March/April 2000

Rebuilding Central America

by Monte Wolverton

Over a year ago, Hurricane Mitch devastated impoverished Central America. More recently, Venezuela, in neighboring South America, was also visited by a similar disaster. It may take decades for these countries to rebound. Will Christians respond to the need for help?

Central America--a remote and exotic land, evoking images of dense jungle, punctuated by ancient and mysterious Mayan ruins, endless expanses of banana plantations, overseen by rotund men, lounging in wicker chairs on verandas, sipping pungent coffee and puffing on plump cigars.

From there the imagery goes downhill--stifling humidity, poisonous reptiles, typhoid, malaria, dysentery, semi-annual revolutions, tin-horn military dictators, volcanoes, devastating earthquakes and, most recently, colossal hurricanes, massive floods and titanic mudslides.

If we're honest with ourselves, we have to admit that news of dreadful disasters in such remote lands often evokes an initial shock or horror--followed by relief that it didn't happen in our part of the world--followed by concern that it could happen in our part of the world.

We in the U.S. and Canada are remarkably ignorant of these countries with whom we share a continent. This ignorance was exemplified last August, when Nicaragua's Cerro Negro volcano erupted. An announcer on a major U.S. news network explained that a South American volcano had just erupted. Some don't know the difference between Central and South America and might not really care. How many of the seven Central American republics can you name?

Most North Americans do know that they wouldn't want to live in Central America or even visit there without a very good reason--and certainly not without lots of insurance. Central America just seems too unstable.

And it's true--perhaps the most stable, predictable thing about Central America, is its instability--and its conflict and disunity. In the early 1800s when Spain's American colonies were gaining their independence, the nations of Central America were nominally united for less than a year. Since then, it has been one unstable government after another--with neighboring nations often precipitating revolt in another.

Historical Christian Faith

There is, however, another constant in Central American life--the church. The citizens of Central America may be some of the most devout Christians on earth.

There are historical and cultural reasons for such faith. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Central America in the 16th century, they met a profoundly religious people whose entire world held spiritual significance. But the conquistadors destroyed that world. They stripped the Aztec and Inca temples of their gold and slaughtered the priests. To the native Americans, this was an incomprehensible disaster. With their belief system and culture decimated, the Christian faith offered restored meaning and purpose to their shattered lives.

Within only a few decades, Aztec festivals were replaced by those of Christianity. Churches rose up on the sites of old temples. Native Americans were accepted by the church as fellow human beings.

For the three centuries of colonial rule that followed, the Catholic church dominated the lives of Central Americans. The church served as school, university and hospital. It provided community celebrations and ceremonies. It also controlled much of the wealth and taught the laboring class to accept their lot as servants to their European overlords.

When revolution spread through Latin America in the early 1800s, the hierarchy of the church predictably supported the Spanish crown, in light of its strong alliance with Rome.

But the lower clergy was not quite so loyal. Priests--often of native extraction--were sympathetic toward the common people and played an important role in the independence movement. In the last two centuries the church has played an increasing role in defending the common people against oppressive governments.

After all was said and done, the Catholic church came out of the revolutionary era largely stripped of its wealth and influence. Yet what the church now lacked in power, it more than made up for in the devotion of the people.

The Pervasive Church

The church is central to daily life in a way that is hard for either secular or religious North Americans to imagine. Most Central Americans, for example, value the festival of their patron saint over their personal birthday. Increasing numbers of Protestants are no less devoted to their churches.

It is the faith of Central Americans that has sustained them through centuries of trials and instability. It's hard not to wonder why a part of the world where the Christian faith is so pervasive has had so much trouble. Why would God allow so many people who believe in him to suffer so much? Central America certainly provides ample testimony that faith does not necessarily bring physical prosperity as some would have us believe.

Instead of asking, "Why do disasters happen to some people and not to others?" We might think, "How can I help?" There is a profound need for help in Central America.

A Troubled Past

The Central American countries of Honduras and Nicaragua are two of the poorest countries in this hemisphere and the two countries most harmed by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. To begin to understand the impact of the recent disasters on these two nations, one must get a picture of their recent history.

The economies and politics of both Honduras and Nicaragua have been shaped by U.S. involvement--and exploitation. Up to the middle of the 20th century, Honduras was virtually ruled by U.S. fruit and coffee interests. Nicaragua's economy was not as focused, although Nicaragua was a U.S. protectorate from 1909 to 1933, largely because of the potential for an inter-oceanic canal.

After several decades of relative stability, Honduras suffered a series of military coups in the early 1960s. Wary of another Cuban-style revolution, the army took power. Meanwhile, overcrowding and unemployment in neighboring El Salvador led to a migration of workers into Honduras. The resulting tension between the two countries led to the "soccer wars" of 1969, with some 2,000 deaths and a continuing enmity. In 1981, the Honduran government was returned to civilian control.

Nicaragua's history has also been a litany of internal power struggles. Beginning in 1937, the Somosa dynasty brought some economic and political stability. After the Managua earthquake of 1972, the family's abuses caused their popularity to wane. In 1979, left-wing Sandinistas gained control of the government. The product of 21 years of Sandinista rule was not entirely negative. Badly-needed education and social programs were established.

The Reagan administration, however, fearing communist expansion in the area, began using Honduras as a base for attacks on the Sandinistas. U.S.-backed Contras were finally successful in undermining the Sandinista regime, and in 1990, the reins of government were turned over to President Violetta Chamorro and a democratic system of free elections which continues to this day.

But Nicaragua's problems are far from over. In the mid-1990s the average median income was $600 per year. Eighty-five percent of children under the age of 14 were living in poverty. Half of the work force was unemployed or underemployed. Because of the abundance of weapons, crime was rampant. An estimated 50 percent of Nicaraguan women were victims of spousal abuse.

Nicaragua's current president, AlemaŽn Lacayo, has not been able to do much better than his predecessors. Executive power is balanced by a Sandinista-dominated national assembly. Honduran President Carlos Roberto Flores has wrestled with conflicts within his government as well.

Destructive Power of Mitch

It was into this already politically, economically and socially bleak setting that Hurricane Mitch howled in October of 1998, with winds nearing 200 miles per hour--one of the most powerful storms to ever strike the Americas. Even worse was the destruction caused by rainfall--as much as two feet per hour. Honduras received three years of rain in one week.

Disasters such as last year's earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan were horribly destructive yet small by comparison. The enormous devastation caused by torrential rains in Venezuela late last year exceeded that of Mitch, with as many as 30,000 dead. Yet the total effect of Mitch may take decades to repair--10,000 dead, 13,000 missing, 2.8 million homeless, $10 billion dollars in property damage. Nicaragua and Honduras--perhaps the two American countries least able to withstand such a disaster--were the hardest hit. Honduras alone sustained 8,000 casualties.

In northwest Nicaragua, a flank of the Casita Volcano collapsed, sending a mile-wide wall of mud rolling down the mountain, crushing the villages below for ten miles, killing some 2,000 people.

In northern Honduras, over 25,000 acres of banana plants were destroyed by flood waters.

The destruction was not limited to rural areas. In Tegucigalpa, Honduras' capital, entire neighborhoods were demolished by the swollen Choluteca River. Most bridges in the city were damaged or rendered unusable.

The tenuous infrastructure of both countries was almost irreparably damaged. Roads and bridges washed out by the storm still have not been replaced. The governments were ill-prepared to meet such a disaster in 1998, and are even less prepared now, with resources exhausted.

As of late 1999, unemployment stood at 40 percent in Honduras and 60 percent in Nicaragua.

The 1999 rainy season added to Mitch's horrors as the remains of many of the 13,000 missing were unearthed and swept downstream. In September and October, an unrelenting series of storms brought yet more torrential rains, destroying crops, roads and temporary bridges and threatening the giant El Cajon dam, which supplies 60 percent of Honduras' electrical power. Over 100,000 people were evacuated downstream, with government shelters still filled from Mitch.

This was just the physical destruction from the storm. The social implications are, in some ways, worse.

People from rural areas who were left homeless have migrated to the larger cities such as San Pedro Sula, Tegucigalpa and Managua in search of food, shelter and employment. This has resulted in thousands of "Mitch kids" roaming the streets. Some are homeless or orphaned. Others have been sent to the street by impoverished parents. They beg for money, shine shoes or engage in petty thievery. Many of these children become sick with diarrhea, malaria, hepatitis, dengue fever or other diseases spread through contaminated water or rats.

Worse yet, there is increasing drug and alcohol abuse among older children and teens. In the absence of family structure or moral guidance, a violent subculture is growing. Young people are replacing lost families and communities with the promise of safety in gangs. Widespread availability of firearms contributes to the problem.

Violent crime in Honduras and Nicaragua has escalated so much that the U.S. State Department has posted warnings for travelers on the Internet. Car-jackings, kidnappings and bus hijackings have become commonplace. An even more disturbing trend is that criminals are more prone to violent abuse of their victims. A generation of young people are growing up this way--promising to affect the culture for decades to come.

Putting It Back Together

If there is a positive side to all of this, it is the aid that has poured in from the United States and Canada, both through government agencies and private charities.

One such Christian organization is Food for the Poor. Since 1982, Food for the Poor has shipped nearly $550 million of goods to third-world countries, primarily in the Caribbean and Latin America. It has been ranked among the top 100 charities in the world.

"Helping feed and clothe these people is only the first part," says founder Ferdinand Mahfood. "Their communities and local economies were totally decimated. We have to help rebuild these countries from the ground up--starting with the individual and then the whole community."

Mahfood has long been critical of government efforts to aid the poor in third-world countries, claiming that administrative overhead and bureaucracy waste much of the financial resources that otherwise would go to help the poor. In early 1999, it was discovered that clothing and canned goods from the U.S. were sitting undistributed in government-run warehouses in Nicaragua and Honduras. By contrast, Food for the Poor is able to accomplish its work with 8.5 percent administrative overhead, ensuring that over 91 percent of donations actually reach the poor.

Food for the Poor works jointly with Christian missionaries in Central America to educate aid recipients in breaking the cycle of poverty. They teach recipients how to become self-sufficient by helping them develop small businesses and independent farming.

In Central America, the church has historically provided stability in times of revolution, oppression and hardship. Now, Christian charities and the church are making inroads in doing what the local governments and the government of the United States are unable and unequipped to do: provide material, medical and spiritual aid to victims of one of the most severe ongoing natural disasters ever to strike the Western Hemisphere.

These ongoing tragedies in Central and South America present a significant opportunity for relatively prosperous Christians in the U.S. and Canada to offer help--help that may continue to be needed for as long as the next decade. But the question remains--can Christian organizations successfully shore up the disintegrating social structure?

If Christians don't fill this need, there are others waiting to take advantage of the situation. 

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