8.7.2011

Hermanitos muuuuchas gracias y q Dios les bendiga grandemente …

The above is the opening line from the email I received recently from the Catholic parish in El Porvenir, Honduras, where we spent so much time over 2 months ago.

While in El Porvenir we noticed how poor the local church was. They were so poor they used wooden liturgical vessels such as a chalice, communion cup, paten. Having seen this we decided to help and donate appropriate accessories for the eucharist. Instead of looking to buy them in Honduras we tapped into our family resources. Our uncle Henry and my mother have made together several liturgical vessels for many churches in Poland and abroad. This time around we could also count on their help.

We faced a few challenges to ship the Mroczynski family gift from Poland to Honduras.  First of all, there are no mailing addresses in Honduras. Only some better-off people have PO boxes, which are way too small to send a package to. Secondly, the postal service in Central America is notorious for its unreliability. A lot of things gets stolen along the way. So you cannot be sure that such valuable things as gold and silver-plated dishes will make it to the adressee there. Another puzzling challenge was the question my father heard  at the Polish post office (they were 3 times cheaper and almost as fast as DHL!!) while shipping to Honduras: “Is this meant to be sent to Spanish or British Honduras?” I was concerned that Polish postal service had such outdated country data. I rightly assumed that by British Honduras they meant Belize, which is a different country north of “Spanish” Honduras. BTW, in 1981 Belize gained independence from the UK.

As for the address challenge I visited the municipality of El Porvenir and explained I wanted to use their address for the shipment. To make sure the package lands in the right hands I also contacted the local postal officer and the owner of largest supermarket in town, Senior Oscar, to keep track of the package once and if it arrives in El Porvenir.

Finally, the package sent by my parents made it through safely to El Porvenir. Hooray!

Everything is possible!

See below the pictures of its contents displayed in the local church of El Porvenir.

Taking this opportunity I would like to thank uncle Henry and my parents for their significant contribution to this donation.