A Changing Ireland

 

Trip to Honduras       Gerry OShea

I recently returned from a four-day visit to San Pedro Sula, the second-largest city in Honduras. I was accompanied by Vincent Collins, his wife Linda, and Patricia Alarcon Cavalie. We were representing the New York-based charity HOPe, which has a project in the region of Choloma on the outskirts of the city. All of us, except Linda, are members of the organization.

HOPe was founded in Yonkers by a group of Irish people in 1997, the 150^th anniversary of the worst year of the Irish potato famine. The members of this group, led by Pat Buckley from Killarney, felt that bemoaning the awful laissez-faire policies of the British Government, which caused the Irish disaster, was an inadequate response to the Gorta Mor tragedy.

 We looked for other ways of honoring the lives of the million or more Irish people who died from starvation or related diseases in their family huts or on the streets, or in the coffin ships during those awful years of the 1840’s –  bringing to mind John Keats’ pitiful lines in his poem “Ode to a Nightingale” “Here where men sit and hear each other groan, where but to think is to be full of sorrow.”

Hope supports a project in Choloma known as Casa Visitacion, which covers a variety of services to the poor people living in that area. They provide limited medical services, including a pharmacy, a basic dental clinic that is open three days a week and an impressive psychologist who is employed there full-time. They also deliver bags of non-perishable food to the poorest families in Choloma a few times every month.

The Casa was started by a few Irish nuns in the late 90’s. They were members of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, a Catholic religious order started in Nigeria by Sister Mary Martin. Known widely as the MMM’s, their central headquarters is in Drogheda in County Louth in Ireland.

Their website states that their goal is “to relieve suffering in areas of the greatest need.” They stress that their motivation mainly comes from Christ’s exhortations on standing with the poor in the New Testament.

HOPe is not a religious organization. We do not subscribe to any sect or religious belief system, so we don’t promote the dogmas or doctrines of any creed. Our principles are grounded in the common humanistic belief that everybody, especially children, should have a chance to grow and develop their talents.   

We work with many religious organizations, supporting them in their plans to alleviate poverty and provide education and basic healthcare as well as food and clothing for the poor and destitute.

The members of HOPe come from diverse religious and social backgrounds. Our current president, Attracta Lyndon, hails from Malahide in County Dublin and is self-employed, and Vincent Collins, a building contractor in New York, who led the trip to Honduras, serves as vice-president and comes from the small village of Castlehaven, near Skibbereen in West Cork. Elba Spangenberg, a retired school principal born in Puerto Rico, is the treasurer, and Joan Friedman, a lawyer, and housewife from New York, serves as secretary.

The foundation of HOPe can be traced to terrible hunger events in Ireland a hundred and seventy-five years ago, but the need for a helping hand in many parts of what is called the Third World is just as urgent today. As I write this, the situation in Sudan provides a major challenge because hunger and starvation are being used as weapons of war.

HOPe has reached out in support of a Maryknoll project that endeavors to provide dormitory accommodation for children who are isolated by both sides of that conflict and have no place to live.

Sister Renee Duignan was the main mover behind the development of the Casa. A proud Leitrim woman with outstanding organizational skills, she lived there with two other Sisters while they developed the building program.

In supporting her work from the beginning, HOPe members were very conversant with the gradual progress of the construction. The recent visit was Vincent and my fourth time there over the years with Vincent’s advice sought for the various stages of the construction. We came to know the Leitrim woman well and appreciated her determination and good humor. Sadly, Renee Duignan died in the order’s headquarters in Drogheda last year.

On our first day, we had a working lunch in a large room with all the staff. They explained and documented their budget for 2025, the amount needed to maintain their present level of services, with the dentist pleading that he needed an x-ray machine for his work, which he estimated would cost a whopping $18,000.

Patricia Cavalie was a vital part of these communications because she comes from Peru and, alone in our group, speaks fluent Spanish. She is also an active and respected member of the organization. Without her, we could not have made progress.

Vincent spoke for our group towards the end of the two-hour meeting, thanking the staff for their welcome and assuring them that we are very impressed by the services provided and promising that we will convey this to the other HOPe members at our November meeting in the Kerry Hall in Yonkers when continuing our financial support will be considered.

He complimented the workers for the spotless condition of all the rooms. He said that his most important message was that HOPe members, who always travel on their own dime, see their involvement as a collaboration of equals, stressing that, for us, it is a great privilege to be welcomed with open arms in Choloma.

The following morning we had a meeting with the local Catholic archbishop Michael Lenihan, a County Limerick man from Abbeyfeale. We wanted assurances that our contributions for Casa Visitacion would not become part of a diocesan pot for disbursement by the diocese. He assured us in categorical language that this would not happen.

We talked about Limerick hurling and he was very proud of the recent four-in-a-row team, but he said that when he was growing up, Cork and Tipperary dominated the hurling scene, so he and his friends were more enthusiastic about the neighboring Kerry footballers.

We traveled with the food distribution truck the following afternoon. This was the most interesting part of our visit because we listened to the stories of the nine families who qualify for this special support. Hearing about these people’s lives brought tears to our eyes, but they were not asking for pity as they make their way in atrocious living conditions.

Their housing is abysmal – mostly huts with dirt floors. Every home has hens and some have ducks. This food in addition to the local fruit, especially bananas, explains why we saw no evidence of emaciation.

We were shocked by the condition of the dirt roads with champion-size potholes throughout. It is amazing that the local authority pays no attention to the needs of these people living in the slums.

After returning to New York, we heard that Storm Sara was heading for Honduras, and we all thought of the inevitable devastation it would cause on the infamous Choloma “roads.”

 Pictured from HOPE are Vincent Collins, Linda Collins, Patricia Cavalie and myself alongside Ever Benitez (manager of Casa Visitation) and community members. 

 

Gerry O’Shea blogs at wemustbetalking.com