Oscar Romero Disappeared by the Right...Again

I know I have not posted anything for such a long time, but I wanted to share this video. My community recently returned from El Salvador for the 30th anniversary of Oscar Romero's martyrdom. For the first time in 30 years the anniversary will be recognized by the Salvadoran government, however the Texas Board of Education thinks Romero is't worth remembering. This is a sad and comical.
In other news, things here are going well. Another, more updated, entry will be filed soon. Thanks for your patience.

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First Days of Class

This past week I started giving Enlgish classes at school. My first class of Technical English went really. The kids are older, in tenth grade. I spoke almost entirely in English, and believe it or not they pretty much unterstood everything I said, with a little help from other students. I felt like the first day of class with them went so well. That is until day two. Only four out of thirty-five students did their homework and two of them copied off each other. It was really dissapointing. I let them know how dissappointed I was too. Hopefully the next class they will step up. Other than that things are going well. The little kids are loving the songs and children´s stories I´ve been reading to them. My mom brought down a Dora the Explorer book in English and Spanish. The kids love that and they are already picking up on the English parts.

The Change They Needed?

This may be a big surprise to most readers in the United States, but the situation in Honduras has not been resolved like the media has been reporting. In fact, it is quite the contrary.
Today I had the honor and priviledge of hearing from a Honduran journalist who has been exiled in Nicaragua. He was escorted out of Honduras, by human rights groups protecting his life, after four of his coworkers were assasinated and he was detained and tortured by military personel for 36 hours straight. They beat him on the bottom of his feet, his stomach, and his testicles. They essetionally waterboarded him by putting him under a chair and pouring water down his nose and mouth until near drowning. The strangled him with a wire. The stories he told were horifying and moved many to tears.
The military tortured him because they believed he was part of an armed resistance movement. This was not true. He has been one of the few journalist who has been able to get information out about what is really happening.
Honduras, for the past 7 months has been a militarized police state with little to no constitutional rights. The military took over any media outlet speaking out against the repression and even took over the autonomous national universities. Many people think that with the recent elections and with a new president in power things will change. This journalist does not believe so. He cannot go home.
This is any interesting fact: when the Managua mayorial elections were deemed fradulent in Fall of 2008 the US cut funds for the Millenium Challenge Goals in Nicaragua. There were no deaths, repression, or human rights abuses, but an already poor country was cut of much needed funds. In contrast, in the wake of an illegal coup accompanied by nationwide curfews, military repression, and more than 130 deaths at the hands of police and military, the United States never took a strong stance against what has happened and what continues to happen. The new president is but a figurehead for the powers that control Honduras. Sadly that includes the local church and nearly all economic and political interests. I recently have reflected that Americans are often lulled into a stuper with the election of a new president. I believed Obama would change US foreign policy and bring in a new reign of change and maybe even some "justice for all," not just US. Does a new president change anything? What has happened in Honduras is frighteningly similar to what happened all over Latin American during the Cold War, when Military Dictorships were more prevalent than democracies in the hemisphere. They were not only supported by the US but often created by the US. Why are these things still happening in Latin America? Thirty years from now will someone write another Bitter Fruit about what has happened in Honduras and will we realize that the intellectual authors were not the Honduran people but rather our own government officials and that is was financed by our very own tax dollars? I hope not, but we are responsible for what our government does abroad. We must stay informed and speak out.
I invite you to watch this video. I saw it earlier today. It is all real and a testimony to the horror felt by so many Hondurans, including the journalist who realized the project before being exiled to Nicaragua. It is found on the Quixote Center website. Check out this organization. They are doing some really good work.

Repression in Honduras / Honduras Reprimido from Quixote Center on Vimeo.

If the video does not work you can find hit here.

Back to School, Oh Back to School

Yesterday was the start of Año Escolar 2010. I cannot believe it is here already. The past two months of vacation and family visits seem like an ancient dream as I get back into work-life. I´ve recently been reflecting on last year at this time. I was overwhelmed and nervous to be around so many kids and teachers and I had no idea what I was doing. Today, on the second day of class I was called to sub for a sixth grade teacher who was coming in late. From 7 until 10:30 I subbed and basically taught a Spanish and Math class. I would´ve never dreamed last year that I could do that. I even maintained relative discipline.
I have some exciting news from school. I will be teaching English to all preschoolers through fourth graders, as well as teaching a technical English class to the kids working in the auto workshop. Many technical documents and instructions are in English, so I will be teaching them how to recognize, read, and speak this technical side of English. Now, I know how to change the oil on a car. I can change a flat. But, I don´t know much about crankshafts and piston rings. I´m reminded of the joke, I think my dad tells, about the Jesuit who asks another Jesuit, "Do you have a degree in astrophysics?" The other responds, "No, I haven´t taught that yet." That´s how I feel as I take on this new task of technical English. I think it will be really fun. I already am getting closer to the staff at the workshops. They have a great teachers lounge with internet and Mexican ranchera music playing all the time. I am very happy that I have been given more responsiblity at work and I feel likeI will be able to contribute more. If anyone has advice or experience teaching this kind of English please let me know. I´d love to bounce some ideas off you.
In other news the new volunteers are settling in quite well. Community life is off and rolling. We have been having some really great conversations about our intentionality and how we can more deepen our committments to simplicity and justice. One thing we are going to do is stop shopping at the Pali right by our house. We didn´t have one last year and it´s been really tempting to shop there because it´s cheap and convenient. However, it´s owned by Wal-Mart. Two of the three supermarkets in Nicaragua are owned by Wal-Mart. We have chosen instead to support the local outdoor market and our neighbers running ventas and pulperias out of their homes. (So, not to worry generous donors, your contributions are going to support the local economy, not line the pockets of the Wal family.)
Something I´ve been thinking about recently is going home. I don´t think it´ll be as easy to live in solidarity in the US. I know solidarity certainly looked different in college and will certainly look different when I get home. What does solidarity look like for you? Also, I´ll be home in December, 10 months and pico from now. Anyone got a good job for me? Let me know.

Looking Ahead

Now that vacation and visits are winding down I have been able to step back, take a breath, and look at the coming year. Work will not be changing too much for me. However, instead of giving classes planned by other teachers, I will be giving English classes to preschool through fourth grade. Also, my friend Yamil and I are planing on starting a movie club. We hope to show a movie a week and have some kind of discussion around them. We are thinking to have a theme for every month, for example: classic movies, Latino movies, justice, race, etc. Once Yamil and I put our heads together there's no stopping the ideas. I was also just gifted a basketball, soccer ball, and even a good ol rugby ball which could open up some opportunities for playing with my students. Last year I played a lot of basketball with some of the high school students. I don't know if it will turn into a coaching position but it should be a lot of fun shootin some b-ball outside of school.
One challenge so far has been reaching out to our community in Ciudad Sandino. Our house, although beautiful and spacious, is closed off and walled in. I get the feeling that our neighbors look poorly on us or at least write us off a bit as the rich white folks who live in the house where the nuns used to live. It will be interesting to see if we can form good relationships with the people in our neighborhood. It's slow going so far. I will need to be really proactive about getting out into the community because our house is literally right across the street from school. It will be really easy to just go back and forth with minimal connection with the larger community.
So there you have it, some reflections because the work really starts and my nose is back to the grindstone. More to come sooon. Salud.

The Fam Has Arrived

It's family time here in Nicaragua. Among the four second years who are now allowed to have visitors, three of us have our families visiting at practically the same time. My parents and brother arrived last Tuesday afternoon. We spent a few days in Ciudad Sandino and Managua, taking in the sites and meeting people. We spent New Year's eve in the Ciudad Sandino house with our friends Joe and Kelly and their friend Nicki. I was really looking forward to seeing what the Ciudad had to offer on this infamous night of polvoras and bombas (fireworks and bombs). You may remember that last New Year's I posted a video of our neighbors "Burning El Viejo," well they do it in the Ciudad too. At midnight we all went out to the street to watch fireworks and a bunch of our new neighbors came up to hug and greet us with New Year's blessings. In the morning, as is a Reynolds family tradition we had a ton of friends and coworkers over for a lunch grill out. As always we threw a great party and everyone had their fill of hamburgers, hotdogs, and even brats brought directly from the brat capital of the world: Cincinnati.
The fam and I are now on the road. We have never had a vacation like this before. My parents have never been to Latin America and we've never traveled internationally together. That said, things are going very well. We went to Volcán Masaya, the Laguna de Apoyo, and are currently in the colonial city of Granada.
It's been really cool to share both the everyday side of Nicaraguan life that is my community, friends, and school and also the natural beauty of the countryside, the Nicaragua that is "the land of lakes and volcanoes." Nicaragua is such a breathtakingly beautiful country.

New Contact Info!

My new mailing address is:

Patrick Reynolds
Jesuit Volunteer Corp
APDO CS 9
Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua
C.A.