Monday, August 23, 2010
Tercer Dia
Well, today I had my first, and hopefully last, encounter with tear gas. We were walking to Hospimed—a hospital in Tegucigalpa—for a tour. Right now, the teachers in Honduras are on strike. All public schools are closed, and have been for 3 weeks. Today there were protesters in the street outside the Universidad Pedagógica. The protestors were blocking the street so that no traffic could get through. I even saw rocks in the road. Well, impeding traffic is not allowed, so the police had to use force to get the people to disperse. They used tear gas. We didn’t know what was going on. At first we thought they were shooting guns, because that’s what they sounded like, but there was an awful lot of smoke for it to be guns. People were running in every direction. I was toward the back of the pack (there are 29 students here), but I just kept following the people in front of me. Then a couple people around me and I started to notice that not all of us were together. We stayed back for a few seconds to try to find them, but we couldn’t see them and the smoke was getting to us and then we realized that it wasn’t smoke. We didn’t know what it was yet, but we did know that our throats, mouths, noses, and eyes were burning. It was hard to breathe and to see, but we just started to run, still following the people in our group. We would run and then wait to try to find the others (there were about 10 people who weren’t with us) and then the gas (someone told us that it was tear gas) would catch up to us and we would run some more. Finally we got a hold of the others and they were all together and safe in the mall. They were in the back of the pack and ran in the opposite direction as us. (One of the students with them is from Honduras.) Those of us that had kept going forward finally made it to Hospimed. A doctor talked to us, but we didn’t take a tour. We just went back to our casas. So now I’m back in my casa. My face still burns, but I’m safe and I’m not panicking anymore. It was quite the adventure for the third day.
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i miss you sooooooooo much im so glad you are safe! i had a great time at cross country camp but i just kept thinking my sister is gone again for a long time and i really miss her. i hope she is alright and every night coach would ask so prayer requests every time i prayed for you. remember the song called i'll pray for you? well thats not how i'm praying for you i'm praying for you that i will be able to see and read what you have been doing and praying that you are safe. im nervous for how i will do in my high school classes and i just wished i could talk to you about them. but i cant unless its through the computer and i want to in person. but i know you dont have much time to do stuff like this and i hope you do well in your classes. i miss you alot.
ReplyDeletei love you more than ever.
-Betsi
you've been through tear gas, so now, spanish seems like a piece of cake! you're going to be fine, and you sound confident in your writing.
ReplyDeletestay safe :)
[Paul]
So happy to read the updates. We did receive updates from Don DeGraaf as well.
ReplyDeleteYou're always on my mind and in my prayers.
I love you!
Mom
Jessica!
ReplyDeleteOh my dear, you have already had some interesting adventures!
Know you're in my prayers and that I cannot wait to hear about your whole semester!
Do you have an address where I can send you snail-mail?
lots and lots of love!
Kelly
thanks, everyone.
ReplyDeletemom, could you post my address for Kelly¿ I don´t have it with me... thanks mom.
I love you so...see your facebook inbox. Say hi to your new family. Live and cherish the moment. The future will come on its own. You are spreading your wings further than I have. You will be fine. I am sure that you can so understand Esther more clearly now. Did you get any pictures of the riot? :) We are all thinking of you.
ReplyDeleteDad