Chamba in Honduras: Part 3 Retirement

Juan Ignacio Ortiz, or Don Nacho as his friends call him, is 72 years. He started his car wash and oil change business two years. To Don Nacho, work means retirement security.

The retirement spending of many Hondurans is based completely on the generousity of their children and grandchildren. Since few Hondurans save, no nest egg awaits them when they reach retirement age. Senior Citizens have very limited work opportunities and most banks and NGO lending organizations (micro-finance) see them as high risk clients, thus preventing the possibility of starting a business. Without savings and few opportunities to generate income for themselves, the elderly are dependent on family and friends.

Hondurans is not the only nation with an elderly population that feel hopeless in the face of globalization, cell phones, computers and a world in which both university and high school degrees are listed as job requirements. The government of Chile announced that the nation's economic stimulus program includes subsidies for small businesses that hire citizens age 45 and older who recently lost their job.

In the face of this reality, Mr. Ortiz started his business with the hopes of not becoming a burden on the state nor to his family. He also built four apartments behind his house that rent for $60 each per month. The income that his businesses provide is important in his "retirement years," but the businesses have also provided employment and thus economic security for others.

Mr. Ortiz employs four to six young Hondurans depending on yearly business cycles of the car wash industry. In the waiting area for clients, he allowed a neighbor to set up a cafeteria. Honduran style tacos and home made fruit drinks are sold to hungry clients and car wash employees at lunch time. The cafeteria is another source of employment the Don Nacho's business has helped create.

Don Nacho is always looking to grow his business. He recently purchased an industrial vacuum cleaner and air compressor with a loan from a Partners Worldwide supported organization. (Mr. Ortiz paid off the loan in mid January.) A bucket and sponge car wash costs $2 but Mr. Ortiz can now offer a $4 wash using the power washer and air compressor. Many clients prefer having their car washed in half the time for $4.

For Juan Ignacio Ortiz, work is a retirement fund.

Below: Mr Ortiz during Partners Worldwide visit

Chamba in Honduras: Part 2 Social Security

Hector will be six months old later this week. His respond to most questions is a smile and a coo, thus his mother had to explain what work means to little Hector: work means health. To little Hector, when his dad has work, he has health insurance, medication and more peaceful parents.

According to the Labor Code, all employers have to enroll their employees in the Honduran Social Security Institute (IHSS) and children of employees have the right to have coverage until the age of 12. Little Hector’s dad works as a security guard at a government building in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. As long as Hector’s dad has work, Hector will have health insurance.

For many Hondurans, the rewards of having a job are much more than just the salary or payment. A job means health insurance and the opportunity to go to the IHSS hospital. The difference between the IHSS hospital and the general hospital is the attention given to patients, long waits and the availability of medication. Patients can wait up to three years to have an urgent surgery and common cold or flu is rarely treated because of the long wait to see a doctor.

The right to attend the IHSS hospital is a benefit of work that is obtained with employment but is lost when an employee is let go. Every month, employers give their employees an official copy of the IHSS payment receipt. Without this receipt, the employee is not allowed to enter the IHSS hospital for treatment. When someone loses their job, they could at most receive treatment in the IHSS hospital for two months.

Hector has battled dengue fever in recent months. Thanks to the employment of his dad, he is doing better and has received needed medication. To many young Hondurans, work means health insurance.

"Chamba" in Honduras: Part 1 Social Racism

(This post is part of the series, "Chamba in Honduras." For more information see Introduction)

Mario is a 27 year old studying education at a public university in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He says that work means economic stability, a sense of satisfaction, being productive and in his personal case, the absence of depression, economic worries and feeling useless. Mario depends on periodically available painting jobs as his source of income.

Mario knows that his expenses are low; he does not have to pay rent or purchase food because he lives with his parents. When Mario does have work, however, it is expected that he gives something to his parents to help with the household expenses before he can purchase toiletries, books or other expenses related to his studies.

In order to have the flexibility of working in the morning and early afternoon, Mario only registers for evening classes. He says that the majority of his classmates do the same; arriving to classes as the sun goes down, often exhausted from eight hours of work. Only the “children of mami and papi” (daddy’s girl and mama’s boy) have the luxury of studying full time during daytime hours. These privileged few that do not have to work are on the opposite side of a divide Mario calls social racism.

To understand Mario’s contentious statement, it is important to hear his story. Mario lives in a marginal community that could be called a slum. At the age 12, Mario dropped out of school and began using drugs. In order to avoid stealing, Mario worked in anything he could: masonry, welding and finally painting.

Mario’s transformation occurred when God force him to reflect of his past and future. With the help of a local church, he became saved, battled withdrawal and graduated from high school.

Returning to work as a painter was something Mario refused to do for years. Not only to avoid the temptation of using the drugs that his former coworkers would gladly share with him, but also because of the social stereotypes of being a day laborer in dirty cloths. Finally, when potential employers refused him for his auspicious past, Mario was forced to work as a painter once again.

These days, Mario gladly accepts any painting job he is offered and hires former coworkers when more than one person is needed. Some months, he is able to cover the costs of the university and support his family.

Aside from ministering to his former coworkers by giving them work, he is a leader of the youth group in his church, and volunteers at an orphanage outside of Tegucigalpa. However, he continues to be looked down upon not for his past but because of his current employment status.

According to Mario, people are judged first by their social status. Social racism, or prejudice based on socioeconomic class, is as common as racial prejudice was and is in the United States. North Americans might first notice the ethnic features of someone new. Hondurans might first notice the signs of work. Calloused hands, sun tanned skin and the lean build of a worker cannot even be hidden by brand name jeans, shoes and cell phone.

Mario’s dream is to be an English teacher. He wants to help students learn, something he avoided for ten years. He is motivated in his studies by the “social racism” he experiences. If the Lord allows him to join the Honduran professional class, he wants to always be the same Mario. He wants to always treat others equally, regardless of their work.

"Chamba" in Honduras: Introduction

Once a month a segment called "Working" airs on the radio show Marketplace from American Public Radio. The segment focuses on one person and their job. (You can view the entire series and listen to archives by clicking here)

Inspired by the series, we are proud to present a weekly series of posts called "Chamba in Honduras." (In Honduras, Chamba is slang for workin') The posts will appear every Wednesday in February and focus on the lives and work of Hondurans. The series will try to explain what it means to have a job in Honduras.

Workin' Facts

Despite already high unemployment levels in Honduras, experts predict less jobs in 2009. The World Factbook of the CIA estimated that the unemployment rate in Honduras was 27.8% in 2007. According to El Heraldo, one of the daily newspapers of Tegucigalpa, business was slowing down in 2008, evidenced by the layoffs of 20,000 construction workers and between 12,000 and 15,000 workers in the maquilas or garment factories. The business community was shocked on December 27, 2008, when President Jose Manuel Zelaya made official an increase in the minimum monthly wage from $180 (Lps 3,428.40) to $290 (Lps 5,500). Before the law went into effect on January 1, 2009, large personnel cutbacks began. The Honduran Private Business Council (Cohep) estimates that 15,000 Hondurans have been laid off since the announcement. The garment factories were not affected by the new wage because they pay per piecework or factory production. The National Industrial Association (ANDI) predicts cutbacks in the industrial sector of the economy to reach 300,000 Hondurans by the end of 2009.

The National Statistics Institute (INE) reports that Honduras has an active workforce of 3.2 million, of which 650,000 Hondurans have minimum wage jobs.