No longer invisible
Jorge Andino's homemade radio studio. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for palabra.
On radio airwaves, a blind artist speaks truth to power in Honduras, creating space for often-marginalized voices of dissent, like his own
With an alluring voice and long hair wrapped in a bandana, Jorge Andino, a blind communicator, fills the radio airwaves in El Progreso, a city in northwestern Honduras, on the east side of the Ulúa River. In his home studio, his hands know exactly where to find each knob on his control board, the microphone, and the power switch, which allows him to move swiftly through his program. He lives at the feet of the Santa Marta Mountains, surrounded by chirping birds and a mountain breeze, high above the city’s heat and humidity.
While Honduras is immersed in political turmoil and gripped by the effects of global warming, Andino uses ‘Play FM Honduras,’ a community radio station he co-founded, to create a space to speak truth to power and offer a platform to advocate for social justice and notably, people with disabilities.
“Honduras is a country that expels its people because of its violence, lack of opportunities, an excessive ambition to sell its land, and corruption.”
He works with a young team, a close group of people with the primary interest in getting involved in issues like childhood, adolescence, gender or sexual diversity, migration, and the environment.
Adino, 35, attempted to migrate north when he was a teenager. Now he covers the recent caravans moving through Honduras for his radio station, “when you decide to leave, it’s because there is simply no other alternative that allows you to stay.”
“Honduras is a country that expels its people because of its violence, lack of opportunities, excessive ambition to sell its land, and corruption,” he said. “I left when I was 14. I left without telling my family much. I left without a cane, guided by the shoulders of some people who I’ve stopped hearing from. I still don’t know if they are alive now. I heard a lot of terrifying screams, assaults on the road,” Andino said. That experience was traumatizing, and he never attempted to migrate again. “Later that year, I found radio, and that changed my life. I found myself through communication,” he said.
Radio is a way for Andino to break through his shyness. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for palabra.
“I always wanted to help my mom. I always wanted to help with housework and help with finances because we grew up not having a father present,” Andino said. “And when you see your mom in pain, it leads you to find a way to help.”
Andino’s mother now lives in the United States, and they speak regularly. “My mom left four years after I tried (to cross the border). So I have 17 years of literally not seeing my mom,” said Andino, who was born blind.
It’s not like he can look at a picture to remember her, he said. “She left, just like all mothers and fathers in this country leave because they want to give their children something. So her absence is felt, and it hurts because there is the possibility I will never see or hug her again.”
Andino recalls these experiences inside his studio, filled with all manner of recording equipment: his Conga, a saxophone, maracas, and the kalimba he uses to record music. There’s even a keyboard console that he is determined to learn how to play. He spends most of his days here, working on music projects and composing content for his station. A small fan keeps him and his long hair cool in the Central American heat.
Andino has spent the last 21 years in communication and the arts. Communication has allowed him to be connected to the world, radio “allows you to reach the masses,” he said.
“I was 14 years old when I entered the world of radio. And I believe that communication is an alternative, a way of finding oneself, in the same way as with music,” Andino added. “I used to sing as a kid, rocking in a hammock or swinging, singing at the top of my lungs.”
He confesses it has also been a way to break through his shyness.
Andino enjoys playing outdoors and getting lost in the music. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for palabra.
Using his voice to bring awareness of social issues affecting Honduras, or for the arts, is familiar ground for Andino. “I have won festivals of popular music in the country, mostly at the collegiate level. I won in Choluteca, I won in El Progreso. I also won at a rock and pop festival covering Ricardo Arjona’s music.” Arjona, the Guatemalan singer-songwriter, is Andino’s biggest musical influence. In 2000, he placed third at a concert covering Arjona’s 1998 hit song ‘Dime Que No.’
Today, Andino continues to pay tribute to Arjona’s music. In 2016, he joined the band ‘Son de Pueblo.’ “I had the opportunity to perform and play percussion,” he said. One memorable experience was when they recorded the song “La Madre Tierra.” It was significant for him because it had a message about social change. The music video starts with a speech from environmental activist Berta Cáceres, who was assassinated in 2016.
Taking a break from a busy production schedule, Andino took some time to talk to palabra:
What got you into the arts? Music?
I had to go to Tegucigalpa at an early age, to a boarding school, a school for the blind called Pilar Salinas, which perhaps has been one of the great advances that this country has had because it has existed since 1946. And through that school, a lot of people were able to graduate from high school that wouldn’t have the possibility otherwise. So imagine at the age of six, I was in a boarding school in Tegucigalpa, far from my family, and I noticed that there was a theater. Then I participated in theater...the school’s theater for the blind was called Rayito de Luz. So I grew up in a very diverse environment.
“Honduras, with its violence, with its dangerous jobs, with its criminalization of protest, produces people with disabilities.”
What are some of the challenges navigating life?
You are in a country where nobody even knows the number of people with disabilities. Structural weakness on the part of the government does not allow for approaches aimed at resolving the situation for persons with disabilities.
Honduras, with its violence, with its dangerous jobs, with its criminalization of protest, produces people with disabilities. I mean, how many people have lost an eye in a demonstration? How many people have had to fall into a wheelchair because of a protest? And what about these people? What happens after they make the news and make the front page of the violent event of the day? They pass into invisibility. Why? Because the state has no form of care.
We don’t have television that is accessible to deaf people. We don’t have descriptions of the images either. Schools, colleges, universities, for example, do not have a modality that allows me to read in Braille. That’s pretty much nonexistent in the country. Some universities like the Pedagogical University, have a Braille printer and that serves to meet some of the needs of its student population.
Andino found himself through communication and music and never tried to migrate again. Photo by Zaydee Sanchez for palabra.
What projects are you in? And how has radio shaped your life?
Radio has been in danger of dying or of being buried alive. … But radio finds a way to reinvent itself, to hang on to the slightest hope. And that is what it allows us to do for now. We are very concerned that working in communication, in alternative media, is very complicated with the government that we have. To make matters worse, we are being impacted by political ambitions. So we have comrades from community radio stations who are having to move around their communities, leave with their families to look for mobility, as well as security. This is because their homes are in places where they are going to build headquarters (for the mineral extraction companies), where there is intense mining and the extractive economy and monoculture are quite heavy.
This radio process has made me learn how to edit, and report. When you are in communications, you have to be the one who records the interview, who looks for the information, who writes, who edits, the one who assembles the project. In the case of a blind person, it’s going to take a little bit longer than those who can see. And this process has been educational for me. It’s also beneficial to have friendships with people from other parts of the world who have helped me. Some have helped me with radio automation software to set up my programming and schedule for the day.
So, right now, we are talking about a content plan. We are in the process of selecting some topics that we want to put out. Issues about gender, sexual diversity, disability, migration, that’s what we are planning.
---
Abraham Marquez is a freelance writer from Inglewood, California, focusing on immigration, and politics.
Zaydee Sanchez is an independent documentary photographer based in Los Angeles. She focuses on homelessness, immigration, and racial discrimination.