A letter from Tim Wheeler in Honduras
September 2012
Dear Friends,
We are working in Honduras, one of the poorest countries in Central America. When I say one of the poorest countries, I refer not to the country itself, but it is the number of people who are suffering and are not able to reach their basic needs that stands out. People are eating beans and tortillas every day because they don’t have anything else. People are not lazy—they work very hard, often on other people's land because still the land tenure situation often means that they don’t have land themselves to plant on. As a result of the social and economic situation people cannot meet their health needs, either because they cannot afford to do so or services are too far away. Also their living conditions are such that they are more vulnerable to infections or things like Chagas' disease.
Digna is part of a community that changed its course
So in walking this road together, you as a church and we as missionaries, we are accompanying the people to change their living conditions, not as a handout but as a process in which they make the decision to improve their lives and dream about building up their future with more education and better health for their kids. This will not be done in a year, and probably not in five years, but we also dream that this change will happen little by little. We have seen change take place in people. A vivid example of this is the community of Cerro Azul, a community that changed its course.
About three years ago Tim and the mayor visited the community of Cerro Azul. The people were living on top of the mountain, with holes in their roofs, dirt floors, and kids walking in mud to carry water and to be able to go to school. Their livelihood came from working on coffee farms in the area, but they had lived in poverty for generations. It seemed like misery, and all of the stereotypes of it were being passed on from one generation to another.
The offer was made to change the situation, and they took advantage of it eventually, over a period of time. When told that they could learn to build their own houses they didn’t believe it since out of 15 families only 3 could read and write.
With your economic support, with your prayers and your direct support to our work along with their work, now each family is living in a 6-by-8-meter house with a cement floor and a roof that doesn’t leak. The change has been significant; kids are going to school. They have been able to reach a new stage of peace in their lives in which as mothers and fathers they are providing for their children as much as they can.
There is less aggressiveness among the people and more expressions of solidarity. This we can see in the case of Bartolo and Digna. They finished putting in the floor of their house. Bartolo became sick and passed away. He didn’t get to live in his new house, but Digna and their daughter did: the house that he had dreamed about for them had become a reality. People in the neighborhood helped to look after them in different ways. This is a new way of being that is taking place and you can see it on the faces of the people.
The people of Cerro Azul didn’t move that far from their previous dwellings—they only moved down the mountain. But in another sense they have moved a long way. Now, for the first time, they have their own piece of land through a process that they participated in. They have a decent house with a roof that doesn’t leak in the rainy season and a cement floor. Soon they will get electricity and running water in their homes, thanks to the mayor’s efforts. Their children can go to school. As they look out to the beautiful Honduran landscape I am sure they can see farther than ever before—to a better life for themselves, but more than that, for their children. A life with less disease, more education, and the possibility of getting paid for the skills that they learned in building their own homes. They have gained self-confidence and become a caring community able to reach out to others like Digna as a community and provide some support and comfort to her. They have become a community to receive those in need and to provide new opportunities to those who need it. Jesus cured the sick like the woman who touched him seeking help. When cured, they need a community like Cerro Azul has become to go to, to have a place of well-being in which the sorrows and joys are felt equally by all. In that sense people are living in the way of Jesus.
I wanted to share this story about Cerro Azul, and I am sharing it with people in the Peacemaking Program as we travel in the U.S. Peace has to do with creating a caring community where we all can receive and give support and comfort to others. Tim and I are involved in this type of program in Honduras, helping to build community and understanding among people as they build up their skills and self-confidence when new opportunities come their way.
Thank you for helping to make mission programs possible and for the support and prayers that you send our way. Pray too for communities like Cerro Azul and for the people who are in a process of feeling inner peace and creating outer peace around them sometimes for the first time.
Faithfully,
Tim and Gloria Wheeler
Apartado 15027, Colonia Kennedy
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
If you would like to support us, use this information:
• DMS number for Tim and Gloria Wheeler: D507280
• Write a check to: The Presbyterian Church (USA) and send it to Church Remittances Processing, P.O. Box 643678, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3678
For Individuals, for general mission support, go online to: www.pcusa.org/mission
Use the link below for giving to our sending and support
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 10
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