From beach to Snow

Yeah. I woke up last Tuesday 50 feet from a beach, and Wednesday morning woke up a foot away from snow. That’s just wrong. But at least I’m going back to the tropics soon enough. More on that later.
So I am back from the Dominican Republic now, and thought I’d update you on what happened since my last update. I spent 2 weeks with an amazing family in a very rural part of the country. My hosts, Luis Fidelio and Adela, were part of the Association of Coffee growers that I was making a documentary on. I could ramble about what this group does, but the documentary would be a lot more interesting. So watch it on Youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDOt7Mjr3uI . Look for my hosts. I worked on the project with a university student who is interested in making videos, and so hopefully he’ll be doing some more work in the near future. He’s also part of a great music group, Batey 0, that uses a lot of Haitian rhythms- which is really counterculture in a country where Haitians are treated as inferior.

I also spent about 3 weeks in the city, hanging out with the college crowd at Justicia Global, the organization I was with. While there, I made a short video, a parody of the incumbent president, Leonel Fernandez’s, campaign ads. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WF4B0RjMM8
Basically, the original ads say “Don’t be Creative. There is none other like him,” referring to Leonel. The youth then writes “Let’s be creative. Only the people can save the people.”
It got some attention, and may be shown on some TV show, but I’m not sure of those details.

So I’m home from the DR. I’ve updated my map at directedbyface.com with all the places I went , including some photos, so check that out.

I said earlier that I am returning to the tropics… and it’s true. Next Tuesday (one week from today… AAAAaahhh!) I will be going to Honduras with Mennonite Central Committee for 3 months on a short term assignment. While there, I will be working with one of MCC’s partners, MAMA, on a promotional video. I also may be doing some video work or writing for MCC, and possibly traveling to Nicaragua, El Salvador, or Guatemala for that. Maybe. So I will keep you posted, of course. This also is my internship at school, and is also part of Goshen’s Service Inquiry Program.

Usually with missions trips like this there are fancy letters or fundraisers, but I’m not around long enough to pull those off. But I still am a bit short on money for the trip. So if you’d like, feel free to send some money to me.
You can send it to:
James Weber- MCC, 425 South 6th Street, Reading, PA 19602

You can also send it to me through PayPal, by following this link:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&[email protected]&item_name=Honduras&no_shipping=2&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8

I’d also like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, emails and letters while I was in the DR. I’d love if you kept that up. My mail address in Honduras will be:
James Weber
Comite Central Menonita
Apartado 2720
San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

So thanks for reading this and caring, and for all of your support!
James Weber