing rules and
frequent shifts in job assignments, and a constant threat of being fired,
she inspects factories, reports problems to the Gap. If the problems are not
fixed in a reasonable amount of time the Gap may move its operations to
another maquila.
Our Little Roses
     In another session, the spouses learned the history of Our Little
Roses, the home founded by Diana Frade, whose husband, Leo, is bishop of
Honduras. Begun in 1985 with a resolution at the diocesan convention, the
home now has 50 girls, from babies through teenagers. All the children were
at risk of abuse, have no relatives who can care for them and are from very
poor families.
     The home provides good schooling, medical care, and the support of a
warm, church-related community, Frade said. The visitors, some of whom had
brought games and other activities to the youngsters, joined with them to
play, heard the girls sing, and came away impressed by the kids. The meeting
left more than one spouse ready to find more sponsors, or simply pen-pals,
for the youngsters.
     At other times, the spouses viewed Mayan ruins and visited an
inner-city congregation whose women are active in supporting the church's
work. The local group of ECW has raised money for a number of projects and
maintains a flourishing outreach program to elderly in the parish.
     Smith, who is putting together a slide show to share with churches in
her diocese, said she hopes to raise some funds to help pay for houses in
the "Faith, Hope and Joy" project. "If we can collect and designate money
for more houses," she said, "it will free the Presiding Bishop's Fund to
allocate other money for the sewer system, which will cost about $500,000."
     Becky Parsley, wife of Bishop Henry Parsley of Alabama, called the trip
"in many ways a life-changing journey." In an article she wrote for The
Alabama Apostle, the diocesan newspaper, she described some of the people
she had met at the housing site. "After less than a week of work I felt
physically exhausted and at the same time amazed and inspired by their
energy and enthusiasm."
     She said she had been moved to see what the Episcopal Church was doing
for people in Honduras.
     Griswold pronounced the trip a success. "I found these women to be so
flexible, and very savvy," she said. "They have seen a lot about the church,
good and not so good, but they have a wisdom that stops short of cynicism."
She said that she hoped that, together, the spouses could realize and
harness the creative energy that often is seen only within their own
dioceses.
     Griswold added that because the February trip had been booked so
quickly, another spouse visit is planned for next October.
     Joining Smith, Creighton and Parsley in the group were Jane Sigloh,
chaplain of the group, plus the wives of 15 current or retired bishops. They
included: Hyde Tennis of the Diocese of Delaware, Ira Leidel of Eastern
Michigan, Nancy Persell of Chicago, Sheila Ohl of Northwest Texas, Louise
Shipps of Georgia, Nancy Hibbs of West Texas, Elizabeth Allan of Atlanta,
Hazel Kelshaw of Rio Grande, Carol Garrison of Western New York, Martha
Murphy-Cole of Central New York, Elizabeth Hart of Southern Virginia, Mary
Kelsey of Northern Michigan, Linda Rockwell of Missouri, Ann Vest of
Virginia, Suzanne Whitmore of Eau Claire, and Phoebe Griswold, wife of
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold.
--Kathryn McCormick is associate director of the Episcopal Church's Office
of News and Information.