An Unwanted Milestone

April 29, 2009

Today I saw something that I never wanted to see. I was driving to the bank and as I made a left hand turn onto a road about 3 minutes from my house I noticed yellow tape and police cars and spectators. As I glanced up the road, I saw something in the middle of the road and I hoped that it was not a body. But I had a feeling that there was no such thing as a sheet to cover bodies here since the newspaper displays corpses all the time with no white sheet to cover them. I continued on my way but later called my friend who lives half a block from the crime scene because I wanted to talk to her about something else.

Much to my display it was a person that I saw laying on the road. I had been hoping it was a dog hit by a car but of course that would not have warrented police involvement. As it turns out thieves were trying to get into a house where a man was painting outside on a ladder. They shot him and drove off. Just a few days ago thieves broke into the house beside my friends' house. Evidently they are patrolling their street looking for easy access. And this is one of the reasons why so many Honduras live in fear. I can see why they say to never walk anywhere, run, or anything of the sort because at any time you could be at the wrong place at the wrong time. How to decide when and where to go? I cannot live my life cooped up inside because of constant fear. At the same time I try to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and there have been days when I have decided not to run because it just did not seem the right thing to do.

I spent some time praying for the man's family this afternoon and the grief and pain that they are sure to be experiencing. I am sure that they are asking why since it was probably not even his house. He was just doing his job. I pray that God can bring about good in their lives in spite of the pain.

On another note regarding fear, I noticed several people wearing masks today -- the type that the news shows the people of Mexico wearing. There are several suspected (but not confirmed cases) of the swine flu here in Honduras and fears seem to be mounting. At first as I read the news I was quite concerned with the prospect of this flu spreading around the world. I still hope that it does not, but I sense that the news perspective that I have been getting is a little too saturated with fear and hype. Because of less access to medication and poor living conditions perhaps such a flu here in Honduras could cause lots of sickness and death. I feel as if I was living in the United States right now, I would not be thinking much about the disease at all. I may end up experiencing the effects of living in a developing nation if this flu does prove to be an epidemic and serious problem. As I scanned an article this afternoon I noted that there is discussion about closing schools in San Pedro Sula. I just realized that if that happens it could mean no Outdoor Education program next week at camp. I was just getting excited too about this group coming and trained a girl to teach one of the classes this past Monday. I hope that the situation is not blown out of proportion and that wise and sensible measures will be taken to ensure good health for all.