Dirty Politics

*Before reading please take note of the disclaimer I have on my blog, stating that these are my thoughts, and mine alone, and do not represent the views of the Peace Coprs of the United States government*

Since I arrived in Honduras last year, I haven’t seen an improvement in the political situation, other than the fact that there hasn’t been a nation-wide teacher strike for 6 months. People either support the party in power, or are still furious about the coup where the previous president from the other party was thrown out of the country.

I work at IHNFA, which is run by the government, serving families in extreme poverty all over the country. The entire staff hasn’t been paid for almost two months. The nanny I work with says that the government hopes that everyone will just quit if they’re not paid so then they can be replaced by people from the other political party. This might just be gossip, of course, but to be honest, I wouldn’t be shocked if that were the case. It’s not fair, but that’s life here. The nanny is also worried that under this government they’ll shut down the organization as a whole. That thought breaks my heart- if these kids, not just the kids at my center, but all over the country, didn’t have this place to go, they literally might not eat. For a lot of them, too, it’s an escape from a scary home life. All centers I am sure operate differently, so I can only speak for mine, which is not perfect, but considering the alternative, vale la pena. Our kids are fed, bathed, de-liced, given clothes/shoes when we have them, hugged, and now participate in classes, games, story hour, and brush their teeth! Some of these kids can’t afford to lose what IHNFA gives them. I hope the government realizes that.

On another political note….

I’ve also met so many recent high school graduates who are teachers (there is a “special” high school you can go to and graduate as a teacher) that can’t get jobs, partly because there aren’t any, and partly because they are from the wrong political party. I was talking to two young people, both graduated two years ago and haven’t had any luck. They both said the same thing, that their families are known for representing the other party, so when someone sees their family name, that’s it, they don’t even look at their resumes.

One of the biggest obstacles for the development of a country is corruption in the government. So long as people abuse power and think only for their own party rather than the people as a whole, there isn’t much that can be done.