In the country of Honduras, with a population of between seven and eight million inhabitants, there are an estimated 28,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.  The most recent data I could find to substantiate this is for the year 2007.  I found three different websites including: www.avert.org; www.globalhealthreporting.org; and www.unaids.org which all report about the same information. By now, there are likely to be more cases, and who can estimate how many unidentified ones beyond that number.  (See a map of Honduras at the UNAIDS site.  It is located over 1500 miles south of us in Central America and in a time zone two hours behind us). 

Why write about Honduras, you may wonder?  Because I was there from May 16-25 as the “official” A-B Tech interpreter during a mission trip with four of the recently graduated dental hygienists (Barbara, Jamie, Jeanne, and Natalie), and two of their instructors (Carol and Christine) and their husbands Rickie and Harry.  It was an amazing trip!

We had accommodations at the Baxter Institute, an evangelical school for the Latin American region privately funded by churches mostly from Texas and Oklahoma.  I was a bit nervous about staying there, being as gay as I am.  However, I didn’t find it inhospitable – though I was somewhat cautious in my actions and discussions. 

Throughout the year, mission groups provide services to the local communities (Colonias) such as medical consultations and construction projects.  Sometimes a dental specialist team comes, but we were the first to provide the dental hygiene care at this location.  Nowhere in Honduras are you to flush toilet paper.  It is always placed in a trashcan found at the side of the toilet – and we thought Asheville’s waterlines needed work!

During the week, the hygienists were scheduled to work from 8:00am to 1:00pm Monday thru Friday.  On three of those days, they put in an extra few hours after taking a lunch break for some delicious beans, rice, plantains, and local fruit refrescos to drink. In total they saw 105 patients for cleanings.  Unbelievable to me was the vast need for dental services not being met in the country; and then seeing the pure joy people got out of their experiences with us.  The hygienists worked diligently and professionally, and their instructors gave dynamite support with infection control and instrument sharpening. 

The first day they were all a bit nervous when the two in-house dentists (Drs. Noelia and Georgina) looked over their shoulders.  What I explained to the hygienists was that the dentists were so impressed by their work that they were trying to learn by observing them.  After that it was smooth sailing.  (A side note: most of the dentists in Honduras are women; dental hygiene is not a general profession there; and most public dentistry is about extractions and filling cavities.)  Overall it was a great cross-cultural exchange.

So back to HIV/AIDS.  The dental clinic was attached to the medical clinic.  I spoke to two doctors who told me that HIV is a major problem for them to face.  There is little funding to help people in need, and the waiting list to get services – at least at this clinic – is based on admitting a new client only upon the death of another.  What is this world really about?!

Care does not necessarily include access to antiretroviral therapy, nor are there condoms readily available for those who request them at the clinic.  The one public hospital in Tegucigalpa – Hospital Escuela – houses the HIV+ patients on the fifth floor in isolation like some of our hospitals did in the early epidemic of the 1980s.

Most of the HIV transmissions are among heterosexuals, then a mix of men who have sex with men, and intravenous drug users.  I did not get a breakdown of race or ethnicities most affected.  Historically there were eight pre-Columbian indigenous cultures in Honduras, some of whose descendants still exist.  There is also a large Garifuna population now blended into the country.  The openly gay population is being suppressed by government interventions.  Though LGBTQs are a part of the society in general – that we just know – I saw no evidence of it.  I learned that some years back the area where one might have found “us” had been “cleaned-up” and we no longer have human rights protections.  How far have we come, and how far must we go?!  Human rights now!

Since we had worked so hard all week long, the nine of us in the group from A-B Tech took a side-trip to Lake Yojoa.  On the way there we saw an HIV/AIDS education campaign co-sponsored by the Honduran Red Cross and the Canadian Agency for International Development.  Each kilometer or so there would be a painted message on the side of the rock where the road had been cut through with messages such as: Condoms prevent HIV/AIDS, Mutual fidelity prevents HIV/AIDS, Reducing your number of sexual partners prevents HIV/AIDS, and HIV testing is free and safe.  I was inspired.

If your interest in Honduras is piqued, then additionally you may want to read the true story of a 16-year-old boy who travels from his home in Honduras to search for his mother who has worked in North Carolina since he was five in the book entitled Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario (www.enriquesjourney.com). Or see the film Sin Nombre by award winning director Cary Joji Fukunaga about the train ride some Hondurans risk to arrive at the border of the United States in search of economic opportunities.  The film, recently shown at the Asheville Fine Arts Theatre, has some violence, and lots of love and romance.

I don’t have photos of our trip just yet, but everyone who had a camera decided to put their photos on a disk for us all.  If you want to check ‘em out sometime, call me and let’s get together.  I won’t even charge you a single Lempira (the Honduran monetary unit exchanged at roughly 19 HNL per 1 USD) to see them. I hope someone got a picture of Luis or Olvin – hot!

Hasta la vista.

Miguel (Michael) Harney, The Rubberman, can be reached at his WNCAP office by calling 828-252-7489 ext. 311.