An Opportunity

During our time here in Honduras, we have learned that randomly meeting people often leads to wonderful opportunities. One day, while in the Synod office for a meeting, I met a Korean pastor who is living here in Honduras. A couple weeks later, Artie and I happened upon him in the airport again. With him was a member of his congregation who explained that he owns a factory here in Honduras. He handed us his business card and suggested that we stop by and visit. We had to work to keep our jaws from dropping as we felt we had been given a golden ticket.
The man is the owner of one of the factories in one of the Free Trade Zones of Honduras where there is a stretch of factories- mostly Korean, Chinese, and from the United States. They are "maquillas" that we would refer to as "sweatshops" and are impossible to get into to tour without a personal connection like this.
So, we took our friend up on his offer. We gave him a call and he happily welcomed us into his office and into his factory. Jack and Becky were visiting at the time and he gave us a tour of the whole operation and answered all of our questions. He had no problem with us taking photographs and explained that his factory is certified by "Wrap" - an American organization that inspects factories like his to make sure that they meet certain labor standards. Our friend had nothing to hide.


To see more images from the factory, check out the link: http://picasaweb.google.com/charles.eh/FactoryTour.
We were pleased to know that the factory is certified. Still, the people earn very little and work long hours doing piecework at a rapid rate. We went into it not quite knowing what to expect and left without conclusions. In my opinion, for visitors like ourselves, it is not up to us to determine what constitutes quality of life for Hondurans or people of other countries. We can only speculate. Rather, I feel that it is important to remain open-minded, ask thoughtful questions, and always keep learning.