Political Problems today!

I was sitting at a little desk outside my classroom at 3.30 this afternoon, minding my own business and trying to think of something to do while my class had a Spanish lesson.   The Grade 3 teacher, Feisal came up to me with a very worried look on his face and told me in English that Zelaya, the ex-president of Honduras was back in the country.   Apparently today he'd crossed the border of Honduras from Guatemala in a car and is now residing comfortably in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.  The present president, Micheletti was being extra cautious and to avoid any riots etc called a curfew for the whole country to start at 4pm.   

The school director who takes her job very seriously, was going into each classroom explaining the situation  to  the children telling them they all had to go home at 4 pm, the school was being closed.   At this stage I still wasn't sure of what was really happening as I received most of the news in garbled Spanish and was feeling a little anxious myself.   One of my boys, Alexis, was running around saying 'he didn't want to die,'  some were looking a little worried and others were just ignoring the whole situation.   One of Glenn's students was doing a very serious rendition of Buddist meditation, squatting on the floor with his eyes closed and his hands stretched out in front of him.  He was joined by Alexis.

I turned to see a Grade 3 student being carried to a chair outside her classroom ( away from the very efficient fans in the classroom) where she was shoved upright while the director fanned her face with the nearest exercise book.   The child looked as though she was going to pass out at any moment and her heart and lungs were working on overtime.   Glenn finally went over to the crowd that had gathered around her and quietly suggested she should be lying on the floor with her legs elevated . Fortunately someone actually listened to him and took her back into the classroom  where she was layed on the floor according to Glenn's first aid suggestions.   The little girl was having a panic attack caused by the hysteria of the children.

Gradually the children were taken off to their respective homes leaving the staff apart from those who'd already left in a panic, sitting outside, relaxing and chatting about their lives etc and at 10 to 5 we were allowed to go home.   Just before we left, the owner of the school, Graciela, was asking how I was.  'Is everything good? ' she said  I told her I was a little worried about the political situation.    She is a candidate for the same political party as the ousted president and is hoping to be elected next November.   'Oh don't worry about that. Nothing will happen in lovely little Tela, it's all only happening in Tegucigalpa, 4 hours by car!  Tela is peaceful she said.'

I was feeling totally confused by now, especially with the school being closed.   I thought that it must have been an emergency situation. We listened to the news later in the safety of our home with our outside gate and doors locked.  The TV announcer talked about a phone-in newspoll that had been conducted by the television channel vote to see if the Honduran people supported Zelaya being back in the country or not and 85% of the people are against him being here.  

It's now 8.30pm and everything's going on as normal, traffic is going past our house, a soccer match ( much more important than politics and curfews)  is playing on the oval next door and Glenn is asleep in the chair.

Nothing changes in Honduras and that's why we love being here!