High in the mountains of Honduras sits the small Indian village of Guajiquiro (Gwa-he-key-row). The Lenca Indians who live there are very poor, and one of their few sources of income is harvesting the blackberries that grow wild on the mountainsides. The harvest begins each year in mid-March and lasts for several months. However, just as the harvest was beginning this year, the whole country was placed on lockdown due to COVID-19. This meant the people of Guajiquiro had no way to sell their blackberries and therefore no way to buy essential food items like rice and beans. They were able to survive by eating the blackberries, but blackberries do not provide an adequate diet by themselves. In particular, they do not furnish children with the protein they need to grow and develop properly.

When the Society of the Good Shepherd heard about the predicament in Guajiquiro, we obtained special permission from the government to travel there to purchase large quantities of blackberries from the Indians. Getting to Guajiquiro is no small task, and only a four-wheel-drive vehicle can reach the village. It means traveling for hours on unpaved “roads” that sometimes are little more than trails. The Indians there use horses as their primary means of transportation.

When the brothers first arrived in Guajiquiro and began loading boxes of blackberries on their truck, a five-year-old girl asked her mother if the men were buying the blackberries or just getting them for free because of the crisis. When her mother told her that the people were getting paid for the berries, the little girl burst out: “Oh good, that means we can now eat again!” On the first trip, our team was able to purchase nearly a half ton of blackberries, plus hundreds of peaches.

On each trip, Luis Vega has traveled with Randy Campbell, a retired brother from the States, and pastor Noel Gomez. Before leaving their home base of Siguatepeque, the brothers fill their truck with food parcels, which they distribute to the families in Guajiquiro before purchasing the berries and peaches. The second trip to Guajiquiro proved more difficult than the first because the rains made the roads even worse than normal. The pickup had to drive across several streams to reach Guajiquiro. But we were again able to purchase a large quantity of blackberries and peaches. So far the brothers have been able to make three trips to Guajiquiro and to purchase over a ton of blackberries from the people there, along with many bushels of peaches. We plan to continue doing this as long as the blackberry harvest lasts.

When the truck returns to Siguatepeque each time, various brothers and sisters come to help place the berries and peaches into small bags. Many of the berries and peaches go into the food parcels the Society gives out to needy families. For those families who are able to pay, the Society sells the berries at half the normal market price. This not only blesses those families, but it provides additional funds with which to purchase more berries from the Indians. In short, the “blackberry ministry” is a win-win situation. It provides needed income to the Indians in Guajiquiro, and it helps the people of Siguatepeque.

In the last newsletter, we announced that the Honduran government was going to open up the country again. However, so far, things have opened only a little. The main cities, which handle the COVID cases, are overwhelmed and exhausted. There is no real end to this struggle in sight. The public transportation is still not running, which makes it hard for poor people to get to work (when work is available). In these times, the many people who sell things along the roadsides and sidewalks—and who normally live day-to-day—are simply unable to make enough on which to subsist. The problem is that there are not enough people circulating. There is no financial help from the government, so these families are dependent on ministries like the Society of the Good Shepherd to live. Things like blackberries and food parcels make a huge difference when survival depends on it!

So the Society continues to distribute food parcels throughout the region of Siguatepeque every week. To make the best use of our resources, we are working with a network of local pastors. If a family is already receiving food from some other ministry, we bypass them and focus on other families that have no one to help them. Many, many people continue to be desperate for even a small amount of food. For example, this past week we delivered one of our food parcels to Miriam Corea, who is over 75 years old. We learned from her that up to now, her family of six has had to ration their food down to a tortilla and a few beans each day per family member. She became very emotional when expressing her gratitude to those who have made the food parcels possible.

Each parcel also contains spiritual food: a Bible tract prepared by the Society and a publication entitled Antorcha, furnished by the Mennonites.

Thank you for continuing to open your hearts and eyes to the needs of the Honduran people and not turning a blind eye. Though it is easy to grow weary, we continue to fix our eyes on Christ, the author and perfector of our faith, and to run the race marked out for us with perseverance (Heb. 12:2).

Julie Nyhoff

The Society of the Good Shepherd, P. O. Box 122, Amberson, PA 17210 • (717) 349-7033

Click on the following link if you would care to make a donation to the work in Honduras: Honduras Donations