Fiesta Patria 2008

We celebrated Honduran Independence Day on Monday, September 15. Every year they have a parade through the streets of Comayagau. It begins at 7am (or should I say it is supposed to anyhow) and lasts for about 5-6 hours. There are numerous participants, including schools, social organizations, the military, businesses, etc., and Maranatha was lucky enough to be assigned number 3 in the parade order!

Many of the local schools participated in the festivities by including various student groups. For example, this year Maranatha included a percussion band, cheerleaders, color guard, the top 3 students from each class, and the 6th (last grade before high school), 10th (juniors) and 11th (seniors) graders in the march. Oh and of course we had a special section for the gringo teachers 

at our school! What a prime time to showcase all of Maranatha´s American teachers to the city of Comayagua. (Having native English speakers is a status symbol and definitely a plus for parents when selecting a biligual school for their children.) This is the first year since we have been here that Maranatha has participated in the festivities. Although we had to meet at the school at 6am on Monday morning it was great to be a part of the celebration. Greg and I were so proud of the kids! The band looked so sharp in their uniforms and did an excellent job playing and marching. Their beats helped keep us energized as we danced along behind them. Greg, Jenny, and I ended up being the official water distributors for the band and a couple other student groups. There was a wagon full of bags of water that we pulled along with us as we all walked around squirting it in the kids mouths - in attempt to keep them from getting dehydrated. It was so hot that day and the poor band kids were wearing heavy uniforms! We had a lot of fun helping them out! Several of my 5th graders were in the band, but the youngest member was an adorable 3rd grader, Jesus. I think he was the fan favorite! He was definitely a trooper - marching through the entire thing!

  

Participating in the parade this year really brought the student body together and helped build pride among them. They worked hard for weeks preparing for the big day and their dedication really paid off. All of the students regardless of the section they marched in, made a very good showing for our school and did an excellent job! Here is a brief video clip from the start of the march:

The entire time we marched Greg and I (and a couple other fellow Americans) felt a little uncomfortable. We heard a comment like ´why are theses Americans marching in our parade?´ and it confirmed our suspicious that there might be a few people against our participation. For the most part, the people here accept us and treat us great, but unfortunately, not everyone welcomes Americans here. Especially right now with the economy growing a little more hostile and relations with the Honduran president and Hugo Chavez strengthening, we are starting to feel a little uneasy. We know God wants us here though, and are assured that he will protect us.

So a few days after the parade, we found out that there actually was some violence during the parade. It was later in the parade (after our group passed by) one school that apparently has multiple members from one gang, was attacked by a group from a rival gang. Fortunately, no one was killed, but it caused quite a stir among the crowd. People apparently were trying to get away, trampling others and yelling for help. Luckily the police and military forces were close by and were able to break it up pretty quickly (as we heard). Pretty crazy stuff!  Overall, it was a great day for us....and we are glad we didn't find out about the fight until after the celebration!