A Letter from the Bordos

Ryan Johnson-Evers is a 2016 Bluffton University graduate from Muskego, Wisconsin. He currently works in San Pedro Sula, Honduras with the Mennonite Social Action Commission (CASM) through MCC’s SALT program.

Sixty students, four communities, one diplomado: “Buen trato en familia”.  In this class focused on promoting healthy family behavior, the current topic is “Good Treatment of the Environment,” and my supervisor Luisa Santos, of the Mennonite Social Action Network (CASM), an MCC partner in Honduras, says that due to my “expertise” it is my turn to lead the class.

In Gavión, students of the diplomado worked together with youth and kids to protect the environment and their community. Luisa Santos.

Although we both know that I am not an expert, I am excited for the opportunity to talk about sustainability, a passion that unites my academic interests with my desire to pursue God’s kingdom and justice in the world. I am honored because Luisa trusts me to lead her class for two hours even thought I still have a lot to learn about both sustainability and Spanish. These 60 adult students from the bordos– mothers, fathers, pastors, teachers, and other community leaders- have already taught me more than what I have to offer them.

Learning to live sustainably is an endless process of self-improvement, and it is extra challenging because of the bordos’ unique setting. The bordos are communities bordering the rivers of San Pedro Sula, inhabited in large part by families who moved to the city with hopes of finding employment, for many a yet un-realized dream. The families have instead, due to a lack of recourses, set up makeshift illegal houses, on government land, where things such as sewage systems and clean water are not always available.

In the bordo Santa Ana 1 students prepare to clean their community. Ryan Johnson-Evers.

Considering these circumstances, I inwardly cringed when the videos used in the class suggested driving less (most of the participants do not own vehicles), recycling more (they are already experts), or eating less meat (they actually need more protein in their diets). All of these are excellent suggestions for the average middle-class person, and actions that must be normalized throughout the whole world, but learning to live sustainably in the bordos of San Pedro is a completely different challenge.

In Santa Ana 1, the students and I discussed the videos and the ways that they do and do not relate to life in the bordos. As we talked about the many ways that they can live more responsibly, we also talked about the ways that their voice is often not heard, such as their inability to influence how other people throughout the world excessively burn fossil fuels. Ultimately, they decided that they wanted to write to a letter to the people that do have that kind of voice and influence. They decided that they wanted to write a letter to you.

I was chosen to write this letter since English is my first language, but the true authors of this letter are the students of the bordos who provided the inspiration, ideas, and messages that they want to convey.

They want you to know that, although climate change might not threaten you personally, extreme heat, droughts, floods, and hurricanes all pose a serious threat to their lives. Some members of the bordos had to move away from their rural homes in Honduras because farming no longer provided a viable livelihood. Although the participants did not overload the atmosphere with greenhouse gasses, they are the ones suffering the consequences.

Maryuri Miranda, from Santa Ana 1, is a kindergarten teacher and aspiring baker in addition to studying in the diplomado.
Ryan Johnson-Evers.

23-year-old Maryuri Miranda explains why caring for the Earth is important to her:

It affects our health. We must take care of our planet and the trees and rivers because if we do not, there will be consequences such as diseases.

Her words reflect the truth about the dangerous future that the global community will face if climate change is not addressed, but they also reveal how the fate of those who live in the bordos – already threatened by hurricanes, poor living conditions and gang violence – might once again suffer from an uncontrollable outside force.

Despite the enormous size of the problem, the students are excited to create local level changes. So far I have led the class in two of the four bordos, Santa Ana 1 and Gavión. The best part was when I asked them all to change one habit to care better for the Earth. When the students shared their personal commitments I was amazed to discover that every single person wanted to change two or more things.

These students are also showing the way practically: both communities decided to clean the trash from the street. The municipal government does not collect trash in the bordos because the settlements are technically illegal, so the residents often burn their waste or throw it into the river or road rather than carry it to the entrance of the community. Therefore, this simple activity directly reduced pollution of the soil, air and water. As the students worked, walking from one end of the bordo to the other, many other community members, especially kids, wanted to help.

Lourdes Mejia has helped CASM coordinate projects in Gavión for decades. Ryan Johnson-Evers.

The zeal and diligence of the communities were once again on display as they both went beyond the call of duty and applied themselves to another project. In Gaviòn, the municipal government informed Lourdes Mejia that mosquitoes in the area are carriers of the Zika virus. In addition to being a student in the diplomado, Lourdes is a community leader, co-pastor, and mother of four kids. In the middle of her many responsibilities, she organized the students into a coherent team that tested every single basin, tub, and barrel for the presence of mosquito larvae. With that information, the infested bodies of water were efficiently treated.

I humbly join my own voice with those of the sixty students in asking you to also do your part to care for the environment. Examine your lifestyle and realize the ways that you are accidentally contributing to the problem. Transportation habits and electricity usage, food consumption, and political action, all are examples of the many areas that deserve scrutiny and improvement. Do not be intimidated by the size of the problem. As those in the bordos show us, responsible living can start simply, by reading a single article or making a small change.

Soon I will finish this round of the diplomado in the remaining two communities, Nueva Esperanza and Dixie. I am excited to see how their experiences and actions will challenge and inspire me. We invite you to accompany us as we join with the global fight and strive to live responsibly.