October 8, 2010
Rumors circulated through our tiny school yesterday that the President of Honduras, Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo Sosa, was coming to La Union on Friday. By the time lunch rolled around, not only was the President of Honduras coming, but some of our students were going to see him. At our afterschool teacher's meeting and devotional, not only were some students going to see the President who was coming on Friday, but they were going to sing the country's national anthem for him as well. These words came directly from Mr. Perdomo, making it as official as it can be here in La Union. I walked home from the meeting and completely forgot about it all.
Today was freezing cold. Winter began a few weeks back here in the mountains, though it is not like winter at home in Michigan. I would say that winter in La Union, Honduras is much like March and April in Michigan, or at least so far. Cold, cloudy, and that misty rain that just chills you to the core. Heaters, like street names, are non-existent here which means there is no escaping the cold. Knowing that there was a hot shower waiting for me was my only motivation throwing off my cold covers and walking into the even colder bathroom at 5:00 in the morning. Brr! I bundled up as much as I could with the few cold weather clothes I brought here from home before walking to school.
During our morning staff gathering, the President story had changed again. This time we were ALL going to see the President. Right. Wasn't told when, wasn't told where, wasn't told how, though I assumed we would be walking. Perhaps I was told, in Mr. Perdomo's rapid fire Spanish which I have an impossible time keeping up with. Either way, I had no idea what was going on. Later I was told we were leaving after lunch. Perfect. Shortly after 11 a.m., the President's helicopter landed on the town's soccer field, the only flat place in any town around here. We were no longer leaving after lunch, we were leaving now. I lined up my 5th graders at the door and waited for further instruction… which never came. Everyone just started leaving, so we followed the crowd. It turned out to be a very familiar walk, we walked almost the entire way back to my house on the opposite side of town.
A platform was set up in the street outside the internet café down the hill from the Catholic Church. It was decorated in blue and white, the national colors, and surrounded with people. Thousands of people from La Union, and thousands more from all the villages in the municipality, were gathered in the street. A semicircle of a few hundred plastic chairs was set up for the audience, which of course was completely swallowed up. People stood on roof tops, on pick-up trucks, and all along the street. Somehow we were able to get our students up to the corner of the stage, where we stood, and waited, and waited. I realized I did not have my camera, and that now would probably have been a really good time to have it. Nelsy, now a 9th grader, and I broke away from the crowd and ran up the street to my house. On the way back down the hill I finally realized, and was able to see, just how many people were here. I noticed all the security personnel for the first time as well. Snipers, police, military, and of course the media. The Honduran media was the easiest to spot with their huge DSL cameras and video cameras, designer sunglasses and polo shirts. I laughed to myself and continued down the hill, pushing my way through the crowd to find my fifth graders again. When I finally reached them I was greeted with, "Miss Klos, we're hungry!" "Miss Klos, can I go home?" "Miss Klos, they've played this song at least a hundred times." Yes, the President had scheduled his arrival just in time for our kids to miss their lunch. Town is small, and most kids could see their houses from where we stood, but we could not let them leave. I tried my best to keep them hydrated and entertained. In an attempt to drown out the song on repeat blaring through the town, I started singing "Wade in the Water" a song I had taught them earlier this year, my voice unfortunately could not out-sing the loud speakers.
After an hour and a half of standing in the street a cheer erupted from down the hill. The President was finally coming. His caravan drove up the road as far as it could before the sea of people no longer allowed its motion. President "Pepe" stepped out of the car and started waving and shaking hands with everyone. I stuck my camera in the air and started snapping as many pictures as I could. As he made his way up the hill he walked right through our group, and by group I mean our entire student population. He stopped by Miss Melindez, who was further down the hill with some of the kids. He put his hands on her shoulders and seemed to talk to her forever, are you two friends? I was somewhere between confused and amazed. The smile on her face could not be contained and erupted into laughter when he turned from her and continued on his way up the hill. He was walking straight toward us. Some pushy media guru started yelling at my kids to make an aisle for him to walk through. As their teacher I was amazed on how quickly they responded and had created a perfect walkway for the President. I put as many of my kids to the edge of the aisle as I could and stood behind them still snapping pictures. He was SO CLOSE. Closer, closer, and then he was right in front of me with his back turned, waving at the crowd and shaking hands with my students on the other side of the aisle. He turned around, just as I held my camera out over the heads of the kids in front of me to get a closer shot, and held out his hand to me. I felt like a fool scrambling to get the camera out of my hand so I could shake his. Everyone around me was cheering and yelling, squealing came from the seventh graders standing behind me. It was so loud that when President "Pepe" spoke to me I could not hear him, so I responded deafly with, "I'm their teacher at the bi-lingual school," nodding to the boys in front of me. He laughed and grabbed my arm saying, "Do you want a picture?" Before I could even respond he was pulling me through the three rows of fifth grade boys in front of me. I stumbled out into the aisle and he put his arm around me. When I looked up there was a HUGE media camera in my face and without thinking I shoved my point and shoot Cannon in his hand and said, "Here, take one with mine." The President chuckled, smiled for MY camera, and the media camera, shook my hand again and pushed forward.
I could feel my jaw hanging from my own face when I turned around, the kids were wearing the same expression. "MISS KLOS! You got a picture with the president! Let me see, let me see!" I couldn't help laughing as I knelt down to show my students the picture. Mr. Valdez and Mr. Perdomo came up behind me, having no idea what had just happened, and asked me if I got a picture of the president walking by. I laughed and showed them my camera. Their reaction was about the same as mine.
The President made his way to the stage followed by a generous group of Honduran leaders. They assembled around a table set up on the stage and were welcomed by a speech from both the Catholic priest and Pastor Wilson, the pastor from the Vida Abundante church in La Union. Afterward, Miss Ponce led the selected singers from our school to the front of the crowd, stood in front of the stage, and sang the national anthem of Honduras for the President and the entire La Union community. It was beautiful. I felt a deep sense of pride, these students, these teachers, these people, are a part of my life, and I am a part of theirs. The most important man in this country was standing 25 feet from me and shaking hands with the people in this town who have become my friends. The tug on my shirt broke my trans. It didn't matter that the President of Honduras was here in their town, my kids were hungry. I gathered up as many of my students as I could find in the crowd and began the walk back to school. All I heard the entire way was, "Miss Klos, we're SO hungry, I don't think I can make it!" "Miss Klos, I'm starving!" "Miss Klos…" And suddenly, after dragging feet and whining, they were running down a road that was not the road back to school. The helicopters. On the soccer field stood the Presidential helicopter, and another helicopter. Both were guarded by men with machine guns, but they were no match for our kids. They surrounded the helicopters, ooo-ing and ahh-ing, some students were even allowed to climb aboard. This was way cooler than the President, and way more important than lunch, at least for now. The excitement wore off after about 10 minutes then it was back to nagging and complaining.
After scarfing down my lunch I stood at the railing staring out over La Union. What a day. Who knew? I just met the President of Honduras. He was still there, speaking to the thousands who came to see him. The bell rang at 2:00 for the last class of the day, seventh grade science for me. I grabbed my books and walked into the classroom. "Good afternoon Miss Klos!"
The links below are the reports I found about the President's visit to La Union. They are from the Honduran press, and in Spanish, but are easily translated with Google.
http://www.hondudiario.com/l/content/presidente-lobo-realiz%C3%B3-vig%C3%A9sima-entrega-del-bono-10-mil-en-lempira
http://www.laprensa.hn/Pa%C3%ADs/Ediciones/2010/10/11/Noticias/Pepe-Lobo-llega-a-Lempira-con-el-Bono-Diez-Mil
http://www.presidencia.gob.hn/presidente/presidente-lobo-sosa-realiza-vigesima-novena-entrega-del-bono-10-mil-en-lempira
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