Update: Current Events

You'd have to be fairly oblivious to have missed the fiscal crisis that has shaken the U.S. - and most of the world - over the last six months.  Everyone is feeling the pinch and looking for ways to stretch their dollars.  Donations have gone down in recent months, and I have hesitated to solicit more because, frankly, now is not the time.  

The problem, however, is not what we all know, but what goes unnoticed.  Honduras is a developing nation, and barely a blip on the radar for national news in the U.S., taking up less space than Pennsylvania, with a population  just under 7.5 million.  

Honduras relies very heavily on exports to the U.S., and as our economy goes, so does theirs.  The situation is amplified, however, by the high rate of unemployment, estimated at almost 30%, and by extreme income desparity between the average worker and the small, wealthy class that owns many of the factories and large farms in the nation.  (You can read more about that in the CIA's World Factbook.)  Since December 2008, the instability has increased as President Jose Manuel Zelaya ordered a 60% increase in the minimum wage for workers in urban areas.  The factory and company owners are protesting because their businesses can't handle the increase, and the workers who benefit are trying to keep as much of the raise as they can, with both groups protesting in front of the Supreme Court.  (If you would like to learn more and can read Spanish, I recommend looking this information up with El Heraldo, one of the major newspapers in Honduras.  Most English-language news outlets aren't covering these stories.)

The important part of all this for the Library Project is that, first of all, we have to increase the wages we are paying the librarian.  If we don't, we may be subject to the $1,300 fine for each instance.  As we near the end of our financial commitment to the library this August, our funds are dwindling.  Also, the city of La Entrada, which is supposed to take over the library's expenses in August, wrote their budget for 2009 in October, when the financial crisis was only beginning.  Right now, the future of the Public Library of La Entrada is uncertain, just like almost everything else, but I and the board members of the La Entrada Library Project are committed to keeping it open however we can.  And although I know that you, like me, may be counting pennies, I'd like to ask you to consider giving a few dollars if you are able.  Just five dollars is a small commitment for most of the library project's supporters, but if everyone who has supported it in the past were to give that much now, it would extend the time we could support the library by several months, hopefully long enough for Honduras (and the world) to regain its fiscal footing.