Intercultural Empathy Can Positively Impact Food Insecurity in Honduras
As I write this, most news about Central Americans, particularly about Hondurans, is about the thousands who are being turned away at the southern U.S. border. The border crisis gets a lot of airtime. However, the insurmountable struggles that Hondurans face over the years don’t get much coverage at all. What’s NOT widely discussed is that hard-working Hondurans have suffered at the hands of government corruption, exploitation from multinational companies, crop-destroying droughts from 2014 to 2019, hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020, and now the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of all these crises in Honduras, the levels of food insecurity and poverty are expected to rise.
The question I pose to my readers is this: what can individuals do to positively impact this issue?
As an intercultural communications student, I’ve learned of ways that can help make progress in solving issues like food insecurity in Honduras. One way to start is to overcome whatever prejudices we have about Hondurans.
Poor migrants, like Hondurans, face prejudice based on stereotypes that run rampant in U.S. popular culture. American news media coverage contributes to a negative perception of Latin American immigrants. On top of that, popular media often paints people in poverty as being at fault for their laziness. This prejudice is a huge barrier against taking concrete action to help feed Honduran families. After all, if one believes it’s the fault of Hondurans that they live in squalor, why would any American want to donate their time or hard-earned money?
I’d like you to consider that if we make the effort to understand cultural differences and similarities, we’d be more likely to help.
A cure that can help overcome prejudice is developing intercultural understanding, which comes from learning more about the other’s experience. Intercultural understanding can grow into intercultural empathy, which is when we share the feelings of a person from a different culture.
Here’s an example of developing knowledge, understanding, and empathy from my own experience. In a previous management job, I worked closely with my assistant. She was Mexican-American, while I am Filipino-American. Often, we’d chat about everyday dramas, our relationships with our families, and food (we both really LOVED food).
As we got to know each other better, we learned our cultural heritages had a lot in common. Both Mexican and Filipino cultures exhibit high-family orientation, collectivist perspectives, and the expectation to show deference to positions of authority. From this experience, I gained more knowledge and a better understanding of the values and beliefs of her culture and was able to empathize with her feelings, as a Mexican-American. The point of me telling this story is to show that a concerted effort to get to know someone from another culture helps you to better “put yourself in another person’s shoes.”
There are other ways to overcome prejudice and develop intercultural empathy. A book, used in my Foundations of Intercultural Communications graduate course that I’m taking, entitled, Intercultural Communication in Contexts, suggests the D.I.E. exercise to develop a nonjudgmental attitude.* It is a mindful approach in making distinctions between statements that are descriptive (D), interpretive (I), and evaluative (E). This exercise can help keep us from jumping to conclusions and reinforcing stereotypes/prejudices.
At this point, you might be thinking, “What does all this have to do with starving people in Honduras?”
I get that this is a lot to process, but it boils down to this: intercultural communication has everything to do with altruism towards other people. Let me take that idea a step further and suggest that intercultural communication, has everything to do with helping Hondurans who live in poverty.
Poor Hondurans face food insecurity through no fault of their own and many just want to do an honest day’s work to feed their children. When we empathize with that fact and understand their cultural experience, the act of donating our time or funds feels easier because we know in our hearts and minds that we are helping another human being just like us.
Are you ready to take the next step? Virtually volunteer a few hours a week or what you earn in an hour to feed a family for a month through these non-profits who are making a difference in Honduras: CARE, Save the Children, Food for the Poor, Helping Honduras Kids, and Heart to Honduras.
*Intercultural Communication in Contexts by Judith N. Martin and Thomas K. Nakayama, Seventh Edition.
