We were able to travel to Honduras as a family March 5-13 and return to Pittsburgh two days before Honduras closed it's borders on March 15. The borders remain closed (as we believe they should) as long as the country believes it is necessary to protect its citizens. They closed the borders 2 days after the first 2 cases of Covid-19 were reported since the Honduran healthcare system is ill-prepared to deal with an epidemic of this magnitude. Considering their limited ability to treat the ill, the country's best hope is to shut down and stay home. Testing is not nearly as available in Honduras as in other parts of the world, so it is unlikely that we will ever really know the true number of cases and/or deaths specifically related to Covid-19 in Honduras. Most of the testing availability is limited to the cities. What we can tell you is that Honduran people are tough and strong. They have lived through many healthcare crisis, even in the very recent past: Zika (2015-2016) and Dengue (over 3 million cases in the Americas last year, Honduras had 112,708 confirmed cases in 2019). They deal with infectious diseases and large numbers of resulting deaths on a regular basis. It seems everyone we know has lost a loved one to a contagious illness of some sort. However, this virus is clearly different for one key reason, it has proven that it does not just infect humans - but economies. The long term, economic fallout of this world-wide pandemic will likely take more Honduran lives than Covid-19 itself. We'll touch more on that below.

Like we mentioned above, right before the Western Hemisphere became unhinged, we were able to visit Honduras...

During our March trip we were able to:

• Spend several days in the Heart to Honduras offices catching up with staff and have some key meetings about how to best work together.
• Visit and spend a day in each of the three communities involved with the initiative Communities of Holistic Impact: Lomas del Aguila, Las Lomitas, and Caliche and participate in the March CoHI workshops.
• Catch up with neighbors, local pastoral family, be in our home and participate in our local church.
• Be with the HN staff at the end of the work day when the first cases of Covid-19 were reported in HN as they processed the unknown road ahead.

Upon our return to Pittsburgh in mid-March Heart To Honduras, switched quickly into "relief" work instead of our typical "development" work due to the major changes Covid-19 was bringing to Honduras. You may have heard us mention the differences between these ways of working before- if you want to learn a little bit more about the difference, just click the link below. We made this switch because we are truly concerned about what is about to happen in Honduras.

So, what exactly are we worried about in Honduras?

In the United States, we are blessed to be part of a fairly-well-functioning country with significant fiscal and financial policy resources that form a social safety net: unemployment, stimulus packages, SBA loans, and individual payouts among other things. In this moment of free-fall, the government has popped open that net in an attempt to soften our impact (though it is still far too early to tell if it will help this time around). Beyond that net, many of us have some sort of financial cushion in the form of savings that helps us avoid worries of hunger, starvation, or worse. In Honduras, in most of the communities where we work this is simply not the case. Government checks will not be forthcoming, and instead of a soft feather mattress of savings, most folks in rural Honduras will be falling straight to the ground while hoping they are healthy enough to recover from the inevitable injuries.

After the initial short-term impact of economic shock, as the world economy slows and eventually begins to recover, Honduras's export-driven economy will have to readjust to a change in world demand for its products. With reduced income and investment potential in the global economy, demand for the coffee, bananas, palm oil, and t-shirts that leave the port in Puerto Cortes will likely be significantly reduced. In addition, the Honduran immigrant workers (many of which are employed in heavily-affected service and construction industries) which normally send roughly $400 million per month to their family members in Honduras could likely be amongst the first to lose their incomes in this crisis - contributing to even greater economic contraction in Honduras due to the loss of spending power by recipients at home.

What are we doing about it as an organization?

Our first challenge was to respond to the impending food crisis provoked by the country-wide shut down. The "Food for Families" program is now working to provide stop-gap measures to meet the nutritional needs of vulnerable families in our region. The second challenge was to respond to the economic fallout and how to give even a minimal "unemployment" type of check to the Heart to Honduras staff in Honduras while the country is shut down. "Come Alongside our Connectors" is working to raise funds for our employees so that they can continue to serve those that need allies now more than ever. The HTH webpage link below has a great video from the HTH president, Randy Bargerstock and explanation of these two Covid-19 specific HTH interventions and the giving needs associated with them. We encourage you to give as you feel led!

During this time of crisis, the true colors of Heart to Honduras, its staff, Honduras and the Honduran community members which we work alongside have come out. It seems that God has been preparing us in Community Development for "such a time as this." All the relationship-building, formation and empowerment that has happened in the past decade has proven to be key in our ability to meet needs collaboratively, quickly and effectively.

We have seen this at macro and micro levels.

Our Honduran director, Henry Alvarenga, has made it his purpose of his to be connected at the macro level and be in relationship with local municipal leaders, businesses, other non-profit organizations, the police, military and first responders. These connections and solid collaborative relationships that Henry and other CPHTH staff have formed through the years have been immensely beneficial in this time of crisis. Together we have been able to receive donations from local businesses and the municipal government in order to improve the food provisions better and reach more families. Local police, military and first responders have been able to provide what they need to keep people safe (masks), and then help keep our staff safe by providing transportation and security in and out of the villages to deliver the food provisions. In unstable times, the security issues in Honduras rise and that has proven to be true again this past month. As people get desperate, they do desperate things. At this time, it would be unsafe to ask our staff to travel alone to deliver food provisions to communities, it is only possible with the help and collaboration of our local security friends at this macro level.

At the micro level Fredy and Otto have been able to rely on their solid communication line with local leadership teams. Local leaders in CoHI communities have been trained in best practices when it comes to "Protecting Healthy Development." In this case, their challenge has been to identify the most vulnerable in their communities that might be in need of immediate food provisions. This is very counter to the common practices of soliciting and receiving donations only to pass them along to close friends and families. A lot of community division and fighting is usually the result. CoHI community leadership teams have been tasked with coming up with a plan that works for them and that meets the needs of the most vulnerable. Fredy and Otto are able to keep in close communication via phone with these leaders and walk them through current struggles, pray with them and answer any questions.

Most recently in the CoHI workshops, unifying camps, community building activities, Genesis projects, etc that God has provided in the Communities of Holistic Impact initiative have proven to be valuable resources in a healthy, holistic response to a healthcare and economic crisis. Community members are now at a place where they understand their purpose and value. They know and believe they always have something to give - which provokes them to take action. Leadership teams were formed long ago and communication lines between local leaders and HTH staff are solid.

What this has meant practically is that the municipal government has turned to HTH as a key associate in these difficult times. In these critical times, we were sought out because we have become a trusted ally of churches, communities, and governments. As a result, HTH's Honduran office has:

• been invited into a transparency commission to oversee distributions from the national government,
• coordinated a multi-agency response to the looming crisis, and
• initiated the planning of a collaborative, sustainable food security program to ensure adequate food supply in CoHI communities over the coming months.

Now that Kaleb has finished his graduate studies, we are grateful to be able to be fully-committed to the time-consuming and complicated issues that are continuously-emerging during this difficult moment in history. So, on that note...

Kaleb's master's degree culmination was interesting to say the least. We received the email from the University of Pittsburgh while still in Honduras in early March that the University would be switching to an online platform for the rest of the academic year and that students should not return to campus. For the remainder of his studies Kaleb attended classes online from home, submitted assignments, took exams and even presented his capstone presentation to his clients from the corner of our bedroom in our little Pittsburgh apartment. Our life has taught us to be flexible and that has proven to be needed in times like these. Though challenging and sad, Kaleb took this in a stride and as of April 23rd graduated (from home) with his Master's Degree in International Development from the University of Pittsburgh with a major in Nongovernmental Organizations and Civil Society and a minor in Governance and International Public Management.

Coming up? The future?

We get this question a lot and the answer is...

For now, we continue to work full-time with Heart to Honduras remotely/virtually from Pittsburgh. Our lease on this apartment is until July 31, so we are asking God to reveal His will for us before then. Not knowing when the Honduran border will reopen means we do not know when we will be able to go back to our Honduran home. Not knowing the future of small businesses and non-profits like Heart to Honduras in the current economic climate causes us to live one day at a time and know that the true "call" is to glorify God today, wherever we find ourselves. Matthew 6:34 gives good advice in times like these... "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Our daughters love belting out the soundtrack from Disney's Frozen II, especially the hit "Into the Unknown." Many times we adults will smile and sing the same line in all seriousness about our life right now - "Into the Unknown!" I am sure many can resonate in their own way.

We keep in daily-weekly communication with stateside and Honduran co-workers as well as our neighbors and local pastoral family. We are thankful for the technological advancements through the years that make this very feasible. We are able to communicate at the individual level, as well as many group chats that we have including one with our local church in Las Lomitas. We encourage one another with scripture, meet together and share prayer requests on a regular basis. Our dearest neighbor Argelia and her family are keeping a close watch on our Honduran home and animals. We are blessed to be able to video chat with them to see our dear neighbors, home and animals on a regular basis.

Even if the Honduran borders do not open for a while, there is much work to be done and we have great confidence in the capacity and effectiveness of our coworkers here in the US and in Honduras. There have been many projects and tasks that we have postponed in the balance of life, work, school life that can now receive our undivided attention. Indeed, these first couple of weeks post grad-school have been very busy, productive ones indeed. We are excited to finally be able to devote our full efforts back to HTH, and know that there is much to be done. Even if the borders were to be closed for months, we would only then be starting to complete much of the work that we have wanted to do over the past couple of years.

However, eventually the stay-at-home order will be lifted, and when it is, the Community Development department has a lot of work to do. Communities of Holistic Impact and local community development initiatives will be able to start right back up. Community Development is one area of the organization that has continued to be very active during this crisis. With adequate funding, our department will be the first to start back full-time once the stay-at-home order is lifted in Honduras. We are used to working remotely as a team of four with Fredy and Otto, so our department is one of the few that has continued to work as normal and will be able to get right back in the game. We will rework and adjust around all the new obstacles that I am sure we will need to jump through, but we will continue.

While we are feeling secure in our CD department's flexibility, participation in this crisis, and sustainability into the future, other components of the organization that work closely with visitors (be them Hondurans at the camp or team members from the US) will take longer to rebound following this crisis. These have been difficult days for those components of the organization in particular, and we ask you to join us in prayer for those most closely involved in those activities. May God show us all a way forward together.