Monday, May 07, 2007

Palestinians in Honduras


Some may know this about Papa already, but I just wanted to point to this article that talks about the number of Palestinians in Honduras and why they are there.

Papa's father is Palestinian and a christian one at that; but has never had a relationship with his biological father so his ties to the culture are actually non-existent. It is
interesting while Papa was in the U.S. he met a few Palestinians and upon finding out his bloodline he would then be treated as if he was a long lost brother.

In Honduras, Palestinians are called "turcos" and they typically have money and thus a lot of influence in the community.
Papa's father is from the "Handal" blood line. Papa's father is a successful businessman who owns a paper goods supply company where a lot of the school supplies and restaurant paper products come from. A few years ago he was kidnapped for ransom and supposedly this caused him to take a look at his life and shortly after made a comment to one of Papa's family members in town that he wanted to see his son. Once Papa was back in Honduras, he did go to see his father but as it is today...his father doesn't make much effort, but has willingly helped him in small ways when Papa has asked for favors, such as selling him paper products for his business.
As weird as this is and as much as I dislike knowing how much disregard Mr. Handal has shown towards his son, I am interested to meet this man one day so that I can see where Papa gets his looks or mannerisms from.
Papa has a step-father from when he was a young boy who he calls "papi" (dad) and this is the man who I think of when I refer to Papa's father. Sometimes when I talk to Papa about his biological father, I will call him by his given name instead because though he may have passed down his genes to my husband, he doesn't really deserve the father title.

2 comments:

Ranty said...

Wow, (sad but) interesting story!

I remember that you commenting on my Southern Leap blog about the article regarding this subject, and I regret that I could not access the stupid thing to reply. (Blogger, grrrr!! They killed The Southern Leap!)

Anyway, did you notice that Jews are also called Turcos in Honduras? Oh the irony...

Honduras Sprout said...

You know, I didn't notice that Jews were also called turcos. But I could see how the term may have become generalized for anyone from middle-eastern decent. I read how the term started because the first immigrants had Turkish passports.

I dated a Jew for a year and really love the culture and also enjoy the foods of Jewish and Mid East. Actually, I was the one who introduced Papa to some of the typical basics such as hummus, cous cous, & falafal.

Why the heck would they block your So Leap blog? That just sucks!