Restoring Faith in Honduran Humanity

People can say what they want about the safety of this country (stranger danger) and how Hondurans can be unfriendly towards foreigners, and I would probably agree with you for the most part, but every once in a while there is a shining star in the crowd. I believe that no matter where you are it’s always refreshing to come across this type of person and it restores your faith in humanity – there are genuinely good people who exist that are not burdened when asked for help, in fact they readily offer assistance when a situation like ours arises, and they ask for nothing in return. They help out of the goodness of their heart.

Recently, we were traveling out of La Unión for one of our long weekends when Jake’s car got a flat tire. We hadn’t reached the safe haven of paved roads yet so Jake inquired at a house if he could pull his car into their cement lot in order to have a flat surface to change his tire on. As soon as Jake pulled in, this man named Roberto took over. He was on the ground, underneath the car before Jake could even bend over (maybe because as a Honduran he was naturally closer to the ground than Jake’s tall body) and putting the car up on jacks. There was no problem getting the flat tire off and putting on the spare, but that was the easy part. The spare was flat too. Before Jake even had time to worry about what to do next, the man was offering the spare tire from his own truck. He took one look at the tires to compare their sizes and determined that Jake’s car could definitely handle the truck’s spare.

As if Roberto was not generous enough changing the tire and giving us his spare, both without hesitation, he was not even worried about getting his tire back. We were leaving town on a Saturday and weren’t planning be back through until Monday, so Jake asked him if he was ok waiting until Monday for the tire. He responded with recommending a repair shop to stop at once we reached the city (his friend owned it) and said we could just leave the tire there – he would pick it up himself whenever he got around to it. What a guy! We were all blown away by his kindness and generosity. It was as if, in those short 30 minutes, we had become close friends and he trusted us completely. On our way back from vacationing we stopped by his house and brought his family strawberries (a rare fruit to find) as a meager thank you for everything he had done for us.

Roberto’s willingness to help and give was refreshing. He reminded me to not be so guarded with strangers. There are occasions when showing kindness to others is more important than self-preservation. It reminds me of the idea of paying it forward: if someone does something kind for you, turn it around and do something kind for three strangers you come across, and eventually everyone will be touched by kindness. I hope Roberto’s story brings a little warmth to your heart and renews your faith in humanity, just like he did for me.