Trained by the Catholic Church to organize women's groups to combat malnutrition, Alvarado, a woman with a second-grade education, began to question the wretched conditions she saw around her. She became one of her country's leading political activists. 14 pages of halftones. PBS documentary scheduled for May.

"Here is a voice seldom heard, the voice of Latin America's majority, those who bear the burdens of society. If we are to understand Honduras, Central America, or, for that matter, Latin America, we must listen attentively to this voice. It has much to teach us. It commands the future." --E. Bradford Burns, Professor of History, UCLA

Don't be Afraid, Gringo is the award-winning oral history of Elvia Alvarado, a courageous campesina [peasant] activist in Honduras, the poorest country in Central America. Trained by the Catholic Church to organize women's groups to combat malnutrition, Alvarado began to question why campesinos were malnourished to begin with. Her growing political awareness, her travels by foot, over the back roads of Honduras, and her conversations with people from all over the country have given her insights into the internal workings of her society that far surpass those of the majority of campesinos who have never ventured from their villages. Working as a campesino organizer, Alvarado has led dangerous land recovery actions in an effort to enforce the national land reform laws. As a result of these actions, she has been harassed, jailed, and tortured at the hands of the Honduran military.

Skillfully translated and edited by Medea Benjamin, an expert on Central America, Don't Be Afraid, Gringo takes us into the heart of campesino struggle and political conflict in Honduras today.