"Embrace the Chaos"

"It was 1994, and I was ice climbing when I fell into a crevasse and hurt my leg. There was only one way out, so fighting every natural instinct I have, I did the thing I hated the most. I climbed down into the darkness. And when I came back to camp, I went to the person who cut my line and said, "Connie Chung, you saved my life."-Jack Donaghy

Honduras is chaotic. You only have to spend 5 minutes in a cab ripping through downtown Tegucigalpa to discover this. Trying to apply “Westernized management” and international development processes to this chaos is about as effective as placing a stop sign in Comayagüela. It's absolutely ridiculous, but at the same time isn’t that the point of development? To bring order to "chaos"?

As fairly inexperienced development workers we often approach the work we undertake in Honduras by utilizing the strategies that we found successful from our time in university and short lived careers. In reality, here in Honduras even the best-laid plans have a tendency to come undone, or become radically altered. It seems, sometimes, that the chaos is overwhelming.

A few weeks ago at our mid-term medicals in "The Goose" our Programming Officer offered up the phrase, "Embrace the Chaos" to soothe our frustrations about working in Honduras, and give development a new perspective. The phrase automatically reminded me of 30 Rock, which is what happens when you power-watch numerous TV sitcoms. Anyway in a certain episode, Jack Donaghy, gives advice to Liz Lemon telling her to climb down into the darkness, down into the crevasse. It seems that when working abroad you have to do the exact opposite of what your instinct tells you. You have to embrace the chaos.

Over the past few weeks I've really run with this idea of embracing the chaos, and operating more from the seat of my pants than from the plans laid out by my counterparts and I. With that mindset I’ve stopped swimming against the current and begun to accept that the work I do may not be well organized, or achieving synergy, but it’s helping to move this small community forward. So with that, onto what I’ve been doing.

WORK

*I spent a week translating for a group of optometrists working in the community center across from my apartment. They ended up giving over 800 eye exams, and then if necessary a pair of new or lightly used glasses. I usually have problems with groups that just come in donating stuff in such a manner,  since I’ve seen the disruptive effects that these actors can have on the local economy, but with eye glasses I feel it is a different story. It's not like were upsetting the local LensCrafters. In fact, I don't know if I've ever even seen an eye doctor or a glasses shop here in Honduras, outside of the upscale malls of San Pedro and Teguz. Eyeglasses serve to make the workforce more productive and safer, and it felt good to be a part of a productive group. Sadly, poor eye health is nothing unusual in Honduras, but I'm positive we made a difference to the hundreds of people who came to see us. That look of, "Oh my God, I can see." Is absolutely priceless.

*Over 100 pounds of soccer equipment arrived from the organization Sports Gift, which is based out of California. After a labyrinth of shippers and middlemen we were able to get the equipment here, and we are now beginning the process of matching our stockpile of supplies with the needs of the community. Over the past few weeks local soccer teams have been visiting to be fitted for new cleats and uniforms. All of this equipment will be handed out 2 weeks from now when we open the park.

*The municipality must have tripped, fell and landed face first into a giant pile of cash, because a city wide repaving and drainage program has commenced starting with the road that separates the park from the soccer field. I have no idea how the muni has found the money to install a new boulevard, which will be awesome when completed, but I guess I'll take it. After all I'm all about embracing the chaos. Where was this money two months ago when I was begging for Lps. 500/$20 to pay for gasoline to cut the field?

New paving project in the center of town

*To promote the the town’s financial cooperative new publicity campaign, which will end up providing scholarships for local students at nearby orphanage that doubles as a bilingual schools, as well as inject cash into other social programs along the coast. I haven't had many opportunities to help Lupe (my host mom), since the Cooperativa has been running really great this past year. I'm excited to be working with her on this though. 

*We’ve set up a committee to focus on tourism within the municipality, which will hopefully begin to move projects that I’ve been working on in El Cacao forward.This is a project that has stalled because I've spent more time focusing on the park.

It has definitely been a chaotic couple of weeks and it's only going to get busier before Thanksgiving, but as they say, “Embrace the Chaos.”