Monday, September 30, 2002 Online Edition 37

Home For Little Hondurans Is Big Work For American Couple

Children at social risk find a loving home in Hogar Emmanuel

By LYNN CHOTOWETZ

Life inside the orange brick church is constant on Sunday mornings. Hundreds of small, dark faces line the pews. In front stands David, keys dangling from his blue-jeans, his short-sleeved shirt unbuttoned at the collar.

His booming voice fills the room and carries through the open windows into the empty forest that surrounds. As he ends a story of his time in the Vietnam War, he slips on his large, gold-rimmed glasses to read a passage from the bible. “Just like teachers test their students,” he preaches, “God gives us tests.” But, he roars after a silent moment, are we tough enough to prove we can handle what he’s asking us to do?

After the army and a job as a meat market manager in California, it took David a vacation in Honduras to hear what God was asking him to do. “At night (my wife and I) went out in the street and talked to the kids - the majority of them were sniffing glue to sleep better and cure their hunger pains,” he said. “We asked them, if they could ask God for something, what would they ask? They had many answers, but most said a home with a father and a mother.”

Fifteen years later, David and his wife Lydia are the founding managers of Orphanage Emmanuel in Guaimaca, Honduras. A collection of tidy brick classrooms, playgrounds, dorms, and kitchens, Emmanuel spreads over 900 acres and, depending on the day, is home to nearly 375 kids.

Gloria Salinas, with The Honduran Institute For Children and Family, says Honduras’ unadoptable kids are sent to Emmanuel. Some of those are orphaned or abandoned, but the majority have been removed from highly abusive situations.

Seated at a picnic table with the lenses of his gold glasses dimming in the bright sunlight, David recalls the early days of Emmanuel. “Our first child was 1 year old,” he says. “His step-father beat him and left him with 13 body fractures. He spent six months in a body cast where all you could see was his eyes.” That boy is still at Emmanuel. “He’ll be turning 14 years old on November 21st,” says David. “He’s a bright little boy.” With estimates of over 4000 street kids in Honduras, demand for space at the orphanage never lets up. “The government is constantly bringing us children,” says David. “Even though things here may get crowded, they’re better off here than on the street.” Walking the path of gravel that links Emmanuel’s buildings and play-areas, Carl Wilkey, a volunteer from Tennessee, is swarmed by boys at every step. His towering frame casts a shadow over them as he hugs the young ones and delivers playful swats to the older ones.

After two years here Carl is known by everyone and is the friendly watchman of the boys’ dorms. Dorm curfew begins at 7:30 p.m., and is marked by the appearance of neat rows of rubber boots, white runners, and suede loafers lined outside dorm doors. But the exterior peace deceives the muffled jungle inside.

In the largest of the dorms, more than 70 stubble-headed boys, wearing only underwear and T-shirts, swing from their bunkbeds and wrestle on the floor. When Carl enters for his early-evening inspection, cheers of “Eh, Carlos,” ring through the building. Some ask if Carl will return their confiscated T.V. for tomorrow’s football match, others ask if he’ll be opening the gym so they can play their own game.

When the inspection is through and Carl is walking in the quiet night to the staff kitchen for supper, he is asked if the boys cause him much grief. “Nah,” he replies softly, “they’re just boys. You know how that goes.”

Though most of Emmanuel’s volunteers stay for six months, and some over five years, David says his unpaid staff is overworked. In the early years he contracted help from nearby Guaimaca, but as the young orphans grew up, they began to take care of each other. Today much of the necessary discipline and care-taking is done by the senior kids. 20-year-old Nolby came to Emmanuel as a child. Today she cooks and cleans for the younger kids. When asked how long she’ll stay, she smiles shyly as she shrugs and turns away. “Some of the kids don’t want to leave,” says David.

Despite extra duties, classroom attendance remains mandatory. Regardless of age, completion of primary school is required at Emmanuel. And beyond that, “we take each case individually,” David says.

Classrooms were built at Emmanuel six years ago after trouble arose with the orphans attending schools in Guaimaca. “They were mocked in town,” says David. “I thought, the kids don’t need to put up with this.” So he began teaching them himself in what he calls “a dilapidated old barn.” Today, all classes are held on the grounds.

As kids keep coming, David says Emmanuel keeps trying to make room. Funding for new projects comes mainly from church groups or private donors in the U.S. and Denmark, and much of the work is done by mission teams who travel to Emmanuel. The results of a recent mission project are obvious upon first arrival on the grounds. Next to the entrance gate on the dirt road leading to town, sits the Emmanuel bakery and store. Marked by Emmanuel’s signature orange brick exterior, the bakery is staffed by senior girls who also do the baking. Carl says the store teaches the kids real-world skills. “We might not make a dime,” he says. “But at least the kids are learning.”

Back leaning on the picnic table David says, “Our main vision is that (the kids) not be a parasite or a gang member, but be a role model and make a difference to other kids.” Then his walkie-talkie screeches for his attention, and David gets up to attend to the day’s duties.

As he stands, a 4-year-old boy, the size of a 2 year old, carrying a bag of colored, plastic dinosaurs runs across the path and grabs David’s leg. Picking him up David says, “Now, you’re all right aren’t ya Georgie.” Gripping his dinosaurs with both hands, Georgie nods silently, and the two walk down the hill to see who needs attending. David and Lydia Martinez and the rest of the Orphanage Emmanuel staff can be reached via their website www.lee-scott.org/~cdavellis.




A Catracho in Manhattan, 8:30 a.m., Sept.11, 2001

BY JORGE FLORES McCLELLAN

Let’s call him Roy. His sister, a full-blooded Honduran, was naturalized as a U.S. citizen, and once worked in the FBI and the DEA. Now, by choice, she is pursuing her lifelong dream of becoming a movie star. She appeared once in Silk Stalkings, a trendy detective T.V. show of the 90’s and another time in the famous series E.R. in a minor role. Roy’s brother is a dentist, also a naturalized U.S. citizen and soon to be an Official FIFA soccer referee. And his mother is a Honduran who, for twenty years has lived and worked in the U.S. cleaning houses, apartments and offices, and now runs a cleaning service. Roy’s father is a successful businessman here in Teguz. Needless to say, they are all honest and hardworking. They are as sturdy a folk as you can find. Roy comes and goes. He spends some time here and some in the U.S. He helps his mom knowing he isn’t supposed to work until he becomes a resident. He uses a pseudonym to avoid hassles. And, you guessed it he likes to work hard. On September 11, 2001 Roy was on his way to work with his mother cleaning apartments at 375 Battery Park, a forty-story building one block from the World Trade Center.

TAKE THE #1 SUBWAY TO GROUND ZERO
Roy is almost six feet tall with a stocky build. He is brown skinned with fine features and has a disarming demeanor and smile. He says that in the States he passes for Hindu, Puerto Rican, Middle-Eastern and sometimes as a Central American. He is very friendly by nature and tells his riveting story showing the photo album of his work from before the attack. He uses hand gestures and expressive body language to emphasize the story but always looks at you straight in the eye. This is no tall tale.

At 8:30 a.m. Roy and his mom were heading towards the WTC complex on the subway. He explains how they had always got off at Cortland Station and almost always used the pedestrian bridges to get to their destinies. Or how sometimes they would change routes when traffic was heavy. But this time, the train was late and then stopped. “Right on time too,” he jokes with a sad look in his eyes. The voice on the P.A. said they would have to walk to the next station. Roy and his mom didn’t worry because this was not so unusual, but he felt queasy. There was a hush and a tense peace in the air. Apparently, some passengers were aware of “the fire” because they were listening to their radios or talking on cell phones. So Roy and his mom got off and came out on the street at Chambers Station. “When I came out of the subway stairs, I saw that people were looking up at something behind me. Some were talking on their phones, most were just standing there, gawking. I turned around and saw first the unusually beautiful blue sky and then, I saw the flames. Both buildings were already hit.” “I saw this guy I knew and asked him: What? He just said a helicopter had crashed. But God said to me, no, this was terrorism. I repeated to my mom it was terrorism and she said, ‘No way! I’ve lived here for twenty years and that is just plain nonsense. Let’s go to work.’”

Roy and his mom started walking to their building of that day located next to the Hudson River. He says he saw only about five or ten policemen trying to get some order, asking people to leave. Then he saw that more and more patrol cars and fire trucks were arriving. Again he told his mom that they should leave but she insisted they continue. “Man,” he says, “I can still smell the jet fuel smoke. I remember paper and debris floating down everywhere. Mom kept walking in but I insisted. Policemen were now rushing to the scene in hoards, putting on their masks and telling people to leave. Mom then said, “OK, let’s go. When we turned back, I saw the policemen and firemen up close, just as I am standing here in front of you, looking into your eyes.” With tears barely showing and with a controlled choke in his throat, Roy remembers: “I saw their faces crystal clear. Those guys were rushing past me to die.” By this time he had heard the news about the Pentagon and the other plane. At a distance that Roy felt was safe he stopped and looked up. “Soy un poco choco. I am a bit near-sighted, but I could see...people jumping. Some flayed their arms but most didn’t. It was weird how they just fell. I told mom people are jumping out but she wouldn’t believe it. She is more nearsighted than I am so she didn’t see it until later on TV. They were hanging from those steel beams and then...how can I explain to you how watching that feels, man?”

People were now moving away faster so they kept walking. Roy turned back. “From where we were standing, at the corner of Warren and South, we could see the hardest hit corner on WTC 2. Suddenly, the building started ripping apart like a zipper. It was falling in our direction. I could see men and women being swallowed by the dust. To me it looked like the cloud was a billowing horrible face with huge arms engulfing everything. I’m telling you, I saw the devil’s eyes in it. I pulled my mom to a running pace. She is sixty but looks forty.” He shows a picture from the album. “We ran and ran. By God’s grace we didn’t even get dusty. But the noise, hombre, it wasn’t a noise, it was a growling rumble you hear with your bones and guts.”

ALIEN THOUGHTS
When asked about the effect of his looks as a foreigner, Roy says that after walking 96 city blocks home that fateful day, one woman from a crowd came up to him and screamed “We should kill you all, mother...!” “She was obviously and understandably distressed like the whole country, man. Anyone can react that way. What I didn’t like was the look one policeman was giving us Latinos at La Guardia airport on my way home not long after the attack. He had this scowl on his face and a look of true hate in his eyes. The rumors of a war must have altered this man with the gun. He passed me by, but on the plane I asked the three Mexicans who had been taken to another room by him, what had happened with the guy. They said that he told them he didn’t want to see them at that airport again or he would personally smash their faces. I asked them if they had taken down his badge number. They just shrugged their shoulders. I’m sure that that kind of thing will scare many people from going back.”

OSAMA’S UNEXPECTED LEGACY
Roy continues vehemently: “Vos! It is true what they say. Your life flashes by you in seconds in a situation like that. In my case, I saw all of the bad things I had done like drinking and wasting time and other vices. In a second, I realized striving for money, nice cars and all that is nothing. When you die, you take nothing. Here look.” He opens his wallet and shows that he only carries three one-dollar bills. There are no lempiras. “This is what I had at that moment. I carry nothing more. Now, I feel for other things. I thank God for saving my mom and me and value life above anything else.” After a moment of silence and a sigh, Roy looks up and explains. “Listen, here in Honduras, on several occasions I myself have saved lives without thinking. My wife can tell you. I’m not trying to brag. But now, after God saved us from this, I feel like we are even. I saved lives selflessly and God spared us in His grace and that’s it for me.”

Then, Roy slowly straightens up, stands tall, looks right in the eyes again and says: “Nah, after this, I still have to do a lot more good.”

For comments write to jfloresmc@lycos.com
 

Monday, September 23, 2002 Online Edition 36

Hondurans Welcome Their Second Local Film

By LYNN CHOTOWETZ

Honduras may never be a match for Hollywood, but its getting a head start anyway. On the heels of this year’s successful “first Honduran movie” - “Almas de la Media Noche” - Hondurans are being treated to their second homegrown film - “Anita: La Cazadora De Insectos”.

Directed by debut filmmaker Hispano Duron, “Anita” made its premier in Tegucigalpa last Thursday and opened in theaters in San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba on Friday. The film is based on the book written by Honduran Roberto Castillo.

“I thought, this is a great story to make a movie because of the subject, which is a Honduran family,” says Duron. “(Anita) is a story of the middle-class Honduran family. I was impressed by how realistically the family was portrayed.”

“Anita” tells the tale of a teenage girl, named Anita, whose beauty and popularity are unable to hide her from major problems, problems Duron says are typical in his country. “Fathers not being understanding of their children’s problems; a professor abusing one of his students. These are aspects of our reality,” he says. “I’m not expecting to make a comprehensive portrait of our society, but some of the aspects are portrayed in the film.”

The character of Anita is played by actress Marcela Flores, who, along with most of her supporting cast, made her debut performance in the film. Preserving its authentically Honduran title, Duron says the entire “Anita” cast is made of local actors.

In fact, the only non-Honduran aspect of the films production is its funding. And that, says Duron, was out of necessity. “It was more than I expected,” he says, referring to the films production costs. Due to a lack of financial support for art and culture in Honduras, Duron says he was forced to turn to a company in the Netherlands that supports cultural projects to pay for the shooting costs.

In a country not known for its desire to use art and media for critical self-analysis, Durón is confident in what amounts to holding a mirror up before his audience. “It’s a part of our reality,” he says. “Definitely machismo is an aspect of our society.”

Duron enjoys the role of a trail-breaker, and says, “I can imagine many institutions changing the way they think about movie making in Honduras.” After playing in the country’s three major markets, Duron says the movie will open up elsewhere in Honduras and will possibly be the first to venture outside the country’s borders. “We will try,” he says of the international test, “but we don’t know what will happen.”

“I really want viewers to come see the movie and judge the movie - criticize,” he says. “Because we know we have to improve our film making. The opinions of viewers will be very useful.”

For more information on “Anita: La Cazadora De Insectos” or to contact Duron visit www.anitalacazadora.com.


Art Therapist Introduces Herself To Honduras

By JAKOMIJN THEUNISSEN
Special To Honduras This Week

A Dutch couple donated money to Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos (NPH) and wanted them to spend it on creative projects. They asked the NPH office in Holland to look for an Art Therapist to help the children with their emotional well-being. And that is how I got here. My name is Jakomijn Theunissen, and last year I finished my Art Therapy degree in Holland. I have been in Honduras since January, 2002 and will continue my work here for 13 months.

The emotional difficulties facing Honduran children are substantial - hard work and school take precedence over personal development. Life is heavily based around learning how to survive and making a living. The significance of creativity often means making things that can be sold which look neat and perfect.

Several children in my program have surprised me with their ability to copy things; with something in front of them they draw beautiful pictures. However, originality, freedom of imagination, and expression from the heart is a foreign language to most of them, a language which was perhaps never taught.

For me, art therapy is mainly about finding the true creativity in a child.

If a child can develop her creative expressions, she will grow to sense more of the uniqueness of her personality. The child can grow into a self-confident individual and learn about her desires and capabilities.

The children come to me for one-on-one therapy. Some never showed up because the word “therapy” scared them, others are very enthusiastic and love receiving personal attention. While working with the children, I ask them to be self-reflective and to take a good look at what they have made along with their actions. I have noticed they have not learned to be self-reflective; therefore my questions are very basic and non-confrontational.

The majority of the children that see me have behavioral problems or issues with self-expression. For instance, I work with a girl who has selective mutism and stopped speaking many years ago. Although she tries very hard, she has a difficult time expressing herself through painting and drawing. During therapy I show her various ways to use the materials to stretch her capacity to express herself. After an hour of sweating it, she is usually proud of what she has accomplished, and with hand signs she motions to me to hang her paintings on the wall. This is something I always respond to because being seen is the first step towards being heard.

I believe that there is a creative source in every individual and through expressing this creativity our lives will be greatly enriched. Art is a part of life that perhaps we are not even aware of. Have you ever listened to a song that moved you? Or seen a beautiful composition and somehow felt transcended? This is that creative source being stirred inside you - listen to it.

Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos is a charitable organization providing orphaned and abandoned children in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean with shelter, food, clothing, health care, and education in a Christian family environment, for more information please visit www.nphhonduras.org. The author is a volunteer staff member.

Monday, September 16, 2002 Online Edition 35

U.S. Embassy Honors The Memory Of Hondurans Lost On Sept. 11

Vice-President Williams (right) speaks at the U.S. embassy on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Families (background) of the 4 Honduran victims were honored on stage.

By LYNN CHOTOWETZ

Tegucigalpa is over 2000 miles from New York, but in a minute of silence on September 11, 2002 the two cities were joined in a vigil honoring the victims of the terror attacks in the U.S. one year earlier. At 8:46 a.m. gatherers at the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, along with Embassies around the world, stood silent to mark the exact moment the first of two hijacked planes crashed into New York’s World Trade Center.

Four Hondurans were killed in the attacks: Helen Garcia de Cook, Digna Alexandra Rivera de Constanza, Griselda Garo de James, and Claudia Martinez de Foster. Their families were honored at the commemoration ceremony, and a plaque of remembrance was presented to them on behalf of the U.S..

Vice-President Vicente Williams was in attendance, and beneath the blazing sun delivered a speech to the crowd of over 200 seated in the Embassy’s open compound. President Ricardo Maduro’s two daughters attended in his place. Maduro was in Nahuaterique to mark the 10 year anniversary of the El Salvador border dispute resolution, which coincides with the day of the terror anniversary.

U.S. embassies around the world were under high alert on the anniversary. U.S. security officials said they had observed credible evidence of threats, including terrorist “chatter” similar to that recorded by surveillance immediately preceding last year’s attacks. Threats in Asia and Mid-Eastern countries were described as much higher than that in Latin America, and U.S. Embassies in Malaysia and Indonesia were closed for the day.

In New York, with the Statue of Liberty as his backdrop, U.S. President George W. Bush delivered a speech on Wednesday from Ellis Island. Bush commented on the difficulty created by the attacks for all Americans, and described the year since as a period of adjustment, “of coming to terms with the difficult knowledge that our nation has determined enemies, and that we are not invulnerable to their attacks.” Bush reminded U.S. citizens of the pledge made to honor the victims, and told them the best commemoration they can give is “a world of liberty and security made possible by the way America leads, and by the way Americans lead our lives.”

Bush is currently working to gather world support for aggressive removal of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. As the September 11 anniversary recalls vivid images of the acts of terrorists - a term Bush has often applied to Hussein - Bush is using the emotional charge to lend momentum to his case against Iraq. In an Oped article published in the New York Times this September 11, Bush called upon the U.S.’s allies to “confront the growing threat of regimes that support terror, seek chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.”

“The consequences of inaction,” he wrote, “ could be catastrophic.”




Long Live The Independence!

By K J Padilla.

These hopeful and beautiful words should remain present in the minds of those who have tasted the flavour of boundaries or slavery. No matter how modern we are, or try to be, or how much we’ve fought to make a statement, we’ll realize that along the way, if we stand firm, we might end up winning or having what we struggled for. But we should never forget there’s always a price to pay for it. Honor and remembrance should be given to those who believe and fight for their cause.

These are the thoughts of a philosopher at any given time in history. This need of freedom, that might be seen as a rebellious act in a society, has made people from all over the world and in different times in history, beginning with Jesus Christ, to generate changes that have established strong statements throughout the world’s history.
This month of September Central American people are celebrating their independence from the domains of the Spanish Crown. 181 years have past, and along the way many things have been gained and others have been lost.

THE FIRST RAISING ACTS
In 1811 different acts of rebellion were manifested in San Salvador, Granada and Leon, this took place due to the troops that had been sent from Guatemala. Tarracena Arriola, a history writer, warned that these happenings were those of an autonomist character, and that if their focus were to be judged, it would be defined as a pro-independent act that contributed to darken its knowledge. It all seemed to indicate that the elite and the urban groups acted to avoid what they considerated an usurpation of legitimacy. The riot of Tegucigalpa, the conspiration in Comayagua, and other acts that took place in other places led to the desired independence.

TOWARDS THE INDEPENDENCE
The victory of the Irrigation of Spain in 1820, and the consecutive reestablishment of the 1812 Cadiz liberal Constitution that refrained the absolutism of Fernando VII, motivated America to reconsider the convenience of maintaining a boundary with the metropolis.

This worried the people involved in two aspects: on one hand it meant to loosen the power on the main Cities’ Halls decisions (for, according to the Constitution, local elections should be held) and, on the other hand, the fact of having to confront an independent movement of popular character, such as the raising of the black slaves in Haiti between 1784 and 1804 (that reached an independence and destroyed the prosperous system of great sugar plantations) or the sublabation of mestizos and Indians led by Hidalgo and Morelos en la Nueva Espana in 1810.

The Iguala Plan proclaimed in Mexico by Agustin Iturbide, accelerated the independence of Central America: September 15, 1821, an unilateral decision to proclaim the emancipation was taken on behalf of the powerful Creole families of the City of Guatemala and the high Spanish authorities that lived there.

The writing of the Act of Independence was assigned to the Honduran Attorney and colonist public functionary, Mr. Jose Cecilio Del Valle. A provisional government was nominated, presided by the General Captain Gabino Gainza, this attitude reflected the continuity and spirit of the process. The members of the elite society of Guatemala were represented by the Aycinena family, who at the time consolidated their position by occupying the best working places of the government.

AND SO, HONDURAS AND THE REST OF CENTRAL AMERICA HAILED:
LONG LIVE THE INDEPENDENCE!

Monday, September 9, 2002 Online Edition 34

Honduran Designer Writes Of Her Experience

By INDIRA MARTINEZ

In the world of shoes due to the family environment, my father posses an experience of more than 40 years in the shoe business. He has incursion in all the fields in the shoe industry.

For the most part, Honduran shoe production is at the handicraft level. Its strong point is the state of ‘handicraft’ but design and techniques of manufacturing have to be improved. They can find a world market for their product once they cue in on the personalized production of the shoe.

Taking advantage of world economical flow, we know that mass production is gone, and we now have entered “personalization” of products and services. Everything will be produced in the measure of demand.

Growing up in my father’s environment, he gave me the opportunity to take a course in “Shoe Technology” in the city of Leon Guanajuato, Mexico, at a well-known institute. It was there that I officially entered the shoe world. The course in Mexico covered technology, and productivity administration of shoes. A whole new world opened up to me in this theme. I was part of a blooming industry, and the motivation was greater as I returned to Honduras.

I came to work with my sister who is also a designer, in the company she founded and with much success dedicated herself to designing, manufacturing, and marketing of shoes at national level.

Here I worked in the technical area of design and development of the product. Then came about starting up small family companies with much success, and in each I contributed the best of my talent, working as a team with my family on everything from: shoe souls, heels, shoe parts semi-processed, wood platforms and on the different techniques of ‘leather tanning’. As a variant, and product of the ability with the techniques, my father creates miniatures of shoe trees and shoes.

Four years ago I had the opportunity to cover a complete course in design, modeling, and manufacturing in the city of Elda, Alicante, Spain. From that experience I work on line of casual shoes both for women and men. I returned to my country and presented two collections - 2000 - I marketed them through my store. Part of this collection is Honduran made, and the other came from Spain, but, both are my creations

Presently I’m back in my country next to my family developing a project of technical assistance, and counseling for design and modeling of shoes. Providing national manufactures with shoe components, who will then have support to further improve quality.



An Escape From Terror Remembered

Special for Honduras This Week honoring the one-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S..

By ROGER MCFALLON

On that fateful day September 11, “A date that will live in infamy” 51 year-old Michael Hingson, blind since birth, was at work in his office in the North Tower of the world Trade Center. A district sales manager for Quantum ATL, a California company, Michael markets equipment which, ironically, provides data-tape back-up libraries for disaster recovery.

“Obviously being blind I use some different tools. I use a dog to get around and sometimes I’ll use a cane,” said Hingson. “I write some material in Braille and use a computer and a calculator that talk. Where you might drive a car, I use a car service or rely on buses and trains,” he said in an interview. He also has an extraordinary guide dog, Roselle, a female yellow Labrador retriever, who had been his guide dog for only nine months.

The first terrorist-piloted plane crashed into Tower One at 8.43a.m. Hingson remembered, “There was an incredible explosion, then the building shook violently. I remember thinking, God, don’t let the building tip over.” Fire raged on the upper floors and debris fell. Hingson’s first thought was to get out of the building, “I knew where the stairwells were. There were guests in the office ... I made sure they went out first.”

Hingson phoned his wife Karen, and then he and Roselle left the office, went to the stairwell and started their descent from the seventy-eighth floor, “Roselle did a tremendous job,” said Hingson. “She is from Guide dogs for the blind, in San Rafael, California, which is one of the larger schools in the country that trains these animals. They do the best they can to acclimatize them to adverse conditions,” Hingson explained.

“Obviously she hadn’t trained for the terrible circumstances we faced, but she knew how to cope with noise; she knew how to deal with different stressful things. She guided me down the stairs... I worried, I didn’t hear the second plane hit, but knew that something had happened. We figured that a plane had hit the building because I could smell - we could all smell - jet fuel fumes. So we knew there was something going on... There were many people going down the stairs, especially when we got down to the levels around floor 40 and so on.”

Asked if, being blind, he feared he would fall as sighted people pushed by him, Hingson said, “No, I wasn’t so concerned about that. I stayed on the right hand side. There was plenty of room for people to pass if they wanted to, and some did. We cheered the firemen and the police and those who went upstairs. We were very concerned for them. We slapped them on their backs. They were being encouraging. ‘Do you need help?’ ‘Are you okay?’ They would ask us...’is somebody with you? Don’t worry, you’ll get out okay. Just don’t be scared. Just keep going, you’re going to do fine.’ “

Michael’s concern for the firefighters and police was well founded, the temperature in top part of the North Tower was reaching 1,000 degrees.

That heat was working its way through the stairwells each time a door opened while people attempted to escape and Michael guessed the temperature had reached over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Hingson was soaked with sweat and Roselle was panting and laboring with her breathing.

It took Roselle almost one hour to guide Michael down the 78 floors to the lobby. They had to go through water, because the sprinklers had activated. The dog had to find her way through much debris; sharp shards of glass and steel, which cut her paws badly. On some of the upper floors the smoke was thick and stinging. The smell of kerosene was everywhere. Eventually they reached the main World Trade Center concourse. From there firefighters escorted them from the building.

“I didn’t know the second tower had been hit. I knew there was fire in both towers. We got about two blocks away, and then Building Two started to collapse. Several us ran for cover into a subway station...covered with glass and soot and other kinds of debris. Then we got out of the subway and a couple of blocks further, Building One collapsed.”

Michael Hingson has experienced earthquakes, when he lived in California, but this was... “Much worse. It’s not fun being at the epicenter. We got out twenty minutes before Building Two collapsed.” Owner and dog tired and sore after their ordeal nursed cuts and bruises and rested. The dog, distressed, lay panting heavily, her throat scratched by jet-fuel fumes “Roselle has been sleeping a lot since then,” said Hingson.

Asked what he would remember of that nightmare descent. Michael shook his head sadly and took a moment while he breathed in deeply. His voice trembled as he explained that he would never forget the bravery of the firefighters and police. In their last moments on earth as they rushed up the stairs that everyone else was struggling to get down, they would ask us “Do you need help...?”

Michael Hingson now serves as National Spokesman for Guide Dogs For The Blind.

The author interviewed Hingson shortly after the September 11 attacks.

A Friend To Honduras Is Missed

By MIRIAM J. REHILL

A long time resident of Tegucigalpa died Friday, August 2, 2002 at his home in Delta, Colorado. During his 25 years in Honduras Donald F. Bridwell was employed by Brown and Root, attached to “Caminos”. He supervised the construction of the North Coast highway, which joined San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa. Later he worked for U.S.A.I.D. until he retired in the 1980s.

He is survived by his wife, Janice, who taught first grade for many years at Tegucigalpa’s American School, three children - Don Jr., Linda, and Jimmy - and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Both Don and Janice served as presidents of the U.S. American Association, a social/patriotic club in Honduras, and were very active in the Union Church. Don was chairman of the church board for many years. He was also well known and loved in the Ham Radio Club of Honduras.

 

Entrepreneur Weaves His Magic On The Bay Islands

By SANDRA SAMPAYO

ROATAN, Bay Islands - Eldon Hyde, a prominent businessman on Roatan, recently launched Magic FM, a radio station dedicated to providing listeners with music from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

With its wide range of hits, the radio station, which can be found on 107.7 FM reaches a market that has not been catered to in the past. The amount of listeners tuning in to Magic FM is increasing daily.

Eldon Hyde also owns Sun 107.1 FM, a radio station that is very popular with the younger members of the community. In creating Magic, he wanted to cater to people who enjoy listening to the music from the past. “I was really surprised at how many people came to see me after we launched Magic FM, and if I had known that there was such an enormous need, I would have done this a lot sooner,” said Eldon.

Connie Silvestri, one resident and businessperson on the island, said she has not touched the dial since tuning in to Magic FM. “I love the station, it plays all of my favorites and I have noticed that even customers who come in to the office are starting to tap their feet and sing along to the tunes.”

That is the beauty of the new radio station, it appeals to everyone. Although first targeted to an age-group of 30-plus, Eldon and Roberto, the station manager, have found there is an increasing amount of 20 year olds tuning in.

“Although there will be advertising on the station in the future, our aim with Magic FM is to ensure that we provide more music and less talk, which is what our listeners have told us that they want,” said Eldon.

The owner of Magic FM is a good example of how listening to your customers produces better results. Companies, who spend a little time trying to understand what their clients need, and then catering to those needs, are the ones who will always come out on top. Eldon Hyde is also the owner of Roatan's most successful supermarket, Eldon's Supermarket in French Harbour.
 

Monday, September 2, 2002 Online Edition 33

Efforts to Promote Traditional Music receive support in Tegucigalpa

By IXCHEL GRANADA

Tegucigalpa - Members of Grupo Musical Autoctono Caramberos de Nueva Celilac performed this week at Casita del Pueblo in downtown Tegucigalpa. The performance was one of a series of concerts given to promote authentic Honduran music. Many traditions in Central America face extinction due to loss of cultural ties, immigration, and greater influence from Western culture.

The instruments played by the members include the Guitar, Maracas, Guiro, Sacabuche and the Caramba.

The Caramba is an instrument made of local plants, known as jicaro and cablote, and animal materials, such as entrails and strings made of intestinal lining's. The Caramba’s strings are plucked, similar to a bass, and the sound is similar to the dijereedoo of Australia. The Caramba is a traditional instrument of the Lenca, an indigenous group primarily located in the states or departamentos of Intibuca and Gracias, Lempira in the western part of Honduras. The Lenca have been playing this instrument since the culmination of their civilization prior to the Spanish arrival.

This particular group is made up of five members, Evin Daria Vasquez, on the Guitar, Nelson Aguilar on the Guiro and Maracas, Jose Claudio Ventrua on the Caramba, Mario Antonio Guillen also on the Caramba, and Carlos Rivera on the Sacabuche. They have been together as a group since 1982, playing music native to Honduras, folkloric music native to their hometown of Nuevo Celilac, as well as, traditional music from Mesoamerica.

The musicians compose their own music and play a variety of styles, such as rancheros, punta - an indigenous style from the North Coast - and merengue.

The township of Nuevo Celilac in Santa Barbara has organized a town fair where several bands will play Caramba and Marimba - another traditional instrument of Honduras. Colorful handicrafts made of tusa, or cornhusks, will also be sold at the fair.

The fair will be held the 28th and the 29th of September in Nuevo Celilac.

Young Honduran Finds Her Voice In Writing

By LYNN CHOTOWETZ

“What is nothing?” asks a young girl with a simple smile and a quiet voice. “Nothing is everything you don’t perceive,” she says, answering herself.

Conversations with Fernanda Lopez are like that. Her innocent face and soft delivery cause you to pause when she asks you a question. Maybe a little embarrassed because you don’t know how to answer the 13-year-old sitting across the table, hands folded in her lap, looking right at you with dark, interested eyes.

Such is also the case with her poetry. At 13 she is able to symbolize the world in a way that would make many adults blush of inferiority. Her book, “The Illusion of Nothing,” released this month is a collection of Fernanda’s poems written over the past two years.

On the book’s back cover Fernanda comments on her writing. “Though the concepts may have been developed by my living in Honduras,’’ she writes, ‘‘the mentality that is questioned is universal.” The daughter of Spanish speaking parents, Fernanda says she never considered writing her poems in any language other than English. “Everyone has a certain language that they think in,” she says. “English is the language I think in.”

Expectedly, Fernanda says many people can’t understand a 13-year-old’s interest in the social and political issues commented on in her writing. People perceive Fernanda’s age as a sign of inexperience, as a lack of the authoritative voice necessary to convince a reader or make him truly question the world around him, but Fernanda disagrees.

She says simple things in life, regardless of age, can be seen as a metaphor for something larger and more implicating. “Like kids cheating in the classroom,” she says. When wrongs are committed on a small scale, “they think it’s no big deal. The same things are going on in the government,” she says.

Despite the fact that most 13-year-old’s are too consumed by popularity and music videos to consider broad concepts of the world, Fernanda insists she’s no different from her friends at the American School of Tegucigalpa. “Maybe more morally conscious,” she says. “When you’re more aware of what you are doing you become aware of what others are doing.”

Her teachers, several of which attended the celebration for her book release at the Clarion Hotel on August 23, say Fernanda’s writing is well known. In the book’s Foreword, Robert Butcher, Chair of the school’s English Department writes, “For a time I heard of her through student rumors about a poet prodigy, and then later her English and Science teachers began to tell me about the impressive poetry she wrote.” Word spread fast, and Fernanda’s talent has become a bragging right for the school.

Despite the hype, Fernanda remains comfortable in herself. The poet and the girl are inseparable, and it will be a pleasure to watch them grow.