Recovery from Mitch continues a year later

Note: First of two parts.

Exactly one year after the first rains of Hurricane Mitch fell on Honduran soil, the chief executive of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) stood witness to the success of resettlement efforts there.

The Rev. Paul Dirdak (photo, left) visited the remote village of Buen Samaritano (Good Samaritan) on Oct. 25, accompanied by the Rev. Michael Rivas, a United Methodist Board of Global Ministries executive.

The village's 254 families had lost their homes and farms to giant landslides provoked by the hurricane. A year later, however, they have new homes, a potable water system and other necessary infrastructure thanks to the efforts of the Christian Commission for Development (CCD) and the local Roman Catholic parish. CCD, a Honduran ecumenical agency, receives significant financial support from UMCOR.

The changes that are occurring are not just physical, Dirdak told United Methodist News Service. "The people there are taking this opportunity to help improve the basic social structure of their country."

Through its Hurricanes '98 appeal, UMCOR has raised roughly $8 million for relief and rehabilitation in countries affected by Hurricanes Mitch and Georges. As of October, slightly more than $7 million had been approved to support various projects. Honduras and Nicaragua, both devastated by Mitch, have received most of the funds, with other money going to Cuba, Haiti, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts, Nevis and Antigua.

In addition to its work with CCD, UMCOR has helped with an evangelical mission established by the Board of Global Ministries in Honduras. Its home replacement program uses land deeded to the church by the city of Tegucigalpa and volunteer labor.

Buen Samaritano is just one of more than 400 communities where CCD has helped build houses, replace water systems and rehabilitate eroded fields. So far, more than 800 homes have been built with CCD assistance, and another 900 are planned. Dozens of work teams, many of them United Methodist, have helped the poor rebuild those homes. UMCOR has supplied three block-making machines for use in home construction in remote villages.

However, instead of handing the titles to these new homes over to the men, which is traditional in Honduras, CCD and UMCOR created a new contract that both parents and the oldest child sign. The purpose is to protect the family unit. "The house cannot be sold until the youngest child in the family is 18 years old," Dirdak added.

During an Oct. 22 gathering at a Pentecostal church in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, Deliana Juarez expressed gratitude to Dirdak for the church's generosity.

"When we were crowded into the shelter after Mitch, our children couldn't sleep," she said. "They kept crying and saying they wanted to return to their homes. Yet we had to tell them there was no home to return to. We felt impotent. And then the church came to help us. I give thanks that God touched the hearts of people who did not know us, but who were willing to help us, to love us from afar."

Juarez, who recently completed a new house with the help of CCD, added that the rebuilding effort had changed relationships in the poor neighborhood where she lives. "We learned we had neighbors, people we've lived beside for years without really coming to know," she explained. "In the middle of the storm, we became true neighbors to each other. We've learned to value each other and work together in new ways."

Dirdak said he admired the leadership ability that has emerged among women there who were raised believing only men could make decisions. "I was impressed that so much of the efforts were organized by persons wounded by the storm itself," he explained. "For them to build small organizations out of their recovery is a huge change."

UMCOR recently approved a grant of $500,000 for CCD's gender program, which receives leadership from the Rev. Lyda Pierce, a United Methodist missionary. Women who are clients of the house replacement project also receive food for work, training in nontraditional vocations, such as agriculture, finance and carpentry, and assistance with their small community-based organizations.

An identical grant supports the theological training aspect of CCD's program. The organization uses Bible study and regular worship for all -- staff, volunteers and community participants -- to promote spiritual as well as physical recovery.

In total, more than 120,000 people -- about 18 percent of Hondurans directly affected by the disaster -- have received assistance from CCD. Like UMCOR, CCD is a member of Action by Churches Together, an ecumenical coalition of church agencies responding to disasters worldwide.

On Oct. 29, CCD and Caritas, the social ministry of the Roman Catholic Church, received the 1999 National Human Rights Award from the Honduran government for their work in serving all, especially the most needy and excluded, during the Hurricane Mitch crisis.

Leo Valladares, Honduras' human rights commissioner, said the groups represent "a comprehensive vision of human rights that goes beyond just monitoring the behavior of authorities. …What these groups did during the hurricane, along with the work they carried out before the disaster, was a demonstration of solidarity that has inspired the people of Honduras."

Dirdak noted that when faced with other types of disasters, such as the dominance of foreign businesses or the influence of a "corrupt elite," Hondurans respond to the call to lead their neighbors and take control of their own destiny. "That's what we're seeing here again."

*Paul Jeffrey, a United Methodist missionary, contributed to this story.