Customer Reviews

Don't Be Afraid, Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks From the Heart: The Story of Elvia Alvarado

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I went to Honduras on a short term mission trip last year and I've seen poverty first hand. This book has opened my eyes even further of the rural poor of Honduras. This is the story of a courageous woman who is helping her people overcome their unimaginable poverty by discovering the roots of it.
In a subtle sense she denounces short term mission projects....that we come in to countries like hers and try to put a band-aid on a skull fracture. Americans, like myself, come into these third-world countries thinking we are fixing a country's problems in a couple weeks by donating old Gap t-shirts and building a few houses and then leaving. She urges the fact that if we are to really help the poor, we need to make a long-term commitment to get at the root of the problems. Shes not asking for sympathy, but for us to join us in her struggle. Get this book if you are ready to make a difference.

A truly great read. Luckily, this book was assigned in my sociology class or else I probably would have never read it. It gives you an accurate portrait of peasant life in Honduras. If you want to be inspired read this book. After reading this book I feel like going down there to help them in some way. Her book is put in very simple terms and it is easy to see the injustices going on in her land. If you don't read it tell someone about the book. THANK YOU ELVIA!

I had the pleasure of meeting Elvia Alvarado when she visited Butler University in the Spring of 1997. Her book opens ones eyes to the oppressed life in Honduras - both the corrupt government there and our own government's envolvment. After reading this book, one wants to go out and right all the wrongs that have befallen the Honduran people. You do not need to know much about Honduras to find value in this book, it is well worth the read.

When I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras from 1987-89, I wish I had read this book. Had I done so, I might have changed the way I did some of my work.

Don't Be Afraid, Gringo had just come out when I completed my training in May 1987. Had I been more persistent and read the book back then, I might have been a better volunteer and tried some different approaches other than the standard stuff. As a literacy promoter working on the North Coast and in the Aguan Valley, I worked with some of the same types of peasant cooperatives that are discussed in the book. I often didn't know intimately what these peasants were going through. Yes, I spent time in various cooperatives doing my literacy work. I'd chat with community leaders, maybe do some training or projects with the literacy teachers. But I never really got to the heart of the matter. This book took me there. It answered many of my lingering questions.

The book not only takes you inside the campesino movement, but also takes you deep inside the feelings, customs, and everyday struggles of the poorest peasants in Honduras. Many saw the more outspoken peasants as troublemakers, when in fact, all they wanted was a good meal to eat.

If you're thinking about traveling to Central America -- or you are planning to do work there -- this book is still very relevant and important. Though many changes have occurred in Honduras over the years, many things still remain the same.

A strange title for a book that sums up one of the problems of USA's intervention in Central America. Central American governments often apply their U.S. military aid to curtail any progressive social change and to reinforce their repressive government. Elvia Alvarado, a courageous Honduran woman that many would dismiss as simply a rabble-rouser is actually solving what many consider the main problem of the former banana republic countries. The small wealthy class owns most of the land to the extent that there is a large landless peasant "campesino" class. An agrarian reform law was passed in Honduras to lawfully award small sections of large unproductive estates to the campesinos to overcome this injustice in land ownership. The average campesino is ignorant of this law or their country's legal system. The situation really seems hopeless, but Elvia and selected leaders received training sponsored by the Catholic Church. The course trains them to organize the campesinos to demand their rights. The Campesino struggle is similar to the civil rights marches in the American South. They might be legally correct through a slow acting legal system, but they often meet the spontaneous violence of the local authorities before they gain legal access..
Other interesting points brought out by this book is the oppressive condition of women in campesino society. If a solid family structure is the building block of a healthy society then this is a failed society. Elvia's own story and others she alludes to demonstrates the disruption of family and the displacement of children brought about by beatings and live-in conditions offered women when no other alternative is available. I do not have any first hand knowledge of poverty to this degree, but I believe this is a good book (explanation) to try and understand why poverty still exists in some countries even though they have been the beneficiaries of large amounts of international aid. There was not too much of the text that dealt with "the Gringo" except to say that as the U.S. brought pressure to bear upon Nicaragua, repression by Honduran troops also ratcheted up. Other than that it is really an interesting account of a brave woman standing up for her rights. Well worth the read.

Reading this book, it's important to remember that it wasn't written by someone with a formal, "liberal arts" education. That said, you need to use your own judgement to decide what's perhaps "biased", and what's not. Remember though, that whatever bias exists, exists for a reason, and should be taken in the context of what was going on at the time, as well as within the author's background. This isn't to say she's wrong, but in fact is correct on most issues, you just need to ensure that YOU the reader, are well versed on the subject (or are willing to become so) before reading this book. From my own experiences in the country, Alvarado seems dead on. Remember too, that the author has put herself in real peril to bring you this account, so plan on counting your blessings as you read.

Having lived in Honduras for almost two years, I have seen the poverty of which Elvia speaks. I also had an uncle who was an activist like Elvia. This book does a wonderful job at showing how difficult it is to rise above poverty in a third world nation and how unorganized and corrupt these governments are. The honesty of her words made it all too real.

I highly recommend this book! Current political situtations have changed since the publication of this book, so I don't recommend using it for research papers, etc.

I read this book in order to learn something about the people

of Honduras and how they live. I found it to be a good source

for learning about the lives of "campasinos"...peasants.. and

their struggle to live and raise their families in general.

It was not such a good source for learning about this country's

small middle class and since the author's struggle is with the rich,

all references to them were in a negative light... so it was not necessarily an unbiased resource for learning about them.

A Honduran woman explains her world, her culture and the ongoing struggle for farmworker's rights. 'Don't Be Afraid, Gringo' was one of the very first books I ever read about indigenous Honduran culture, and Elvia Alvarado offers a compassionate voice for the poorest of the poor.

This book is beautiful and will inspire you and remind you of what is important in life.