I love my country and I love my Island, Roatan is a very unique place filled with many wonderful people. People from all over the world come here to call this place home, or to get a view of the beauty that is found here. I have seen some of the recent reporting on animal cruelty here and in the rest of this country,Honduras, that I call home.

In case you missed it. First, a YouTube video was all over the internet of a group of guys tying explosives on a dog and blowing him up alive while they laugh and enjoyed the spectacle, one of the guys involved was a member of the local police force. There was an immediate outcry and congress moved quickly to pass and animal cruelty law, Yes there was none on the books believe it or not.

Then last week pictures showed up on Facebook and quickly made their way around the internet. First, of a family whose dog had been brutally butchered by a church leader, on the family property while the family watched and begged him to stop, included a ten year old girl. Second, of a drunk that had cut off two of a dog’s legs thus causing the animal a very slow and painful death.

The island community responded with indignation, marches were organized and charges were filed.

What you’ve got to understand about one of the most violent countries in the world is that, while these were extreme events and drew attention because of the social media attention, animal cruelty in Honduras is common. While the Islands are an exception to the rest of the country in many regards, in this it is not.
Oh the stories I could tell you. Like my stepfather talking about how he put a bunch of cats in a mud oven and lit in on fire thus burning them to death, for the fun of it. Or the sweet little old lady in our congregation who would tie her dogs puppies in a sack and trow them in the ocean alive. Or how one of my ministers once proudly declared “I will never feel sorry for an animal, that´s just ridiculous, animals don´t have feelings.”
Growing up none of these statements or actions bothered me, Because they were “normal” and that is the problem. See in Honduras cruelty and violence is “normal.” While I have always been outraged and impulsed to act and speak up against cruelty to other human beings, cruelty to animals just didn’t matter much to me. I am proud to say that is no longer the case.

Just yesterday I was talking to a friend that is also from Roatan( he is studying microbiology here in Tegus), about the events back home. He said  and I quote ” We have so much problems in this country, why are people wasting time and resources on this? What does a stupid dog matter? animals don’t even have feelings.” I tried to explain to him that it does matter, that animals do have feelings! But I kept thinking he is right on one thing, we do have many problems in this country. Is this a good use of our time and our resources?

But see here is the problem violence begets violence, and by far the biggest problem we have in this country is the high level of violence and the great disregard for life. I tried to explain to my friend that even if you do not care for animals the way some people do, violence and cruelty cannot be tolerated and it has to stop. This is what is eating at the core of this country and is not permitting us to reach our potential. You and I have a moral obligation to do something about it.
Then I started thinking about some of the people involved here.

One of the loudest voices on this and organizer of some of the response has been Tricia Rolston Power. Tricia has been a fierce advocate for my education, without her it would be impossible for me to raise money to keep going to medical school. Tricia recently suffered a leg injury and she was out at the March. YES SHE DOES NEED TO STAY OF OFF THAT LEG, but we’ll forgive her for this one. Tricia cares about lives and Roatan.

Nidia Webster a local Islander has been a strong advocate for poor people on the Island, she works very hard to make sure, going town to town, that people have a meal to eat, or kids have somewhere to sit at school with Roatan Because we care. Nidia cares about lives and Roatan.

Edda Borjas one of my favorite people, Edda is a member of the local rotary club giving of her time and efforts to help the needy. She has done amazing work with the island clean up effort for example. Edda organized this march, Edda cares about lives and Roatan.

These are people who understand the problems and they are working hard to help solve them. They do the things I have mentioned here and so much more. I am proud to see them and so many other people take a stand on these issues in my community. These are people who are speaking up for the voiceless, or the weak, for those that the rest of us might not care about so much, and that includes the animals.
Whether you are an animal lover or not, it is time for us to stand together and say cruelty and violence in any form is just not acceptable. This does matter because this is the only way things will ever change. I ,for one, am anxious to finish my education and head back home to the island to assist and become a part of efforts like these in my community.

But for now I have to go stick my nose in a Biochemistry textbook

see ya

Thanks to you, my future is now brighter, and my dreams are becoming realities

When I started my fundraising campaign I was not sure I would be able to raise the money to come back to medical school next year. My medical Program is 8 years long and having to keep coming back and ask friends and supporters for money every year is difficult. I thought this might be the year people might say no, but once again I have found that you are generous people and are willing to support good choices.

But thanks to your help I have now raised over 1800 dollars, which surpasses my goal for school year 2015.  I still have to wait on confirmation from Sol and rotary as to whether the will continue my scholarship next year, these are crucial parts of the 7000 dollars per year I must have to continue, without one of them I would be in trouble. But thanks to you I am now ending my online fundraising campaign.Which means I can now focus on finishing this school year strong, and stop cluttering your timeline with donation requests!

Your support will help to buy the books, pay the  tuition, transportation and lab fees for another year in the medical program here in Honduras. Knowing you have my back is a real blessing an encourages me to continue fighting to be successful in this incredible journey.

I will be posting grades for this year early in December.

I know post people are probably leaving the island for the Christmas holidays, but if you are on the island I would love to meet with you to say thank you in person and chat a bit.

Again thank you so much Mark, Tricia, Joel, Anna, Caroline, Karin, Janice, Tecie, Dave, Peggy, Ptolemy, Jennifer, Marlen, Debbie, and so many others who share, follow, and are a part of my experience. I still have a long way to go but having your support makes all the difference in the world. You believing in me , encourages me to believe in myself. I will continue to work hard every day to be the kind of doctor you can be proud of.

Again thank you all very much.

Look forward to seeing grades ,for this year, in the next month.

Dear Family and Friends,

Thanks to your continuous support through this adventure called medical school. I am now a little over a month away from having another year completed in this effort to become a doctor in Honduras. I feel so privileged and blessed to be on this amazing journey.

I was thinking today about the words of Gandhi who said, ¨I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.¨ Gandhi also said ¨Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.¨

See I live in one of the most violent country in the world. while my country is amazing and I love it, it is no secret that we are plagued by great violence and extreme poverty. Studying medicine here in the capital I see both in all their splendor and glory everyday. Here one could be targeted for murder any day simply because some young man is getting started in a gang as is reported here  ¨One man had been shot in the back repeatedly by a gang initiate, and had to spend two months in the hospital and relearn how to walk. Even though he’d initially been targeted at random — the initiate was told to kill the next person he saw — he found out after he recovered that the initiate was now obligated to track him down and finish the job.  People have fled the country after they watched their mothers killed by gang members — knowing that witnesses of gang murders aren’t allowed to live.¨

I have a friend whose mother and brother were murdered and I had to leave my apartment and move to another part of the city because my landlord had been threatened by a gang. More on this latter!

In 2011, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime labeled Honduras the Murder Capital of the World with 82 homicides for every 100,000 inhabitants. In 2013 the rate increased to 91.6 with no signs of near-term improvement. Our new president proclaimed that the rate has indeed decreased in the last year. as one of my classmates pointed out in my public health class, the president clearly meant to say that the population was decreasing.

I see it in the face of all the people digging thru every garbage dump they can find for food, or the people who make the long lines at the hospital next to the faculty. A lot of these people have to stand in line for hours with no money to purchase food or water after having gone thru great lengths to get to the hospital only to be told that the medication they need is not available.  There is extremely limited access to any kind of medical care, which is why it terrifies me to think of Ebola reaching our shores.

It is in this country of deep violence and extreme poverty that God has called me to serve. Not as a volunteer or as a foreigner who does great work but leaves after a few weeks. But as a product ,if you will, of this place.

I sometimes feel ashamed or weary of being an advocate for myself. trying to get people to give me money to go to a fancy medical program is not very inspiring and to think that this has to go on for a few years is frustrating.  But them I pass those long lines and I realize that it is worth it. When I am able to help fill that need it will be worth it! I do not know why I have been set on this path maybe in being and advocate for myself I will be a better advocate for others when the time comes.

I certainly look forward to being able to look other young men in the face and say there is a better way. Thru hard work and determination you can do more than you can imagine. That when you stand for good there is an army of people , me being number one, that will stand behind you. To be able to look into the face of young people and say here is how I did it. Every adversity I face every setback along the way just serves to strengthen my resolve. I am a happy warrior and a champion for my cause.

I remain being hopeful that more opportunities will arrive in the not too distant future to be able to continue funding my academic  expenses,  in this country that is my home, where need and the lack of opportunities are persistent.

Thanks to Generous donations from Karin Fehlauer, Janice Fehlauer, Caroline power, Averard D’Souza and Jessica Pfeltz I have raised 415 dollars for the next school year and step in this journey. I still need to raise 1335 to be able to come back next year and I need your help to do so.

If you would like to help me on this journey go on over to http://www.solsite.org and click the donate button today. I can not do this without your help. Please consider sharing my story with your friends via Facebook. I greatly appreciate any action taken to help me.

I proudly continue working hard to be a community doctor. I continue to dream of helping and healing people and with your help, I will be one step closer to creating a healthier, and more just world for all of us.
Please go on over to SOL today and chip in making sure to type Natan Webster in the dedication line, and please make sure to share this post with your friends. Also remember that all donations made via SOL are tax deductible.

donate here now

I am thankful to my mentors, friends, and supporters who continue to share my story with others.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

My mother always tells me “respect in this world is earned, for people to respect you, you are going to have to earn it.”
As I have pointed out before I am a very unique creature at the faculty of Medicine here in Tegus.I am one of the few black people that have graced the halls of this faculty and the only one in my current class. It is funny how people always ask me where I am from because it is obvious I am not from here. Most of the times I really don’t mind it. I like being different, I like the interesting conversations and relationships this entails.
But because I am so unique people sometimes say things that are rather offensive like when my neuro proffesor says, referring to a classmate, he  couldn’t be dumber if he was blacker. This of course implying that black people are stupid. Or a  classmate making fun of a black cadaver. Most of this of  course just flies over my head and I don’t pay it much attention. But I have had two experiences lately that have caused me to pause for thought.

One is, my Macro proffesor from the very first day of class I got the sence that he thought I was stupid, he treated me that way  and really acted right away like I was the weak link in the class. All my classmates noticed it and treated me that way too. Since I had never taken a class with him before I had to assume this was because I am black. I had two options I could complain about it or I could prove him wrong so for a couple weeks I worked very hard to learn as much as I could. On test day I scored highest in the class. My proffesor was visible shocked and impressed ” he said Nate you have proved me wrong. Continue proving people wrong and you will get very far.”
Now I have no problem with this proffesor or my classmates they all respect me and treat like what I am, one of the smartest people in the program. Respect earned!

The other, I was walking with my class of about 20 people into the hospital the back entrance is small so only one person can past at a time. I was about the 7th person  in the row when the guard stopped me and asked for student I.D, seven people passed before me none got asked, the rest passed after me none got asked both my friends and I thought this was rather odd. We got to a second guarded entry  before we could get to the classroom same thing happened again! Now I have other black people talk about being targeted like this but had never experienced myself. In fact I always thought surely it must be the way some dress or something. But I was not dressed any different than my classmates, no hoddy, no baggy clothes, none of it, the only different thing about me was that I am black.

I shared this on Facebook and my friend tricia said  “stuff happens.” and shared with me her experience of being I.D ed on campus, I do not know why she was I.D ed but surely it was not because she is black, because she isn’t. I love Tricia she helps me somuch with her comments on Facebook.

The truth is as we are going thru life we are going to find some pretty ignorant people and we can complain, we can kick the crap out of them but at the end of the day respect is earned. We have to prove people wrong all the bigots all the racist and all our haters.

I have me a pencil, some paper and a group of people who are giving time and money for me to be here. Respect is something you earn and I am out to earn mine. I will prove the racist the bigots and the haters wrong with God’s help.

Let’s be clear illegal immigration is…. well illegal, every country has a sovereign right to have and defend its borders. I oppose illegal immigration and believe people should be punished who break the law. Now what is going on with the U.S southern border is sad indeed, I understand some of my american friends who have made very nasty comments about these kids, after all they are undermining your country´s sovereignty and breaking the law. But I also understand these kids because I am one of them. No I have never even thought about illegally going to the United States, But I live in Honduras one of the countries most of these kids are coming from. I have had friends that have made that dangerous journey, some on repeated occasions. I have had family that made that journey some of whom I have never seen since, or who came back deeply damaged like my uncle who came back with both his arms amputated. I like the way David Gergen at CNN summed up the situation and I quote
“As America grapples with a crisis of children on its southern border, another image from another time seems inescapable: that ship full of Jewish refugees off our shores as World War II approached.
You might have seen the story portrayed in the Holocaust Museum in Washington. It unfolded in 1939 as Jewish families fleeing from Germany took passage to Cuba on a German liner, the St. Louis. While underway, Cuba decided to deny them entry so they turned toward America, desperately hoping the United States would show them compassion.
But the U.S. political climate had turned hostile toward the growing number of European Jewish immigrants. On June 6, 1939, their ship hovered off the coast of Miami Beach — only to learn that the U.S. government refused them entry.
Losing hope, the St. Louis turned back to Europe and there, in the months and years that followed, over a third of its passengers perished at Nazi hands. America has had many noble moments, but that was a moment of shame that left an indelible stain.
Seventy-five years later, we are faced with a new group of desperate people hovering in our midst — this time children from Central America escaping escalating levels of violence few of us can fathom. While certainly no Nazi Germany, the growing humanitarian crisis in their home countries is glaring as rising murder rates for youths are a driving force behind the mass exodus.
How will we respond this time?

Just as with the Jewish refugees on the St. Louis, this influx is not primarily a story of immigrants traveling to America to seek opportunity and prosperity. This is a story of three countries so plagued by gang violence, chaos and poverty that a family would rather pay a “coyote” 18 months of income to take their 14-year-old daughter on a life-threatening 45-day, 2,000-mile journey than have her risk her life at home.
This is a story of three countries with levels of violence comparable to a war zone. Honduras suffers from the highest murder rate in the world, and El Salvador and Guatemala are in the top five. In fact, a civilian is twice as likely to be killed in these three countries as in Iraq during the height of the war. It’s the kids who are most at risk in this story. Boys are recruited into gangs sometimes before they hit their teenage years. Girls are forced into nonconsensual relationships with gang members where they are raped, abused and sometimes “disposed” of afterward. And any defiance invites violent retaliation and, often, death.
One immigration rights advocate recalls a mother telling her, “I would rather see my child die on the way to the United States than die on my doorstep.” Another organization reports a child explaining, “If you stay, you will die, if you leave, you might. … Either way it’s better to try.”
What should be done?”

My friend Ana Svoboda shared the following stats on Facebook.
“It is the worse migration crisis ever seen, but who can blame them? There are very few Hondurans that have the chance to make it through school. Out of 100 only 89 make it to 6th grade. Out of 89 only 49 make it to 7th grade. Out of 49 only 29 make it out of high school. Out of 29 only 15 make it to College and out of 15 only 7 graduate from college—true statistics.”

Friends we all know that education makes a big difference in people´s lives. Part of the answer to the humanitarian crisis of this generation is education. We all can help solve these problems not with some short term fix but something that will make a difference for the long term. I saw the request for over 3 billion dollars that president Obama made to congress and I could not help but think, what a difference that money would make and how quickly this problem would be solved if it was invested in improving the lives of these kids back home. I do not advocate giving money to the Honduran government; money given to this government rarely gets to the people that need it the most.

There are organizations such as Sol Foundation, Students Helping Honduras, and Little friends Foundation that are making a huge difference in the life of Honduran kids every day. SOL foundation provides scholarship and after school activities for kids that help keep them away from the gangs and building a better future for themselves. I am one of SOL scholarship recipients and I must say that SOL has given me a reason to hope that I can have a good life right here in my country helping and serving people in my community as a doctor, and they are doing the same for many other kids. You say well what does this have to do with immigration? Well I will never head for the border, my kids will never head for the border, and many more people affected by my success will never head for the border. A dollar sent to an organization such as SOL will make more of a difference in this humanitarian crisis than hundreds of dollar on border police or thousands given to the Honduran government.

So I make a call to all my american friends if this crisis concerns you and you would like to help make a difference go on over to SOL´s website and chip in to help them continue to do the work they are doing. You can make a huge difference today, long term difference, just by donating a few dollars. A donation of any amount will help the guys at SOL continue to offer hope and a better future to children who most need it in Honduras. Or just go over to their website and read about what they are doing, share it with a friend, or find out other ways that you can help.