A Tragic Fire in Roatán

The closest I got to the beach that weekend was on the back of the motorcycle traveling between clients’ homes.

Roatán receives thousands of tourists each year but the island’s largest peak season is now, with Semana Santa (Holy Week) having just passed. From Spring Breakers to retirees, foreign tourists flock to this island off the coast of La Ceiba in larger numbers to enjoy the beautiful beaches that the island has to offer. However, my trip two weeks ago as the peak season got underway served a different purpose.

While most tourists are not able to venture off the beaten path, neighborhoods such as these are where you will find Adelante clients.

The Roatán zone from our La Ceiba Branch Office currently serves over 300 clients, many of whom invest in businesses to serve the tourism industry, while many more run businesses serving the local communities. Despite the luxurious resorts offered to incoming guests, many locals continue to suffer in poverty. One such woman is Adeline.

Adeline is a proud and bold woman who raised eight children on her own and has had two grandsons, 12 and 13 years old, in her care since they were very young. The difficult economic situations she has faced prevented her from being able to learn to read and write and laments that there simply was not enough money to send her children to secondary school.

Adeline is a native of Roatán–a Caribbean island known for beautiful beaches and expensive resorts. The poverty that her and many other natives of the island suffer from is often left unseen.

As a native to the island, Adeline is a native English speaker but also speaks Spanish. With greater migration into the island from mainland Honduras, Spanish is becoming more widely spoken there and many natives feel an amount of resentment toward this phenomenon. Because of this, Adeline and the other members of the group were thrilled to get a chance to have me there to chat in English.

I met Adeline while the Roatán Zone Credit Officer was working hard to get credit evaluations and other work done before the Semana Santa work holidays. These evaluations take place prior to each loan cycle to review the needs of each individual and their current economic situation.

While helping Orville with his credit evaluations, I arrived to the following standard question with Adeline, “Do you own your own home?” The answer I received was not what I had expected: “Well I did but three weeks ago it burned down.” Luckily no one had been at home when the fire started but she still has not been able to figure out the source of the fire. Where she lived, she did not have electricity, ruling out an electrical fire and did not have gas for her stove.

A dish rack and scraps of wood and metal sheeting was all that was left of her home when we returned to the scene three weeks later.

Until she is able to rebuild, Adeline has moved into the home of one of her six sons, about 15-20 minutes away along the unpaved road. She will continue working hard each day at her butcher shop in the market so that she can once again offer a home to her two grandsons, abandoned by their father.

Although pleased to have their grandmother around, Adeline’s grandchildren share in the pain she has suffered from in this recent tragedy.

Despite the various challenges faced by Adeline she continues to grow her business. With each loan cycle, she continues to take on larger amounts and pays back diligently, proving the success she has had within Adelante’s microlending model. Although she has a long way to go to make progress toward a new home, her loan history makes her eligible for our individual loan products. Once she begins rebuilding, Orville hopes to offer her with the support she needs to finish up the construction via a Home Improvement Loan.

Orville looks on with sadness at all that is left of what was once Adeline’s home.

I was personally amazed by how immediately Orville had responded to her tragedy in order to offer her hope for the future. Bringing our clients’ needs to the forefront and addressing how we can solve them is what we see as vital to successfully operating as a microfinance institution while fulfilling our social mission, and this is exactly what April being the Month of Microfinance is all about.

Her fellow Adelante borrowers also brought forth moral support, immediately displaying concern for what had happened. Adeline is very head strong and independent, which had originally made her reluctant to discuss the fire with her friends. However, the support from each of the women and from Adelante staff like Orville gave her enough confidence to open up and reminded her of just what it means to be part of a solidarity group.

Heavy Rains and Hurricanes’ Impacts in Honduras and New York

Marta with her 22 year old daughter and 3 year old granddaughter

Marta Rosa is a new client from Choluteca on her first loan cycle. She became a part of Adelante to increase production of enchiladas and tacos that she makes and sells alongside her 22 year old daughter. Although Marta has been doing this for many years, last October’s heavy rains left her and her family homeless. Her two sons have not been able to secure steady jobs, being forced to settle for seasonal agricultural employment.

The devastating rains of last year remind us of why Adelante began in the first place—in response to the devastation left by Hurricane Mitch. However, for me, a native New Yorker, her story makes me reflect on the damage just recently left behind by Hurricane Sandy and last year’s Hurricane Irene. I was thankful to see Hurricane Sandy pass by a few weeks ago without leaving any or minimal damage to my own family and friends. Last year, my family was not so lucky.

I was in Quito, Ecuador on orientation last August when I first heard about a hurricane heading toward New York but the news I had read seemed to predict greater problems for New York City and other downstate areas than where my family lives outside of the capital of Albany. After getting to Guayaquil, where I would be studying during the fall semester of my senior year, I got a call from my parents. Although New York City had been spared much predicted damage, parts of Upstate New York and Vermont were not so lucky.

After losing power the day before, my family had been woken by police at their door around 1:00 am to evacuate their home in late August. They loaded what they could into their car but most of my belongings that I had left while I was abroad remained in the basement. In the rush of moving out of my apartment and packing for my semester abroad, I was left with little time to label or organize the boxes I was leaving behind. For the next two months, my parents stayed with family and received the support of members of the community who were not affected.

Down the street from my house on one side is a lake where I had learned to swim and on the other side, a river where I watched the Village of Scotia water ski shows and fireworks as a child. The rains that hit my town resulted in the overflow of the Gilboa Dam, flooding from the lake and river into my town and water eventually breaking through the foundation of my house. By the time I arrived back from Ecuador, the house was almost done with repairs and my parents had been able to resume their normal lives.

The devastation that my family and others were faced with was also often met with community support and generosity. When I spoke with Marta, many things raced through my mind. In her rural community, about an hour out from the closest city, were police officers able to be effectively assisting with evacuations? Even if they could evacuate people from areas in danger, would they all have had somewhere to go? Unlike my parents, she certainly did not have flood insurance to cover at least some of the costs. Moreover, Marta’s neighbors do not have the same capacity to support each other during these disasters that my family’s community does.

Marta has been renting this house from a neighbor since she lost her home in the floods last October. She hopes that her business will bring her the profits she needs to buy a new home in the future.

After losing her home, she was able to move into a rental owned by a neighbor, where she lives with her three children all in their 20s and her three year old granddaughter. Her husband passed away 15 years ago so they must all work together to cover their household expenses, which now include the cost of renting and will soon include her granddaughter’s school expenses. Her two sons both work in agriculture, typically finding work during harvest season. During other times of the year, it is harder for them to find work, making Marta’s business even more vital to the well-being of her family.

Marta and her 22 year old daughter run their business together making and selling tacos and enchiladas in the community. They share responsibilities in making the food, and her daughter goes out to sell their food while she cares for her granddaughter. After relocating and reestablishing their business after last year’s rains, they are starting to build up a new clientele. Marta is proud of the work she and daughter do, saying, “She goes out everyday to sell the food we make and now those who have tried it love it and go looking for her to buy more!”

Marta’s dream is to someday have a home that she can call her own again. In July she took out her first loan for $166. She hopes that with the new investment, she will be able to grow the business that she and her daughter have developed together and eventually be able to own her own home again.

Marta’s granddaughter, aged 3, poses for the camera while her mom and grandmother make tortillas.

Meet an AA Client from Choluteca

Scroll down to the third paragraph if continued from our August 2012 E-Newsletter

Home Improvement Loan at work

Lucila is a hard-working elderly woman who has been a client with Adelante for a year and a half.  Lucila lives alone in a humble home built nearly twenty years ago in a rural village outside of Orocuina, which is located in the southern department of Choluteca.  Several months ago, the wall of Lucila’s bedroom collapsed after a very severe rainy season that wreaked havoc in Choluteca last year.  Akin to the reality faced by much of the rural poor, Lucila did not have the income or the savings to repair the damage immediately.  Thankfully, Lucila quickly became an AA client with Adelante, which made her eligible for a Home Improvement Loan.  AA clients must have at least three loan cycles, make their loan payments on time, and attend assembly meetings consistently.  In March, Lucila was awarded a loan of L. 5,000 or $263 to build a new wall for her bedroom.  Since the rural poor often struggle to enhance their housing over several years, this new loan product is in high demand by our clients.

Not only is Lucila grateful for Adelante’s Loan Program, but she is also an enthusiastic supporter of the Business Education Program.  At assembly meetings held every two weeks, clients receive educational presentations from their Credit Officers.  Even though Lucila has worked as a micro-entrepreneur for nearly her entire life, she still appreciates the business development themes, she explains:

Lucila, Adelante client

¨The educational lessons help us with our businesses, for example they explain how to manage and promote our businesses better so that we can earn more profits.¨

Before withdrawing her first microloan from Adelante for just L. 1,500 or $79, Lucila always worked as a small business entrepreneur, investing in different income-generating activities.  Currently, Lucila produces and sells snack foods and fresh fruit juices out of her home and door-to-door in her community.  In the past, Lucila worked with other lending institutions to support her small business endeavors.  Now Lucila no longer obtains loans from other sources, and she proudly confirms that she is a client exclusively with Adelante.  Lucila affirms, ¨With Adelante, there are not a lot of requirements to take out a loan, and it’s very easy, not complicated like with some of the other institutions I have worked with in the past.¨ In the future, Lucila plans to maintain her AA status in hopes of obtaining another Home Improvement Loan so she can keep upgrading her modest home.

Lucila’s Rural Community

Since each of her seven children are grown and live apart, Lucila is not responsible economically for anyone else but herself, though she does take pleasure in spending time with her family.  One of Lucila’s daughters lives in the same community, so she often keeps her mother company at the house.  Lucila’s children who live further away often go to her house to spend the night, and she enjoys visits with her grandchildren, nine in total.  Lucila is very fortunate to have a tight-knit family, but her children also suffer from poverty so having a micro business enables her to be independent in her old age.  Recently, Lucila received her fourth group loan from Adelante for 4,000 or $211, which she used to invest in producing more delicious homemade food and drink.  Lucila expects to keep boosting her profits over future loan cycles in order to continue improving her standard of living.

Meet a Resilient Micro Entrepreneur

Gregoria holding Yuca to make nuegados

Continuation from E-Newsletter starts at 3rd paragraph

Gregoria is a dedicated micro entrepreneur in the department of Choluteca. Gregoria produces and sells ¨golosinas¨ or popular snack foods, such as chicharron (pork rinds) and nuegados (fried yuca dumplings). Since receiving her first loan from Adelante over four years ago for L 2500 or $132, Gregoria has diversified her business to sell a greater variety of snacks and has invested in raising animals, especially pigs and chickens.  Currently, Gregoria is paying off a loan for L 6 000 or $316, and plans to continue growing her business with Adelante, commenting, ¨It’s a big help, with every loan I am able to increase profits, which allows me to support my household.¨

Gregoria's kitchen

Gregoria is a single mother and has six children, but three of her children are already independent and live apart in the same community.  Gregoria is still responsible for her two youngest, ages 12 and 18 years old, but also has a son who shares a small house on her property with his wife and three young children.  Thanks to the increased income earned from her micro enterprise, Gregoria’s 18 year old recently graduated from secondary school, and she intends to send her youngest next year.  Gregoria has also made several improvements to her home over the years, but there are still renovations that need to be undertaken.  She hopes to secure a Home Improvement Loan from Adelante in order to replace the roof and redo the kitchen.  In addition to enhancing her family’s overall quality of life, Gregoria’s micro business enabled her to overcome great adversity when her property was flooded by the torrential rains that caused a state of emergency in Choluteca last October.

Gregoria and members of her assembly group live in a community that borders a lagoon near the Pacific Ocean.  Last October, several days of torrential rains caused the lagoon to overflow, flooding the entire community.  Adelante reported on the impacts of the relentless rains in Choluteca, noting that clients like Gregoria would be given extra time to make payments on their microloans.  Remarkably, the women in Gregoria’s assembly group returned to their businesses as soon as the flood waters receded, requiring only a 15 day extension to get back on track with their loan payments.  Gregoria accredits her ability to recover from the flooding disaster to the success of her small business, which allowed her to accumulate savings and afforded her income to rebuild and clean up.

An asset to Gregoria: a pregnant pig; notice the lagoon in the background

Gregoria’s property flooded with over 4 feet of water from the lagoon, and her kitchen, which also serves as her snack preparation space, collapsed.  She was fortunate to get her animals to a safe, dry location, but she and her family had to sleep in a shelter for two weeks.  Each day they would return to check on their animals and belongings in order to prevent further damages.  Gregoria’s daughter-in-law, who is also a client with Adelante and lives on the same land, explains, ¨Every year there is a little bit of flooding, but this year it was like nothing I had ever seen before… it’s especially dangerous for the animals because of the spreading of disease.¨ Maria Doris, another member of Gregoria’s assembly group, was not as lucky; she lost 41 chickens and 21 chicks to disease.  Another client, an elderly woman named Marcos, opted to stay at her home rather than move to a shelter. She recounts, ¨I had to go out to the highway, waste deep in water, in order to collect food and medical supplies from relief efforts.

Amazingly, these resilient women in Choluteca bounced back from the damages they incurred and did not get behind on their loan payments.  Gregoria, like many others in her assembly group, is thankful for her small business, which has provided her a stable source of income and thus the ability to recover so swiftly from the worst floods to have hit Honduras since Hurricane Mitch in 1998.

Thousands Affected by Relentless October Rains

Photo Credit: La Prensa Honduras

In the month of October, heavy rains caused landslides and flooding all over Honduras. Across the country, 29 people have tragically lost their lives, and nearly 70,000 have been affected (1). Dozens of roads, highways and bridges have suffered damages, disrupting travel and hampering relief efforts.  Losses to agricultural production include an estimated 18,963 acres of crops throughout Honduras, part of which are basic staples, such as rice, beans and corn, hindering national food security (1).  Public sector engineers are currently assessing the total cost of damages to infrastructure endured during the month of October.  The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates 1.2 million people have been impacted by October’s torrential rains in Central America (2).

Photo Credit: La Prensa Honduras

In Southern Honduras, where the rains were most intense, surging rivers flooded whole communities. Landslides and flooding made roads impassable, and even collapsed a section of the Pan-American Highway, which connects Tegucigalpa to Southern Honduras.  The highway closure not only caused economic losses to commercial enterprises, but also obstructed efforts to send aid to the area. The department of Choluteca experienced the worst human impact, with 27,227 people affected, 1,880 dwellings damaged and 3,311 flood victims housed in shelters.  Large tracts of sugar cane remain underwater, and the Ministry of Agriculture reports that some 2,000 producers of various crops are affected in the southern zone (3).   Relief aid has been contributed by various countries and international organizations, such as the UN World Food Programme, as well as by the Honduran government, which spearheaded a solidarity campaign to raise funds for flood victims.

Data from COPEC report on damages

The rains that have disrupted life for so many Hondurans this October were largely not the product of a hurricane or tropical storm. On October 10, weather forecasters announced a low pressure system hovering off the Pacific coast that would produce torrential rains over several days.  Last week, Hurricane Rina raised fears of further destruction when the tropical storm strengthened into a category 2 hurricane.  Fortunately, the storm did not provoke significant damages, but Rina did generate heavy rainfall in the Bay Islands and along the Caribbean Coast of Honduras.

The relentless October rains have affected clients in each of the eight departments where the Adelante Foundation operates.  The road conditions have deteriorated during the month of October making travel for both clients and Credit Officers a challenge.  In the department of Yoro, travel between the departmental capital of Yoro and the city of El Progreso became precarious, as a result of potholes and landslides along the major highway that connects the two cities.  In the department of Colon, heavy rains caused flooding in several areas around Tocoa and Trujillo, delaying a pending field trip I had planned.  During the week of October 24, the Adelante Foundation held a bread making workshop for clients in the department of Intibuca, and although the workshop was a success, disrupted travel routes caused by heavy rains prevented some clients from attending the event.  In addition, Intibuca has suffered enormous damages to agricultural production, with an estimated 6, 875 acres (36% of national losses reported) of primarily corn and bean cultivation (1).  Across Honduras, downpours prevent many people from venturing out to purchase goods, which reduces small business sales for the Adelante Foundation’s clients.  While the rainy season comes to a close in parts of Honduras, the hurricane season and rains still impact the Caribbean coast through November.

Lagoon alongside a client's home, El Botadero

The onslaught of rain in October left the team at the Adelante Foundation branch office in Choluteca very concerned.  Credit Officers were unable to reach 25 assemblies, where overflowing rivers made several communities completely inaccessible.  The office supervisor, Pedro Ortiz, comments ¨all of our clients have been affected, their homes, their businesses, by illness, the situation for October loan payments is going to be complicated¨.  The prognosis looked bleak, but once the rains calmed and the rivers receded, the assessment indicated that remarkably only 6 solidarity groups were so severely impacted that they could not pay their next installment.   These clients have been given an additional 15 days to make their microloan payments from mid-October.  However, Pedro contends, ¨they are not going to be able to recuperate in 15 days, in some cases they have lost their homes, their businesses, so it will take time, but eventually they will recuperate¨.  If clients are unable to pay their loan installments, the microloan will be refinanced in order to help them get their lives back on track.  The rainy season on the Pacific side of Honduras is coming to an end, but the struggle continues as flood victims try to rebuild their lives.

At the beginning of October, I met clients that reside in the community El Botadero, in the department of Choluteca, which borders a lagoon near the Pacific coast.  This assembly group consists of four of the six solidarity groups that were severely impacted by the heavy rains.  During my next trip to Choluteca, I will meet with these courageous women again and report on how they are recovering from the flooding that has devastated their communities.  What are your thoughts on the relentless rains affecting Honduras and their impact on clients of the the Adelante Foundation?

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(1) Resumen de Danos Registrados Por Condiciones Provocados PorLa Zona Intertropical de Convergencia. COPEC. October 25 2011.

(2) ¨UN Agencies Step Up Assistance to Flood Ravaged El Salvador¨. UN News Center. Oct 25 2011.

(3) Alvarenga, Fanny. ¨Mas que 8 mil manzanas de cultivos afectadas por las lluvias¨ La Prensa. Oct 20 2011.

Hunger in the World

The following editorial was written by Andres Vallejo and published in Diario La Prensa on 10/26/09.

It seems incredible and is frightening that there are more than one billion undernourished people in the world, one hundred million more than last year. Instead of improving, the situation gets worse every day. One out of six people in the world goes hungry every day.

Ironically, this situation exists not because there is less food produced, but because the income of the poor and their opportunity for employment has decreased – therefore decreasing their ability to afford proper nourishment.

This is the explanation given by the general director of the FAO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, on World Food Day. It is ironic that World Food Day is being celebrated with these figures.

It reminds us also, and the authorities should be very conscious of this, that world economic problems that make maintaining employment more difficult, do not only affect people who work in offices, banks, and factories, but also in rural areas where 70% of the world’s hungry live and work.

At the same time, the prices of agricultural supplies have increased geometrically: fertilizers by 176% and seeds by 70%; this makes acquiring them by big and small farmers that much more difficult, setting off a vicious cycle that results in less or more expensive production in the short term. In sub-Saharan Africa more than 80% of the prices of cereal grains are over 25% higher than they were two years ago. In Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean between 40 and 80% of the prices of cereal grains are 25% more expensive than they were two years ago. And, as a result of the lower demand in developed countries, what is produced is harder to sell or sold at lower prices, without benefiting the poor, whom the food does not reach anyway.

The remittances of emigrants that previously grew at a rate of 20% annually, and that in 2008 totaled $300 billion, have decreased by between five and eight percent, or in other words by $15 billion to $24 billion.
Furthermore, foreign aid by developed countries to the 71 poorest countries in the world decreased by about 25%. Combining all of these indices paints a bleak picture for the poor and puts at great risk the chance of reaching the goal of reducing by half the number of hungry people by 2015. Even if that ambitious goal is met, there would still be 420 million hungry human beings daily, without taking into account the fact that in the year 2050 the world population will reach nine billion – more than 2.5 billion more than today.

The attention given to the development of sustainable agriculture with an emphasis on medium- and small-scale farmers is a vital necessity – not only because of the basic need to feed human beings, of whom the poor are the primary victims, but also for the sake of global security itself.

Translated to English by Sophia Anderson.

While a major earthquake and a political crisis have brought Honduras, home to The Adelante Foundation, into the international spotlight in recent months, a much more insidious tragedy has been threatening the livelihoods of over one million Hondurans, especially in rural areas where over half of the population lives.  The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has had its attention on Honduras and neighboring countries such as Guatemala where a state of emergency has been declared.

Here in Honduras between 200,000 and 300,000 families (well over 1 million people) are suffering from food insecurity and the number continues to rise.  In addition to the increase in food costs as a result of last year’s drastic rise in the price of fuel, the main culprit is the “El Niño” climatic phenomenon which has caused a drought that has scorched corn, bean and vegetable crops in south-central parts of the country – especially in the departments of Yoro, Lempira, Francisco Morazán, Valle and Choluteca.

“Food insecurity” is defined by the FAO as “insufficient ingestion of food, which can be transitory, seasonal, or chronic.”  Angel Murillo, of the FAO, explained that in many parts of Honduras people consume only one of the three typical daily meals, and furthermore their diet consists almost exclusively of five products: coffee, sugar, corn, shortening, and beans.

Most families who have lost one crop already this year are dreading the upcoming planting season because if the bad weather persists they will not be able to plant and will have to eat the seeds instead, leaving themselves with nothing for next year.  This brings to light their lack of access to agricultural technology such as irrigation systems that would keep them from being so dependent on the weather.

The current drought and resulting famine emphasize the importance of Adelante’s work in the rural areas of Honduras.  One of the most common results of their increased income reported by our clients is an improvement in their families’ diets.  Furthermore, by diversifying their income sources their food supply becomes less vulnerable to natural climatic fluctuations.  Many of our clients previously lived exclusively off of a small parcel of land; now they have their own income-generating businesses that give them the flexibility to buy some of the food they prepare for themselves and their families.

By Sophia Anderson (Statistics taken from “Carencia de alimentos golpea a 300 mil hogares.” Diario La Prensa 10/22/09)

Hondurans Continue with Courage

Lately, Honduras has been appearing a lot in the headlines. The political situation has been tense and volatile. At lunch I sit with three friends in a beachside restaurant, the television is tuned to CNN (Español), and all heads are turned towards the scene unfolding. Mel Zelaya, the ousted President, is at the border of Nicaragua. We watch, pensive. The camera angle stays tight on Mr. Zelaya. Microphones and cameras jostle and supporters crowd in around him. He gesticulates grandly while speaking into his cell phone, and continues walking slowly forward until he reaches the border, where only a chain separates him from both his homeland and a wall of military personnel who have been given orders to arrest him upon his return. He crosses the chain, putting himself on Honduran soil for the first time in a month. The epic showdown unfolds, and we wait with nervous anticipation, but somehow a violent culmination is averted. He crosses back into Nicaragua, thanks his supporters and sits in his white Jeep, still glued to his cell phone. As I leave the restaurant and drive through downtown La Ceiba, I look out onto the busy scene: shoppers darting in and out of stores, pedestrians hailing taxis or waiting on buses. Street vendors are selling vegetables, fresh juice, churros and national soccer jerseys. Everything appears to be…well, normal.

In spite of the continued concern for the political situation in Honduras, for the majority, life continues as usual. This is not to say that the public is unaware of the situation, most seem to be keeping up with the news as it evolves, but the country is not in a state of total upheaval as it may appear from the dramatic news coverage. Rather, there is quieter truth going on behind the scenes. It is a story that is less likely to be told, but one that speaks to the enduring strength of the Honduran people.

When I ask Hondurans about the current situation and what will happen, the responses vary, but when asked how it affects their own lives, the majority tell me with a shrug: “Segimos en la lucha como siempre. We continue the good struggle, like always.”

Maria Benitez is one of many Adelante clients who sell fresh fruits and vegetables at the large, bustling market in the city of Marcala.

Honduras is a country accustomed to interruptions. Every year they face the possible threat of hurricanes and experience tropical storms which result in floods, landslides, and washed out bridges. In 1998, the Honduras was hit by Hurricane Mitch which devoured the country, leaving it in devastation. In five of the 10 years since Mitch, Honduras has experienced other massive storms and subsequently severe flooding.

In May of this year Honduras experienced an unfamiliar kind of threat, as a 7.3 earthquake shook the country for nearly 45 seconds. Many people don’t recall having ever felt an earthquake previous to this event. However, in the weeks that followed, it seemed the ground hardly ceased to shake with 12+ earthquakes ranging from 4.3 to 5.7, and 500-700 additional tremors. Still, Honduras continued as it had before, albeit perhaps, with a heightened awareness and some new lessons learned.

Life in Honduras has never been easy. Political corruption, poverty and crime are hard realities that Hondurans face in their everyday lives. Perhaps it is for this reason that they have learned to forge ahead, despite conflicts. This strength of human spirit is appropriately in line with the Adelante Foundation’s mission. To “seguir adelante” means to “keep going forward” or “carry on.” This is what the people are doing; this is what they will continue to do. In times such as these, the country needs the support of organizations like Adelante Foundation more than ever, to empower individuals by providing the tools and opportunities necessary to continue with what they so much desire to do: continue moving forward.

By Desirae Wrathall

The Aftershocks Continue with No End in Sight

The most powerful aftershock to hit Honduras yet rattled the population at 11:13 p.m. local time on Sunday, June 7.  This tremor measured 5.7 on the Richter scale and its epicenter was only 20 miles northwest of La Ceiba in the Caribbean Sea between La Ceiba, home to Fundación Adelante’s headquarters, and the Bay Island of Utila.

This is the eleventh aftershock officially recorded by the United States Geological Survey[1] since a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.3 on the Richter scale and an epicenter six miles below the Caribbean Sea and 75 miles NNE of La Ceiba, hit Honduras on May 28.  The aftershock epicenters have been scattered, seven off the Honduran shore in the Caribbean Sea and four southeast of La Ceiba on the mainland[2]. The most recent tremor sent La Ceiba residents running out of their homes just before midnight and many people reported hardly sleeping the rest of the night.  The local news reported three homes destroyed in La Ceiba and one in the nearby community of El Porvenir.

Table 1 – A listing of the date, time, magnitude and location for all recent recorded earthquakes in Honduras.

Number	Date	Local time	Magnitude on the Richter Scale	Location in relation to La Ceiba, Honduras
1	5/28/09	2:24 a.m.	7.3	125 km (75 mi) NNE (offshore)
2	5/28/09	4:06 a.m.	4.8	95 km (60 mi) NW (offshore)
3	5/28/09	8:45 p.m.	4.5	100 km (60 mi) WNW (offshore)
4	5/28/09	11:17 p.m.	4.1	80 km (50 mi) NNE (offshore)
5	5/29/09	6:51 a.m.	4.6	55 km (35 mi) SE (on land)
6	5/30/09	12:33 a.m.	4.5	115 km (70 mi) NW (offshore)
7	6/02/09	12:43 a.m.	5.0	45 km (30 mi) SE (on land)
8	6/04/09	6:41 p.m.	4.7	50 km (30 mi) SE (on land)
9	6/04/09	7:12 p.m.	4.3	45 km (25 mi) SE (on land)
10	6/05/09	10:37 p.m.	4.7	110 km (65 mi) WNW (offshore)
11	6/06/09	5:53 a.m.	4.5	85 km (50 mi) NNW (offshore)
12	6/07/09	11:13 p.m.	5.7	30 km (20 mi) NW (offshore)

Residents here are not unfamiliar with natural disasters. Just a little over ten years ago, Hurricane Mitch devastated the country’s infrastructure and left half its population homeless.  People here are well accustomed to the threat of hurricanes as they are generally preceded by watches and warnings with computer models carefully predicting the most likely path. However, the earthquake threat is entirely unfamiliar – it lurks in the distance like a fer-de-lance hidden in the grass ready to strike an unsuspecting passer-by with its deadly bite.  The first quake took the population completely by surprise and the subsequent aftershocks have left people traumatized – spending sleepless nights listening for rumbling and shooting up in bed at the slightest noise or tremor.   Almost two weeks have passed since the initial earthquake and people are starting to wonder if this saga will ever end.

Unfortunately, according to Wilfred Strauch, a seismologist from Germany’s Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources in Honduras to aid authorities, the country remains at risk[3].  He claims, however, that the location of the epicenter in the ocean saved Honduras because “if it had been on land with that intensity (7.3) the consequences would have been devastating.”  He further explains that the type of construction and underlying bedrock contribute to the level of devastation in different parts of the country.  For example, in the bay island of Roatán most homes are made of wood and the destruction was minor even though it was the closest landmass to the epicenter of the original earthquake.  Cement structures are much more vulnerable to breaking, as are homes built on fragile floodplain soils like those in the Sula valley, near San Pedro Sula, where the destruction was most severe.

According to residents in the hardest-hit areas near Omoa, Puerto Cortes and El Progreso, neither the national nor the municipal governments have shown an interest in assisting affected communities[4].  At least 350 homes were destroyed in the area surrounding Puerto Cortes alone and hundreds of people are living without potable water – many young children and senior citizens are suffering from gastrointestinal, respiratory and skin illnesses as a result.  The majority of those affected make up the poorest segment of the population. Bernarda Bueso, 73 years old, lost her home in the earthquake and expressed, “I don’t understand why the president, Mel Zelaya, hasn’t even sent us water or food to help us survive the sad reality that we are living⁴.”

At least one Adelante assembly, from the community of El Juncal in the Aguan Valley, has been affected[5].  Their neighborhood was evacuated to the nearby town of Olanchito after the government issued a red alert for their area near the epicenters of the four land-based aftershocks.   Several clients – such as Maura Cárcamo who lost one of the walls of her home and Elsa Martinez, Lilian Chirinos, Norma Ponce, Deysi Flores, and Silvia Chirinos whose homes have severely cracked walls – have only recently begun to return home and assess the damages.  With their community in turmoil, no food to put on their tables nor government aid in sight, these clients are understandably more concerned with repairing their homes and rebuilding their lives than paying off their delinquent loans.

This situation highlights the difficult reality of working with the rural poor in one of the most disadvantaged countries in the western hemisphere.  Adelante’s mission is to improve the standard of living of this highly vulnerable population, but the best way of accomplishing this goal is not always as clear as one might hope.  At times like these, while we cannot forgive our clients’ debts, we can and do refinance their loans in order to allow them a reasonable amount of time to get their lives back in order before paying them back.

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[1] United States Geological Survey Earthquake Hazards Program. http://earthquake.usgs.gov/eqcenter/. Last updated 6/8/09.

[2] Please see Table 1 and corresponding map. Map source: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/americas/honduras.jpg

[3] Honduras está en situación de riesgo (Honduras is at risk), by Pablo C. Zapata. Diario La Prensa 6/6/09.

[4] Victimas del terremoto olvidadas por Gobierno (Victims of earthquake forgotten by government),by Yolany Izaguirre. Diario La Prensa 6/4/09.

[5] According to Rossel Martinez, Fundacion Adelante Olanchito branch office supervisor. 6/8/09.